Yousef Tuqan Tuqan is one of the region’s most experienced and respected digital marketing experts, with a diverse agency career in the UAE that spans over 15 years. Throughout this time Yousef has led the digital strategy and delivery of some of the Middle East’s most iconic brands, including twofour54, Dubai Shopping Festival, and Majid Al-Futtaim Malls. Yousef is the most outspoken and visible evangelist for the role of digital marketing in the region. He is a regular university guest lecturer and keynote speaker, and is a frequent contributor to regional and international publications on digital marketing in the Middle East. As CEO of Flip Media – the region’s largest digital agency – Yousef has been at the forefront of the region’s most successful online initiatives, leading a global team of 120 staff across four offices worldwide. Yousef is an avid marathon runner, a member of MENSA and the international branding think-thank, Medinge, as well as a Board Member of the International Advertising Association's UAE Chapter. He is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the charity Gulf For Good. Want to know more? Read our interview with Yousef.
I love it. I have lived and worked in Dubai since 1996, and I consider it my hometown. Dubai's got it all. It's a great place to do business and a wonderful place to live. It's got the best of nearly everything – from sports to shopping to great food. And whenever my wife and I need a change of view, it's easy to hop on a direct flight to nearly anywhere in the world.
Much of my time is spent developing new business relationships, and I'm very lucky to have an amazing management team in the office, and so I spend very little time in the office during the week. You'll often find me on FZ001 to Doha by 07:30, or driving to and from Abu Dhabi. However, when I'm in the office, I'm always in by 9:00, and I usually try to bring different groups of people together for short 15-minute meetings, be it a quick catch-up on finance or an update on HR.
A passion for the web. We work in an emerging industry, and almost none of us has a degree in "digital marketing." Flippers have come to our agency through a lot of career paths, including fashion design, accounting, and even zoology. Provided they are willing to learn and believe in what we're trying to achieve at Flip, they can make a success of it.
We work in a young industry with a limited talent pool, so it's very hard to find people with mature skills in the local market, and we generally prefer not to hire from overseas. Also, given the scarcity of experienced digital people, their salary expectations sometimes are significantly beyond what we would consider reasonable. We invest a lot of effort in training and developing our staff, and we honestly consider them to be the best in the business.
I would advise them to use every summer during their college education to perform internships in agencies; it's a great way for them to develop their network. I would also advise them to try different roles within agencies, as it shows future employers that they are experienced and truly committed to working in advertising. Many of our staff began their relationship with us as interns, and they have turned out to be some of our most committed and passionate hires.
I am so proud of everything we have achieved at Flip to date. We have grown to one of the largest agencies in the Middle East, we were able to weather the financial storm of 2008, and we have always set the benchmark for digital agencies in the region. However, our landmark moment was the acquisition of the agency by The Publicis Group in February 2012. It took a lot of hard work to get us there, but it will provide us with the knowledge, the network and the clients to take Flip to the next level.
Thanks to the web, it's very easy to stay up to date with everything happening in real-time. I also spend a lot of time in conferences and industry events, both locally and internationally. It's a great way to share knowledge and see things from a different perspective.
The Middle East has definitely evolved when it comes to HR policies and practices. Employers, especially service-oriented businesses like us, live and die by the quality of their people. In a competitive market like ours, it has pushed all to put more effort into how we train, develop and grow our talent.
I think it's very important to be a responsible business. From pro bono work with nonprofits to recycling and energy management, there are hundreds of things we can do to benefit the communities around us without hurting our bottom-line, and employees are increasingly attracted to companies that do good. Do good; it's easier than you think.
