Maya Tayara, previously serving as Head of Client Engagement and Growth of dentsu MENA, has been pivotal in driving the agency’s mission to strengthen client partnerships and scale businesses to new heights. With over 15 years of experience, Maya has demonstrated exceptional leadership and strategic vision. Under Maya's guardianship, iProspect MENA is poised to continue its trajectory of excellence in fusing brand and performance to accelerate growth.

Fiona Black, who previously held the role of Integrated Client Growth Lead of Carat, has been instrumental in the agency’s remarkable growth over recent years, positioning Carat as a top five player in the market. With over two decades of experience working in the industry, with 10 in region, Black’s previous experience includes key leadership positions across holding group agencies both in the UAE and the United Kingdom. In her new role, she will continue to work towards outcomes that build modern brands, increase brand power and deliver societal impact.

Black and Tayara’s apointments also strengthens the groups dedication to DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion).

Alistair will work closely across Carat’s client portfolio to reframe business challenges, marrying data and empathy to put the customer at the center in order to create mutually beneficial experiences. He will also leverage new partnerships, platforms, and networks to design practices that magnify the number of relationships and touchpoints for connecting with customers.

Commenting on his appointment, Ramzy Abouchacra, CEO, Carat MENA, said, “We’re delighted to welcome Alistair to the team. He’s a passionate and highly respected digital leader whose expertise will be invaluable in supporting our clients to respond to today’s ever-evolving market. He will elevate how we build the most effective strategies and solutions, maximizing how digital capability, data, and technology can solve the challenges of today and deliver a new understanding of how to perform even better for tomorrow.”

With over 15 years of experience working in the industry, Alistair brings a wealth of expertise to Carat, having previously worked at Tealium and holding various leadership roles at Criteo, including Managing Director for the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. His extensive background also includes serving as the Regional Head of Digital Media at Initiative Media (MCN), working with renowned clients across verticals, including Majid Al Futtaim, AlShaya, Azadea, Emirates, Bayut, Property Finder, Etisalat, Samsung, Careem and Johnson & Johnson.

Alistair added, "In an era where data is the new frontier, I'm thrilled to join Carat and empower brands to navigate the fast-changing landscape of data-driven marketing through technology and understanding customer behavior. Together, we'll harness the power of insights to forge strategic partnerships, elevate our consulting capabilities, and propel our clients to the forefront of growth."

He completed his master’s in marketing in India and currently resides in the UAE, which he considers his home away from home. Outside of work, Shubham is a thrill-seeker engaging in activities such as skydiving, scuba diving, karting, and more.

Why did you choose this career path?

At the start of my internship, my role involved cold-calling but I quickly realized that this wasn’t the best fit for me. Fortunately, I was able to transition to managing social media pages where my primary responsibility was creating and posting organic content. I found this work to be much more enjoyable and it helped me recognize my passion for a career in social media management.

How did you land this job?

A colleague referred me. Even though he did not end up taking the position, he saw potential in me and believed I was a great fit. I went through an intense interview process and was able to secure the opportunity. This taught me that making connections at work is valuable, and can open doors and create opportunities for growth in one’s career.

How do you compare your work life vs what you imagined it would be?

I had certain expectations of what my work life would look like, including dressing up daily, following a fixed schedule, back-to-back meetings, and traveling to new places for business. However, my current job is much more dynamic. Some days are hectic and require working after hours, while other days offer more flexibility and allow me to indulge in binge-watching my favorite series. Despite the unexpected nature of my role, I’m content, and happy, and look forward to what the future holds.

What do you wish you had been told before you started working?

Don’t go after a job description – your role may change as a company evolves; multi-tasking will make you average. [Also], whatever you learn in school does not necessarily apply in corporate life. Grades are not of utmost importance and it’s okay not to know everything! And most importantly, learn EXCEL!

What is the best thing someone could tell you about your work?

That I make things look easy, always have a plan in place for any task, am easily approachable, am a problem-solver, and tend to build a positive work environment – a team player you can always rely on!

