Michelle Lee has been named a winner of Campaign Middle East’s Marketing Game Changers Awards for 2025.
The awards recognise client-side marketers whose work delivered excellence across six criteria: Leadership & Talent Development, Creativity & Innovation, Performance & Business Impact, Brand Building, Social Impact and Industry Contribution.
The Marketing Game Changers Awards were launched this year to recognise marketers driving meaningful impact for their brands and the wider industry. The programme introduces a structured and transparent approach to spotlighting standout talent, with defined criteria, formal submissions and independent evaluation.
Open to brand-side marketers across MENA and free to enter, the 2025 edition of the Marketing Game Changers Awards named ten winners in total with the Marketer of the Year leading the inaugural cohort.
MICHELLE LEE
Vice President Brand and Communications, Dubai Airports
Years in the company: 6
Years in the region: 10
Michelle Lee is the Vice President of Brand and Communications at Dubai Airports. Lee has more than 17 years of experience in marketing and joined Dubai Airports in December 2019.
Prior to her current position, Lee has held various global marketing and customer experience leadership roles in the aviation, tourism, insurance, automotive and consumer goods industries across local and global enterprises that include Qatar Airways, Aer Lingus, Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand and Pepsico. Lee’s most recent role was Chief Marketing Officer EMEA for MetLife, based in Dubai, UAE.
Lee holds double bachelor’s degrees in Commerce and Arts from the University of Auckland, with majors in marketing and psychology. She also attended the University of Virginia School of Business Leadership Programme and achieved certifications in Strategy in the Age of Digital Disruption from INSEAD and Implementing Winning Strategies from Columbia Business School Executive Education. Active in various international marketing bodies, Lee has been invited to participate in judging panels of multiple creative and advertising award events within the industry.
RAPID FIRE WITH LEE
A classic marketing trick that never gets old?
Relationship building. You can never underestimate the value of human connection, whether it’s through simple personalisation of messaging or hosting an in-person event. Fostering human connections and showing a genuine interest in your target audience, whether B2B, B2C, or B2E, is a classic marketing trick that works and will never date.
Most overrated buzzword in marketing?
Viral.
Favourite nostalgic ad from your childhood?
Nike’s first Just Do It ad, featuring Walt Stack.
One marketing principle you’ll never compromise on?
Knowing your audience.
Book, podcast or show you recommend to everyone?
Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett.
Biggest lesson you’ve learnt in your career?
Be resilient; continue to stay focused on the end goal and take the time to reflect.
What you’d be doing if not marketing?
Be an interior designer.
One thing your colleagues would be surprised to know about you?
Love to cook and bake.
The future of marketing in one word?
Personalisation.
What is the top challenge the marketing industry needs to address on priority?
Lee: The top challenge for marketing and advertising today is keeping pace with rapid technological change and leveraging tools, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), as an enabler rather than a replacement, to enhance creativity, insight and efficiency. At the same time, brands must navigate an increasingly fragmented media landscape, understanding the right digital platforms and creating optimal content to engage audiences effectively at every touchpoint. Addressing both priorities is essential for marketing to remain strategic and future-ready.
What do you consider your top achievement over the past 12 months?
Lee: The oneDXB Engagement Ring campaign, which successfully mobilised the DXB community to rally around our brand proposition, “Welcoming Guests, the Dubai Way” and deliver a unified service experience, contributing to DXB maintaining its position as the world’s busiest international airport for the 11th consecutive year. I am also proud to have strengthened the credibility, trust and respect of
marketing and communications within Dubai Airports by demonstrating our impact on the organisation. Through initiatives like ‘Bring Your Dubainess’, we drove employee engagement, influenced organisational culture and fostered advocacy for our employer brand, showing how marketing delivers tangible value beyond traditional campaigns.
What is your advice to the next generation of marketers?
Lee: Listen, experiment, and learn from successes and mistakes to continuously improve. Stay curious, ask ‘why’, find out what the problem is before jumping into the solution, and be bold when ideating solutions. Understand your audience, pay attention to detail, and most importantly, be yourself and stay authentic.
