Get into the mind and heart of Ali Rez, a multi-awarded Regional Creative Director for MEAP region at Impact BBDO Dubai who currently leads a team of more than 40 talented people, and spends most of his time hoping from plane to plane, working on briefs for clients that include such diverse markets as the Middle East, Pakistan and the Far East.
What gets you up in the morning?
Either an inflight announcement or my two-year old jumping squarely into my solar plexus.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The fact that I don’t consider it a job.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Talking about extravagant things.
What’s your motto in life?
Lorem ipsum.
What keeps you in the game?
Results. That would be my best guess.
What keeps you up at night?
The Guatemalan coffee we picked up on our last trip. Man, that stuff will keep you up for a week.
What inspires you most?
The permanent marker sketches the two-year old has left all over our walls.
What music have you been listening to lately?
Belarusian pop. No really, I was there just recently.
What is the gadget you cannot live without?
The Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator.
What can we find on your phone
Mostly pictures of my two-year old. And Belarusian pop.
What quality do you most look up to in a woman?
Confidence. And the ability to parallel park a Millennium Falcon.
What quality do you most look up to in a friend?
I suppose the patience to deal with my nonsense.
Who would you like to sit next to on a seven-hour flight?
The Wright brothers.
If you could live for one day the life of another person, who would it be?
Dr.Jekyll’s and Mr.Hyde’s.
If you could have dinner with someone, living or dead, who would it be; and what question would you ask him/her?
Keith Richards, who seems to be both alive and dead at the same time.
If you were to be reincarnated, what would you like to come back as?
Somebody who has great comebacks.
If you were to change profession, what would you choose to do?
Most likely a pilot. I think I’ve become addicted to jet fuel by now.
What do you consider to be the greatest headline of all time?
“There is a spelling mistake in this advertisement. The first person to spot it will recieve $500.”
(Written by Neil French at the Ball Partnership).
What business tip would you give the newbies?
It’s necessary to be scared.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Something imperfect to fix.
Where can we find you on a Friday night?
Probably on a plane.
If you could choose one superhero power, what would it be and why?
The power to replicate all the powers whenever needed. That should take care of the decision-making headache.
What would you do if you won the lottery?
Buy another lottery ticket.
What is the one word you catch yourself saying too often?
Flight.
What would you like to be doing five years from now?
Planning what I’d be doing five years from then.
If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?
On the Space Station, looking at the world.
What’s the last book you read or movie you saw?
Last book was Vonnegut’s “Timequake,” which is simply brilliant for a novel that has a bunch of random things thrown together like a good biryani.
Movie is “BlacKkklansman,” which is probably the most important movie given the context of the time we are in.
What is the one thing you wish you have designed?
Helvetica. Which I hope you will print this article in?
