IAA Apprenticeship Future Leaders Program
Most people strive to get into colleges and universities in the hopes of obtaining a college degree.
They say that the key to a successful career or life, in general, is a quality education. After graduation, the next step is to look for a job. However, life outside the walls of a college or university is different. Knowledge, skills and the ability to adapt to changing work environments is necessary to survive in the real world. Especially now.
As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented, global crisis, effecting economies around the world. At the same time, technology innovation has accelerated kicking off a large scale, digital transformation of the marketing and communications industry.
This ongoing, fast-paced digital transformation is going to require new skills for students entering the MARCOM industry. Join us as we bring together some of the most progressive experts in marketing, advertising and HR to share their latest knowledge with students and educate them about what’s coming next in digital marketing, personal branding and job search, so they feel confident facing real life challenges ahead of them.
About This Event
IAA Apprenticeship is a global MARCOM industry driven, high-quality career pathway to help senior students and their faculty understand how to navigate the transition from academia to a career in marketing and advertising.
This year, we have expanded to make this a regional virtual event comprising Institutes & Universities in Middle East & Africa. We will be using an independent platform Zuddl to create a virtual and exciting experience, including live speaker presentations, live chat and Q&A, and virtual get-togethers for networking.
If you are a student, please click here to register for the program.
If you are a professor or Young Professional, please click here to register for the program
Program
Day 1
(UAE Time)
11:00am | Virtual Exhibition
Networking |
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12:00pm - 12:15pm | Opening Address
Joel Nettey World President, IAA Global |
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12:15pm - 12:30pm | Ice Breaker & Group Social Media Activity
Omar Tom Founder / Managing Partner, Dukkan Media |
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12:30pm - 1:00pm | Story Powered Communications
Bharat Avalani CEO, Connecting the Dots Consultancy |
The session will give you insights and skills on how you as a business leader can influence, engage and inspire others through business storytelling. |
1:00pm - 1:30pm | The Opportunity unfolding in a chaotically exciting Industry: Defining your direction when change is exponential Tom Otton Managing Partner, Create Media |
We’ve been conditioned to focus on roles and hierarchy, within a traditional industry structure that has been turned on its head. Roles are ever changing, skills required even more so. How on earth are you expected to plot a course to your definition of success with the industry in its current state? Maybe there is a different way of looking at this? A way that defines your approach regardless of the change? |
1:30pm - 1:45pm | NETWORKING BREAK | |
1:45pm - 2:15pm | How to Build your Professional Brand on LinkedInFredrik Borestrom Head of Agency, International at LinkedIn |
In this session learn how to leverage the LinkedIn platform to create and build your professional brand and connect to opportunity. |
2:15pm - 2:45pm | New Realities of Social Presence
Leen Fakhreddin Head of Creative Agencies at Facebook MEA |
At Facebook, our mission is about bringing the world closer together, at the height of this mission is Social Presence, the sense that we are in the same room with someone, that we have connected across a great distance, as if we are talking to each other in person. That’s the promise of Augmented reality and virtual reality - to defy distance - and bring the world together in the most authentic ways possible. Join me to find out more. |
2:45pm - 3:15pm | Pivot and Be Helpful
Sasan Saiedi, Global Client Leader, Nestle, Wunderman Thompson Senior Vice President, IAA Global |
There has never been a more crucial time for brands and businesses to bring to life their values, adopt new norms and appreciate today's realities. Waiting for the past to come back, won’t happen and will be bad for business and wrong for the consumer. Lean forward, be helpful, do something great for our industry, for our people, for our communities, for our planet. |
3:15pm - 3:30pm | NETWORKING BREAK | |
3:30pm - 4:00pm | Influencer Marketing - Can Raise You Up... Or Shut You Down!
