This article was originally published by Campaign Middle East.

AFAF ZAHER, 29, SENIOR EXECUTIVE, OMD UAE

Nominated by Terry Mo, director of performance, OMD
“Over her past few years with Omnicom, Afaf has become one of our key e-commerce specialists. She managed
some of the first advertisers in the region to use Google Shopping and keyword-level data-driven attribution, both initiatives that generated clear incremental revenue for her clients. Afaf’s audience- and data-driven approach to performance, married to her passion for luxury retail, has generated around 40 per cent to 60 per cent growth in performance billings for her key clients. In 2018 she was awarded OMD’s Extra Mile award for her outstanding and tireless contributions to her team and client. She is definitely one to watch.”

Career path
“I started my career in the performance team in July 2015, working on FMCG, automotive and finance. Based on my performance, I was assigned to LVMH to assist with e-commerce launches. I have continued to learn and challenge existing paradigms, driving early adoption of betas and tests that help maximise revenue across channels. I was promoted to senior executive in December 2017 and am now mentoring fresh recruits, among other responsibilities. In 2017, I was awarded OMD’s quarterly employee achievement award twice, and in 2018 I was awarded the annual Extra Mile award for my contributions.”

Guiding principles
I believe that making mistakes is the best way to learn. So one thing that I would pass on to someone
new to the industry is the importance of having a good mentor who lets you make these mistakes and
learn from them. Another thing that has helped me is prioritisation of work-flow and learning to focus
efforts on what’s truly important. It’s essential to look at the larger picture while working on the
granular detail of performance accounts, in order to not lose sight of the overall vision for the client.

 

NOUR MONTASSER, 24, BIDDABLE MEDIA EXECUTIVE, HEARTS & SCIENCE

Nominated by Stacy Fisher, head of digital transformation, Hearts & Science
“Nour has transformed in her year here at Hearts & Science by consistently demonstrating her knowledge internally in meetings with the client teams and externally both with our clients and in media partner sessions. I am very impressed with her even-keeled approach and her positive attitude towards ensuring we reach our client goals.”

Career path
Upon completing her undergraduate studies in Toronto, Nour launched her career in biddable media in Dubai with Wavemaker. Her first client was a global FMCG, which exposed her to the full scope of the social media advertising realm. She is currently a part of the biddable media team at Hearts & Science, focused on delivering data-driven campaigns across social media, display and video platforms.

Guiding principles
At the end of the day, if I walk away confidently knowing I did my absolute best, then my job is done. This is the fire that fuels my work.

 

SONIA JOHN, 29, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, DIGITAL, HEARTS & SCIENCE

Nominated by Nadim Karam, senior director, Hearts & Science
“Very few people in this industry are as pleasant to work with as Sonia. She’s a great asset to any team, as she will always elevate the conversation and get great work done.”

Career path
Sonia started her career at PHD India on the Unilever account as a digital planner. She then moved to Dubai and joined a boutique agency as a digital specialist, where she led on planning and operations, learning the tricks of the trade. She then moved to Hearts & Science where she works on KFC, keeping data at the core of the operation. This year she was nominated by management and won a global Hearts award for her work in facilitating the digital transformation of KFC.

Guiding principles
“Rest in reason, move in passion” is a quote by Khalil Gibran that I have followed all through my career and I would pass on to someone joining this industry. It is extremely important to be passionate about your work, but reasoning will always keep you grounded. In the ever-changing and growing field of digital transformation, everything that you mastered a week ago no more holds true. So always keep yourself up to date.

 

ACHRAFE MAMI, 30, MANAGER, BIDDABLE MEDIA, HEARTS & SCIENCE

Nominated by Fadi Maktabi, general manager, Hearts & Science
“Achrafe has done an excellent job the past year, since moving to the region, at leading programmatic planning within our agency. She is always ready to push boundaries to get things done better, and to top it off she always has an infectious positive outlook on everything.”

Career path
Achrafe started her digital journey at PHD Canada as an analyst, where she quickly rose through the ranks, making manager in less than a year due to her firm handle of programmatic. Over the course of her career, Achrafe has worked across automotive, finance, travel, telecommunications and F&B clients. She moved to Dubai in 2018, to Hearts & Science to lead the biddable media team, covering programmatic and paid social for all the agency’s accounts. This year she was awarded by management for embracing and championing data-driven marketing across all of Hearts & Science’s clients.

Guiding principles
If it scares you, go for it. This is the rule that allows me to grow and learn every day. If it gets too comfortable then it’s time to move to a new challenge. Take ownership. This is something that my first media manager taught me. I would complain about a difficult client or a challenging campaign, and her answer would be that I have to take ownership of this issue and work on fixing it. Anything can be improved if we make the effort to look at things with different perspectives and an open mind.

