BRAND BUZZ
BUILDING BRANDS THAT MOVE BEYOND AWARENESS TO BECOME CULTURAL PHENOMENA
Q: What key lessons have shaped your approach to building brands and businesses?
A: The greatest shift I have witnessed is that brands are no longer built through advertising alone; they’re built through culture. Working across Sri Lanka and the UAE showed me that consumers do not buy products – they buy stories, identities and experiences.
A great example is FIX Dessert Chocolatier. What started as founder Sarah Hamouda’s pregnancy craving became a global phenomenon. People were not buying a pistachio filled chocolate bar inspired by knafeh; they were buying the story, exclusivity and experience.
The same principle applies to Huda Beauty. Dubai has taught me that the most successful brands are not exporting products anymore; they’re exporting obsession.
Q: What inspired you to launch Brand Buzz and what market gap did you identify?
A: The decision to launch Brand Buzz came from a simple realisation. I found myself questioning whether marketing was being used to grow businesses or simply satisfy internal stakeholders. Too much energy was often spent on presentations, approvals and politics rather than creating real market impact.
I wanted to build something where strategy could move faster than bureaucracy and ideas would be judged by results, not hierarchy. Brand Buzz was created to bridge the gap between business strategy, creativity, technology and execution.
We are guided by five values: innovation, curiosity, courage, accountability and partnership. More than an agency, we aim to be a growth partner.
Q: How is the advertising and marketing landscape evolving in Sri Lanka and the UAE?
A: We are entering an era where attention is one of the world’s most valuable assets. Consumers are exposed to thousands of messages daily. Yet, very few brands are remembered. The future belongs to brands that create relevance, not merely visibility. Technology, AI and data will continue to transform marketing – but technology alone will never create loyalty.
Another major shift is the rise of founder led brands. Consumers increasingly want to know who is behind the logo, what they believe and what they are building. When a founder speaks, it feels human. The smartest brands today are investing not only in brand awareness but also founder awareness – because people connect with people before they connect with businesses.
Q: What gaps do you see in today’s marketing and advertising ecosystem?
A: One of the chief challenges I see today is that many businesses are either too focussed on short-term numbers or marketing activity without understanding what is happening in the consumer’s mind.
Dubai and Sri Lanka face different challenges. In Dubai, the challenge is differentiation in an incredibly competitive market where innovation moves quickly and consumer expectations are high. In Sri Lanka, the challenge is often viewing marketing as a function rather than a growth driver.
I am a strong believer in neuro-marketing. The real question is not what message a brand is putting out but what thoughts, feelings or behaviours it creates. Does it create trust, desire, curiosity or recall? Consumers may forget an advertisement but they remember how a brand made them feel. That belief forms the foundation of our Brain Buzz™ philosophy.
Q: How will Brand Buzz deliver a truly integrated marketing solution?
A: To me, integrated marketing is not about offering multiple services under one roof. It is about creating alignment. Every interaction a customer has with a brand should contribute to the same perception, emotion and business objective. A customer does not experience a brand through departments; they experience it as one story.
At Brand Buzz, everything begins with a simple question: what do we want people to think, feel and remember? Creativity attracts attention, strategy creates direction, technology creates intelligence and execution creates momentum. When these elements work together, marketing stops being a collection of activities and becomes a true growth engine.
Q: What change do you hope Brand Buzz will bring to the industry?
A: I believe the future belongs to agencies that think more like entrepreneurs and less like vendors. Traditional agencies were built around delivering services – the next generation will be built around delivering growth. Brand Buzz was created to challenge conventional thinking. We are not interested in producing marketing for the sake of marketing.
We are interested in helping businesses become category leaders. What distinguishes us is our combination of corporate experience, entrepreneurial agility and strategic thinking. We understand how large organisations operate but we also understand the speed required to compete in today’s marketplace. Marketing should never be measured by how much noise it creates but the value it creates.
Q: What are your ambitions for Brand Buzz in Sri Lanka and the UAE?
A: My ambition is not to build another successful agency – it is to build one of the region’s most influential growth and brand transformation consultancies. Over the next three to five years, I want Brand Buzz to become the partner of choice for ambitious businesses that want to scale, innovate and lead their industries.
I want the Brain Buzz™ methodology to become recognised as a framework for meaningful growth. Most importantly, I want Brand Buzz to help create the next generation of success stories the next Huda Beauty, the next FIX, the next globally recognised brand that proves world-class ideas can come from our region.
The most successful brands do not create customers; they create believers.
– Compiled by Indrajit Lankeshwara
COMPANY DETAILS
- Telephone: 0702 247022
- Email: info@wearebrandbuzz.com