Roland Abi Najem Founder and CEO - Expert Tech Consultants, Revotips |
In this session, we will identify the real definition of influencer marketing, who are the real influencers, how to choose the best influencer for your business. Moreover, we will discuss the best way to prevent an influencer from negatively affecting your image and brand and how to get the best out of it. |
4:00pm - 4:30pm | Adland Re (Defined)
Omar Tom Founder / Managing Partner, Dukkan Media |
As a third culture kid, a kid of diaspora, OT was enamored by cultures and the elements that shape it. He is a product of African, Arab, American and Hip Hop cultures. Experiencing their differences and intersectionality, giving him his edge and access into societies and communities that were inaccessible to most. This talk highlights that journey as he enters into the ad industry, identifying gaps and building a business that close these gaps, creating IP, and building brands from the inside out with the purpose of shaping contemporary Middle Eastern culture. |
4:30pm - 5:00pm | From Big Data to Smart Data
Ali Hussein Kassim Co-Founder & CEO, Kipochi |
With the ability to collect data, analyze it, apply it, and then learn from it, Insights from data is transforming digital strategies. As it continues to advance, so will the ability to use it to improve digital marketing strategies and provide valuable customer insights for companies. It is indicated that smart data is indispensable in future digital products, especially in the digital marketing field. From the movie "The Matrix" to the Google AI, from the humorous and smart Siri to Tesla's self-driving car, there are more and more enterprises that are implementing smart data strategies in digital marketing for their businesses. Smart Data is changing the future of marketing. |
5:00pm - 5:15pm | NETWORKING BREAK | |
5:15pm - 5:45pm | Launching is Marketing Strategy
Khalid Al Zanki Founder & CEO, Launch |
The essential ideas that I share in the session were developed while working with local businesses as well as Fortune 500 businesses worldwide. A single idea from this session could change the direction of your career, or your product launch. Many businesses have gone from average profits to new level of profits in as little as one month as a result of using and implementing product launch tactics and strategies. When you learn and apply some of the ideas in this session, you will save months or even years of hard work in achieving the same level of success in launching products and businesses. You’ll learn how to launch your product and become one of the leaders in your marketplace. |
5:45pm - 6:15pm | Liquid Marketing & The Digital Revolution
Dr. Youssef Youssef President & Vice-Chair, CIMMO |
The Digital Revolution has allowed the Marketing field to explore new frontiers. Quantum Computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Social Media have allowed unprecedented access to customers’ information and digital behaviours. The line between the digital and physical realities has been blurred, and marketers face the challenge of keeping up with this transformation through new value propositions. Everything is becoming more liquid from the economy, society to individuals and yes, Marketing too. In this session, we will shed some light on the current challenges Marketers and the best practices shaping the emergence of Liquid Marketing. |
Virtual EXPO & Networking Tables will remain open till close of Day2
IAA Apprenticeship Future Leaders
Program
Day 2
(UAE Time)
11:00am | Virtual Exhibition
Networking |
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12:00pm - 12:15pm | Welcome Day 2/ Day 1 Review
Sasan Saeidi Senior Vice President, IAA Global |
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12:15pm - 1:00 pm | Recommendations to Succeed in Entering the Job Market
How adaptable are you to the new challenges in times of COVID-19? Ricarda Ruecker Chief Talent Officer MCN & Executive Coach |
Graduation is always an anxious time for young people on the threshold of the “real world”, but COVID-19 has created new uncertainties. During the era of social distancing we have to adapt in many ways. It has created massive disruption across industries, effected workforce needs, where and when work gets done and what mix of employment models are most beneficial. When graduating in these times things might not exactly go as planned. What are the traits required from young graduates to succeed in today’s times? How can graduates best master interviews in a virtual world? |
1:00pm - 1:30pm | The Messy Middle, The Elephant and The Marketing of Meaning
Alex Brunori Creative Impact Lead, Google |
In this crazy roller coaster ride called marketing, we all love so much, there is always something new to learn. A new approach, a new set of strategies, a new way of thinking. In this session we are going to talk about the messy middle, or the labyrinth of choice, how data prove that the new marketing is all about meaning and how brands and users can build together a new, hopefully better, world. Buckle up. |
1:30pm - 1:45pm | NETWORKING BREAK | |
1:45pm - 2:15pm | Digital Evolution
Rashid Al Awadhi CEO, New Media Academy |
In the last six months, the digital world has experienced 10 years’ worth of change. Many jobs have been impacted and will continue to change rapidly as our online behavior changes. In this talk we will explore what we need to do to prepare for this rapidly changing world. |
2:15pm - 2:45pm | My Digital Personality Assessment: Putting the Human back into DigitalAndy Phillips Chief Operating Officer, UOW Dubai |
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2:45pm - 3:15pm | Branding For The ‘NEW NORMAL’
Sam Husaini President & Strategy Lead, Procrealligence |
In this session, we shall explore the difference in approach that brands need to embrace in-order to remain relevant and become exponential differentiators. |
3:15pm - 3:30pm | NETWORKING BREAK | |
3:30pm - 4:00pm | Creativity Matters: A MENA Perspective
Thea Skelton Festival Director, Dubai Lynx |
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4:00pm - 4:30pm | Creatives are the New Athletes
B.J. De Guzman Creative Director and Managing Partner of Jungle Beige |
From HBO Max turning over their TikTok account to interns, to Virgil Abloh's rise from Kanye West's creative team to Menswear Designer of Louis Vuitton, creatives have become one of the leading forces shaping brands and culture. This talk will explore global cases such as these, plus PUMA Middle East's suedeguerrillas.com, to show how essential creatives and content creators of all kinds have become for brands, e-commerce platforms and other lifestyle driven businesses. It will also illustrate how many more career paths, and career defining moments, now exist because of it. |
4:30pm - 5:00pm | Strategic Marketing Planning
Marc Zirka CEO, Strategy Up |
We will be highlighting all the positive aspects of adapting your marketing and commercial activities to the digital and online era. The focus of this session is about building a strong Digital Marketing Strategy. What are the main components that every marketer should focus on? We need to communicate to our customers and reach out to them through several touch points. How to do it, where to do it, and when to do it. We will try to answer all these questions during our session. |
5:00pm - 5:15pm | NETWORKING BREAK | |
5:15pm - 5:45pm | The New Media Landscape: A Brave New World
Bilal Al Mourad CMO, M2R (Media ROI) |
The media landscape today is vastly different to what it was just a few years ago. Advent of new technologies and applying digital transformation to nearly every traditional media tool shows that media is constantly evolving; innovating ways to reach the right audience at the right time. But with changing media comes changing ways that media is consumed. And because of this rapidly changing environment, marketers are forced to change their media strategies. Scientific approach to advertising has led to a high demand for the right Media ROI. Smart, engaging content, behavioral targeting, strategic planning and measured deliverables is the perfect recipe for successfully navigating this brave new world. |
5:45pm - 6:30pm | Brands Living Ecosystem
Dagmara Szulce Managing Director, IAA Global |
In this session we will learn what does it take today to build global high value brands in the era of consumer empowerment |
Virtual EXPO & Networking Tables will remain open till 9:00pmEnd Disclaimer:The IAA reserves the right to modify the program/ speaker line-up at any time and without any prior notice should a speaker not be available for reasons beyond the IAA’s control.