 

RANA SAWMA, 30, SENIOR DATA ANALYST, ANNALECT

Nominated by Raouf Ketani, head of Annalect
“Rana has exceptional data science skills in finding solutions to our clients’ marketing challenges through the use of data and analytics. Within her first two years at Annalect alone, Rana has successfully developed and deployed everything from multi-touch attribution models to highly accurate predictive customer lifetime value models and countless insightful data explorations of MENA consumer habits. A problem-solver and always ready for a challenge, Rana has also mentored young data scientists within the group, helpingthem better understand the work we do.”

Career path
Rana started her career as a web developer in media company Zawya in Lebanon, before moving to the healthcare industry as an analyst. This experience piqued her interest in big data and analytics, leading her to get a Master’s in business analytics and big data. In 2017, she joined Annalect, the data and analytics arm of Omnicom Media Group in Dubai. She is currently on a committee to judge an inter-university data competition that has been organised by Omnicom Media Group MENA.

Guiding principles
I live by three main rules:
1. Treat people the way you want to be treated.
2. Share your knowledge. It’s the best way to grow.
3. Try to learn something new every day.

In its own words, Communicate magazine created a ranking of the “40 most successful, driven and ambitious individuals under the age of 40”.  It used criteria such as past work experience, total number of campaigns worked on, awards won. new business success, industry participation, new initiatives launched… to create a scoring system for the region’s top talent.

All OMG networks were featured in the list, including in the top 10. Here are the results and a link to the profiles:

2: Fadi Maktabi, Hearts & Science

4: Saleh Ghazal, OMD

7: Luca Allam, PHD

11: Hassan Shoker, PHD

15: Farah Moumneh, OMD

17: Elie Bachaalani, OMD

23: Maya Bou Ajram, OMD

Congratulations to them all!

We’ve seen this before. When a Middle Eastern tech champion gets snapped up by its global counterpart, the region’s commentators celebrate it a sign of a vibrant start-up ecosystem. This was the case with Amazon’s acquisition of Souq and now again with Uber’s $3.1 billion for Careem. Our CEO, Elie Khouri, took a more measured and long-term view in his op-ed for Arabian Business.

Even though most of the reaction to Uber’s decision is positive, largely on the account of the price-tag, it’s important to remain lucid and pragmatic. The deal certainly has both positive and negative implications. Even if it’s a large and record-breaking exit for Careem’s investors, this doesn’t mean we can ignore the downside.

Much was made of Amazon’s $580 million acquisition of Souq.com, the region’s leading e-commerce platform. Today, some wonder what the future holds for the local brand. The same train of thought could apply to Careem once the transaction closes.

That said, there is no denying the two deals point to a growing appetite for the Middle Eastern tech start-ups. Something in our eco-system is working and we must nurture it, says Elie Khouri. He questions whether Careem could or should have stayed in local hands.

No doubt more acquisitions of local start-ups by international heavyweights will follow. When this happens, we will hopefully have learned the lessons coming from these two major deals.

To find out what these lessons are, you can read the full article here.

Thanks for making Wellness Week 2019 a success by attending and taking part in our activities! We went over an array of subjects regarding fitness and well-being, from the breakfast roadshow on Thursday, Chair Yoga on Tuesday to Lunch and Learn on Wednesday. Here are the key points we want you to take away from this initiative:

1) Get moving
You don’t necessarily have to exercise vigorously every day – just setting apart a few minutes throughout the day to move; whether it’s stretching at your desk, taking the stairs instead of the elevator or taking a stroll after dinner, these seemingly small movements matter.

2) Don’t forget to hydrate
If you’re only drinking water when you’re feeling thirsty – we have some bad news. By the time your brain processes thirst, the body has already become dehydrated. Drinks with caffeine also leech water out of your body. So develop a habit of drinking a big glass of water every few hours, especially with the hot months coming up, you do not want to be a victim of dehydration!

3) Watch what you eat
You don’t have to starve yourself to be fit. The trick lies in portion control and being mindful of what you’re consuming. Remember: your plate should mainly consist of vegetables (particularly Cruciferous vegetables), quarter portion of protein and a small portion of carbs.

4) Happy mind, happy life
Remember to think happy thoughts! Freeing your mind of negativity is an essential step to achieving overall well-being. Dedicate a few minutes during the day for meditation or simple breathing exercises. You’ll notice the positive difference it makes on your mood, productivity and stress levels.

#YouChoose your fitness journey and the smallest of steps make a difference. See you next year!

Wins “Media Network of the Year” for the third year in a row

At the 2019 edition of the Dubai Lynx awards, OMD demonstrated once again its commitment to marketing effectiveness. It was named Media Network of the Year for the third year running. The festival, which celebrates creative effectiveness in the region, highlighted the consistent high caliber of the work OMD MENA produces together with its clients and partners.

