The Work That Made Me: Nasser Sahlool
A captain of sorts (minus the all-white uniform), Nasser is responsible for steering the mighty vessel that is digital strategy for DAC clients. Leveraging his expertise in digital marketing, local and mobile conversion, performance optimisation and benchmarking, he leads his crew of strategists and researchers to design and implement high performing programs that connect buyers and sellers at exactly the right moment. Nasser sails near and far to share industry best practices, speaking at such digital forums as Cannes Lions, Ad Age Brand Summit and Google Engage Summits. He has also led sessions for both the American and Canadian Marketing Associations.
Prior to climbing aboard the S.S. DAC, Nasser was a globetrotter who spent years exploring the quieter parts of the world, and who immersed himself in business, political, Oriental and African studies while earning his post-secondary education in London.
The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
Nasser> Easy. MTV took most of my media consumption, and from the first time I saw the video for ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by Nirvana, I was hooked. It was unlike anything I had seen before, and I would stop anything I was doing and watch it every time it came on. The visceral energy was in such contrast to anything around it, and still stirs me today.
The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
Nasser> In honesty it wasn’t an active decision. I fell into this industry without a plan. I was a recent immigrant and was working in Internet Franchise sales (yes, that was a thing). I sold a franchise to a person who I developed a strong rapport with, and she introduced me to a friend of hers in Chicago who owned an agency. I hadn’t considered working in this space before and it was an introduction based on personal relationships and trust.
The creative work that I keep revisiting…
Nasser> The Sopranos. I have probably re-watched that series, both passively and actively, dozens and dozens of times. It changed episodic TV and story-telling and launched the era of prestige TV. The depth and development of the characters was something I hadn’t seen previously. It took me many re-watches to realise that EVERYONE in the show (and I mean everyone) is not a good person when put to the test.
My first professional project…
Nasser> Working on marketing Panasonic broadcast video equipment to governments in the Middle East. This was the end of the analogue era which had been locked up by a couple of brands for 40 years (Sony and one or two others) so represented a rare opportunity for other brands to break the deadlock as they were transitioning to digital. We had a better product, with better marketing, better pricing and better integration with other brands / scalability. What we didn’t have was the deep relationships. We did not win. This was an early lesson in unspoken human motivations trumping basic good sense.
The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
Nasser> Ugh. Probably half the radio ads I hear on my drive to work. Specific ones have me physically turning the radio off for the duration of the ad.
The piece of work that still makes me jealous…
Nasser> The Cadbury’s Gorilla as using ‘In the Air Tonight’. Made Phil Collins sound cool.
The creative project that changed my career…
Nasser> When I joined DAC, we were an analogue agency focused on Yellow Pages advertising. I worked with the leadership team to help pivot and transform that into a digital agency. At the time we were around 200 people, in the US and Canada. It was during the financial crisis of 2008 when directory advertising was being decimated. We were (and remain) privately held without any external backing and managed to pivot the organisation into a full service digital agency, recognised by Forrester in their Wave report, grew our team to over 600 and expanded our client base and footprint to Europe and Asia. Most of us lost our hair though ☺
The work that I’m proudest of…
Nasser> Winning what is today our largest piece of business. This business had not changed agency since the Eisenhower administration, but the shift to digital had created an opening. Not only did we convince them to finally switch agency, but we transitioned their budget (and that of their entire network) thoughtfully, carefully and efficiently to digital. We earned trust by following through on commitments and have developed deep and sustainable relationships since.
I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…
Nasser> Putting QR Codes in ads in the Yellow Pages a few years ago. A clear example why innovation for the sake of innovation doesn’t work.
The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
Nasser> I think it was the expansion of our enterprise offering to India. I found clients there to be progressive, welcoming and looking for innovative ideas. The particular challenges of operating there are unlike anything I’ve worked on before, with gigantic scale coupled with competitive pressures.
