Niaz Ahmed: The creative digital marketing expert from the future

The term 'digital marketing' is something many of us are familiar with nowadays. In Bangladesh, digital marketing has become a widespread concept. From telecommunication companies to banks to MNCs, every corporate entity has been drawn into the magical world of digital marketing. 

Niaz Ahmed is one of the names that shines bright in this industry. Ahmed is based in Australia and is a renowned digital marketer whose work goes beyond the borders of traditional digital marketing. 

The story of his path to become a Digital Journeys Specialist at Australia's largest telecommunications company is as interesting as his job title. 

In an interview with The Business Standard, Ahmed let us in on his career, interests, aspirations and industry insights. 

The Business Standard (TBS): Tell us about how you ended up working as a digital communications specialist after coming from a diverse educational background.

Niaz Ahmed: What happened is that I originally studied Fine Arts at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka many years ago. After graduating, I worked at a marketing agency in Dhaka for a while, where I used to work with creatives before coming to Australia to pursue my postgraduate in advertising. 

In 2007, I started working in an integrated marketing company. This was the beginning of my career in Australia. After some time, I moved into a User Experience (UX) designer role - a job role that has been trending for the last decade or so. While doing any job, I think about and analyse the future prospects of that field, which is why I started working with the marketing technological or MarTech side early into my career. 

If I speak honestly, I only chose to study advertising at that time because the opportunity of working at an advertising agency seemed lucrative enough, as back then there was a trend to hire advertising professionals from the country next door with salaries 2/3 times higher than local professionals used to get. I thought that I would be able to conquer the world if I studied advertising and returned to Bangladesh. 

After a year, I understood that I would not be able to apply any of my learning back home. I would only be able to sell my degree, not what I learned or experienced. 

TBS: You are known to be a "Digital Journeys" professional. What actually is Digital Journeys and how is it different from a traditional digital marketing professional?

Ahmed: Whether you sell a shirt, groceries, gadgets or electricity, it is all about customer experience. In Australia, a large number of people carry out everyday monetary transactions using digital channels such as EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer), Apple or Google Pay, etc. My work is about securing a pleasant omni-channel experience. If a customer looks for an internet or a gas plan on the web and then decides to physically visit the shop to make the purchase, we have to ensure that they get exactly what they see online and vice versa.

As a Digital Journeys specialist, I analyse the customer's end to end journey before they purchase a certain product or initiate a service transaction. For example, when a customer receives a push notification or sms, we do not want this chain to become disjointed. It is our job to make the customer's transitional journey seamless. We also look after how the customer will perceive the journey for a certain purchase or service event. My job also heavily revolves around the digital intelligence and data aspect. 

TBS: How would you describe your work and professional interests?

Ahmed: I have had quite a varied career. From working with visuals, I moved to print and then to AI specialist roles. For me, it is more about what the next thing is going forward. That is why I started working more with the technological side early on in my career because the future was moving towards AI driven personalization and digital engagement. It is more about understanding customer behavior, their interests, and whether they will ultimately buy a product or service. 

In the end, we end up selling products, but the question is - how effectively and efficiently can we sell it? This question piqued my interest towards understanding the market and its trends better by using technology and data so we can still keep on marketing a product even when customers have the option to block ads online and digital devices 

The main context is that such job roles in the West are quite different than it is back home. It is very important for us to focus on the customer's needs and not to simply sell a product or service. The digital marketing industry in Australia is extremely regulated and very carefully watched. 

An interesting aspect about my job is that it involves Machine Learning and AI driven intelligence. If you take the top-level strategy of Netflix, for example, they will feature to you the content that is currently trending in your region or within your demography. It reads everyone's in-app browsing data to customise the experience for every individual, resulting in a lucid viewing experience 

TBS: Where is your work currently taking you?

Ahmed: I used to be a designer and that is one of the reasons why I got into the role of a Digital Journeys specialist. The job that I had 20 years ago was nothing more than creating an art piece or visual and handing it over for publishing. Now, it is more about adding value to my designs and to see what new technology is coming up that can aid my work and the industry. My work keeps me thinking two or three years into the future, and involves me in planning that will revolve around shaping up the projected future to help improve customer experience.

