Maryam Smaili, freelance creative strategist

Comic Relief . RED-NOSE it

The brand born from punk is slowly dying of politeness.

Problem is

Toe dippers won't sit on a couch and watch a comedy show on TV for 7 hours.

However

The 7 hour show already exists. The live donations already exist. The chat already exists. It's called a stream. The Red Nose stayed behind.

We need to

Put the nose in the stream. Let them RED-NOSE what's broken.

So that

The Red Nose becomes theirs. A word they use, not a product they buy.

Helping to

Transform Comic Relief from a 7 hour TV show into a streaming-native participation platform.

Featured on Lions The Work

AMH's Dual Pillar Model

Paid hospital pillar is destroying trust in the free social mission.

Problem is

Two mental boxes. Charity (free) or hospital (paid). No box for cross-subsidy.

However

On Me already exists. Every café. Every day. Same act, 32 years at hospital scale. Nobody named it.

Insight

Moroccans fight over every bill. This is just a bigger one.

We need to

Rename the model with an act they already perform and trust.

So that

The bill becomes solidarity, not betrayal.

Strategy / 01 AMH · 2026

3la 7ssebi · On Me

AMH · Young Lions Morocco 2026 · Gold · Digital

AMH needs to grow donations for Centre Noor without a media budget. The problem is that charity asks feel like guilt. However, Moroccans already cover each other's bills every day and call it 3la 7ssebi, “on me.” So we named that reflex and pointed it at the hospital, so that giving feels like the warmest habit there is, helping AMH turn everyday generosity into sustained funding.

Cause campaign Cultural insight Darija-first

YL

Gold · Young Lions Morocco Cannes Lions · June 2026

Read case study free

Young Lions Cannes 2026 . Gold, Digital

RED-NOSE it

Morocco's first Gold at Young Lions Digital

Watch the Pitch

Brief + full entry on Drive

Performance / 02 US + DACH

Multi-Market Creative Strategy

2,500+ creatives across US + DACH via Meta's Andromeda framework.

Andromeda-native UGC pipeline Winner iteration

Strategy / 03 Original IP

She Is Many: The Womansphere

Original framework mapping four female identity postures for brands.

Original IP Consumer psychology

Read case

Performance / 04 7+ editions

Let's Rewind

Ongoing series of 7+ editions breaking down real campaign strategy.

Content franchise Strategy analysis

Methodology · the playbook

How I research.

A 6-phase hybrid methodology. Complete strategic foundation in 8 to 12 hours, or 30 minutes on autopilot with the Claude Code skill in the Playbook.

PHASE / 01 1 to 2h

Market Awareness

Gemini

Schwartz levelsTAM estimate

PHASE / 02 1.5 to 2h

Competitor Landscape

Perplexity

Competitor profilesMessaging analysis

PHASE / 03 2 to 3h

Deep Psychographic Research

ChatGPT → Gemini

AvatarsPain pointsCustomer language

PHASE / 04 0.5 to 1h

Mass Desires

Claude

Desire hierarchyEmotional triggers

PHASE / 05 1 to 1.5h

Unique Mechanism

Claude

UMPUMSCopy expressions

PHASE / 06 1 to 2h

Strategic Angles

Claude

Avatar-pain pairingsEmotional hooks

Research maps · from the workflow

Real research maps. Blurred for confidentiality.

Deep research map, overview board — Deep Research · Mechanisme · Messaging & Angles

Demand segments research map — Demand Segments · Market Sophistication

Context, competitors and cultural elements research map — Competitors · Product Category · Cultural Elements

Real research maps. Blurred for confidentiality.

How I work · 02 engines

How I work.

Two engines, one operator. Cause campaigns and brand strategy on one side, performance creative at scale on the other.

