Senior B2B Marketing Advisor · Founder, albishi.net · 20+ years advising Saudi leaders
Global Marketing Trends
Before deciding where to invest your marketing budget, understand where the world is heading.
Branding has returned as the #1 priority for CMOs globally. In a world of uncertainty, strong brands are the foundation · not a luxury.
McKinsey · State of Marketing Europe 2026AI is reshaping marketing team structures: smaller teams, hybrid human + AI roles, more independent contributors. Yet 94% of organizations have not advanced in AI marketing maturity.
McKinsey 2026 · Gartner Marketing Trends 202663% of CMOs see budget constraints as their #1 challenge. The surprise: only 3% can explain more than half of their marketing spend through ROI measurement.
Gartner CMO Survey 2025 · McKinsey 2026By 2028, Gartner predicts 90% of B2B purchasing will go through AI agents. If your marketing isn't digital and machine-readable, you're invisible.
Gartner Strategic Predictions 2026The traditional agency is no longer the only option. Companies are moving to hybrid models: in-house strategy + AI for repetitive tasks + specialist agencies only when needed.
Deloitte Global Marketing Trends 2025 · McKinsey 2026The question: where does your organization stand?
Marketing Maturity
6 dimensions that define your marketing function's strength.
We assess marketing maturity across 6 dimensions. Each dimension reveals a specific gap and a real opportunity. SMMI is the tool that measures these dimensions in 10 minutes.
Do you market with a plan, or react to events? The difference between an organization that grows with intent and one that spends without direction starts here.
Strategy without disciplined execution is just a slide deck. How plans become campaigns, launches, and real results.
You have data but don't use it? A marketing decision without data is like driving in the dark.
Many tools don't mean smart marketing. An unused CRM and broken automation · the difference between buying technology and activating it.
If you can't link your marketing spend to a clear business outcome, you're not investing. You're spending.
Agency? In-house? Hybrid? The wrong model costs you more than weak performance itself.
Find out where your organization stands - free assessment in 10 minutes
Start the Assessment ↗What you get
Who This Is For
You spend millions on tools, campaigns, and agencies · but no one in your organization can answer one question: is your marketing spend a cost or an investment? That's where the real problem begins.
2026 is the year of AI. $9.1 billion invested in the sector. Digital transformation needs more than infrastructure · it needs corporate communications that builds trust and delivers the right message to the right audience.
The Marketing Series
Decision tools for senior practitioners in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.
The wrong agency costs more than its retainer.
A complete pack covering RFI, pitch governance, BAFO, AI-enabled vendor selection, and Saudi regulatory compliance. Includes the playbook, implementation guide, ready-to-use templates, and 4 working tools.
Two files: 48-page PDF + 4-sheet Excel toolkit.
New playbooks coming to the series.
About Ismail
I started in consumer products · 8 years at NADEC (FMCG). I grew milk market share from 4% to 11% and turned a production line from loss to profit. I launched the 1kg butter product with attractive packaging and achieved 95% market share in the first year.
Then the government sector · I contributed to Saudi Post's transformation from traditional mail into e-commerce, and managed a large team covering marketing, sales, and customer service.
At Salam Telecom I led marketing and communications across B2B, wholesale, and government sectors. I led the Salam Mobile launch, which achieved 4 billion impressions in the first two weeks and 2 million website visits. I managed a marketing budget of SAR 57 million at the Salam Mobile launch in 2022.
This journey gave me a different perspective: understanding the consumer who picks a product off the shelf, the enterprise that signs the telecom contract, and the government entity leading transformation · from the inside.
Today, Senior B2B Marketing Advisor and Founder of albishi.net. I work with business leaders in both private and government sectors on diagnosing marketing maturity, building strategy, and linking marketing spend to real returns.
I built SMMI because no one else did · a marketing maturity index purpose-built for the Saudi market. The tools I recommend are the ones I build myself.
"If you can't link your marketing spend to a clear business outcome, you're not investing. You're spending."
Is your marketing spend delivering the return it should?