Start Time:
- Ghana: 7:00am to 2:30pm
- Nigeria: 8:00am to 3:30pm
- Egypt: 9:00am to 4:30pm
- Lebanon: 9:00am to 4:30pm
- Kuwait: 10:00am to 5:30pm
- Kenya: 10:00am to 5:30pm
- UAE: 11:00am to 6:30pm
Alex Brunori
Creative Impact Lead, Google MENA
Bio:A true multi-disciplinary digital pioneer and innovation evangelist, Alex has more than 20 years of experience in the advertising industry, with a long string of successful case histories. His career began in JWT Italy and continued as ECD in MRM Italy and McCann Worldgroup Italy, and in Publicis ME, in Dubai, as Regional CCO. His work has won the most important industry awards, from the Cannes Lions, to the MENA Effies, to the Dubai Lynx and he has served as jury member in all the major global advertising contests. In August 2015 he joined Google in Dubai as the first ever Creative Impact Lead for Middle East and North Africa, a role that allows him - collaborating closely with the best clients and creative partners in the Region - to design top-notch brand strategies and keep innovating the way brands communicate.
Session Name:The Messy Middle, The Elephant and The Marketing of Meaning.
Session Description:In this crazy roller coaster ride called marketing, we all love so much, there is always something new to learn. A new approach, a new set of strategies, a new way of thinking. In this session we are going to talk about the messy middle, or the labyrinth of choice, how data prove that the new marketing is all about meaning and how brands and users can build together a new, hopefully better, world. Buckle up.
Leen Fakhreddin
Head of Creative Agencies, Facebook MEA
Bio:Leen Fakhreddin is the Head of Creative Agencies Facebook Middle East and Africa where she is responsible for digitally transforming the ecosystem and creating conjoint growth opportunities. On a mission to transform advertising for a mobile world, she is focused on building new capabilities and driving results for Agencies and their clients.
Prior to taking on her role at Facebook, Leen Fakhreddin led an impressive career as a Group Director in BBDO Dubai, leading awardwinning campaigns on some of the most exciting multinational brands in the world.
Session Name: New Realities of Social Presence
Session Description:At Facebook, our mission is about bringing the world closer together, at the height of this mission is Social Presence, the sense that we are in the same room with someone, that we have connected across a great distance, as if we are talking to each other in person. That’s the promise of Augmented reality and virtual reality - to defy distance - and bring the world together in the most authentic ways possible. Join me to find out more.
Rashid Al Awadhi
CEO, New Media Academy
Bio:Rashid has over 24 years of Marketing and Communications experience, including various senior-level positions in Middle East based multinational companies, as well as UAE government entities.
Before being named CEO of the New Media Academy, Rashid was the Senior Vice-President for Marketing and Communications at the Dubai International Financial Center, leading the transition of the organization into Digital Media and Content Marketing.
Prior to that, he founded and managed Barza New Media, a digitally driven boutique-style consultancy that specialized in the production of social media driven reality content, with particular focus on Arabic-centric topics.Before that, he was the co-founder of “Qabeela.tv” with his brother Mohamed. Together they produced, directed and hosted the award-winning social travel show “Peeta Planet”,which was the first ever blended Social TV show in the world. The show was powered by Google and supported by twofour54.
In 2009, Rashid became the first Emirati Government Employee to win the prestigious "Communicator Of The Year" Award from the Middle East PR Association, and in February 2020 he was voted in it’s Executive Board.
