Tamim Al Adwan
Serial builder · 20+ years
Marketing leader in Dubai. Twenty years across the Gulf, fourteen in house at DIFC, ENOC, CDA, RTA and Dubai Municipality. Built marketing functions from zero, budgets above AED 120M. Founder & MD of Forward Media. Two companies founded, both acquired in 2006. FCIM. PRWeek PowerBook 2021.
I started in Amman, where I founded two events and production companies while still studying; both were acquired in 2006. I moved to Dubai the year after and spent the next fourteen years inside its flagship institutions — from establishing the marketing function for Children's City at Dubai Municipality, to building RTA's advertising function from scratch, launching the Dubai Metro and Tram brands, rebranding the CDA, restructuring marketing at ENOC, and leading marketing and corporate communications at DIFC.
Since 2021 I run Forward Media. These days I spend most of my time on one question: how AI changes the way a marketing function actually operates — not as a feature, but as the operating system underneath it.
I work in two languages. Arabic is my native one.
Most companies are bolting AI onto a marketing function that was built for a different era. I think that is backwards. The work that matters is not adding a tool to the team — it is redesigning how the function runs, so AI sits underneath everything: how briefs are written, how content is made, how performance is read.
Marketing spent twenty years optimising channels. The next ten are about optimising the operation itself — fewer people doing far more, with judgement as the scarce resource, not output.
I have built and rebuilt marketing functions from zero, in government and the private sector. The part that survives every reorganisation is always the same: be clear about what you are measuring, and have the discipline to kill what is not working. AI makes both cheaper to do and harder to avoid.
Forward Media
2021 — nowBrand, content and performance firm. Team of 25, 100+ clients. Repositioning into a marketing AI implementation consultancy.
DIFC
2019 — 2021Team of 12, budget above AED 20M. Rebuilt the department around data and content, launched the new DIFC brand, doubled performance across every KPI.
ENOC
2018 — 2019Restructured a department of 20, owned a budget above AED 50M, authored ENOC's first stakeholder strategy.
Community Development Authority
2015 — 2018Launched the new CDA brand and created the Mansour bin Mohammed Short Film Awards. Team of 6, AED 10M budget.
RTA
2008 — 2015Built the advertising section from scratch and led it six years. Launched the Dubai Metro and Tram brands, budgets above AED 50M.
Dubai Municipality
2007 — 2008Established the marketing function for Children's City, created its brand and campaign strategy, and grew visitor numbers by forty percent. Delivered Dubai's first dinosaur exhibition, with the Field Museum, Chicago.
Be Public
2002 — 2006Events and activation company running a yearly calendar with leading Arab entertainers, teams of 100+ across creative, marketing, sales and operations. Created four university festivals across Jordan (2,000+ each) and commissioned 20+ concerts. Acquired in 2006.
MJ Production
2002 — 2006Creative and production company. Led the first 3D shopping-mall advertising map at Mecca Mall and grew market share by 30%. Acquired in 2006.
Identity and launch for the region's first metro.
Second flagship transport launch.
New identity for Dubai's social sector authority.
Created the Mansour bin Mohammed Awards.
Pavilion campaign for the energy group.
The centre's new global identity.
Agency into AI marketing implementation.
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Standing up a marketing team from zero or restructuring one that has drifted: org, hiring, budget, measurement and operating rhythm. Permanent, interim or alongside your executive team.
New brands, rebrands and repositioning, through to complex high-visibility launches with many stakeholders and a fixed date. Deep experience with governments, authorities and state-owned groups, in both languages.
From audit to deployment — AI as how the function runs day to day, not a feature bolted on top.
The frameworks underneath the work: marketing governance, stakeholder strategy, and reporting that answers for outcomes rather than activity.