Sally Meech Sally Meech



Sally Meech, director of marketing communications, Media One Hotel, Dubai

About Sally
Heralding from Grimsby in the UK, Sally has spent all of her working life dedicated to the hospitality industry. Her background is very comprehensive with qualifications from City & Guilds in Cooking for the catering Industry, Health & Safety at work and Direct Trainers Award.

Sally has also attained additional skill sets including; Psychometric Training, customer & client relations and managing change & development. These qualifications have mirrored Sally’s career that has encompassed training, HR and business development in the UK before arriving in Dubai in 1994 and working for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, firstly as an outlet manager and then onto with her first exposure into PR and promotions in 1996.

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In 1999 Sally moved to Dubai Country Club where she spent five years as marketing & events manager before joining Crowne Plaza Dubai (Sheikh Zayed Road) where she spent just over two years as public relations & marketing communications manager responsible for the opening PR campaigns for Trader Vic’s & Wagamama’s.
Wafi was the next stop and Sally represented the property as marketing communications manager for nearly four years before joining Media One Hotel in April 2010 as PR & marketing manager. Since joining Media One Hotel Sally has been busy maintaining a very high profile for Media One by creating a strong brand identity that highlights the ‘tongue-in-cheek’ graphic approach, regular PR exposure through print, online and radio, and effectively networking with the media across all mediums.

Sally has embraced the social media scene and is responsible for Media One’s Facebook page with more than 5000 friends and Media One’s twitter account. Her recent post of ‘Which 3 people would you like to be stuck in an elevator with’ attracted a huge spike in responses, and interesting daily posts such as opinions on the Olympics, have ensured the popularity of the Media One Facebook page. At the beginning of 2012 Sally was promoted to director of marketing communications.

Above and beyond the call of duty…
Sally has been known to work around the clock in order to ensure she hits challenging deadlines. Many emails are received and work is being carried out until the early hours of the morning.

Operating with a small team, Sally is a perfect example of the ‘going beyond’ attitude that Media One lives by – a recent example of this was for the ‘Joining Jack’ fundraising activities, whereby Sally worked until 5am in the morning before returning to the hotel at 8am to welcome four-year-old Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy sufferer Jack Johnson and family to the hotel. The late night/early morning was due to putting the final touches on a seven-day programme of activities & fun for this inspirational youngster and his family which resulted in more than AED 90,000 being raised in funds to aid research into this currently incurable disease.

Sally heads up the Media One Green Tourism committee, and working proactively with the engineering team, has managed to implement changes resulting in a reduction in annual energy consumption despite increased hotel occupancy and increases in DEWA rates. Sally fronts all other CSR activities; including tin-can collections, special environmental-friendly days, and paperless Wednesdays. Sally is also renowned as a caring, ‘motherly’ figurehead for many of our front-line enthusiasts.

Testimonials
“I have been dealing with Sally Meech since 2004 when she was at Crowne Plaza and have continued to deal with her on a professional level during her time at Wafi and now Media One Hotel. She is without doubt one of the most professional marketers in Dubai and is someone I will go to first whenever we have an idea or project. As she makes things happen and understands the operational complexities involved. So when I got involved with Joining Jack she was an obvious person to speak to. She turns ideas into a reality and adds so much of her own time and creativity to the event that she over delivered on all levels. She is a very popular and well-loved personality within the media and as a result has the loyalty of the media in the market. I know of no other marketing manager in the UAE who can claim that. The award for best marketer would be long overdue in my opinion and nothing short of what she deserves,” Andrew Wingrove, publishing director, Men's Lifestyle Group

“I have known Sally for a number of years and had the pleasure of working with her at the Crowne Plaza Dubai between 2004 and 2006. For many people Sally is the face of Dubai; one only has to refer to the late Lord Lichfield's photographic essay of Dubai life, "A City Portrait" ,to see her resplendent in one of her fantastic hats at the Dubai World Cup. To me, this photo captures the essence of Sally; a lover of life and at the centre of everything she does. When we worked together her passion, enthusiasm and creativity were on constant display and I look back on those times with great pride and affection. Her campaigns to launch Trader Vic's Madinat Jumeirah and introduce Wagamama to the UAE were inspired - some people will remember her turning up to the opening party with a chopstick hairstyle. It was the talk of the night and ensured a huge amount of coverage in the days and weeks that followed the event. There are many other stories to tell but I think it is sufficient for me to say she was instrumental in re-positioning the hotel and its food and beverage offering. At the same time, Sally has remained true to herself and she is remembered here as someone who is always ready to lend a helping hand or even just listen. On her visits back to the hotel it is inspirational to see how she picks up conversations with old colleagues, when the time comes to depart I will be very proud if I manage to leave only a quarter of the warmth and goodwill that she has generated among our colleagues. I wish her every success with this well deserved nomination,” James Young, general manager, Crowne Plaza Dubai Sheikh Zayed Road

“I have known Sally Meech for seven years now and in my opinion she is one of the most dedicated, passionate, enthusiastic and genuine PRs in Dubai. She has the balance between professional and friend spot on. I never feel like she's using me to promote events etc and the fact that she comes up with unusual, fun and creative marketing ideas makes me happy to jump on board and support what she's doing. I can't think of anyone more worthy of Marketing/PR Person of the Year. She's brilliant,” Stef Burgon (Geordiebird), The Catboy & Geordiebird Breakfast Show, Dubai 92