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MOTORING maestro Imran Ali has become a global digital star after winning a prestigious competition at a major meeting of Mercedes-Benz marketing hotshots.
Imran Ali, marketing manager of Al Haddad Motors, outshone 158 other participants from more than 100 countries to take the coveted title of Digital Champion.
The Mercedes-Benz Global Marketing Forum was this year staged in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon and Imran, 35, said: “I was flying above the sky when it was announced that I had won, I must admit I was very moved by the whole experience.
“It was an incredible journey. At the start hardly anyone recognised me but by the end of the event I was the guy that everybody knew.
“I’m so very proud to be a part of the Mercedes-Benz family and being able to represent and win on behalf of the Al Haddad Motors dealership, Bahrain and the GCC!
“I would like to say that we should always work hard and should always love our work and one day it will be recognised.”
This is a first time an award at the forum has been picked up by a representative from the region and Imran scored a staggering 3,008 points in a competition judged on the use of a digital app, specifically created to test the attendees on how they mastered the event’s digital world theme and utilised it.
The management of Al Haddad Motors has congratulated Imran on his achievement and is said to be ‘immensely proud’ of him.
“The whole team has been so supportive,” added Imran. “I’m so glad to have such great colleagues.
“I never thought when I left from Bahrain to go to Lisbon that I would pick up an award in front of the global Mercedes-Benz team. It was an amazing feeling and I feel very motivated towards my job. I had a very positive response from everyone from Europe, America, the Far East and, especially, my colleagues from the Middle East dealerships.”
Motoring mad Imran is Bahraini-born of Pakistani descent, with a family history in the kingdom dating back 101 years, and is well known for pushing the boundaries when it comes to marketing.
His family is well known in the kingdom for its tailoring and electronics enterprises and it would have been simple for Imran to follow in the familiar footsteps but he was determined to make his own way in the world and at the age of 18 headed to New York to tackle marketing and business studies at college.
Four years on, he was back home in Bahrain carving a career in the motoring industry, firstly as a marketing coordinator before management roles beckoned with a variety of American, British, Italian and German marques.
Obviously the early American adventure made him acquire a taste for coffee so it came as little surprise that he chose one of the kingdom’s top cafés to launch a unique breakfast rendezvous ‘test drive experience’, which was recently highlighted in GulfWeekly.
He is now enjoying a different taste of success after fully embracing a futuristic marketing challenge and picking up point after point by using the app to fully embrace the event, communicate with colleagues, make contacts, engage in debate and offer live feedback to the major issues discussed.
This event has always been a key activity for the marketeers of Mercedes-Benz and is regarded as a platform for the participants to gain further insights, knowledge and to meet the top management and the global teams.
This year’s forum was based on a digital theme and many topics discussed and briefed were related to Mercedes-Benz’s vision of the future. Highlights of the event included the first preview of unseen Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
The event was also attended by 34 celebrity ambassadors such as Niki Lauda, Mike Horn, Susie Wolf, Garret McNamara , Felix Jaehn, Andreea Badala, Mandy Capristo, Rebecca Lim, Laura Tobon and many more.
The event also had motivational guest speakers including Neil Harbissom, a Catalan-raised, British-born cyborg activist best known for having an antenna implanted in his skull and for being officially recognised as a cyborg by a government. Amongst the company executives in attendance was Dr Jens Thiemer, vice-president marketing communications Mercedes-Benz Cars. The company is driving ahead with its plans for the future. As the inventor of the automobile, Mercedes-Benz is investing heavily in the development of alternative drive systems such as electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid technology as well as advancing the research into autonomous driving cars significantly.
