Alaa Abi Ali
Verified Expert in Marketing
Marketing Expert
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Toptal member since May 8, 2023
Every brand has stories to tell that will engage, inform, surprise, delight, and impact its audience while delivering measurable goals. Ali is the conduit between the brand and the consumer. He is an award-winning digital marketing strategist and media expert. His specialties include digital media, consumer behavior, brand awareness, and omnichannel marketing campaigns. He has worked with companies such as The Coca-Cola Company, Microsoft, and IBM.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Branding
- Creative Strategy
- Digital Media
- Paid Advertising
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
- Social Media Management
- Social Media Strategy
- Web Design
Work Experience
Digital Marketing Strategist and Media Expert
twofour54
- Won and was nominated for multiple media production awards in the region as a freelancer. Relevant: Emirates Film Festival, International Film Festival Awards, Short film.
- Handled 360-degree digital marketing development projects with clients from the B2B and B2C sectors. Some projects included paid advertising and mobile advertising. Others included SMS marketing strategies.
- Created content and media productions for clients and partners. Relevant: FMCG, eCommerce, healthcare, media, esports, fashion, retail, education, sports, music, entertainment, automotive, travel, and tourism.
- Maintained great rapport with clients and partners in a big network and managed all project timelines to completion effectively.
- Credited for budgeting campaigns effectively and fulfilling clients' and partners' cost-effective supply chain management requirements.
Creative Planning Executive
MullenLowe Group
- Carried out consumer behavior and market research on prominent industries in the MENA region, including competitive analysis and social media auditing.
- Pitched campaign ideation elements for clients after designing the most effective creative strategy and solutions with a team of five.
- Collaborated alongside large teams on award-winning marketing campaigns in the region.
- Planned events and activations for client showcases in major industries with global leaders in the market via pitching data-driven creative solutions for lead generation and brand promotion.
- Assisted with the creative direction and ideation for award-winning viral advertising content while greatly exceeding client expectations (MENA).
Media Planning Executive
Magna
- Carried out client research and prepared proposal content for industry leaders in the region.
- Collaborated with big teams to handle paid social media advertising for major companies in the GCC region.
- Expanded the development of both B2B and B2C campaigns (MENA).
Digital Marketing Executive
Exceeders Companies
- Collaborated with senior account managers, product owners, and department leads to develop and host training programs for internal and external stakeholders.
- Won awards such as the top scoring lead generator company-wide with over 100 qualified clients from both the public and private sectors.
- Carried out lead qualifications and account management utilizing an integrated marketing ecosystem, marketing tools, and communications.
- Created website and online PR editorial content in both English and Arabic languages for an extended partner network of 40+ service providers.
- Took charge of handling all the company's social media marketing practices successfully as a team lead.
- Organized and managed major events for company clients and partners across the GCC and MENA region. (e.g. GITEX, region-wide and national forums, product launches).
- Handled the marketing department's supply chain management requirements.
- Maintained great rapport with all stakeholders and delivered work completion reports on a weekly basis.
Project History
Online Digital Marketing Portfolio
Worked with clients across the B2B and B2C industries on 360-degree digital marketing requirements with a range of expertise that spans various markets in both the public and private sectors.
The portfolio contains a list of works in the digital marketing field covering:
• SEO / SEM / SMM
• Web design and optimization
• Mobile marketing
• Branding
• Copywriting
• Content management, creation, and strategy
• Marketing communications, PR
• Influencer marketing
• Account management
• Supply-chain management, leadership, and negotiation
• Project management
• eCommerce
• Digital sales and remarketing
• Advertising
• Performance management and analytics
• Programmatic marketing
• Team training, product briefing, and team management
• Market research and social listening
• Integrated omnichannel campaign management
• Budget planning, optimization, and reporting
Region: USA, MENA, GCC
Purple Steps: Pathway to STEM by IBM
Student recruitment was led by the client center team, who recruited more than 50 registered participants from four universities across the UAE in record time.
Women contribute immensely in every field of today’s world; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is no exception.
As published by the Times Higher Education and the UAE’s The National, ‘the number of female students in the country enrolling in STEM subjects is far higher than in many other countries, such as the UK, Canada, Germany, and France. The study found 77% of students taking computer science classes in the UAE are female–ranking well above 19.8% in Canada, 17.9% in France, and 17.1% in the UK’.
IBM’s Middle East and Pakistan HR leader and a team of volunteers from various designations came together to address the challenge of the scarcity of women, specifically Emirati women, not just in careers of STEM, but in multinational organizations under STEM roles. We set the call to action throughout our design thinking workshops and got to work, planning a hackathon allowing university students across the UAE to address the issues via IBM technologies.
Rani: Float! The Coca-Cola Company
We pushed the brand's latest long-term vision over a consistent brand voice by arranging content that supported our marketing goals and market segment interests.
A social media calendar was developed to help allocate our brand and team assets—both human and digital—effectively. We attempted to include our region’s national holidays and annual days alongside trendy international days. This included conducting market research, hiring influencers from the region, and creating market-specific media productions to try and develop more engagement.
Some of the key topics highlighted:
• Family
• Organic lifestyles
• Social responsibility, e.g., female empowerment
• Education
• Entertainment (music, TV, movies, games)
• Sports and activities
• Traveling
• National days: regional achievements and cultural and religious traditions
Education
Master's Degree in Marketing
University of Liverpool - United Kingdom
Certification in Leadership
Stanford University Graduate School of Business - United States of America
Bachelor's Degree in Audio and Video Production
SAE Institute - United Arab Emirates, Dubai
Bachelor's Degree in Marketing
American University of Beirut - Lebanon, Beirut
Certifications
Adobe CS Suite
Adobe
CPR, AED, First Aid
Aspen Medical
Google Ads Certification
Google Analytics Certification
Enterprise Design Thinking
IBM
Data Science for Business
IBM
Microsoft Ethics and Integrity Training
Microsoft
Facebook Blueprint
Meta
HubSpot Content Marketing Certification
Hubspot
Digital Marketing Certification
Udacity
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Scrum.org
Skills
Core
Social Media Strategy, Social Media Management, Branding, Paid Advertising, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Marketing, Digital Marketing, Strategic Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Design, Social Media Content, Organic Social Media, Social Media Advertising, Social Media Platforms, Email Campaigns, Copywriting, Sales, Lead Generation, Brand Strategy, Creative Advertising, Social Media Analytics, Mobile Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Mobile Advertising, SMS Marketing
Platforms & Tools
Advertising Tools & Platforms
Other
Digital Media, Creative Strategy, Web Design, Market Research, Brand Building, Competitive Analysis, Media, Music, Communication Strategy, Communication, Business, Social Ad Design, Google, Negotiation, Contract Negotiation, SAP Supply Chain Management (SCM), Training, Account Management, Strategy, Advertising, Creative Direction, Leadership, Statistics, Audio Engineering, Video Animation, Graphic Design, Video Editing, Finance, Financial Controlling, Project Management, Healthcare, Promotion, Consumer Behavior, Spotify Ads
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