Funday

Full service branding and advertising agency that believes it pays to have fun. Great work takes a balance of creativity and performance. Imagination and insight. Fun and brains.

Co-Founder and Partner

Simply Technologies

Advisor

ANIV

•  Passion project where we launched one of Armenia's first bicycle, ebike, and scooter sharing networks, sponsored by the largest financial institutions, Ameriabank, with over 100,000+ registered users and 10,000+ rides per day.

Co-Founder

SymphonyAI

• Lead the product and go-to-market strategy for Ayasdi’s Financial Services division, launching offerings around core areas such as anti-money laundering, conduct risk, cybersecurity, and customer intelligence
• Involved in all global sales, and proof-of-concept deliveries, and offering deployments to Tier 1 banks – tied to roughly $15M in software and services revenue
• Speak at multiple industry conferences in the US, Europe, and Japan regarding artificial intelligence, FinTech, and RegTech topics – frequently blogging about the same topics

Financial Services Strategy Lead

• Established and led the product, ecosystem, marketing, and go-to-market strategy for IBM’s pre-built Watson offerings for the financial services industry
• Led or was involved in nearly all global sales, proof-of-concept deliveries, and offering deployments to Tier 1 and Tier 2 banks – tied to roughly $50M in software and services revenue 
• Managed the incubation and strategy of several new financial services offerings based on feedback from clients and industry research, covering the wealth management, banking, and regulatory compliance spaces
• Created and hosted IBM’s first FinTech podcast and blogger on IBM’s Big Data Hub, discussing such key topics as artificial intelligence, behavioral finance, and the need for diversity in financial services

IBM Watson - Senior Offering Manager - Financial Markets and Wealth Management

Client-Focused:
• Managed the client web/mobile and a portion of the financial desktop workstreams for a top US wealth management firm for an account aggregation project. Was responsible for everything from requirements gathering, visual design, UAT strategy, to data analysis on 500,000+ accounts
• Collaborated between senior management of a US financial services firm to create a digital strategy for their clients – creating the business case and identifying possible future revenue sources – as well as facilitated the transition to an Agile framework

IBM Internal:
• Acted as the project manager in the creation of a leading cognitive tool for the financial services industry and set the ground work for a partnership between IBM and another large firm to bring the solution to market
• Played an integral role in organizing the product roadmap and team governance structure for the IBM Analytics wealth management offering management team 
• Involved in several IBM sales initiatives creating go-to-market strategies, business cases, and firm target operating model solutions
• Led the consultant on- and off-boarding, contract procurement, and Data Security and Privacy (DS&P) engagement management functions for 80+ consultants at a major IBM client

Senior Consultant

Client-Focused:
• Managed scope, delivery, and testing of a consolidated securities-based lending product with associated applications for a top US wealth management firm
• Collaborated with multiple teams of a top US wealth management firm to define requirements for an account aggregation project which allowed the viewing of external client assets on internal applications

IBM Internal:
• Involved in several IBM sales and research initiatives relating to such key wealth management topics as the rise of robo-advisors, difference in generational preferences, mortgage origination optimization, and Watson Engagement Advisor
• Played an integral role in wealth management practice in the creation of multiple responses to Requests for Proposal (RFPs) and Requests for Information (RFIs)
• Led the wealth management practice’s learning and knowledge (L&K) team and was tasked with organizing educational events, an industry insights newsletter, and practice all-hands meetings
• Led the consultant on- and off-boarding, contract procurement, and Data Security and Privacy (DS&P) engagement management functions for 80+ consultants at a major IBM client

Consultant

• Worked with a team of consultants in assisting the United States Postal Service in forming a pricing strategy for its international products
• Created extensive pricing models for various international products

Public Sector Consultant

Merrill Lynch

•	Support a team of financial advisers with maintaining client relations by providing mutual fund reports and various information packets on various debt and equity securities to clients
•	Complete numerous class action documents against fraudulent companies on behalf of clients

Wealth Management Analyst

Qatar Shell GTL

•	Reclaimed Value Added Tax (VAT) of over $500,000 on invoices for a multibillion dollar Gas-to-Liquids project
•	Successfully installed a VAT reclaim procedure for future invoices
•	Collaborated with a multinational team of four to complete goals for the VAT procedure

Analyst

First New York Securities

•	Learned how to examine stocks using technical and fundamental analysis
•	Analyzed countless stocks using Thomson Reuters finance applications and analyst reports
•	Assisted a portfolio manager by summarizing sector specialist meetings and questioning analysts on their stock opinions

Summer Analyst

Co-Founder @ Funday | Branding, Advertising, Emerging Tech

Emerging Technology Enthusiast | Early Adopter | Angel Investor

Alex is a Co-founder and Partner at Funday, a branding and advertising agency that works with brands like 7-Eleven, Microsoft, Arla Foods, and others.

Alex overseas an extensive list of emerging technology brands, such as blockchains like Aptos and Algorand.

Prior to Funday, Alex was the financial services strategy lead at AyasdiAI, where he brought some of Ayasdi's industry-leading Artificial Intelligence capabilities to the financial services industry.

Alex has gained a deep industry knowledge of the financial services industry. His experiences so far have revolved around subjects such as artificial intelligence, web3, cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology, financial technology (FinTech), regulation technology (RegTech), anti-money laundering, and digital wealth management.

Alex Baghdjian

There's one brand I'm seeing everywhere.

Like all over the New York metro area.

I see news about them on my feed.
I see people holding their bags.
I see their ads.

And that's Primark.

I grew up in the UK, so I know of Primark. It's ingrained in UK culture.

It has around 200 stores and is deeply embedded in high‑street culture.

It’s even done some of my favorite marketing collabs (who doesn’t want a Gregg’s bucket hat?)

Now Primark is making a big push in the U.S.

They now have 33 stores in 13 states and plan to get to 60 stores by next September.

And they're marketing is matching their growth.

Out of curiosity, I went to one of their stores this past week.

It was packed.

The more I look into Primark, the more I realize they’ve timed their U.S. expansion perfectly. 

1. In-store vs. digital - Primark focuses on physical stores over pure digital sales. For young consumers craving experiences, that’s going to matter. 

2. They are serious about sustainability - young consumers want brands to act responsibly. With social media, they know which fashion brands have issues around waste and labor rights.

3. Value, value, value…with quality - with budgets tightening, U.S. consumers are looking for value without sacrificing quality. Primark’s price points are super accessible for American consumers watching their budgets.

Primark also just launched a display-only pop-up in NoHo in NYC to get New York consumers acquainted with the brand.

This is before they launch a HUGE store opposite Penn Station.

A lot to watch with Primark. My bet is they're going to crush it.

But ultimately the market will decide.

#primark #branding #advertising #marketing #retail

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