Signature Case Dubai: Brand Strategy: Hapter

CHAPTER 5
Signature Case Dubai: Brand Strategy
With the ending of the frigid Fifty Years’War between Soviet-style communism and
the West’s liberal democracy, some observers ... announced that we had reached
the ‘end of history’. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact now that the
bitter ideological confrontation sparked by this [last] century’s collision of ‘isms’ has
ended, larger numbers of people from more points on the globe than ever before
have aggressively come forward to participate in history.They have left behind cen-
turies, even millennia, of obscurity in forest and desert and rural isolation to request
from the world community – and from the global economy that links it together –
a decent life for themselves and a better life for their children. (Ohmae 1995, p. 1)
This chapter provides a detailed case study analysis of the Emirate of

Dubai, the fast-growing global hub of the Middle East. In other chapters,
other case studies will be presented, but throughout the book Dubai will
repeatedly receive attention. That is why we have called it our ‘signature
case’. This first chapter on our signature case Dubai will therefore discuss
the context of Dubai in depth, after which we shall present our empirical
studies of the projected image of Dubai in Chapter 9, and the perceived
image in Chapter 13. Of interest in these chapters is the extent to which
global facts take a local form. In this sense, we would encourage the reader
not to interpret the signature case as being about the specific context of
Dubai alone. Rather, it is about a typical example of a rapidly developing
region or city-state, riding the waves of globalization, having firmly estab-
lished itself, in less than fifteen years, as an important node in the network
of global flows. It is not just the case study of Dubai that is of central inter-
est, but also the results of the phenomenographical analysis of the way in
which this newly established hub is projecting itself and being imagined by
an international audience, and the way in which these results have been
obtained. The following case study description provides an assessment of
73
R. Govers et al., Place Branding

© Robert Govers and Frank Go 2009
74 Place Brand Strategy
the sense of place, and facilitates a comparison of the empirical content
analysis and survey results, as presented in later chapters, with the actual
product offering and local identity. While Dubai, at the time of writing, in
2008, had not yet developed an orchestrated brand strategy in terms of the
use of symbols (logos, slogans), the behaviour and communication of the
Emirate has nevertheless built a very powerful international brand. It is par-
ticularly this building of brand equity through action that interests us.
Hence we provide a detailed analysis of this here and in the following chap-
ters. The findings resulting from this analysis of case Dubai throughout this
book are likely to be of interest to many developing countries, regions or
cities in the emerging network of global hubs.
A large part of the contribution lies in the innovative research method-
ologies applied in Chapters 9 and 13, and the way in which they establish
the relationships hypothesized in the place branding model. Therefore, for
many, as well as the content of the findings on signature case Dubai, the
way in which these results have been generated will also be of interest. In
this chapter we shall first focus on the fixed and semi-fixed elements of
place identity and the product offering of Dubai.
INTRODUCTION
Dubai is one of the seven Emirates comprising the United Arab Emirates
(UAE), strategically positioned on the north-eastern tip of the Arabian
Peninsula, South of the Arabian Gulf (see Figure 5.1). As a Gulf state, like so
many other nations in the Middle East, the UAE has faced many challenges in
trying to maintain its impressive economic prosperity following recent events,
which had a dramatic impact on its geopolitical environment. In particular, the
second Gulf War has shown the tremendous impact that the spread of global
media has on projecting place image. Everyone will recall the rivalry between
regional and international (read American/European) news broadcasters and
their differences in the way in which events were reported. Huntington’s
(1993) ‘The Clash of Civilizations’ seemed to have become a reality.
Two Gulf Wars, the events of September 11 2001 in the USA, and the
ongoing destabilization of the Middle East have probably not improved
the Gulf region’s image in the West. But Dubai and its leadership have
tried to take advantage of this raised level of attention, illustrating to the
world the rapid development of the Emirate, its the high level of modern-
ization, but at the same time not shying away from its identity and her-
itage. In fact, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai
(even as crown prince, before the death of his brother, the previous ruler,
Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum in January 2006, he was the
most visible leader), actively promotes entrepreneurship, curtailment of

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CHAPTER 5

Signature Case Dubai: Brand Strategy

This chapter provides a detailed case study analysis of the Emirate of

R. Govers et al., Place Branding

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