Info ministry appoints Imran Ghazali as GM Digital Media Wing

Imran Ghazali has been appointed as the General Manager of Digital Media Wing (DMW) at Ministry of Information, Government of Pakistan.

The ministry confirmed the appointment via notification stating: “The competent Authority has been pleased to appoint Mr, Ghazali S/o Asif Ghazali as General Manager (MP-II), Digital Media Wing, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting with immediate effect and until further orders.”

“His tenure appointment will be in accordance with the finance division,”

In March, the federal cabinet approved the allocation of a supplementary grant of Rs42.791 million during the current financial year for creation of a digital media wing at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The DWM is formed to ostensibly counter fake news that damages the federal government’s repute among social media users.

It will also be responsible for defending over social media any decision made by the government while also dealing with critics of the ruling PTI and explaining policies of the Imran Khan-led administration.

As its general manager, Ghazali has been tasked with leading a data-driven, growth-oriented team to further the interests of the State of Pakistan locally and internationally.

In terms of breakdown, the 23-member digital media wing will comprise a general manager, a digital media consultant, five digital communication officers, three video editors, two videographers, one photographer, four graphic designers, five content writers and one digital feed manager.

Imran Ghazali Profile:

Imran Ghazali has been around in the industry for 14 years as an expert. He is also one of the pioneers of social media campaigning in Pakistan with over 120,000 followers on his personal accounts. Ghazali has been associated with numerus organization around the globe as a consultant. He has been speaking as social media strategist at various public events.

He has recently worked as a Head of Social Media Consultant at DFID's family planning project - DAFPAK.

Before this he was leading the digital strategy as a consultant to UNICEF for Clean Green Pakistan initiative at Ministry of climate change. Ghazali also played part in implementation of KP Government’s Digital Policy and worked closely with KP IT board as World Bank Pakistan Consultant for Digital Youth Summit.

Ghazali has also been managing Digital Media presence and digital PR of Nutshell Forum, Pakistan's leading conference management organisation. He also played part in 360 degree coverage of Pakistan's biggest corporate summits Leaders In Islamabad Business Summit & The Future Summit prime events of Nutshell with hundreds of foreign delegates from over 30 countries.

He was also training the Government of Pakistan officials voluntarily on the effective ways of using digital platforms for government and held few workshops at NITB in collaboration with Facebook.

From December 2016 to August 2018, he worked a head of National Campaigning – Digital at Alif Ailaan, which has been recognized as the biggest campaign on education reforms in Pakistan.

He was the architect of the digital strategy for the last two years of the campaign that resulted in increased reach and engagement on social media platforms.

Prior to this, he worked as Chief Digital Officer at M&C Saatchi World Services where he was responsible for the whole digital business and was leading digital strategy for key accounts.

He has advised for the digital strategy and led the social media roll-out of their Pakistan-US Friendship campaign.

While working as Business Director, Digital at ZenithOptimedia (ZO), he had the opportunity to reset a business unit and lead a team of enthusiastic young individuals. He led a young dynamic team of 30 and developed the digital line of business as a new unit and transformed it into a fully organized unit with strategy, creative, content, planning, social media management and analytics as core functions.

Ghazali is also one of the founding members of the PTI’s social media, and was the key member in creating online presence of the party on the platform.

Ghazi has been around in PTI circle for quite some time now. He has been involved in party’s web team since 2007 and played a key role in recruiting, training and organizing hundreds of volunteers. He was head of social media campaign for Imran Khan-led party in 2013 elections.

Following the general elections, he was appointed as the Head of PTI Social Media Operations, where he organized and coordinated with over 300 team members across Pakistan.

In the past he also headed the Pakistani American Students Association and turned it into the best student organization at The Ohio State University.

Ghazi graduated with a Bachelors with Honors degree from Ohio State University in 2009.