What is the worst thing someone could tell you about your work?

That I do not save files on a shared drive, pay a lot of attention to detail leading to increased ETAs for tasks, and ask too many questions.

What’s the most valuable lesson you have learned at work so far?

Many, but the top 2 would be:

1. Learning never stops. It is important to continue to learn and develop new skills. The digital industry is constantly evolving, and staying up-to-date with new technologies and trends is essential to remain competitive.
2. Take it easy. Not everything needs to be done on the same day. If it is always urgent, it really isn’t. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is more of a personal responsibility.

Who’s your role model?

Steve Harvey! I love this guy and can watch his videos on a loop. The way he has diversified his life with successful talk shows, international best-sellers, and entrepreneurial conferences while being an exceptionally good entertainer, inspires me a lot. I also admire my mentors and teachers who have guided me at different stages of life.

If not this, what would you be doing?

I like working with numbers, so it would probably be around banking, finance, and stock markets.

What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?

The same thing that I do now but in a completely modernized manner. This could include hyper-targeted ads backed with AI-generated content; launching products in the Metaverse; setting up virtual stores; drone advertising; humanoid robot influencers, etc., all while being able to work remotely from the comfort of my home, using my personal mobile device.

The 30 Under 30 ranking was first published in Communicate's Q1 2023 print issue.

"Hunger Station has grown from an early leader in the food and service delivery space to the leading platform in the Kingdom, with the largest customer base and widest selection of restaurants and vendors. It was imperative our ideas brought both simplicity and relevance into Hunger Station’s media activation,” said Ramzy Abouchacra, CEO of Carat MENA, in a statement. “By understanding the key audience groups and their motivations, as well as key touch points, we were able to show how we can engage more with relevant audiences to create deeper emotional bonds with customers,” he continued.

Ahmad Haidar, Managing Director of Dentsu Saudi Arabia, added, “This is a transformational win for us in the Kingdom, we are delighted that Hunger Station recognized the desire, energy, and passion of our team to deliver on their unique challenges. We can’t wait to get started.” 

As of January 2023, Carat will be responsible for all traditional above-the-line and digital media planning and buying in the Kingdom. This remit will see the media agency working closely with Hunger Station to help shape the future of food delivery across the region and beyond.

Mohammed Jifri, Chief Marketing Officer at Hunger Station Saudi Arabia, said, “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do; we want to be more than a platform to order food, groceries, and other daily necessities. The Carat team really understood our ambition to be a place of inspiration and engagement for our audiences. We are looking forward to working together on creating deeper connections between our brand and our customers by delivering valuable media-led experiences.”

“As a tech company, we always want to make sure we are using the latest technology, driving efficiencies and reaching the right audiences at the right time. With Carat’s holistic approach to 360 media planning, we are confident we will achieve all of this and more, and we look forward to partnering with them to achieve our goals,” added Ahmed Chatila, Marketing Director at Hunger Station Saudi Arabia.

After graduating with a BA in Adverting and Marketing from Notre Dame University Louaize in Lebanon, he decided to move to Dubai, the cosmopolitan heart of the Middle East. He joined Carat Dubai in October 2018. The first account that he worked on with Carat was Mastercard, which he still works on today.

Timur loves to be surrounded by others and is always excited to meet new people. In his spare time, he likes to go cycling, discover new places, and try new food.

Why did you join this industry?

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been fascinated with ads. My after-school routine was to go on YouTube and watch commercials.

How did you land your first job?

After graduating from my university, one of my previous classmates connected with me and hired me as a Marketing Sales Coordinator at his event startup. Overall, it was a fun but challenging experience as I got exposed to various marketing and advertising tasks.

Who do you look up to?

I would say my mother, juggling between her work and being a single mom. I always look up to my mom when it comes to maintaining a work-life balance and being there for her family.

What’s the best advice you have received so far?

Don’t be afraid to speak up. This is the advice I received from my managers during my first year at Carat. It has helped me grow courage and build client relationship and trust.