01

Creative Strategy Lane

Creative & Brand Strategy

Cause campaigns, brand platforms, copywriting, and culturally-grounded creative, where a sharp insight reframes the whole problem, like the Young Lions Gold campaign for AMH.

cultural insight brand strategy copywriting campaign architecture

02

PERFORMANCE LANE

Performance Creative at Scale

I lead creative strategy at Zak Edd, a London-based agency scaling D2C brands across US and DACH markets. Research-driven briefs, systematic testing, and winner iteration across thousands of creatives.

Andromeda framework UGC pipelines winner iteration

For D2C performance partnerships Zak Edd

Work with me directly.

✦

Free

Brand Read

A fast strategic diagnostic. Where your brand sits, what's working, and the one gap holding growth back. Short, sharp, no fluff.

A few slots each month. Get your free read

◆

Audit

Full Presence Audit

A deep dive across your whole digital presence. Positioning, messaging, ads, social, landing pages, funnel. Prioritized recommendations mapped to where the real leverage is.

Book the audit

Digital products · self-serve

Tools from the field.

The same systems I use on retainers, packaged for solo operators, founders, and small strategy teams.

SKILLS · STARTER Free 01

ResearchOS Starter: Creative Strategy Skills

The core skills to understand the process and write your first real briefs. Insight writing, creative brief frameworks, and cultural anchor mining. Learn how a brief gets built, from insight to angle to copy.

Get it free

PLAYBOOK · SOP 02

Hybrid Deep Research Playbook

The 6-phase research engine. Turn a brand URL into a complete strategy doc. The same system behind a Gold-winning Young Lions campaign.

$10.99 Get it

FULL OS · EARLY ACCESS Early access 03

ResearchOS: The Full Creative Strategy OS

The complete pipeline. Research to mechanism to angles to briefs to production. Every brief traces back to evidence, not AI guesswork. Built inside a DTC agency at six-figure monthly spend.

Get early access free

The same system behind a 1.87 ROAS top performer on $142K spend and a Gold-winning Young Lions Morocco 2026 campaign.

About / 07

Maryam Smaili.

Born in Rissani, the desert town that bordered the medieval trans-Saharan trade. Trained first in science and mathematics. The kind of background that makes you suspicious of unfalsifiable creative claims.

Read business at ISCAE, the Moroccan reference school. Sharpened the craft at KLEM Academy, the most rigorous strategy training I could find in francophone Africa. For the last five months, building the freelance practice on Zak Edd's pipeline, scaling D2C creative across the US and DACH.

In May 2026, won Gold at Young Lions Morocco, Digital, with the AMH cause campaign. Now representing Morocco at Cannes Lions 2026.

Currently looking to learn from senior operators in independent D2C creative-strategy consultancy, and I bring strategic firepower to the table.

“Fly high. There's less traffic.”

Off the clock

I'm relentlessly competitive. Football, debate, gaming, the work itself. I play to win and I chase excellence in all of it. The Last of Us sits above the usual GTA and FIFA rotation, same reason I love the job: story, tension, and knowing exactly what makes people care.

The prizes are just receipts. The drive is the point.

Programs & affiliations

Trained, led, represented

KLEM Academy ISCAE US Embassy · Leadership LAB Young Lions Morocco

Cannes Lions 2026, Representing Morocco Globalinguo Great Debaters ISCAE Shanghai Atlas Business Club

Creative Strategist.

Featured in

3la 7ssebi · On Me

RED-NOSE it

Multi-Market Creative Strategy

She Is Many: The Womansphere

Let's Rewind

Agency-side work · 2023 to 2025

Paid media creative at scale.

How I research.

Market Awareness

Competitor Landscape

Deep Psychographic Research

Mass Desires

Unique Mechanism

Strategic Angles

Research maps · from the workflow

Let's Rewind.

How I work.

Creative & Brand Strategy

Performance Creative at Scale

Brand Read

Full Presence Audit

Tools from the field.

ResearchOS Starter: Creative Strategy Skills

Hybrid Deep Research Playbook

ResearchOS: The Full Creative Strategy OS

Maryam Smaili.

Programs & affiliations

Tell me what you're building. EN, FR, or Darija. I'll bring the creative strategy.