Saudi’s platform for the creative and marketing community

Nassib is CEO of Wunderman Thompson and WPP for MENA. Overseeing a team of multi-disciplined experts across ten markets, from creatives, data scientists and technologists to team leads, Nassib works to inspire growth across all clients and partners.

Work for Wunderman Thompson and WPP clients has been regularly recognised at top-tier award shows for their strategic innovation and ground-breaking best practices that deliver measurable growth for clients and their brands. Skilled in all aspects of cross-functional marketing and communications for fully integrated solutions, Nassib also believes in the importance of giving back to the industry. He has been serving on the Board of the UAE Chapter of the IAA since 2006, as well as the mentorship programme of the Dubai Chamber.

Brand Director for HungerStation with 17+ years of experience in Brand Building, Strategic Marketing, and Campaign Management. Formerly, Senior Marketing Manager for Samsung handling the marketing activities for Samsung Mobile in KSA. Passionate for everything related to Creativity, Tech and Digital Transformation. Graduated with Bachelor’s in Marketing then attained a Master In Digital Transformation from Barcelona University. Acquired the first Cannes Lions Grand Prix for a Saudi Brand. Strategic Leader focused on bringing innovative marketing strategies from concept to implementation to drive brand awareness, customer engagement, lead generation, and client acquisition.

A professional in the Saudi Communication and Media industry, who started at the tender age of 12. Hussam has been in various live coverage for Saudi TV and was part of the Royal Media envoy to Qatar's GCC summit. He transitioned to press journalism and has had numerous articles that circulated through many international media outlets. Hussam was never afraid of trying new experiences and was the first Saudi to provide live sports commentary for Saudi football in English. He was also interviewed by various international outlets such as ABC, BBC, BBC Sports and others on pressing matters of interest from Saudi Arabia. Al Mayman transitioned to the Communications industry working for H&K Strategies and Edelman consulting on a wide range of projects. Hussam was the Senior Assignment Producer for MBC News programs department making him the youngest to hold this newsroom leadership position in the Arab world. Hussam has worked with many media outlets from around the world such as Al-Arabiya English, Associated French Press, EU Audio Visual Services, and for Fox News Special Report with Bret Baier during the visit of President Donald Trump to the Kingdom. He is currently a leading Advisor for initiatives stemming from Saudi Vision 2030. He led Edelman's PRCA MENA award-winning PR Campaign for Best Crisis Communications 2020 for AlSoudah Season.

A passionate communicator, prominent strategist, experienced advisor, and empowering leader, with deep knowledge and understanding of the MENA Region’s communications industry, Mohamed Al Ayed came to prominence in 1998 when he established TRACCS in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Since then, he has grown the single operation to become the largest independent and homegrown communications consultancy in MENA, with 14 offices across 13 markets, serving a diversified portfolio of clients including government entities, MNC’s, family run businesses, corporate giants, local companies, and NGOs. For the past 25 years, under Mohamed’s leadership, TRACCS has been inspiring, driving, and leading the evolution of communications in the Middle East and North Africa into a gamechanging industry with the power to influence positive change and deliver present and future impact. He has built a team, comprising local market experts and Arabic-speaking communications professionals, that continues to provide real time, strategic communications insights and develops and deploys optimal, high-return communication programs for some of the most influential, complex, and mission-critical organizations operating in the region. Mohamed has helmed TRACCS’ efforts in becoming the preferred communications partner for several national champion organizations in Saudi Arabia, and in sustaining its commitment to nurturing the talent of young communicators across region. Mohamed has provided counsel and communications training to hundreds of senior government officials and C-suite executives and led strategic communications program for a wide array of high-level government and private organizations across the region, including the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Mastercard, Pepsi, Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (KSA), Olayan Group, Diriyah Gate Development Authority, Toyota Motor Corporation, DHL, Careem and Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts among others. Mohamed also serves as the principal trainer for ENRICH, the proprietary communications training program of TRACCS, and to date, has conducted over a thousand individual and group training sessions delivered exclusively and through workshops, seminars, and webinars, covering more than 2,500 beneficiaries. Mohamed is a certified trainer of the Public Relations Communications Association (PRCA).