Several campaigns proved particularly successful this year, including OMD’s “Infiniti DCO” for Infiniti, awarded in the Media – Durable Consumer Goods category. The network’s “Commute Made Easy” campaign for Uber got a trophy in the Media – Use of Stunts category. Together with TBWARAAD, OMD got two more awards for Nissan’s “#SheDrives” in the Brand Experience & Activation – Corporate Social Responsibility and Use of Social & Digital Platforms categories.

AWR Arabian Automobiles’ “Predictive Radio Spots” campaign, another collaboration between TBWARAAD and OMD, won the Grand Prix in the Radio & Audio – Use of Radio/Audio as a Medium category.

In addition, OMD’s young talent rose to the occasion in both the media and creative categories at the Young Lynx competitions. Its teams won a gold in media and a bronze in print creative, showcasing OMD’s talent in balancing data with creativity.

“We’re thrilled to have been named Media Network of the Year at the Dubai Lynx once again. This kind of recognition makes us want to create, innovate and achieve even more with and for our clients and partners,” said Nadim Samara, CEO of OMD MENA.

This was a very good year for Omnicom Group agencies. PHD was ranked as second runner-up for the Media Network of the Year title. On the creative front, Impact BBDO was named Network of the Year and Agency of the Year with TBWA as first runner-up in both categories. Nissan, an OMD and TBWA client, was also named Advertiser of the Year.

Turkey’s global home appliance brand Beko, part of Arçelik Group, has consolidated its regional media account into OMD following a pitch. The account was previously shared between two networks, with OMD managing the brand’s activities in Egypt and Jordan. The Omnicom Media Group-owned business performance company will now handle the full media assignment. This means the full portfolio of Beko’s products and initiatives in all media across 17 markets in the region.

The regional optimization, powered by advanced analytics and data-driven planning, will generate stronger business results for the white goods manufacturer. OMD’s in-depth understanding of the category as well as its impressive footprint across MENA will play a key role. Thanks to a consistent service delivery across borders, Beko will benefit from economies of scale and capture every growth opportunity across product lines, markets and media. This in turn will maximize the effectiveness of its investments.

“As a brand that has grown into a global giant and market leader, Beko understands synergies and economies of scale very well. We speak the same language when it comes to technology, data and performance. The work we’ve done together to date was always going to be a stepping stone to bigger achievements,” stated Saleh Ghazal, General Manager at OMD UAE. “We couldn’t be happier to extend our relationship to new markets. We look forward to delivering real and impactful business results across all markets.”

In her latest piece for Campaign, Dana Sarkis from Hearts & Science gives advice on how brands need to embrace their data

The relationship between brands and consumers has reached an inflection point. Advertising is no longer a one-way street, and all brands must quickly adapt to this new reality if they are to survive. The path to purchase used to be simple but this journey is rarely linear today. To cater to increasingly demanding consumers and thrive in a highly competitive environment, brands need to look at every step of their customer experience. It starts with real customer intelligence.

Investing in this customer experience calls for much more than recruiting a “chief customer experience officer”. It is what every company should live and breathe as it affects every single aspect of the business. This includes product development, IT infrastructure, supply chain, marketing, sales and even leadership development. All these units need to work together towards one goal: understanding customer gaps, needs and aspirations. Only then will brands be able to stay relevant in both communication and product in order to create a meaningful, lasting customer experience.

For that, some companies might need to take a step back and assess their development compared with the evolution of technology and rank their maturity on that scale. Do they have the right tech infrastructure to scale their business? Or maybe they need to overhaul their business by embracing digital transformation. Ultimately, any organisation needs to be adaptable. Companies that don’t continuously redefine and revamp themselves – in processes, business models and products – are already falling behind.

To find out how, read the full piece here.

Elie Khouri speaks to Gulf News about where the media industry is headed.

The maths may be simple but dealing with the implications is much less so. Take the regional media investments, some $3.4 billion in 2018, and set aside some 40% or $1.4 billion for digital. When 75% of this goes to the digital giants like Google and Facebook, what you get is over $1 billion of MENA advertising money leaving this region.

As Elie Khouri, CEO of Omnicom Media Group MENA, says in an interview with Gulf News, this amount isn’t reinjected into our economy or industry. This explains, partly, why our sector is struggling to create or keep jobs, particularly among media owners. There’s no denying the rationale for using these platforms or their performance on brands’ advertising. Yet, we must consciously try and mitigate the long-term implications of these investment decisions on our eco-system.

This doesn’t mean the US digital giants should be regarded as foes, he argues. Over the the years, agencies have learned to work with them and digital giants are now relying on agencies for what they do best: build brands and businesses.

MENA isn’t alone in having to adapt to the dominance of tech giants. Different regions have sought different ways to deal with the impact. It is with partnerships and conscious collaboration that sustainability and balance will prevail in our industry.

For more on this, you can read the full interview here.