We recently interviewed Ahmad Abu Zannad, Founder of Native. A deep understanding of marketing and its associated scientific aspects helps him implement the best strategies for the clients and makes him one of the best in the industry. Ahmad has been working in the marketing and advertising industry for a long time, making him an expert in this field.
Besides that, what sets him apart from others is the remarkable fact that he is the author of three award-winning books. He is also highly skilled in marketing, business planning, customer relationship management, etc. Let’s learn more about him and his journey through this interview below.
Beginners Of The Journey
We started the interview by asking, “Which career path led you to where you are today?”
He shared, “My passion for brand-building and marketing across different geographies and industries while targeting and connecting with a diverse group of audiences from other cultures got me to where I am in my career today.
I always wanted my craft as a brand strategist to be wider than one product or industry. In addition, my favorite part of everything I do is to write and speak about the unique insights I end up unearthing as I approach all these different assignments.”
Inspiration For Developing The Business
We were interested to learn about the prominent factors that inspired him to be in his current position. We asked, “What inspired you to develop the idea for your company?”
He shared, “I know how to help brands play a strategic ‘Native’ role in people’s lives, and I know how to help them naively* create content with a ‘Native’ fit across different established and emerging platforms. This unique know-how is the inspiration behind my company, ‘Native.’
*Naïve means not overthinking and going with the flow for what works on each platform, like a silly TikTok trend.”
Evolving Priorities
Priorities of businesses keep on changing over the years of functioning. So we wanted to learn about how his business priorities have evolved. We asked, “How have your priorities in terms of business evolved since you first started?”
Ahmad Abu Zannad replied, “We are not your typical start-up, as we had a set of clients who were with us since our inception; if anything, they are the ones who encouraged us to set up shop.”
Challenges In The Course
Every business faces challenges considering the proper competition and several other issues. So we asked, “What are the most challenging situations your company overcomes?”
Ahmad Abu Zannad shared, “Our challenges align perfectly with our clients. They are keeping up with trends and seismic shifts of their audiences to ensure that their ‘Native’ brand role remains relevant while also ensuring that their content keeps its Native fit across constantly evolving platforms. From there, our challenge is convincing some traditional clients to evolve with the ever-evolving landscape since they tend to resist the unconventional, and we try hard to have them at the forefront of all these evolutions.”
“What’s the key strength to overcome it?”
Ahmad Abu Zannad shared, “We keep our fingers on the pulse of the lives of the different audiences by being eternal students of human behavior, and that is on a strategic level. While on an execution level, we ensure our content creators are at the forefront of content formats that are trending across each platform.”
Unique Features
We wanted to learn more about the company’s classic features that make it unique amidst the crowd. We asked, “What makes your company stand out from all the other businesses in your industry?”
Ahmad Abu Zannad shared, “Other businesses either understand how to strategically build brands with a Native role in people’s lives, but would often fail in creating content that keeps up with what gives it a Native fit. Therefore, they end creative brands that we call “Tourist” brands, as in people like its role but do not understand its content, or as tourists, the language it communicates.
Or, they would know how to create content with a Native fit but would often fail in strategically identifying the brand’s Native role in people’s lives. Therefore, they end up creating brands that we call “Intrusive” bands, as people encounter the brand at the right time within the correct format, but like all intruders, the brand is not welcomed into their lives.
We are uniquely positioned to handle both tasks simultaneously and help brands create and build what we call “Native” brands.”
KPI For Measuring Business Success
“What KPIs do you use to measure your business success?”
Ahmad Abu Zannad shared, “As mentioned earlier, our success is only measured by the success of our clients.”
Available Services
We were intrigued to learn about the services that the company currently offers. So we asked, “Tell us something about your services. What are you working on now?”
Ahmad Abu Zannad said, “I am writing my fourth book on advertising and its impact on people, societies, and economies.”
Building Strong Bonds
Building good and strong bonds with employees is essential when aiming to build a successful business. So we asked, “How do you build trust with your employees and boost productivity without causing burnout?”
Ahmad Abu Zannad replied, “We hire people with a passion for building “Native” brands, and we work with clients who share this passion. We are very selective about who we hire and work with. An agency is only as good as its clients. And only good clients make good agencies. Burnouts are the result of clients who are not understanding, and we prefer not to work with such clients.”
Adapting To the Latest Technologies
Apart from other factors, successful business addresses are also seen adapting to the latest trends and technology that appear in the industry. We asked, “How do you stay on top of new technologies and trends in your industry?”
Keeping it short and crisp, he shared, “We hire the right people.”
Advice To Beginners
Beginners starting on a similar path will find it inspiring to hear from an expert like Ahmad. So we asked, “What advice would you give starting entrepreneurs?”
Ahmad Abu Zannad shared, “Be in it for the long-term and the big picture, not to make Money immediately. Advertising and brand-building are businesses of creativity and intellectual thinking, and as Byron Katie puts it, “Money is not my business; my thinking is my business. I don’t have any other business.”
