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<\/p>\nIn March, the International Business Award Cases&Faces 2025 ceremony took place in Miami, United States \u2014 an annual international award that gathers more than a thousand submissions from different countries and recognizes leaders in business, technology, and the creative industries. This year, in the Executive of the Year (Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations)<\/b> category, the winner was marketer and project manager Mohammad Abbasi<\/b>.<\/p>\n
We spoke with him about why strong advertising begins not with budget, but with discipline of thought, how his experience in Ukraine shaped his professional style, and what, in his opinion, truly separates \u201cmarketing as a craft\u201d from marketing that genuinely changes a business.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Mohammad, congratulations on your win. What does the Cases&Faces award mean to you?<\/b>
\n<\/b> \u2014 Thank you. For me, first of all, it is an external validation that my work is not just a set of separate \u201ccampaigns,\u201d but a system. Cases&Faces evaluates not only the fact of success, but also the innovation of the approach, its impact, and the long-term nature of the results \u2014 and that is exactly what resonates with me.<\/p>\n
And there is another important point: it is an international environment. When you are evaluated in the context of different markets, different standards, and different approaches, it is always an honest test.<\/p>\n
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\u2014 You were born in Iran and finished school very early. Why Ukraine?<\/b>
\n<\/b> \u2014 I grew up in a small industrial city in southern Iran. I finished school at 16 and quite quickly realized that I wanted to go beyond a local \u0441\u0446\u0435\u043d\u0430\u0440io. At that time, Ukraine was an opportunity for me: education, a new culture, a new language \u2014 but most importantly, a chance to build a professional trajectory from scratch.<\/p>\n
I enrolled at the National Aviation University, majoring in international economic relations. There were many subjects there that truly influenced me: marketing, management, advertising, PR, foreign economic activity. It gave me a broad perspective.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Your first serious professional experience was at Azot-Technology. What shaped your style there?<\/b>
\n<\/b> \u2014 That is where I very quickly understood one simple thing: marketing is responsibility, not \u201ccreativity for the sake of creativity.\u201d I was dealing with strategy, tactics, and finance: developing campaigns, selecting platforms, budgets, contracts with contractors, supervision, and performance analytics.<\/p>\n
It disciplined me. I learned to think like this: if you launch a campaign, you are responsible for the result, for the numbers, and for the brand\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n
\u2014 In 2015, you joined the international Shangrila project and quickly became head of the marketing direction. What was the main challenge?<\/b>
\n<\/b> \u2014 When a project operates across different continents, the main challenge is not just to \u201cpour traffic,\u201d but to build a system that adapts to the market, the culture, the regulations, and the audience\u2019s behavioral patterns.<\/p>\n
At that time, I worked a lot with complex turnkey strategies, negotiations, contracts, client development, and scaling. And yes, at a certain point I made a choice in favor of practice: I focused on work because I could see the real impact and the pace of growth.<\/p>\n
\u2014 After 2018, a lot changed because of regulatory decisions. How do you navigate such \u201cbreaks\u201d in a career?<\/b>
\n<\/b> \u2014 Calmly, but soberly. If reality changes, you either adapt or waste time. In 2018, the company closed its office in Ukraine and moved its operations to Georgia \u2014 I left, and in 2019 I joined Wombat Digital, where I still work today.<\/p>\n
It was a normal transition: a new team, different projects, different tasks \u2014 but the same principle: to work systematically.<\/p>\n
\u2014 In 2022, you moved to Los Angeles. What was the hardest part about continuing your career in the U.S.?<\/b>
\n<\/b> \u2014 First of all, the pace and the competition. There are many strong professionals in the U.S., but there is also an advantage: if you deliver results, it becomes noticeable very quickly.<\/p>\n
In Los Angeles, I continued my career as the head of the new ALPHA 77 project, where we combine marketing with educational products. For me, that is logical: I have always wanted not just to \u201cmake advertising,\u201d but to explain the mechanics, to teach people how to think, and to build strategies that outlive changes in platforms and trends.<\/p>\n
\u2014 You often talk about \u201cprecision advertising\u201d and advanced targeting. What do you mean by these words?<\/b>
\n<\/b> \u2014 I will explain it simply. Most people lose not because they have too little budget, but because they do not understand who they are speaking to and why.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrecision advertising\u201d is when:<\/p>\n
I relate to an approach where marketing relies on psychology, data, and technology \u2014 not only on intuition.<\/p>\n
\u2014 In short, what is your main professional philosophy today?<\/b>
\n<\/b> \u2014 Precision matters more than volume.
\nIn a world where everyone is shouting, the one who wins is the one who speaks correctly \u2014 at the right moment and to the right person.<\/p>\n
And one more thing: I believe in the long game. You can \u201chit the mark\u201d once. But it is far more interesting to build a system that delivers results again and again, even when algorithms, markets, and the rules of the game change.<\/p>\n
\u2014 What comes next after the victory?<\/b>
\n<\/b> \u2014 A victory is not the finish line. It is a marker that you are moving in the right direction. What comes next is more scaling, more educational products, more practical cases, and most importantly, more responsibility for what you bring into the profession.<\/p>\n
Background:<\/b> Mohammad Abbasi is a marketer with more than 12 years of experience in advertising and marketing; he has worked in Ukraine and in international markets, and since 2022 he has been developing projects in the United States. In 2025, he received the Executive of the Year \u2014 Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations<\/b> award at the Cases&Faces 2025 International Business Award<\/b>.<\/p>\n
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In March, the International Business Award Cases&Faces 2025 ceremony took place in Miami, United States \u2014 an annual international award that gathers more than a thousand submissions from different countries and recognizes leaders in business, technology, and the creative industries.… Continue Reading