I am a Contrarian Marketeer that believes in the power of Evidence based Marketing and the Power of Fundamentals. Over the past 18 years, I have worked in iconic companies like P&G, Coca-Cola and Samsung across the Eurasia, Middle East and Pakistan, managing global power house brands. Currently, I am the Chief Marketing Officer at Samsung Pakistan and Afghanistan where I lead the Marketing, Online Sales, CSR and Budgeting. I am passionate about sharing my experience and regularly teach at LUMS CCES.
Archives: Session Chair
Sheikh Adil Hussain
Currently serving as the Marketing Director at Unilever, I spearhead the Hair Care portfolio within the Beauty & Wellbeing business unit in Pakistan. More recently, I’ve served as the Chief Marketing Officer at Tapal Tea and Director Marketing at Shan Foods, iconic local brands with global reach. Across those experiences and the ones before, I have honed my skills in crafting compelling brand narratives and driving impactful marketing strategies. My extensive experience across various categories including disposable diapers, laundry, home care, dish wash, hard surface cleaning, foods, hot beverages, and beauty products has equipped me with a comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior and market dynamics.
Moreover, my active involvement in industry associations such as the Pakistan Advertisers Society, where I served on the executive council and conducted workshops on Marketing 101 and Effie case writing, coupled with my tenure as an Effie Pakistan Jury member for six consecutive years, underscores my commitment to fostering excellence and innovation within the marketing domain. Furthermore, my background as a qualified board director and my pursuit of continuous learning, exemplified by my completion of a diploma in Football Business Management from the Johan Cruyff Institute, attest to my adaptability and passion for staying abreast of emerging trends and best practices.
Fawad Ahmed
Fawad joined Unilever as a management trainee in 2005 and has done brand management & customer development roles across categories, channels and countries including a global stint based out of Singapore. He is currently leading Strategy & Transformation for Unilever Pakistan which includes building future-fit capabilities in areas of Digital Commerce (eCommerce), Digital Hub (Media), Consumer Market Insights (Market Research) and UniOps (Info Tech).
Fawad thrives in leveraging the power of people and partnerships in building interconnected ecosystems which help Unilever drive competitive growth and thought leadership when it comes to building future-fit capabilities at an enterprise level.
He is an active advocate of creating an inclusive society and volunteers his time at the Karachi Down Syndrome Program (KDSP) as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Fawad is married, has three children and has recently taken up Padel with the hope of turning it into a family sport.
Asad ur Rehman
Asad was responsible for Unilever’s Media & Digital Marketing Transformation for Middle & East North Africa, Turkey and Russia and sat on the Unilever MENA/Turkey/Russia Board. Asad has been in Dubai since 2013, prior to which he spent 6 years at the Unilever HQ in London. Earlier in his career, Asad worked for WPP/Group M in various parts of the world as Worldwide Managing Partner for Mindshare/GroupM. He managed local offices in Pakistan and Vietnam, did a global role in London, and managed regional projects in Asia and LATAM.
Asad is an award-winning marketer with accolades from D&AD, Cannes Lions, WARC, Global Effie’s, and Spikes, Lynx, Festival of Media, and MENA Effie’s. He was the Founding Chair of The Marketing Society Middle East Chapter from 2016 to 2018 and sits on the board of the IAA UAE. Asad was awarded The Marketing Society Fellowship in 2019. He also was the Effie’s Marketer of The Year in 2018.
Ali Rez
Named Creative of the Year twice by Campaign magazine, Ali Rez is the most awarded creative leader in the Middle East and currently leads creative output for the IMPACT BBDO Group across the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan region. Rez’s work has been instrumental in Impact BBDO Dubai being named the No.2 Agency In The World on the WARC report while winning 10 different Agency of the Year accolades in 2022 for bringing tremendous business success and creative excellence to the Group, and positive impact to social causes.
Rez has won more than 750 international accolades in his career spanning four continents over 20 years, which include Grands Prix at all the major shows including Cannes Lions, Clio, OneShow, Loeries, Effies, and a United Nations Peace Medal – awards which have led him to be ranked No.1 ECD in MENA and APAC on several creative rankings. He is the first jury president ever at Cannes Lions to represent the Middle East.
Moving from California, Rez currently lives in Dubai, where he is an avid mountain biker. Besides lecturing at Oxford University, Rez has exhibited at Tate UK, spoken at TEDx, and traveled to 139 countries.
Raihan Merchant
Raihan possesses 35+ years of industry leadership experience in advertising, research, digital and media industries. He has been a recipient of the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz for his contributions to the nascent industries in Pakistan. He is the visionary behind colossal successes like Coke Studio and Pakistan Super League (PSL). He is also the founder of Brainchild Communications Pakistan (previously Pakistan Media Com), Pakistan’s first and currently most profitable media agency and is frequently quoted as one of the most influential figures in Pakistani media and advertising industries.