Head of Marketing - ACE
Al Futtaim Group
Total years of experience :17 years, 9 Months
ACE is the world’s local home improvement destination.
Formulate regional marketing/VM/digital strategy & initiatives to deliver ACE brand/business vision & goals. Translate marketing performance metrics, tracking tools & macro factors into actionable insights for the General Manager & senior leadership team.
Own the strategy on consumer & shopper insights-shifts-trends, impacting business decisions - delivered 15% store footfall improvement within 6-
months. Oversee brand communication channels & competitor movement, to position ACE with our lifestyle and home improvement consumer.
Leverage Al-Futtaim Group eco-system & analytics to drive targeted marketing campaigns, leading to 21% YoY increase in CRM database shopper activity. Contribute to sales revenue through phased category/product marketing spend, with effective stakeholder management & engagement .
Upscaled a 7-member team (VM, design, social, activations) in the creation and implementation of brand communication plans, across multiple
traditional and digital channels & touchpoints. Optimized in-house team & talent, by aligning brand communication deliverables with their skillset.
Lead the relationship with external agencies: Creative, PR, Media buying and monitoring, to ensure contractual KPIs are met and delivered, against project deadlines.
Enhanced brand health, customer KPIS - Net Promoter Score, Average Transaction Frequency, BLUE (CRM) primary customer retention (Emiratis).
Introduced innovative consumer engagement initiatives to build ACE as the best home improvement brand. Spearheaded a comprehensive category marketing calendar, in sync with government-driven trading periods.
Scality is an innovation community for technology startup company formation & access to partners/investors.
Owned the project management & launch of DAFZ's new (B2B) tech-hub for startups; developed brand from inception to launch. Spearheaded an
overhaul of licensing & registration for startups with shared services teams.
Managed marketing-sales strategy & operational delivery to connect globally with tech startups & entrepreneurs, interested in UAE company formation. Secured 40 tech startup founders from 17 countries, within 1st year of launch.
Improved B2B lead-generation by 45%. Overhauled CRM, target consumer segmentation strategy, acquisition & conversion metrics. Led participation in industry conferences, partner associations and community-networking initiatives.
Reviewed business performance with Scality Chairman/board and Dubai Airport Free Zone senior leadership through periodic status meetings.
Assessed, hired and managed agencies & affiliates. Led Marketing verticals, gave direction to ensure synergies and focused outcomes with minimal resources. Customized marketing & sales approach of startup founder profiling, leading to an average 32% conversion from qualified leads.
Liaised with the DAFZ Marketing, Sales, Business Licensing, IT, and other teams to implement projects and initiatives across all channels / brands.
Led workshops & events: panel/mentor/networking sessions for tech startups.
Connected our startup consumer with content and experiences they are passionate about, through diverse initiatives - across social media (earned
and paid), PR, Influencers, and key partners (Amazon Web Services, Mashreq/RAK Bank, Step Conference, GITEX, etc.)
Stimulated a teamwork mindset between various departments. Manage cross-functional workflows to drive brand advocacy, momentum, and sales.
Startup brand marketing agency, specialized in delivering creativity and consumer engagement at retail & digital.
Conceptualized customer-focused, commercially viable, retail brand designs to support category campaigns and consumer engagement initiatives.
Ensured on-time and quality deliverable of campaign tools for our clients, as per agreed brand planning milestones.
Managed business development & client accounts; secured projects within 1st year of agency launch from Disney, BabyShop, Charles & Keith, Puma,
Asics, Reebok, Speedo, Sun and Sand Sports, BMB Group, LinkViva totaling AED 2 million.
Global company retailing, distributing, manufacturing international and home-grown brands across sport, food and health sectors.
Core decision-making stakeholder in the creation & development of the new Sun and Sand Sports brand, and the G.C.C. implementation of its digital &
retail identity. Collaborated on the omni-channel consumer journey mapping, and creation of the e-Commerce workflow.
Launched 7 digitally innovative retail concepts, 40+ new/refit stores across the G.C.C. Led communication strategy from advertising, digital, PR, social, activations, eCommerce to retail/wholesale partners.
Upskilled & elevated a 26-member team of Retail Brand, Product Presentation & 3D Design resources; pioneered world-class directives and its
operational delivery.
Aligned with department heads in Buying, Merchandising, Space Planning & Operations to execute marketing initiatives for all brands. Acted as partner to the BUs in developing the right campaign and activation plans, to drive the category and effective brand communication activities.
Developed Arabic/English brand playbooks for internal teams & partners. Spearheaded the Brand & Trade strategy & milestones per division-brand-market; based on commercial forecasts by region-store and business seasonality.
Led the creation of content toolkits, including local campaigns for the Middle East. Provided strong leadership for horizontal and vertical reports.
Inspired a high level of teamwork between departments, as well as the integration of ideas from various stakeholders.
Nike brings inspiration and innovation to every athlete.
Owner of the Marketing budget. Defined G.C.C. Retail Brand strategy based on business seasonality & trends. Headed monthly/quarterly budget reviews with the CFO & divisional VP.
Leveraged consumer & shopper marketing trends to drive 75%+ sell-through. Enhanced Showroom & Go-To- Market experience and workflow via e-catalogues, agency-partner-customer handover & training during sell-in periods.
Managed a 10-member Retail Marketing & Creative team, to deliver brand initiatives across the Middle East. Responsible for innovative marketing to support the business plan of each unit via initiatives across OOH, 200+ stores, digital, social, e-commerce & partners.
Managed agencies & activation events with Kobe Bryant, Rafael Nadal, Thierry Henry, Fabio Cannavaro, Manchester City F.C., Manchester United FC.
Orchestrated regional implementation of Nike global concept-to-consumer, sales & marketing tools within activated sales channels. Partnered with country teams on the development and creation of local campaigns, D2C shopper traffic conversion & category sell through targets.
Amplified Key City Attack plans for Nike in UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman - led interaction with Nike Global/EMEA marketing in campaign development, communication tools, seasonal category calendar and execution plans.
Sun and Sand Sports is the Middle East's largest sports retailer, with a diverse portfolio of sports, fitness and lifestyle brands.
Uranio Overseas was the representative of global fashion brands Diesel, Fred Perry, Custo Barcelona within the Middle East
Retailer and distributor for a selection of global high fashion brands within the Middle East.
Collaborated with Italy Head-Office to translate global Brand Plan into regional Marketing Plan.
Improved the annual marketing budget, plus advertising and PR delivery for each season.
Developed the first Middle East launch of Diesel Fuel for Life fragrance, as well as Diesel Black Gold product line.
Supervised the Dubai leg of Diesel 24/7 global concert with international (UK) DJ act ‘Chicane’.
GRI International was the Middle East distributor and wholesaler of leading American & European sports, F&B brands.
Grew strategic sales accounts worth AED 1 million in the MENA region, within the first year.
Strengthened regional marketing & administrative support for F&B brands; Natfood, Testarossa Caffe.
Organized business conferences and exhibition participation to enable sales presentations, aligned with the USA and Italy Head Office.
Post Graduate Diploma in Management.
* Bachelor of Commerce St. Andrews College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Mumbai, India (2001-2002)