He was chosen as one of "The 40 Most Influential Emiratis Under 40" during the UAE's 40th National Day celebrations and was featured on the Forbes Middle East list of "50 Impactful Marketing and Communications Professionals In The Middle East" in 2020. Rashid graduated with a
Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing, from the University of Houston, in Texas (USA).
Session Name:Digital Evolution
Session Description:In the last six months, the digital world has experienced 10 years’ worth of change. Many jobs have been impacted and will continue to change rapidly as our online behavior changes. In this talk we will explore what we need to do to prepare for this rapidly changing world
Andy Phillips
Chief Operating Officer
University of Wollongong in Dubai
Bio:Andy Phillips joined the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD) after having worked in commercial roles in the healthcare and financial sector. Prior to joining UOWD, he worked with a number of Healthcare Provider Groups and insurance companies - for a 3-year-period - to help facilitate mutually beneficial financial direct billing arrangements.
His knowledge of healthcare and health sector funding was gained from a four year tenure at Daman in Abu Dhabi, where as a Director he helped steer Daman to become the region’s leading insurance brand. He has a total of 28 years of marketing and commercial experience and is a graduate of Economics.
Session Name: My Digital Personality Assessment: Putting the Human back into Digital
Session Description:In the last six months, the digital world has experienced 10 years’ worth of change. Many jobs have been impacted and will continue to change rapidly as our online behavior changes. In this talk we will explore what we need to do to prepare for this rapidly changing world
Ricarda Ruecker
Chief Talent Officer MCN & Executive Coach
Bio:Ricarda Ruecker has over 25 years of business and management experience in various multinational and regional organizations in Germany and the MENA region. Her experience spans managing businesses and leading, managing and developing people.
Ricarda has been for almost 15 years a member of the Senior Management Team at MCN MENA, where she held various managerial roles within FP7 McCann, Weber Shandwick and MullenLowe. Since 2009 she has been heading HR and since Jan 2019 as Chief Talent Officer within the group.
Being also an Executive Coach, Ricarda successfully enables executives to significantly improve their effectiveness and behavioral skills to realize their full potential in their professional and leadership development. She is also leading organizational change processes, reviews organizational structures, supports succession management and leads the selection process for senior level recruitments, provides coaching for management transitions and takes on team facilitation for highly effective teams and workshops in leadership through coaching for managers as a certified facilitator by CoachU, NY. She is also highly proficient in personality and job profiling as certified practitioner of Predictive Index (PI) to assess fit of potential candidates to roles in the process of recruitment and succession management.
Session Name:Recommendations to Succeed in Entering the Job Market How adaptable are you to the new challenges in times of COVID-19?
Session Description:Graduation is always an anxious time for young people on the threshold of the “real world”, but COVID-19 has created new uncertainties. During the era of social distancing we have to adapt in many ways. It has created massive disruption across industries, affected workforce needs, where and when work gets done and what mix of employment models are most beneficial. When graduating in these times things might not exactly go as planned. What are the traits required from young graduates to succeed in today’s times? How can graduates best master interviews in a virtual world?
Omar Tom (OT)
Founder - Managing Partner, Dukkan Media
Bio:Omar Tom, commonly known as OT is an entrepreneur, strategic planner, educator and public speaker. OT is the Cofounder and Managing Partner at Dukkan Media, a marketing and cultural consultancy known in the industry as the leader in contemporary Middle Eastern culture. Through which, OT has made a name for himself in the industry as a cultural expert and catalyst, connecting businesses and communities.
Moving at the speed of digital cultural change, and nurturing deep roots, OT has developed award winning and impactful work for a diverse range of brands across the Middle East and San Francisco working with clients such as Nike, Dubai Sports Council, Google, YouTube, McDonalds, Red Bull, Converse, GMC,Kiva.organd Arabian Radio Network to name a few. He currently guest lectures at the American University in Dubai (A.U.D.) on Strategic Planning and Opportunities In New Media.
His expertise extends to building unique, purposeful brands, as well as developing original content programs such as Dukkan Show (Dukkan Media’s pilot podcast), The Forever Student, and Switch/Flicks. He is the driving force behind creating deep and culturally rooted creative business solutions.OT is a celebrated graduate of both Miami Ad School and AUD.
Session Name: Adland Re(Defined)
Session Description:As a third culture kid, a kid of diaspora, OT was enamored by cultures and the elements that shape it. He is a product of African, Arab, American and Hip Hop cultures. Experiencing their differences and intersectionality, giving him his edge and access into societies and communities that were inaccessible to most.
This talk highlights that journey as he enters into the ad industry, identifying gaps and building a business that close these gaps, creating IP, and building brands from the inside out with the purpose of shaping contemporary Middle Eastern culture.
Thea Skelton
Festival Director, Dubai Lynx
Bio:Thea has been running Dubai Lynx, the Middle East and North Africa’s sister festival to Cannes Lions for almost five years. Based in Dubai for Fourteen years, Thea is very familiar with the region’s creative communications and events industry.