What’s the best advice you have given so far?

Be organized! No matter what industry you are in, it will help you save time, improve the flow of communication between you and your team, and improve your quality of work.

How do you feel about the stigma sometimes associated with Millennials and Gen Z?

Stigma is a very strong word and I don’t believe there is anything of that sort. However, I know there are big difference in the way of thinking, adapting, and flexibility!

What do you think you specifically bring to the organization you work for?

Good attitude, positive energy, and team spirit.

What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned at work?

How to prioritize my tasks and meet client expectations.

What’s the most rewarding thing about your job?

Diversity and collaboration. Every member of my team comes from a different nationality. This enables us to look at things from different perspectives.

What’s the most frustrating thing about your job?

Delivering the best outcome given the tight deadlines we all face in the industry.

If not this, what would you be doing?

I have always been passionate about traveling the world. If I had to choose a different career path, I would be a pilot.

Would you start your own venture in the future?

Definitely, this is something I have always thought about doing once I have gained the proper experience and expanded my network.

The account was previously managed by Omnicom’s PHD since 2015.

With a mandate to build brand equity of Dubai Parks and Resorts as a go-to leisure and entertainment experience, Carat will target residents of and visitors to Dubai on a regional and global level. In a statement, the agency says, that its strength in strategic planning across diverse markets with unique challenges, superior client servicing and the ability to understand the brand’s deeper business strategy in order to deliver growth through media, were the key factors in its appointment.

Maya Chams, business director, Carat, says in a statement: “We have built strong credibility with Dubai Parks and Resorts by delivering on previous campaigns for Legoland Dubai. It has always been a pleasure to work with them, and being awarded the brief for the entire portfolio is testament to both the team, our understanding of the target audience and command of content, data, technology and distribution.”

Tarek Daouk, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network MENA, adds: ”We are delighted to be given the opportunity to expand our relationship with Dubai Parks and Resorts. The team is excited about this next chapter and to be a part of the brand’s media transformation and their quest to be one of the leading leisure and entertainment destinations in the world.”

What does global success look like for Carat over the next year?

Maintaining the momentum that we have across the network, winning and retaining clients as well equipping the network to redefine the service we offer to our clients. The acquisition of Merkle into Dentsu Aegis network in 2016, gives Carat the capability to put real people at the heart of media planning and activation, this takes our insight and planning leadership position to the next level. 2017 is about continuing to take our clients on a journey of the value we can bring as their partner, winning new ones, and accelerating our product and people transformation.

You have been in the job for just over a year now; what has been your greatest achievement to date as the global CEO of Carat?

Any leader in the digital economy needs to skate two paths, deliver momentum in the short term whilst ensuring we are transforming for the future. I am proud of the progress we have made against these two objectives. 2016 was our most successful year ever in terms of client retention and new business billings combined; we retained our number one quality status within RECMA and made great strides in redefining the blend of capabilities we have across the network, particularly in the area of data.

How does Carat stay relevant in a media landscape where disruption is the new norm?

We have always invested ahead of our competitors in consumer insight with our proprietary insight and planning system, the Consumer Connection System. Successful businesses in the digital economy are people-led; putting people at the center of decision-making has never been more important. We will continue to focus on ensuring that Carat’s consumer insight product is market leading and that we can plan an activate people with greater fidelity than ever before.

How does an agency need to pivot or operate in 2017 and 2018 to survive?

First and foremost having a handle on where our clients need to pivot to and then having a plan for how we partner with them to support them as they go on that journey.

What is the key to winning new business in today’s media landscape?

People spend more time in media than ever before. Media is now a much bigger strategic growth driver for all businesses. What unites all new business pitches is that every client is looking to accelerate growth, success comes from listening hard, understanding the broader business challenges and formulating a partnership that is win-win for the client and the agency.

What is your take on fake news and what does it mean for the future of media?