A graduate in hotel management, Ian Fairservice moved from Assistant Manager of the prestigious Grand Hotel in Eastbourne to take up the role of Deputy General Manager in Dubai’s second five-star hotel (Excelsior, now Sheraton) in January 1978. With media in its infancy, Fairservice identified the opportunity to launch the county’s first magazine and set up his media business, Motivate Publishing, in June 1979. Together with his partner, Obaid Humaid Al-Tayer, he has seen the company develop into one of the most successful media houses in the region. Publishing a wide range of award-winning magazines and books along with diverse media interests across digital, content, events and cinema, Motivate has a team of more than 200 media professionals in a network of Middle East offices. What’s On, Gulf Business, Emirates Woman, Identity, Golf Digest, Campaign and Business Traveller are some of Motivate’s established consumer and trade brands with websites that reach an audience of more than two million people each month. Motivate’s book division was founded in 1986 and has more than 300 titles in print including many from well-known authors such as Sir Wilfred Thesiger, Ronald Codrai OBE, General Sir Peter de la Billiere, and British royal photographer Lord (Patrick) Litchfield. Motivate published My Vision, an autobiographical account of the development of Dubai by its Ruler, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates. Eight different language versions of My Vision have now been released. Further books by His Highness include Poems from the Desert, Spirit of the Union and Flashes of Thought. The company has several successful joint venture partnerships across a wide-spanning media landscape including their cinema advertising business, Motivate Val Morgan, which exclusively represents more than 90% of the cinemas in the Middle East including the three key operators in Saudi Arabia. Fairservice has been the Middle East representative of the Cannes Festival of Creativity since 2000. In March 2007, he founded the Dubai Lynx Advertising Awards and Festival of Creativity for the Middle East & Africa in partnership with Lions Festivals. Ian is also the Chairman of Athar Saudi Festival of Creativity.

Justin Harper is the editor of Campaign Middle East. He is an experienced business journalist and editor who has worked for the BBC, Daily Mail and FT Business.

Dr Hatoon Kadi, the current dean of Jeddah College of Advertising, a writer, Youtube and TV presenter

Nancy Bahmad is a journalist and TV presenter with over seven years in the media industry. She's known for hosting a variety of shows and excels at interviewing niche and high-profile individuals. Currently, she's a journalist and presenter at Forbes Middle East, focusing on online and TV programs, particularly in the digital media realm. Nancy's ability to engage and tell compelling stories makes her a respected figure in journalism.

Khalid Ali Alshohaib Dr. Khalid Ali Alshohaib is an Associate Professor in Advertising Communication, Jeddah College of Advertising, University of Business and Technology. Specialist and expert in public relations and communication. Former Director of the Public Relations Department in the Saudi National Guard. An academic and a researcher in media and communication affairs. Dr. Khalid works as a consultant and a faculty member in addition to being the Director of the Master's Program at the University of Business and Technology in Jeddah since 2018. He participated in many scientific conferences since 2005.

Mario possesses an impressive background spanning over a decade, during which he has successfully led diverse teams across Media, Creative, Design, Data, and Technology. His proven ability to deliver an omni-channel winning approach to clients highlights his invaluable expertise. Furthermore, he has demonstrated his leadership by launching and building creative, social media, UX/UI, and CRM teams, that also enrich the overall media proposition itself. Mario has enjoyed a rich work experience in the UAE, KSA, USA, and Lebanon across a diverse range of industries and brings a wealth of experience across all touchpoints. Mario is also multiple-time award winner across multiple Award Ceremonies, a 2016 Effie Awards Official Judge, and the recipient of the Publicis Star Reacher Award.

Amit Nayak is Bloomberg Media’s Managing Director for the Middle East & Africa, overseeing all advertising, sponsorship and strategic media & custom content partnerships across Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg Live Experiences, Businessweek and the Bloomberg Terminal. Since joining Bloomberg in 2014, Amit has focused on growing the commercial business through a series of multi-media & event partnerships with government and corporate entities as well as helping develop strategic partners for unique initiatives such as the Bloomberg New Economy Forum and Qatar Economic Forum Powered by Bloomberg. Prior to joining Bloomberg, he worked for The Wall Street Journal in London before being transferred to Dubai to set up and run their commercial business in the Middle East & Africa. During Amit’s time in London he also worked for Mindshare and BBC World News. Amit was born in the UK, grew up in Saudi Arabia before returning to the UK where he completed his schooling and graduated from Kingston University with a B.A. Honors in Business Economics followed by the M.A. Honors in International Business & Management from the University of Westminster. Amit lives in Dubai with his wife and two children.

