Sameer Poonja, Managing Director – Experience and Platforms, Merkle MENA.Putting together a marketing strategy today feels a lot like conducting an orchestra where the instruments, and sometimes the musicians, keep changing mid-performance. We’re operating in a world that’s increasingly omni-channel, overwhelmingly digital, and constantly evolving. Yet, at its core, success still depends on something timeless: understanding people.
In my work across airlines, fintech, automotive and culture sectors, one thing has become clear: Strategy and technology are meaningless without empathy. We can automate every touchpoint and deploy every piece of martech under the sun, but unless we understand what the customer feels, none of it matters.
Here in the GCC, this evolution is unfolding at lightning speed. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 has created a fertile environment for innovation, where customer experience isn’t just a marketing goal, but a national ambition.
Brands that will define this next decade of growth in the GCC won’t just be the ones that digitise fastest; they’ll be the ones that humanise best.
Every new brand, from Riyadh Air to Ceer Motors, is being built digitally first, data-first and experience-led. But it’s also about emotion. It’s about making every traveller, every guest and every user feel seen, valued and connected.
At Merkle, dentsu, we often say customer experience (CX) isn’t a department; it’s the heartbeat of a brand. It’s how your site loads for a traveller browsing from an airport wifi. It’s how your app remembers a loyal customer’s preferences. It’s the tone of a support agent responding to a frustrated passenger.
Every micro-interaction adds up to something far greater: Trust.
What excites me most about the region right now is how brands are beginning to connect strategy, experience and culture – not as buzzwords, but as a unified discipline. Look at Emirates and how its digital experience matches the promise of its in-flight service; or DCT Abu Dhabi, where culture, tourism and technology blend to create experiences that feel personal, purposeful and distinctly local.
And this is the real unlock: CX thrives when culture becomes the enabler, not the barrier. A brand can’t deliver exceptional experiences externally if its internal culture doesn’t reflect empathy, collaboration and accountability. The best customer journeys start from the inside – with teams that believe in the experience they’re designing.
Across the Middle East, we’re now seeing the emergence of experienced ecosystems, where loyalty, commerce, media and data all speak to each other. AI and personalisation aren’t just about automation anymore; they’re anticipating, predicting needs, removing friction and creating moments that feel intuitively human.
So, as we talk about strategy in this issue of Campaign, remember: CX is not the outcome; it’s the journey itself.
Because the brands that will define this next decade of growth in the GCC won’t just be the ones that digitise fastest; they’ll be the ones that humanise best.
By Sameer Poonja, Managing Director – Experience and Platforms, Merkle MENA.