TBS: What do you think the future of advertising and digital communications would be like? How different will it be from the current scenario and what will be the most noticeable changes?

Ahmed: Obviously there will be a time when companies will invest more in technology than now. People are constantly using Google - a part of your life that reads your data. Over these years, digital marketing has expanded and it will continue to expand, but in a more structured way. So it is not just about Google searches that read your data, or the promotions or retargeted ads; companies will be trying to connect all target markets and ensure that all marketing activities are real time, giving birth to hyper-personalised experiences. 

For example, when a customer responds to a push notification and visits a certain shop to make a purchase, a beacon will tell the in-store sales specialist about the product the customer is looking for. This is what digital communications will look like as more and more people are now browsing the internet. 

Automation and AI driven decisioning engines are also being implemented heavily nowadays as it helps to push and scale more customers towards a particular experience that is designed to be more optimised and amplified for every individual. Essentially, automation and AI root for the same destination with different messages and strategies - whichever works best for a particular target market. 

From a global perspective, the most important fact is that we already have access to a lot of technological instruments. AI chatbots, for example, is one of the daily applications of real-time technology used on a bank's website. Prior to chatbots, there was a contact number listed on the bank's website which you would have to call for queries. Now, chatbots do all of it in less time before transferring to a human call centre representative, decreasing pressure on the human employee and cutting call center cost. Many companies are using such chatbots to make the customer's journey more efficient. 

Data scientists are also developing machine learning models to read customers' online behavior better. What is more important is that we have learnt to use such technology responsibly. Previously, we used to implement such technology without thinking much about accountability and the social impact

TBS: In the case of Bangladesh, where digital marketing agencies are popping up like mushrooms, do you think quantity will take over quality before a benchmark is reached?

Ahmed: If there is no governing body, the industry will not be sustainable irrespective of how many digital marketing agencies are established. Regulatory bodies will also have to be there to hold clients and agencies accountable for any marketing campaign. It comes back to the foundation - tracking data, better structured digital channels and its analytics implementation have to be solid. Doing anything is next to impossible in this field without proper data. 

If, for example, an agency in Dhaka relentlessly keeps sending push notifications to a customer's phone without any data that can read the responses, there is no point in sending these notifications. There will only be progress when agencies will be able to collect information on how many people successfully responded to their campaigns. 

On the other hand, the mushrooming agencies will end up de-saturating the market. But there are of course many agencies among the mushrooming ones that are actually good. Contrastingly, there are the ones that benefit from reaping off of these successful ones. If a certain marketing campaign succeeds, another less talented agency can offer a similar campaign for cheaper and this is how a talented agency can lose its business to unjust competition. You cannot suddenly open a digital marketing agency. You have to have guidelines and obligations to an unbiased governing body that will recognise talent for what it truly is.

TBS: What would be your advice to people who seek a career in the digital advertising and communications field?

Ahmed: This field is all about up-skilling yourself. I always believe that skills matter and regardless of how good you are at what you are doing, I always have to think about what I might be good at in the future. If you are good at writing, you should up-skill yourself in that particular area depending on what you think the future holds for it. Take my journey for example. The bigger question is how your art and talent is being utilised. 

TBS: Apart from being a digi-comms expert, you have also written songs for legendary musicians such as Guru James and Ayub Bachchu. Tell us a bit about your creative self. 

Ahmed: When I first enrolled at Charukola, most students had the mindset that they will create paintings and people will purchase their art. I met Ayub Bachchu at an event many years back and I had courageously reached out to him about songwriting. Luckily, he not only asked me to write songs but also to design a cover art for his album. As a creative designer, it opened doors in my mind about reaching out to millions of people with my art. 

The cover art of  LRB's "Shopno", "Ferari Mon", Guru James's "Dukhini Dukkho Koro Na" and Prince Mahmud's "Ekhono Du Chokhe Bonna" are my creations. I have also penned the lyrics to Ayub Bachchu and LRB's "Meye', "Jonmohin Nokkhotro", "Adhare Chilam Ei Ami", Nogor Baul James's "Nishiddho Itihas" "Adalote Dekha Hobe", Azam Khan's "Pure Jachchhe". I have also worked with Bappa Mazumder, Feedback and many more.