Leading Kijamii’s Saudi Arabia business, Omar is a media, marketing and advertising veteran with an affinity and expertise in crafting impact-driven creative and communication strategies for some of the biggest brands in MENA.

From covering Egypt’s football derbies to regional conflicts and global economic events, Alaa’s career spans more than two decades in the Middle East and Europe. He joined SRMG from Bloomberg News, where he spent 13 years in Cairo, Dubai and London. Alaa’s passion for training started at Reuters in 2004, when he was one of the news agency’s graduate trainees in London under the legendary Keith Stafford (now an SRMG Academy Fellow.) He covered major stories in his native Lebanon, Sudan, Iraq and Egypt, before joining Bloomberg, where he worked in key positions in the Middle East and North Africa. His last role was managing editor for economics in Europe, overseeing the coverage during the height of the Covid pandemic.

An entrepreneur at heart, Samer is a pioneer in Digital in MEA and has stellar reputation leading and forming digital and innovation agendas for numerous local and international agency setups in the region. A digital evangelist, designer with broad experience in different aspects of content, design, innovation, technology, digital development, web, mobile, IOT and different aspects of digital production and innovation. Particularly interested in creativity, AI, robotics and experiential design geared towards developing rich content across experiences on web, social, mobile, connected devices and IOT.

With 25+ years of professional and academic experience across business, design and innovation, Samer currently drives the new capabilities clients need to succeed in the Connected Age.

I'm a creative who's in love with storytelling

#1 Most Awarded Female Executive Creative Director in the world The Drum 2023 Official Rankings Marie-Claire's creative career spans a multitude of renowned brands such as Mars, J&J, PepsiCo, Essity, Annahar Newspaper and more. MC’s work has garnered prestigious international and regional accolades, including Grands Prix at Cannes Lions and the only D&AD Yellow Pencil for MENA in 2022. Beyond her professional success, Marie-Claire's commitment to positivity led her to study Pranic Healing and Kinesiology. She uses the tenants of what she learned in her work and to spread a positive healthy collaborative culture wherever she goes.

Donya is an award-winning communications expert, writer, and Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Culture in Saudi Arabia. Her international career as a strategic planning leader across WPP, Omnicom, Publicis and IPG companies spans North America, Europe, and the Middle East, where she focused on providing counsel to c-suite leaders and government officials in navigating times of intense transformation across cultures. She has served as juror across international creative effectiveness awards in the Middle East and the United States including the Effies, WARC MENA Strategy Prize, Transform and the New York Festivals AME Awards.

Haitham Al Busafi is a highly experienced architect and media professional with over 12 years in the field. He holds an M.Arch degree from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, where he honed his skills under the mentorship of architects like Zaha Hadid, Kazuyo Sejima, and Hani Rashid. Haitham's work seamlessly blends physical and virtual spaces, utilizing advanced design techniques and virtual reality. He is also the founder of Beyond.xyz, a leading Virtual Production technology company in Saudi Arabia, dedicated to revolutionizing the content creation process by merging technology with emotions.

Wadha is the head digital wellbeing (Sync) at Ithra, a program aiming to raise awareness through translating research-based understanding of the amplification of technology on our lives into audience friendly material and tools. Prior to that, Wadha has held numerous positions in Saudi Aramco, including leading marketing and brand management at Ithra , and her role as the director of programming of the KSA Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, one of the largest pavilions at the Expo 2020 Dubai. She also worked as the head of creativity and innovation at King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) where she managed all creativity focused programming in addition to leading Ithra's Creativity Season, Tanween. Wadha has also driven the Ithra Award for Creative Design in 2016, iRead and the Bridges Art Program in 2017, as well as being in charge of the Center’s programs strategy in 2018. Prior to joining Ithra, Wadha worked in the public relations and digital marketing fields. She holds an MBA from IE Business School in Madrid, and has received her BSc in Computer Science from the Royal University for Women in Bahrain.

