In today’s Matrix-like universe of endless choices, FMCG brands face a fundamental challenge: how to go beyond pushing products and start creating genuine connections with consumers. Rony Skaf, Head of Digital and Innovation, TBWA\RAAD, a recognized voice in tech, AI, and creativity, tells Communicate how innovation in retail media, e-commerce, and content can transform the way brands engage.
Your turf is tech, AI, and creativity. Through this lens, how can CPG brands use digital innovation to move beyond just selling and start truly connecting with consumers?
Honestly, it starts with relevance. AI allows brands to stop pushing products and start helping people decide. If a consumer can explain what they’re trying to solve in their lifestyle, habits, or even mood, AI can guide them to what fits them—not what the brand wants to sell that week. That’s when the relationship shifts. It’s no longer transactional; it feels thoughtful.
Add to that instant responses, smart assistance, and even mixed-reality experiences that let people feel the product before buying, and suddenly the brand feels present, useful, and human. That’s a real connection.
Retail media is everywhere, but how can brands use data and creativity to cut through the noise and actually drive sales?
Retail media only works when it stops behaving like media and starts behaving like commerce intelligence. Data shouldn’t just tell us who to target; it should tell us when, why, and in what mindset someone is buying. Are they restocking? Comparing? In a rush? Treating themselves?
When creativity is built around that intent, retail media stops feeling like noise and starts feeling like a helpful nudge. And that’s when it converts—because it’s relevant, not repetitive.
E-commerce is ballooning in the GCC. Which digital innovations are changing how consumers shop online?
The biggest shift isn’t speed or delivery anymore; it’s confidence. AI recommendations, smart bundles, reviews at scale, creator content, all of that removes friction and doubt. People are asking, “What’s right for me?” instead of “What’s cheapest?”
In the GCC specifically, shopping is becoming more social, more local, and more trust-driven, less like a store, more like a conversation.
With shoppers jumping between online and in-store, how do you make the experience seamless and memorable?
You design for continuity, not channels. Consumers think in moments, not “online vs offline.” If they saw a product on Instagram, they expect to recognize it on the shelf. If they ask a question online, they expect consistency in-store.
The brands doing this well treat data, content, and identity as shared layers across every touchpoint. So, it feels like one ongoing relationship, not disconnected experiences stitched together.
Content used to just sell. Today, it needs to engage, entertain, and inspire. How should CPG brands rethink their content strategy in a crowded digital space?
Brands need to stop thinking in campaigns and start thinking in content systems with an audience-first mindset. That means fewer hero assets, more modular and adaptive content, always-on, designed for platforms and attention spans, not TV logic.
AI helps here massively. It allows brands to test, personalize, and evolve content in real time. Creativity shifts from producing more to creating stronger ideas that travel further. If your content doesn’t resonate on its own, you will end up spending a lot of media spend to save it.
Ramadan is peak season for consumer engagement. How can brands innovate digitally to feel authentic, culturally relevant, and shareable during this period?
Advertising during Ramadan should be focused on behavioral moments rather than being treated as just a content moment. People slow down. They reflect more. They gather more. And brands need to respect that rhythm instead of interrupting it.
From AI to AR/VR, which emerging technologies will most reshape how GCC consumers discover and buy CPG brands in the next two to three years?
AI will reshape decision-making, not just discovery. We’ll see more AI copilots helping people choose, compare, and customize in real time. AR will matter too, but more as a tool helping people visualize, understand, and commit.
The biggest shift, though, will be invisible: smarter recommendations, predictive replenishment, and content that adapts without the consumer even noticing.
Innovation can fail fast, but ROI matters. How do you balance experimentation with measurable business results?
By separating learning speed from production scale. You experiment fast in controlled environments—pilots, sandboxes, limited audiences—and only scale what proves impact. AI actually makes this easier by lowering the cost of testing and speeding up insights.
Innovation should be a portfolio with some bets to optimize, some to explore, and some to redefine the business.
For CPG brands looking to innovate, what’s the biggest internal challenge: mindset, talent, or tech infrastructure?
Mindset. Always. Most companies have access to the tech. Many can hire talent. But very few are ready to let go of old KPIs, old briefs, and old ways of working.
Innovation needs permission to challenge assumptions, rethink success, and collaborate differently. Without that, even the best tools become expensive toys.
(Read this interview in the latest CPG issue of Communicate here)