This is an ongoing issue for the industry as a whole affecting journalists, publishers, agencies, brands and most importantly the consumers of this content. As technology continues to evolve and more people have access to easily and freely create web content, it is an area that the industry will need to be ever more vigilant about. This is likely to come down to a dual response of regulation and technology. The big players such as Google and Facebook are likely to face tighter external control moving forward, being treated as publishers and therefore having to operate under similar publishing regulation as the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK. Advertisers will also demand tighter control of content by the big media owners, and so I predict there will be more investment in technology to help identify and block fake content.

How will AI and automation impact media agencies?

As with all businesses, there is certain work that can easily be automated. AI = quicker, smarter decisions. We have a Data Innovation Centre in Singapore from where we are running a number of pilots. These include how we apply machine learning to media planning, removing the time consuming, easily automated day-to-day tasks such as competitive work, and allowing us to focus on more strategic questions that can drive greater value.

The biggest challenges that you are facing at the moment?

The biggest challenge we face is repositioning ourselves in the value chain. Legacy within our industry defines value as “cheap media”, whereas we know that the lens in which value is defined has changed. Media has never been more important to brands and businesses, our ability to really understand people’s needs and behaviors has never been greater. The consumer no longer follows a linear journey and the digital economy means consumers are ever closer to the point of transaction. Being able to understand this and translate this into strategies for clients that support their growth agenda, this is where we see the value of agencies evolving. Our challenge is that there is huge inconsistency in how clients pitch for a media agency. We find ourselves often compromised, underselling the value we believe our discipline can bring to conform to legacy pitch processes.

Facebook and measurement: what does the future hold?

As a group, measurement has always been a topic high on our agenda and we have made significant investments from pioneering pilot projects with media owners to acquisitions of companies that bring in the best talent to drive this agenda forward within the group. We believe there is no unique approach regarding measurement.  Although we highly value and strongly strive for third party solutions whenever possible, we are open to other forms of measurement as long as media owners bring more transparency on the calculation of their metrics. Our contribution at the Facebook Measurement council is the representation of our engagement and our desire to help the industry to move forward in the right direction in the interests of our clients.

We believe that measurement is a collective responsibility which should be discussed by different key stakeholders in our industry: media owners, advertisers, agency holding groups, research companies and advertising business organizations in order to lead to the definition of a standard for online measurement.

Sean O’Brien CEO Carat APAC, says in a statement, “We are very pleased to start the year with the win of this prestigious account out of our Singapore hub for the global Carat network. Our strength in strategic thinking, quality of product and consistency across markets enabled us to win this business. It’s also testament to Dentsu Aegis Network’s collaborative brand value that we have expanded from the pre-existing iProspect relationship. We’re looking forward to working with the team at Standard Chartered Bank and their agency partners.”

Carat’s remit was due to its partnership with DWTC’s creative agency, Tribe, however, since that partnership ended, DWTC moved its corporate account, says an industry source.

With more than 70 million people, Iran is one of the largest and fastest growing countries in the Middle East. The newly formed and exclusive Carat-ICA alliance aims to add value to both clients and media stakeholders.

With offices in Tehran and Dubai, ICA has insight into the opportunities available and the necessary marketing research expertise. The Tehran office has 35 dedicated media, creative and digital  specialists. Existing clients already building their presence  in the market include Reebok, Dr. Wolff, Native Union and Telda.

Speaking of the agreement, Michael Nederlof, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network, MENA says in a press statement: “We have been doing business with ICA under the paramenters of the pre-existing sanctions and regulations since January this year and moving forward we forecast a bright future for the Iranian market.The newly formed Carat-ICA  partnership has the on-the-ground capabilities and a ‘Generation Y’ team of digital and media experts. This, paired with our network’s global resources, skills and knowledge, will allow us to support the needs of our clients in Iran and add another key growth market to our offering.”

Ben Karmi, managing director Carat-ICA adds: “We were looking at ways we could further evolve and improve our offering to both new and existing clients. Carat’s, and the wider Dentsu Aegis Network’s, focus on innovation and their entrepreneurial spirit made them the perfect fit.