Thea has worked across a diverse range of events in her career; including numerous large-scale experiential campaigns and awards. She has a particular expertise in launching thought leadership summits, with an astute understanding of industries focused around media, tourism, urban design, creative and cultural events. Along with the project leadership and production of content led events she has also spent time leading experiential campaigns for luxury jewellery and fashion brands.
Thea loves her work with Dubai Lynx and has a fundamental belief that creativity is at the heart of all good business.
Session Name:Creativity Matters: A MENA Perspective
Ali Hussein Kassim
Co-Founder & CEO, Kipochi, Kenya
Bio:Ali is the CEO of Kipochi, a Pan-African Fintech company that enables the financial ecosystem to utilize digital technologies towards enhancing efficiency, bring innovative financial solutions to the unbanked across the continent and create awareness towards the transformative nature of Financial Technologies.
He is also the Principal, AHK & Associates, a Digital Transformation Consultancy focused on enabling clients to leverage Digital Technologies to achieve Transformational Change in their organizations. He is also an investor and mentor to startups the Demo Ventures Franchise.
Session Name:From Big Data to Smart Data
Session Description:With the ability to collect data, analyze it, apply it, and then learn from it, Insights from data is transforming digital strategies. As it continues to advance, so will the ability to use it to improve digital marketing strategies and provide valuable customer insights for companies.
It is indicated that smart data is indispensable in future digital products, especially in the digital marketing field. From the movie "The Matrix" to the Google AI, from the humorous and smart Siri to Tesla's self-driving car, there are more and more enterprises that are implementing smart data strategies in digital marketing for their businesses. Smart Data is changing the future of marketing.
Tom Otton
Managing Partner, Create Media
Bio:Tom is the Founder of Create Media Group; one of the region’s leading digital communications agencies. Established in 2010, the agency now spans 5 offices, 100 team members, and has been recognized as one of the fastest growing agencies in the world by Adweek.He spends his spare time chasing goals in extreme endurance, having twice completed the 250km Marathon Des Sables.
Session Name:The Opportunity unfolding in a chaotically exciting Industry: Defining your direction when change is exponential
Session Description:We’ve been conditioned to focus on roles and hierarchy, within a traditional industry structure that has been turned on its head. Roles are ever changing, skills required even more so. How on earth are you expected to plot a course to your definition of success with the industry in its current state? Maybe there is a different way of looking at this? A way that defines your approach regardless of the change?
B. J. De Guzman
Creative Director and Managing Partner, Jungle Beige
Bio:B.J. De Guzman is the Creative Director and Managing Partner of Jungle Beige, an independent creative agency for lifestyle industries and cultures. Notable Jungle Beige clients include PUMA, Levi's, Power Horse energy drink and COYA restaurants. Prior to co-founding Jungle Beige, B.J. was a Creative Group Head at Wunderman Thompson and a Marketing Coordinator on the start up team of Complex Magazine(now complex.com)
Session Name:Creatives are the New Athletes
Session Description: From HBO Max turning over their TikTok account to interns, to Virgil Abloh's rise from Kanye West's creative team to Menswear Designer of Louis Vuitton, creatives have become one of the leading forces shaping brands and culture. This talk will explore global cases such as these, plus PUMA Middle East's suedeguerrillas.com,to show how essential creatives and content creators of all kinds have become for brands, e-commerce platforms and other lifestyle driven businesses. It will also illustrate how many more career paths, and career defining moments, now exist because of it.
Marc Zirka
CEO, Strategy Up
Bio:An experienced strategist and entrepreneur in the business field focusing on technology and ICT as an enabler to any vertical. Marc has been running his own consulting firm Strategy Up, which he established in 2014. Strategy Up is a 100% Canadian company based in Halifax (Nova Scotia), where he is advising and assisting Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) and startup companies to become successful. Marc is an expert in Corporate Strategy, Commercial Operations, Marketing & Sales Strategy coupled with a solid understanding of Corporate Finance and Strategic Investment.
Marc has 21 years of experience where he started his career in Lebanon, then moved to Sub-Sahara Africa where he managed the operations in more than 6 countries, then to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, The Caribbean, and finally to Central Asia before deciding to settle in Canada.
As the founder of Strategy Up he is now assisting his clients by providing consulting services in Strategic Planning, Corporate and Commercial Strategy within the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) industry.
Marc is an experienced trainer and educator where he is the lead trainer for Strategy Up Academy. He collaborates as well with the Department of Labour and Advanced Education and with the Association of Workplace Education in Nova Scotia (AWENS). Marc received certificates endorsed by the Minister of Labour and Advanced Education (Nova Scotia) in the areas of Literacy Issues in the WEI Classroom (2019) and Foundational Skills for WEI Instructors (2020).
Session Name: Strategic Marketing Planning
Session Description:The COVID-19 crisis has forced us to change the way we do business and interact with our customers. We need to adapt and transform our operational model, and this change starts with our marketing and commercial activities. The customer behaviour has changed, and will continue to change even further in the near future.
