Faris Yakob

Rock Star - Digital Ninja - Chief Innovation Officer - Geek

Faris, who grew up in London, says his childhood dream was to be "somewhere between a rock star and a writer." In advertising, he has become a little bit of both. 

He's trying to make everything more awesome, stealing from the engines of innovation, technology and culture, to create innovative solutions for clients and partner agencies. Big questions that he seeks the answers to are; how we communicate in a networked world, how we can make people happy, and how we can make awesome stuff that is useful or entertaining or both.

Yakob began his media career in 2000 as an analyst at digital consultancy Carezia, and later worked as a strategic media planner at OMD. Writing about technology and communications in consumer magazines like Maxim raised his profile and he landed a job at Naked in 2004 where he spent five years as the Digital Ninja. He then went on to McCann Erickson in New York as EVP Chief Technology Strategist, before landing his current position as Chief Innovation Officer at MDCPartners, a network of best in class marketing companies including the highly lauded advertising agencies Crispin Porter + Bogusky and kirshenbaum bond senecal + partners. 

Faris regularly writes about brands, media, communications and technology for a number of publications including the Fast Company, Forbes, The Financial Times, Contagious Magazine, Mediaweek and Forbes. He writes a blog called Talent Imitates, Genius Steals, which Campaign named one of the top ten advertising blogs in the UK. It came second in the Best Blog Category at the British Interactive Media Awards, and has been nominated as one of the ten 'Best blogs to follow' by Mashable. 

He was awarded the President's Prize for his thesis on the future of brands from the IPA in the UK. He was invited to speak at MIT's Future of Entertainment conference, and has lectured at the University of Westminster and the University of Southern California.

Faris was also on the jury for the Content and Contact category at the Clios, the digital jury at the Campaign BIG awards and is the president of NEW category for the London International Awards this year.

The Marketing Society    Slideshare Faris Yakob

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