Fun facts:
My full name sounds like Donna Karan when said out loud fast. (I know you are saying my name out loud).
Danah means white pearl in Arabic.
I am left-handed.
I paint abstract art.
I once described my role as a creative strategist with memes...senior management finally understood what I do.
I am a one-woman-show; I develop creative strategies for a non-creative industry...insurance; I create stories through copywriting in two languages, English and Arabic; I oversee the creative and art direction and dabble with execution. I also, oversee and manage campaign development as well as develop social media strategies and create brand positioning.
I can think of the big picture just as well as getting up close and personal with translating abstract ideas into successful creative business solutions.
I took Design Thinking courses in 2019 and became a facilitator for AXA Gulf in 2020.
I write articles on my LinkedIn page on various professional topics with my personal take on them. https://www.linkedin.com/in/danah-karam-21802624/detail/recent-activity/posts/
Projects
- AXA Travel Insurance...Ready for friendly skies once againBrief: How to sell travel insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic? Developed strategy and positioning for travel insurance campaign along with creating an emotional storyline around two main factors; the ability to travel again and going back home to see your family. The Gulf region has many expats who have been stuck during the lockdown and were not able to travel and see their families. With travel restrictions easing, I wanted to create an emotional positioning for travel insurance that talks
- AXA 24x7 Home Assistance ServiceBrief: Raise awareness about Home Assistance, a 24x7 emergency repair benefit as part of the home insurance plan. Developed storyline, script and art direction, and storyboarding. Decided to go with a funny take so that it's easier for customers to understand the benefit and move away from heavy corporate/insurance jargon.
- Pulp Juice Product LaunchBrief: Develop branding, product name, and the storyline for a new juice. Came up with the name, Sunset Rush. The juice looked like a sunset and it tasted like one if a sunset could be palatable. Developed the storyline and product description to give customers the opportunity to taste something no one has ever tasted or will ever taste.
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Work history
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Creative StrategistAXA Gulf
Dubai, United Arab EmiratesFull Time
Work transversally with all product verticals across the four markets (UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman), along with brand & communication team to proactively develop creative strategies to deliver against key marketing objectives, and align with internal stakeholders and cross-functional parties as well as anticipate future business changes and challenges and implement revised strategies and plans.
Develop tactical and promotional campaigns, BTL and ATL, based on business needs and seasonality.
Develop creative concepts that meet business targets and drive business growth.
Define problems in a simple, clear manner and apply critical thinking skills to arrive at solutions for the varied nature of stakeholder requests.
Conceptualise, design, and confidently and effectively present strategically sound, brilliant creative strategy and proposals to senior management with strong use of visual storytelling.
Experience developing strategically grounded, brilliant creative campaigns (small, medium, and large) applied in both digital, including social media, and offline media.
Develop concepts for internal and external communication that are in line with the company's objectives.
Leverage the presence of AXA in the region for the past 70 years with an emphasis on localisation of content to increase brand awareness through the production of a brand video.
Write the story of AXA Gulf with the brand positioning of Know You Can and reinforcing the culture of AXA on a corporate and product-level through the production of a corporate video.
Expertly leverage brand promise and purpose to build trust and affinity with customers.
Lead the creative direction whilst working closely with internal stakeholders (product marketing, brand & communication, digital, sales, and HR), with product marketing, brand & communication, and the digital team.
Act as the brand guardian – ensuring all marketing materials are on-brand.
Apply creative skillset to reinvent the way people connect with company products, brand promise, and image.
Develop brand identity for new and existing platforms and departments.
Work with external agencies to brief and direct campaign and content strategy (social media and advertising agencies).
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Regional Marketing Operations ManagerAXA Gulf
- Dubai, United Arab EmiratesFull Time
Managed creative team (in-house, agency, freelancers) and ensured projected were delivered on time.
Reviewed and validated all creative output to maintain consistency by following brand guidelines; including visual cohesion, readability, messaging, and tone.
Improved and simplified creative processes, approach, coordination, and implement changes.
Involved in the budgeting process for external resources, and campaigns.
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Skills
- Creative Advertising
- Creative Strategy
- Advertising Copywriting
- B2B B2C
- Branding Positioning
- Marketing Campaigns
- Creative Storytelling
- Social Media
- Creative Leadership
- Team Leadership
Education
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Bachelor of Arts; Communications and Cultural Studies Bachelor of Arts Media and InformationAmerican University in Dubai
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The first batch of Journalism graduates.
Chosen to be part of a group to represent Journalism and Digital students to take part in an exchange programme with the Public Diplomacy students of the University of Southern California (Apr 2010).
Dubai International Film Festival Young Journalist Award, Dubai, UAE
(Dec 2007)
Shortlisted to cover stories and write film reviews that were published daily during the festival duration. The programme objective was to give aspiring and talented young writers the platform to gain first-hand journalism experience.