We will be highlighting all the positive aspects of adapting your marketing and commercial activities to the digital and online era. The focus of this session is about building a strong Digital Marketing Strategy. What are the main components that every marketer should focus on? We need to communicate to our customers and reach out to them through several touch points. How to do it, where to do it, and when to do it. We will try to answer all these questions during our session.
Roland Abi Najem
Founder & CEO - Expert Tech Consultants, Revotips
Bio:Roland Abi Najem is a Cyber Security & Digital Transformation Consultant & Expert. He is the Founder and C.E.O. of Revotips – Expert Tech Consultants and Solutions in G.C.C. and Arab Countries. He was the I.T. & Cyber Security Consultant at the Ministry of Information – Kuwait and the Personal Consultant for the Minister of Information From 2014 till 2016.
Certified Trainer & Content Developer by ISTD (International Society for Trainers & Developers), He holds a Master’s in Business Administration (M.B.A.), Focus on M.I.S (Management Information Systems).
Technical Consultant and Information Security Expert with the Mohammed Al Jassim Group for Lawyer and Legal Consultation and specialized in Cyber Crimes.
Roland is the Chairman at several seminars and conferences in the region and a Keynote speaker & Panelist.
Session Name:Influencer Marketing - Can Raise You Up... Or Shut You Down!
Session Description:Influencer Marketing is one of the top trends nowadays in Digital Marketing. It helped lots of companies to upsell their businesses so fast and increase their brand awareness and reputation. However, a simple mistake made by the influencer could destroy your reputation big time. Linking your business brand to an external influencer could help people admire this influencer and consider him or her a role model. Yet, one personal mistake from this influencer and the same people will attack him/her, and they will attack everything he/she represents, including your brand.
In this session, we will identify the real definition of influencer marketing, who are the real influencers, how to choose the best influencer for your business. Moreover, we will discuss the best way to prevent an influencer from negatively affecting your image and brand and how to get the best out of it.
Bharat Avalani
CEO, Connecting the Dots Consultancy
Bio:Bharat Avalani is a Unilever Veteran who started his career as a Management Trainee at Lever Bothers Malaysia. He has crisscrossed 73 countries during his Unilever global role.
He is the CEO of Connecting the Dots Consultancy and the Global Partner of Anecdote International, recognized as a world’s leader in the use of storytelling in business. He helps leaders and organizations tap into the power of stories to make strategies stick, bring values to life and assist leaders to be more influencing, engaging and inspiring at work. He strongly believes that storytelling can help restore humanity at workplaces.
His friends call him a memory collector and a story teller. He seeks experiences and every journey is a story for him. Like many others he also takes selfies… but his selfies are different, because each picture tells a story that is deeply etched in Bharat’s memory. Each picture is an emotional experience for him.
Amidst all, Bharat has served as President of the International Advertising Association (IAA) Malaysian Chapter, was VP of the Malaysian Advertisers Association (MAA), and was Board Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Malaysia. Bharat is currently on the Executive committee of the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA) & IAA Malaysia. He has also shared his pointed views and experience at key industry events.
Session Name:Story Powered Communications
Session Description:The most successful leaders are storytellers. By mastering business storytelling they achieve extraordinary business results. As a modern – day leader, you know you should develop this skill, but you don’t have the time to do this in an ad- hoc way. What you need is a practical, reliable method to follow, one that will allow your business to reap the benefits of storytelling as soon as possible.
Storytelling in business is different from telling stories to friends in a bar! It needs to be based on facts.The session will give you insights and skills on how you as a business leader can influence, engage and inspire others through business storytelling.
Citing psychology and behavioural science findings, Bharat reveals how every leader can become more engaging, more influencing and more inspiring by using one of the most underutilised sources of power in modern business – the humble story.
Key takeaways:
- .How stories can turn the tide
- .How to spot a story at 100 metres
- .How to make your messages stick
- .Why arguments and assertions don’t work
- .How character trumps credentials
The talk will give you insights and skills on how you as a leader can influence, engage and inspire others through business storytelling.
Khalid Al-Zanki
Founder & CEO, Launch
Bio:Khalid Al-Zanki is the host and producer of the first business and entrepreneurship podcast in the Middle East, LAUNCH ON FIRE. He has been positioned as the first Product Launch Maven (trusted expert) in Kuwait, because he shares real life advice, as someone behind many outstanding product launches. He has been helping entrepreneurs build businesses and launch their products and services, which are generating profit windfalls on demand. He uses proven formulas for launching and relaunching products and businesses, and anything else you want.
Session Name:Launching is Marketing Strategy
Session Description:The essential ideas that I share in the session were developed while working with local businesses as well as Fortune 500 businesses worldwide. A single idea from this session could change the direction of your career, or your product launch.
