REWIRING GROWTH & MARKETING STRATEGY – ABU DHABI EDITION
C-suite leadership roundtable |
ABU DHABI, JUNE 18, 2026
ABU DHABI, JUNE 18, 2026
How can GCC marketers resume growth in a world that no longer plays by the old rules?
Consumer
What are they actually looking for—and what have they stopped valuing?
Brands
How does brand communication accelerate recovery and rebuild confidence?
Strategy
Where does marketing sit when growth is engineered between state and market?
For GCC marketers, the core question is no longer how to optimize a plan — it is how to adapt a plan that was built for a different world.
THE ROUNDTABLE
RECOVERY MARKETING. How can brands adapt their marketing to a new economic landscape — and help rebuild confidence with consumers, global stakeholders and the state? A closed-door, Chatham House dialogue between 30–40 senior leaders from across the GCC, convened in Doha.
WHY ABU DHABI
Abu Dhabi— often referred to as the capital of capital— sits at the crossroads of global investment, policy leadership, and cultural exchange.
It brings together international and regional companies, academia, and institutions within a highly coordinated ecosystem. Abu Dhabi-based entities are not only expanding globally, but also playing a key role in shaping recovery, resilience, and long-term growth across sectors. This makes it a natural setting for a conversation that connects strategy, capital, and consumer trust.
WHO'S IN THE ROOM
• Chief Executive Officers and Managing Directors
• Chief Marketing Officers and Marketing Directors
• Sovereign-linked economic stakeholders
• Strategic transformation and investment leaders
Hosted By Communicate, INSEAD Business School & Produced By Special Edition (SE)
AGENDA
13:30 – Arrivals & Networking
14:00 – The Roundtable: Recovery Marketing — Adapting brand communication to the new landscape
16:00 – Coffee Break
16:30 – A keynote by Faheem Ahamed, Group Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, G42
16:45 – Panel Discussion: GCC Growth 2.0
17:15 – The End of “Build It and They Will Come”
18:15 – Network Reception & Close
PANEL DISCUSSION
GCC Growth 2.0 — How brands and marketers are reshaping strategies to reach consumers and rebuild trust in a changing landscape.
The session will open with a keynote by Faheem Ahamed, Group Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, G42, followed by a curated panel discussion with senior industry leaders.
Together, the conversation will explore how marketing strategies are being redefined — from communication and positioning to trust-building and long-term relevance.
Consumer Recovery: How consumer attitudes, spending habits, and expectations are changing after recovery
The End of "Build It and They Will Come" by Anand Vengurlekar
For decades, Gulf brands grew on a logic: build the supply, and demand would follow.
In 2026 that playbook is broken — from regional conflict and the rise of AI. In this new normal, brands must rethink their approach: from the utility of what they sell (features/price/positioning) to the emotive reasons that customers would still choose them in this new normal.
This 1-hour session introduces Harvard’s ‘Jobs To Be Done’ framework: How to systematically understand what would make people choose your offering over others, by understanding what is pulling them away, what might push them towards you and how you can deliver on their new needs: their ‘jobs to be done’.
In collaboration with
Supporting Partners
