Leading the Digital Revolution in Dubai

Fahad Ali a young dynamic digital/content expert has been a resident of Dubai for 28 years and is the Founder and Head of Digital & Creative at BROOMSTICK.

Ali began his career at an international bank in Dubai where he was assigned to work with Global Digital experts. During his years working with the Digital team Ali developed an insight into what the future would hold for content and Digital Strategy. This inspired him to tap into the potential of content and how it was about to change the way people looked at content and digital strategy.

Ali is now enjoying his career as Head of Digital & Creative. Ali believes that content is the main element persuading and impacting consumer purchasing decisions.

The UAE has emerged as a vanguard of digital marketing on the global scale. With a fairly advanced ecosystem in place, the UAE is at the forefront of getting digital marketing right.

The UAE happens to have a high proportion of brands and startups which have managed to expand and grow and this has all been made possible by Instagram and Tik Tok. This is a great testament to where the UAE stands in its approach to digital marketing.

However, Ali feels that digital marketing has its challenges. Sometimes clients can force agencies into adopting unrealistic timelines and also the rapid inclusion of AI platforms and embodiment in campaign delivery has made it more challenging. The short time within which we need to market makes it hard to create content. At times the content support staff is dealing with too much data and some of it may not be correct.

Digital marketing is now very focused. Marketers must understand conversion funnels, plan around pivot points and ensure they plan their marketing plans and tactical around such tough points.

Content and most importantly, local content is paramount. Recently a lot of brands end up spending time and effort on their websites but forget the role content plays. While collecting data is important, putting it to use efficiently is equally important.

However, Ali holds the view that though there is a lot of buzz about AI, we have not really seen its application in digital strategies to a very large extent. Creatives have been keen and embraced its impact on the creative execution side, but a lot needs to be done in terms of how the numerous other AI tools out there are slotted into customers’ journeys. Midjourney, Chat GPT, etc. have become household names.

BROOMSTICK has been instrumental in rolling out some great campaigns for clients like Xiaomi, Dubai International Boat Show and Du recently. Ali commenting on one of the most successful campaigns maintains that his favourite would be a campaign for a Telco, as it was challenging for him and his team to deliver, within a very short period, a complex narrative for a sophisticated business offering.

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