Many businesses have gone from average profits to new level of profits in as little as one month as a result of using and implementing product launch tactics and strategies. When you learn and apply some of the ideas in this session, you will save months or even years of hard work in achieving the same level of success in launching products and businesses. You’ll learn how to launch your product and become one of the leaders in your marketplace.
Sam Husaini
Founder, President & Strategy Lead, Procrealligence
Bio:Sam Husaini is the founder, President and Strategy Lead at PROCREALLIGENCE.
PROCREALLIGENCE,is an agile brand, marketing and digital communication solutions firm. Combining the forces of Proactivity, Creativity and Intelligence, it enables brands and businesses to unlock growth that is human-centred, durable and transformative. He is a strategy and project management consultant for CEOs and board level executives, developing End-2-End fully integrated brand communication solutions that energise organisational transformation and growth.
His journey began in 1994 with Lintas India on the Unilever detergent business. Moving on to Leo Burnett he managed the Coca-Cola India business. In McCann Erickson, he led the Reckitt Benkiser surface care business in South Asia, along with APAC responsibility for MasterCard, Goodyear and Nestle.
In the year 2000, he joined the BBDO Network in the MENA Region working on top tier brands like Henkel, Pepsi, Emirates Airlines, Etisalat, Barclays and many more. Along with other achievements, he launched Strategic Planning as a discipline within the group and proactively developed a set of proprietary planning tools for the BBDO Network. He then established BBDO in Abu Dhabi as an integrated full services operation and as a founding MD, ran it successfully for 9 profitable years.
In 2015, he took on the role of a Strategy Advisor to the CEO and Chairman of Gulf Bank and Alghanim Industries. He was responsible for the corporate brand, marketing and corporate communications and also for building the leadership's personal brand.
Over these two and a half decades, he has planned and managed high value marketing communication budgets for many clients, developed work that grew client businesses and won many international creative and marketing effectiveness awards.
Session Name:Branding For The ‘New Normal’
Session Description:The horror of the worst natural disaster blockbuster pales in comparison to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. Global markets have reported a loss of USD 5 trillion in less than a year. What we are all experiencing is ten times worse than any financial crisis the world has seen hence it's quite natural for people to be terrified and over cautious. However, to quote Peter Drucker “The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence. It is to act with yesterdays logic”. The future belongs to the proactive, creative and the intelligent, and to those that are willing to ‘empty their cups’ and re-look at the world and its opportunities for what they are and not for what they were.
The foundation of branding lies in the ability to create trust and confidence in the face of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity & Ambiguity). Consumer needs, aspirations and priorities have changed and brands will have to rise up and seize the moment in a new and different way. In my session, we shall explore the difference in approach that brands need to embrace in-order to remain relevant and become exponential differentiators.
Sasan Saeidi
Global Client Partner - Nestle, Wunderman Thompson - WPP
Global Senior Vice President, International Advertising Association
Bio:Sasan has lived advertising for over two decades, across brands, business sectors and multiple regions of the world. Starting and building his career in North America, he is a strategic planner by trait and has spent most of his career focused on international markets and building global brands.
Today, Sasan is the Global Client Partner for Nestlé at Wunderman Thompson/WPP. He leads and manages the Global relationship and business of the Vevey based client worldwide and across Americas, EMEA and Asia, with a responsibility over some iconic brands including, KitKat, Stouffers, Smarties, Purina and more.
Prior to taking on this Global role, he was the Regional CEO for J. Walter Thompson in the Gulf. Sasan has also held management roles with agencies such as; McCann FP7 and BBDO and started and built his career with Saatchi & Saatchi North America & FCB Canada.
Sasan is an international industry speaker and academic lecturer and enjoys sharing his love and knowledge of the communication and creative industry regularly. He has been with the IAA since 2014 and is currently the Global Senior Vice President at the IAA.
Currently studying for his DBA degree; he is an avid listener and reader of everything; a big fan of world cultures, fashion and interior design. He loves his two sons, Sammy and Alexander, and Basketball.
Session Name:Pivot and Be Helpful
Session Description:There has never been a more crucial time for brands and businesses to bring to life their values, adopt new norms and appreciate today's realities. Waiting for the past to come back, won’t happen and will be bad for business and wrong for the consumer. Lean forward, be helpful, do something great for our industry, for our people, for our communities, for our planet.
Fredrik Borestrom
Head of Agency, International at LinkedIn
Bio:Fredrik leads LinkedIn’s agency relationships and partnerships across international markets in EMEA and LATAM, namely Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, Brazil and the MENA region. At LinkedIn, we empower agencies and brands to reach, engage and convert their professional audience at scale.
As President for the International Advertising Association (IAA) UK chapter, Fredrik Borestrom directs the organisation in its aims to protect freedom of commercial speech, advance advertising in a responsible way, and support consumer choice and education in the industry.
