Ali has worked in media and advertising for nearly 20 years. He has worked across agency, client and media owner in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North Amercia; experience that provides a unique understanding of the industry, where it has been and where it is going.
He began his career in London at a top independent media agency where he was part of the team that launched Aldi Supermarkets into the UK. Having learnt the intricacies of the agency world he moved client side and was responsible for launching easyCar.com; the world’s first internet only car rental firm from Stelios Haji-Ioannou the founder of easyJet and easyGroup. He was also responsible for launching easyMoney, one of the first online price comparison websites.
After launching two companies and working in an extremely entrepreneurial environment he launched his first venture, an outdoor advertising company called Amity Media in Sydney. During this time the company achieved a number of milestones, notably executing the largest outdoor advertisement in Australia and writing legislation to permit new outdoor advertising formats.
In 2009 he entered Digital Advertising with a pioneering technology that allowed advertisers to target consumers based upon their interests. This targeting method allowed advertisers to be much more precise in reaching their target audience; driving more efficiency from their marketing spend. He built his company MEDIATA into a corporation with offices in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, India and Indonesia, serving clients all over the world.
In 2016 he moved to New York to focus his work in the world’s largest media market with a ground-breaking new product, Sengine. Built upon a conviction that ultimately the consumer will be in control of their data, and that brands will only pay for advertising that deliver results, Sengine provides a bridge between consumer opinion and marketing communications.
A mash-up of programmatic advertising and blockchain technology, Sengine enables a direct relationship between consumer and brands based upon personal opinion. This enables brands to target people based upon their views. All resultant data is stored on a Blockchain, allowing brands to communicate with an enhanced level of personalisation and for consumers to control their data directly for the first time. In turn this will unleash the much-hyped value associated with the Personal Data Economy and shift monetisation directly to the consumer.
