Going places

I did my Masters in Advertising and Communications from The Institute of Business Management and started my career as a management trainee in 2009 in Brainchild Communications. Within three years I found myself leading planning and buying for National Foods along with a number of other accounts including 3M, Dubai Islamic Bank, Heinz and Ülker. These initial years at Brainchild proved instrumental in shaping my career.

In 2012, I had the opportunity to move to GroupM as a Senior Planner on the Unilever account. The year I spent there was very interesting;

I learned how to adjust to a new environment and had the opportunity for some excellent networking as well as a chance to work with the biggest FMCG in Pakistan.

I returned to Brainchild as the Head of Planning and Strategy for P&G in 2013. My main motivation for this was to have the opportunity to work beyond conventional media and lead my own planning team. It was on the P&G account that I discovered my passion for digital. When an opportunity arose to lead digital on a group level in 2015, I immediately went for it and there was no stopping after that.

When I first moved to the digital department at Brainchild, the only services we offered were digital media planning, buying and web banner development – and that too for clients we already used to work for on traditional media. With time and experience, I worked with the management team to add on social media, digital content, digital animation and apps to the range of services offered to our clients.

It is with great pride that I can say that Brainchild Digital now operates with a huge team as an end-to-end solution provider for digital, and serves not only full- service clients like Samsung, P&G and Mondelez, but also works on standalone digital assignments for clients including Visa, Etihad and Phillip Morris International (PMI).

It’s an exciting time to be part of Brainchild and as Associate Director Digital, every day brings about new challenges and learning. One day I find myself working on an SEO proposal for a tech company and the next, I am working with the content team on an educational digital video for an NGO; the work I do and the things I learn vary across the digital spectrum and ensures I never have a dull moment.

A large part of my time goes in overseeing the day-to-day operations of the department, from planning and strategy to finance and billing. This is to ensure that everything works seamlessly, with the remaining portion dedicated to business development which includes pitches for new business as well as adding on scope for existing clients.

I love my team. They are an extremely dedicated, creative and hardworking bunch of people. What excites us and keeps us going is that there is something new to learn every day. The newest and most exciting project that I am working on now is with Amina Ahmed, who has recently joined us as Digital Director. We have been further adding on digital services at Starcom and are involved in projects like web and app development, SEO and mobile marketing. A part of this progress includes digital integration, which entails training planners to become hybrid strategists, which means they can integrate both offline and online media.

It’s an exciting time to be part of Brainchild and as Associate Director Digital, every day brings about new challenges and learning. One day I find myself working on an SEO proposal for a tech company and the next, I am working with the content team on an educational digital video for an NGO; the work I do and the things I learn vary across the digital spectrum and ensures I never have a dull moment.

In my free time, I travel whenever I can. It’s my passion! I also run my own travel blog, complete with its social media accounts. It has a small, but steadily growing audience, do check it out! I write about my adventures, take my own photos and design my own graphics for its social media pages. What was initially a part time hobby has become an online platform which I manage end-to-end, I will soon be launching a travel accessories section as well, giving a bit of an e-commerce element to it. Needless to say all the experience I gain at work helps me here as well! The blog began as a hobby to get away from the hectic routine of everyday life, but now it has become something that is an important part of me. I started off by travelling to small cities in Pakistan in 2014 and within the next three years, I managed to visit over 10 countries including a Euro trip. Most of my savings pretty much go into funding my travel, but it’s been the best investment I have ever made. I have been fortunate enough to meet and make friends all over the world and have had a few crazy adventures such as ziplining in Thailand and mountain climbing in Sri Lanka. My next trip is probably Nepal since I absolutely love mountains. Can’t wait to travel and write about it!

At times it becomes quite hectic to manage my blog as well as my work schedule. It’s hard to balance these two things I am extremely passionate about, especially because they are so time consuming. At times I find myself updating my blog’s social media posts during my lunch break or alternatively, replying to work emails while I am on vacation; I try to do whatever it takes to keep the balance and not compromise either one.

Moving ahead, my aim is to continue to contribute to the growth at Brainchild, which we also like to call ‘Agency of the Future’ or #AOTF, as well as taking my blog to the next level in terms of content marketing and growth. In both aspects, I am Insha Allah looking at some exciting times ahead!

Urooj Hussain is Associate Director Digital, Brainchild Communications. urooj.hussain@starcompakistan.com