Borestrom boasts almost 20 years of business development and leadership experience, having held senior roles at companies such as Euronews, Eurosport, Odyssey Mobile Marketing and Phunware Inc. Notably, he had a key management role in establishing, growing and ultimately selling mobile advertising start-up, Odyssey Mobile Marketing Ltd to Phunware Inc. in December of 2014.
Session Name: How to build your professional brand on LinkedIn
Session Description:In this session learn how to leverage the LinkedIn platform to create and build your professional brand and connect to opportunity.
Bilal Al Mourad
CMO, M2R Media ROI
Bio:Bilal Al Mourad is a Marketing & Communications professional with over 15 years of experience. He started off his career within the research industry, focused on media insights and understanding what makes the various touchpoints in a communication journey tick. He has recently moved on to the core media side of the business, and having an incredible time applying his knowledge to ensure the best outcome for him and his partners. He is a firm believer in Digital Transformation and obsessed with achieving company goals, creating opportunities, leading the team to greatness, and expanding the horizons for M2R Group business, all while delivering the right Media ROI to our clients.
Session Name:A Brave New World
Session Description:The media landscape today is vastly different to what it was just a few years ago. Advent of new technologies and applying digital transformation to nearly every traditional media tool shows that media is constantly evolving; innovating ways to reach the right audience at the right time. But with changing media comes changing ways that media is consumed. And because of this rapidly changing environment, marketers are forced to change their media strategies. Scientific approach to advertising has led to a high demand for the right Media ROI. Smart, engaging content, behavioral targeting, strategic planning and measured deliverables is the perfect recipe for successfully navigating this brave new world.
Dr. Youssef A. Youssef
President & Vice-Chair, CIMMO
Bio:Dr.Youssef is very passionate about marketing with a successful business career as a founder, CEO and CMO of high-tech companies in Canada and Brazil. His executive experience includes top strategic marketing management responsibilities, competitive intelligence, market, and product analysis, market strategy, International business administration, and operations. Dr. Youssef is President and co-chair of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Management of Ontario. He also is the co-founder and vice-chair of the Federation of Canadian Brazilian Businesses and a Member of the Board of Directors of Polycultural Immigration and Community Services. Dr. Youssef holds a PhD in Management and has conducted his post-doctoral research in Business Administration at Carleton University where he also was visiting Scholar and Instructor. Since 2012 Dr. Youssef is Marketing Professor at the Faculty of Business of Humber College.
Session Name:Liquid Marketing and the Digital Revolution
Session Description:The Digital Revolution has allowed the Marketing field to explore new frontiers. Quantum Computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Social Media have allowed unprecedented access to customers’ information and digital behaviours. The line between the digital and physical realities has been blurred, and marketers face the challenge of keeping up with this transformation through new value propositions. Everything is becoming more liquid from the economy, society to individuals and yes, Marketing too. In this session, we will shed some light on the current challenges Marketers and the best practices shaping the emergence of Liquid Marketing.
Dagmara Szulce
Managing Director, IAA Global
Bio:Dagmara joined the International Advertising Association in September of 2017 as the Global Managing Director and is in charge of overseeing IAA Global and it's 30 local chapters around the world.Prior to joining IAA, Dagmara was the President and Founder of Dagmara Szulce LLC, a marketing services consultancy focused on partnering with CMOs and CEOs to build or transform category leading brands.
Dagmara has a 20 year, proven track record building & transforming brands globally and in the US. She has unique expertise in crafting and curating brand experiences across retail, digital and social, with a key objective of igniting consumer desire and irrational loyalty.
Her experience spans across luxury, beauty, fashion, real estate categories.
Her Clients included: P&G, Unilever, Pfizer, Frederic Fekkai, Nespresso, Estee Lauder, Ralph Lauren, Taylor Swift Fragrance, The Diamond Trading Company/DeBeers, Steinway & Sons, The Corcoran Real Estate Group, Seiko, Samuelsohn Fine Tailoring, Roberta Roller Rabbit.
Session Name:Brands Living Ecosystem
Session Description: In this session we will learn what does it take today to build global high value brands in the era of consumer empowerment
Gold Partner
New Media Academy
The New Media Academy is an academic institution that is designed, delivered, and validated by top global digital practitioners. The New Media Academy has a mission to provide a broad range of career-oriented educational programs with the aim of producing innovative, creative graduates who are well-prepared for the rapidly growing field of Digital Marketing.
Silver Partners
University of Wollongong in Dubai
Launched in 1993, UOWD is one of the longest-serving international universities in the UAE, and a premier Australian university in the region, with more than 27 years of success-proven experience. It is part of a global brand that has universities located in Australia, Hong Kong and Malaysia. UOWD offers 45 internationally and regionally accredited degrees from 10 industry sectors, including Engineering, Business, ICT, Communications & Media, Nursing, Education, Finance and many more. UOWD provides a truly borderless higher education experience, preparing students for the office and boardroom of the future by offering a truly unique and multicultural university experience.
Consolidated Bank Ghana