– Dan Smith , Head of Integrated Marketing
MARKETING
MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR DOCUMENT technology and services company Xerox has been pioneering in its industry for more than 100 years and now holds more than 12,000 active patents . In charge of ensuring that its 30-years strong Middle East presence continues to drive company growth is Dan Smith , Head of Integrated Marketing for the region .
BRE : Briefly describe your role at Xerox and what the company is doing in the Middle East . DS : I represent the Middle East division , and am in charge of advertising and promotion , pricing , product management and traditional four Ps of marketing . We have an indirect model – we don ’ t have many Xerox employees on the ground in the Middle East but we use our partners that are based out there . We have been present in the region for more than 30 years now and have some very long-term partnerships . In one sense this is a very traditional marketing role in terms of strategy and operations , and in another sense it is a little different due to our indirect approach to the marketplace .
BRE : What similarities and differences are there in the marketing spheres in Europe and in the Middle East region ? I have been working on the MENA region for 12 years now so I ’ ve seen the development of marketing . There is some convergence in terms of approaches – for instance there wasn ’ t a huge amount of online activity ; it was embryonic for a long time but recently
“ Cultural differences doesn ’ t make marketing harder , it simply makes it different . We take our corporate strategies from Europe and elsewhere and adapt them to be appropriate
in the Middle East ”
– Dan Smith , Head of Integrated Marketing
20 January 2015