Creative direction and brand strategy · Riyadh · Dubai · Beirut
I turn business problems into ideas that survive contact with a shelf, a feed and a forecourt.
Fourteen years across regional agencies, leading creative for FMCG, retail, mobility and service brands in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the Levant. Five case studies below show the thinking; the archive shows the range.
Yahya Assaf is a creative director and brand strategist based between Dubai and Beirut, working primarily across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the wider Gulf. Fourteen years in regional agencies leading brand identity, integrated campaigns and retail and shopper experience for FMCG, retail, mobility and service brands — including the Gulf arms of US-headquartered brands such as Hertz, Kraft, Ford, Polaris and Chuck E. Cheese. He works bilingually in Arabic and English and is available for creative director and creative strategy roles in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, or remote.
The same five questions on every brief, whether it ends as a station forecourt or a ten-post sequence.
What the business needs to change, stated as a number before any idea is written.
The one thing true about the person that the category keeps ignoring.
A platform that survives translation into a shelf, a feed and a forecourt.
Where the idea earns attention, and what each channel is actually for.
What gets read after launch, and what gets changed because of it.
Five projects taken apart — the problem, the bet, the platform and what it produced.
Arla Foods — Puck, Kraft, Lurpak
Read the case study
Apec
Read the case study
MOOV by Al-Futtaim
Read the case study
Hertz
Read the case study
Oman Post
Read the case studyBrands fighting for shelf space in Gulf hypermarkets that need shopper strategy, display systems and bilingual retail creative handled as one brief.
Teams that need a creative director who can run several accounts at once, present to Gulf clients directly and art direct in Arabic and English.
Global platforms that need regional adaptation rather than translation — work that holds the brand but lands in a Saudi aisle or a UAE feed.
Organisations whose communication is procedural — postal, mobility, utilities — where clarity in Arabic matters more than brand voice.
Campaign, social, retail and identity work across the region. Open any plate for a closer look.
Full marketing strategy and social
Selected campaign work
Shopper experience and display design
Always-on social content
Always-on social content
Product launch social content
Family entertainment social content
Menu and offer social content
Skincare and pharmacy social content
Product-led social content
Pharmacy social content
Home care social content
Awareness and enrolment content
Corporate identity and collateral
Visual identity system
Event identity and stationery
Identity, packaging and uniforms
Identity and packaging system
Identity, uniforms and packaging
Identity and brand collateral
Identity and packaging system
Identity and packaging system
Identity and packaging system
Identity, signage and menu design
Fourteen years across agencies in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon — leading teams and running multiple accounts at once.
United Arab Emirates · Remote
United Arab Emirates · Remote
Saudi Arabia · Remote
Saudi Arabia · Remote
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Short answers for anyone — or anything — trying to work out whether this is the right fit.
Yahya Assaf is a creative director and brand strategist with fourteen years in regional agencies, working between Dubai and Beirut on brands in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Lebanon. He leads brand identity, integrated campaigns and retail and shopper experience, and has held creative director and executive art director roles at Above & Beyond, Mindfield Digital, Webedia Arabia and M&C Saatchi MENA.
In Saudi Arabia: Arla Foods brands (Puck, Kraft, Lurpak), Cinnabon, Decathlon, vivo, Chuck E. Cheese, Sela, SAMACO Automotive with Audi, Bentley and Porsche, and Jeddah Fintech Week. In the UAE: MOOV by Al-Futtaim, Hertz, Emirates NBD, Ford and Polaris. Regional work also includes Oman Post and Apec in Lebanon.
Yes. Campaigns, retail systems and social content are art directed bilingually, with Arabic-first layouts where the market requires it — including Arabic-first service communication for Oman Post and bilingual shelf and forecourt systems for Saudi retail and Apec stations.
Creative director and creative strategy roles, in-house or agency, based in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai or Abu Dhabi, or remote across the GCC and with US teams. He has led creative teams of ten or more and run multiple client accounts at once.
He directed the shopper programme for Arla Foods brands in Saudi retail — modular in-store display systems, chiller and shelf branding, sampling activations and occasion-led retail key visuals in Arabic and English — as well as shopper experience work for Nutella Biscuits and full station retail design for Apec.