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Creatively driven and strategically focused

Imad Ahmed, Group CEO, Dream Advertising, believes in delivering result-oriented advertising campaigns and positive events solutions in the UAE

Imad Ahmed was born in Pakistan and grew up in Dubai. He is the CEO of Dream Advertising, an advertising agency and event management company based in Dubai for the last 19 years. He has all the qualities required for a CEO - ambitious, confident, customer-focused, decisive, persistent and responsible. Additionally, he is friendly, creative, loyal, realistic, calm, has strong personal values and above all a vision to lead.
Dream Group comprises seven companies, Dream Advertising being the parent company. Other companies are into events/entertainment, consultancy, production, property and music licensing businesses. Dream Advertising, established in 1999 is a full-service Dubai-based advertising agency and an event management company with visionary excellence and specialist knowledge and expertise. 
"Dream Advertising is creatively driven and strategically focused, delivers advertising be it designing, concept, account services, PR, brand development, media planning and buying, production, positioning or communication," says Imad in an interview with Khaleej Times.
The company offers events expertise to clients across the world starting from organising, managing, concept, operations, PR, planning, budgeting, sponsorships, production, design / layout, permissions, ground management etc. It is an experienced and innovative agency that is on-time and on-budget across a broad range of b2b and b2c sectors and can develop proper strategy, craft the right message and quickly put plans in motion to generate efficient and effective results.
Vision and mission
The CEO says, "I have a clear vision to be the most engaged company ensuring clients' satisfaction and loyalty. We deliver result-oriented advertising campaigns and positive events solutions that enhance clients' awareness, improve their sales and foster their growth."
His mission, "To be a unique and top event management company exceeding clients' expectations and creative advertising agency that provides high quality, innovative and effective integrated brand marketing solutions by delivering excellent service which helps clients grow their businesses and realise their marketing goals."
Imad's passion for business started from school itself. He was into debates, speeches and all sorts of extra-curricular activities. He wanted to do something related to what interests him as he believes that if you have passion towards something, then you succeed in it. "Innovative acts and the enthusiasm of organising, PR and managing events increased more in university life, where I organised youth festivals. Thus, I could meet leading entrepreneurs, exhibit creative skills and develop PR skills," he adds.
Imad believes that there is nothing constant but change and we all have to adapt to the changes with a positive mind as it helps you to be flexible; otherwise, we will be left behind. "It is important to accept change; it may be hard in the beginning, messy in the middle but gorgeous at the end. Accepting change is vital to any organisations' growth anyway as the world changes, economy changes, technology changes and you too change," he stressed.
Imad is particular to build a rapport with his team. "Well, I take care of them, and they take care of my business in return. We have a friendly atmosphere in the office, and we all learn from each other daily. We primarily focus on the next steps and don't make our five-year vision happen tomorrow," he notes.
Thoughts outside the box 
Imad continually thinks outside the box? He explains, "We have to be creative all the time, so all our projects involve creativity and theme. We made the leading star cast of the movie Players Abhishek Bachchan, Bobby Deol, Nein Nitin Mukesh, Sonam Kapoor and Bipasha Basu to do the mini cooper stunts before entering the press conference as coopers were used in the movie. 
"We made Kareena Kapoor land from a seaplane for the press conference of the movie Heroine depicting the act of a heroine. We did a thematic press conference of the movieAzhar with Emraan Hashmi and Mohammed Azharuddin in the indoor cricket venue. We made Saif Ali Khan drive a Ferrari in a clients' visit for the movie Agent Vinod. 
"We made Vidya Balan's all visits as pregnant women looking for a husband when we did Kaahani movie promotional tour. Gave Akshay Kumar a rough look all day and gave masks in the mall when we did Rowdy Rathore. 
"We brought bagpipers from Pakistan for Pakistan Day event by the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Events like mother-daughter, father-son, and kids fashion show, Iftar at Dhow cruise, fashion weeks and all musical concerts require great creativity and innovative thoughts from beginning till the end. Any product launch, ceremony, conference, seminar, song/film shoots, celebrity endorsements, exhibitions, red carpets require huge brainstorming sessions and creative decisions are made accordingly keeping in view the budget and clients' requirement."
"In business, everything comes to you at the right time, be patient, trust the process, believe in yourself, your smile is your logo and personality is your business card," concludes the CEO.
- supplements@khaleejtimes.com