Miami Ad School Students Can Get their Asses Kicked in Cool, Exotic Places Worldwide

Miami Ad School Graduate 2003
Art Direction Program
Ali just won his first Silver Cannes Lion, and has won numerous other awards since graduating. Currently, Ali has just started his own agency, Elephant in Cairo.

Bucharest-
I'd say going to Romania on internship in April of 2003 was possibly the best thing that could happen. A lot of students think internships are about going to the fancy shops- About sweating it out at Mother London, BBDO New York, or Strawberry Frog. I tend to disagree. I think internships are about going to the most unusual places and getting your ass kicked. They're about jumping in cold water and getting out of your comfort zone. Because you won’t get the chance again. As the brilliant Tom Robbins would say "before curiosity kills it, the cat learns more about the world than a thousand uninquisitive dogs"

Graham Painter (my copywriter at the time) and I hit it big in Bucharest. Two months into it and we were on the cover of their national paper.  We did some work for MTV Eastern Europe, and won an award at Eastern Europe's Golden Drums.We made lots of friends there, and they all flew over for my wedding last year. Every weekend we'd rent a car and drive up to Medieval Brasov and have a few beers with Dracula.

Two things I'll never forget about Romania, the breathtaking country side, the women, and the one dollar train tickets! Alright, three things. D'Arcy was run by an American/Cuban guy called Jose Perez. A week before leaving, he offered us both jobs.
But by that time we'd had way too much Transylvanian sausage.The five months spent in Bucharest were certainly educational.

Hamburg-
And in between, I spent two months as a bar man on the Greek island of Santorini. I call that my quarter in-between... possibly my best quarter at school : ) I was interning with a great writer called Tyler March. We kicked some German butt in that agency working on Skoda and Wrangler jeans. When the internship was over they hired me as an art director.

My copywriter was German, but luckily he spoke good English, and cooked the best roast chicken in milk ever. His name was Herr Nils Busche. We're still very good friends and he's now working with Sholtz and Friends in Berlin.

I spent another year in Germany eating Wurst, and drinking warm Becks beer. My Foosball got much better, and so did my art direction. My creative director Herman Waterkamp, was teaching at Miami Ad School Hamburg, and is among Germany's top art directors. I learned quite a lot from Herman.

These guys have a way of doing advertising, that everyone (I think) should be exposed to.The next best thing about Hamburg is Amsterdam.I’d go to Amsterdam every other weekend and spend time with the Miami Ad School boys at the school house. By far, the greatest Miami Ad School generation. Those were some good times.

Cairo-
In the beginning of 2005 my German copywriter and I made the Clio short list, and immediately after I was offered a job at Leo Burnett Cairo. The pay was great, and in a year's time, I'd be associate CD. Leo Burnett Cairo was a crazy change after Hamburg. Cairo is everything Hamburg is not, And Hamburg is everything Cairo is not. It was like moving to another planet.

Egypt can be very post-apocalyptic (as in blade runner) at times.Work wise, I went from doing one TVC in two years, to one TVC every two weeks! If Hamburg was concept -concept -concept; then Cairo is production- production- production. In two years time, I knew more about TV production than the average film director. In early 2007 I won the Grand Prix at the annual Lynx awards (the mid-east Cannes) for my Melody TV campaign.

At Leo Burnett I worked on Mobinil, Egypt's largest Telecom (part of Orange)
as well as Heineken, Heinz ketchup, and Melody TV. Two years later I was offered a Creative Director post with Mccann-FP7 Dubai. As is everyone, I was curious about Dubai and again, the pay was great.Two months later, I was living in my fifth city in just under four years! I got married that summer in Greece, and my wife came along.

After our big trip to Cannes in June of this year, where I won my first Silver Lion (and my agency's first) for a print campaign we did for Sony- I came back to Cairo. Where I’m currently starting Elephant - a small creative shop of 8 people that will serve the McCann network in the middle-east. For me its the best of both worlds, it's like starting your own place, but with someone else's money.

And now I'm getting ready for my first solo painting show next year.

That's it.That's my story.
If anyone happens to be in Cairo, give me a shout.