Alexander McNabb is director at Spot On Public Relations, and is based in the agency’s Dubai headquarters. He is responsible for managing Spot On''s large-scale and strategic communications campaigns, and the agency’s key business relationships across the region. Alexander has worked with information technology, media and communications in the Middle East for over 25 years, including the past fifteen years developing marketing strategies and communications programmes for leading global brands in the Middle East. In addition to consulting a number of Arab governments, he also drives Spot On’s lively media and entertainment practice, working with clients from newspapers and magazine publishers through to celebrities such as the Black Eyed Peas, Piers Morgan, Max Clifford and Richard Branson.
Alexander is an experienced presenter and is a regular commentator on marketing and communications issues as well as emerging technology and communications trends. In his spare time he writes novels, with Olives – A Violent Romance published in 2011 and Beirut – An Explosive Thriller to be published on 1st October 2012. He blogs at Fake Plastic Souks.
1. How do you like living and working in the UAE?
I like it just fine. It’s been almost twenty years now, so I’ve seen a few changes – in attitudes as well as in the built infrastructure. Right now it’s probably one of the best places in the world to be. I like the diversity of it and the madness, although that is sadly becoming a tad more regulated. I was always attracted to the ‘laissez faire’ aspect of life in the region, that whiff of anarchy...
2. What is your average day at work like?
I get in at 7.15 and tend to spend a couple of hours writing my books or editing. I’ll usually try and squeeze a blog post in there if something catches my eye. Sometimes, when life’s busy, I’ll end up doing emails or some other work-related task, but generally morning time is book time. By about 09:30 the world has woken up. By then I’ve read the papers, scanned my RSS reader and be ready to deal with any non-urgent or large task emails. From here on it it’s a mixture of planning, meetings, campaign management and usually client management. I’ve usually got something to prepare for, a conference or interview, perhaps a workshop or other presentation we’ve taken on. Email’s quite a large element in the day and I’ll also usually dip into Twitter and RSS a few times, too, usually on the way between tasks. Client meetings and calls are also a big part of the day. I still like to get involved in interviews, particularly with travelling execs or in situations where it would add value to have me around rather than someone younger and more talented.
3. What is the most important thing you look for in new hires?
It’s a hard thing to define, but it’s a spark, an attitude. I’d much rather work with an intelligent, questioning and enquiring mind that wants to learn and get out there to get stuff done, make stuff happen. That to me is so much more important than experience or compliance. I’m always happier being questioned or challenged than being agreed with. I remember one meeting with a colleague where she turned round after I had pronounced grandly on a topic and said, “That’s so not the case.” The client at the meeting said, “Wow, young lady, that was a huge CLM right there!” She asked him what a CLM was. “Why, a Career Limiting Move! Disagreeing with the boss!” We both sat there, open-mouthed in horror. CLM my... never mind...
4. What is the biggest challenge you face in hiring talent?
Finding talent. For every 1,000 CVs we get, something like 30 will be considered for interview and perhaps 6-10 would make it through to an actual face to face. Out of that we’d get one hire. It’s hard, because we ask for a lot. We’re Arabic focused, we want intelligence and wit – good language and communication skills, an ability not only to understand and be comfortable with online media but to be able to see how you could use those media elegantly and professionally. And at the same time, we’re still looking for more traditional media skills, too. Online or offline, it’s down to being a people person. But intelligence is at a real premium.
5. What is your advice to someone looking to start their career in media and PR?
Something like 90% of CVs we receive have major grammatical errors and/or badly written cover letters. You don’t get past that filter. That might sound harsh, but if you’re putting your hopes for a career into a document and can’t proof read it, the chances are your proof reading won’t improve when you’re creating documents for clients. We’ll typically not take up form letters – if you say you’re interested in Spot On it’s worth devoting a couple of differentiated lines saying why and including some form of intelligent commentary on the agency or its clients. We’re pretty visible, so this shouldn’t actually be too hard. If you come to an interview and haven’t researched us, you’re not demonstrating that enquiring mind I was talking about. More generally, read, read and read. Read newspapers, read blogs, read books. Teach yourself or go on a course on video shooting and editing. Hone your language skills. Read more. Write. Start a blog.
6. What has been the highlight of your career?
That’s hard, there have been so many highs. Richard Branson stopping his Ferrari on the way out of the event to say thank you was pretty cool – he didn’t have to do that. Sitting for a chat with Will.i.am about music software was likewise cool, although I’m far too crusty to be a fan. I’m very proud of the work we did with the Ministry of ICT in Jordan, as well as some of the campaigns we’ve run for telco clients such as Wataniya. Listening to their competitor denouncing our campaign at a conference was a gleeful high. Some of the crisis management work we’ve done, particularly when the British media gets involved, has been pretty hairy and coming out of situations like that having negotiated them well is always an amazing feeling. But of course I can’t talk about those!
7. What do you read to keep abreast of industry developments?
The Internet, Twitter and Google Alerts.
8. How do you think the Middle East has evolved when it comes to HR policies and practices?
There has been a remarkable evolution in the way HR is handled by companies, for sure. But there is also a remarkably long way to go. There’s a hunt on for talent in the region, but you can’t always discover talent through process alone. And I think if HR has evolved, management practices haven’t necessarily changed so much. That’s obviously a sweeping generalisation, but I still meet a lot of people managed through fear rather than inspiration.