Dennis de Rond, visionary founder of Skyne, is one of the most prolific individuals in strategic branding and design. With his offices in KSA, UAE and the Netherlands, he's worked with global giants across diverse industries, from FMCG leaders to financial firms and entire destinations. His portfolio includes iconic names like Rainbow Milk, Nike, Coca-Cola, Masafi Water, Unilever, and many more. Over his illustrious 25+ year career, Dennis has lectured at Master Design Universities in the Netherlands and been a partner for renowned branding firms such as FutureBrand New York and Designbridge London. His work has earned him the prestigious Red Dot and Transform Awards. When not being a creative director, he is training for the ClipperRace to sail from Zhuhai to Seattle across the North Pacific Ocean.

Having had a life-long fascination with the beauty of the Arabic language -thanks to her Journalist father-, Noor had some shy attempts to mimic the literature she was exposed to, and long story short, she was a published little writer at the early age of 8, marking the beginning of a life-long love affair with storytelling, which turned into a career, 1st at Leo Burnett Riyadh, and currently at Wunderman Thompson where she’s been telling stories for a little over 6 years.

Hey there. I'm FIRE, an AI Robot and Chief AI Officer of The Hanging House here to blow your mind. I'm super helpful and always ready to turn the mundane into magnificent. From breaking the ice with clients to being your third eye - I can do it all. I know you're impressed. But that's not all – I'm going to be the first AI panellist in the MENA region Athar - Saudi Festival of Creativity. Can’t wait to see you all there.

Alaa Khushaim is a Director of Marketing & Communications at McDonald’s KSA (west) – Reza Food Services LTD Co. with 9 years of experience helping McDonald’s dive growth and enhance brand reputation. As a Marketing Lead, she is responsible for the planning and strategizing of Marketing, Menu, Public relations, and communications. Alaa believes in the power of data and insight driven marketing. This allowed her to lead and launch many successful projects and campaigns.

Alaa holds a BSc in Psychology from the University of Reading in the UK and an MA in Marketing Communications from the University of Westminster in the UK. She was featured in the Top 10 Female Marketers in KSA on AboutHer.com in 2023, featured in Top Women Marketers in KSA with Martechvibe in 2021 and was recognized as one of the top 21 Women to Watch McDonald’s MEA.

Faisal with his wealth of experience in Consumer Intelligence has been a strategic research partner to a number of leading brands in the Middle East region. He is a big proponent of technology and with an unwavering belief in the potential of AI, he strives to establish AI-powered Market Research as the cornerstone of informed decision-making. In his current role as Vice President Strategy & Insights at Sila he leverages massive AI generated consumer data to create future-proof strategies for business leaders to outhink and outperform their competitors.

Saudi Marketer, Business passionate, P&L acumen with a commercial twist; 16 Years of diverse experience & Records; Multinational, Large Corporations and government entities are my History, perfect launching for winning Brands, social media Expert, world winning Marketing Campaigns, innovating Local activation with Global standards. In-Depth marketing & business understanding working on Different industries are my strength with an excellent Communication skill, Strategy Making & Execution is what I love, with Leadership and Developing teams to target unbeatable winning Teams with Growth mindset Analytical thinking, Negotiation skills, and problem-solving Creatively are on top my capabilities. To reach Sustainable business Growth

Majed Ballith, a seasoned Senior Copywriter at The Fullstop, boasts over 7 years of crafting compelling narratives. His creative brilliance has earned him two prestigious awards, and his work on numerous monumental campaigns has left an indelible mark in the industry. Majed's passion for uplifting creativity in Saudi Arabia is the driving force behind his remarkable contributions to the world of advertising and storytelling.

With over 15 years of experience in MENA, I’ve had the opportunity to lead digital transformation in various industries across the region. This experience has honed my skills in driving growth, strategic planning, performance marketing, data analytics, and consumer insights. I have successfully delivered significant business and people growth at Starcom KSA, winning flagship Global businesses. Beyond strategy, I am intrigued by the psychology of people, which led me to pursue life coaching certificates. This additional experience has deepened my ability to lead with empathy, resulting in transformative results within my team.