Promises and lies

The difference between what a company promises, and what it actually delivers is known as the ‘brand gap’. Here are some words of wisdom from Mark Stevens in Brand Week:

‘Then there's clubby little Starbucks. The brand says, in effect, "Your home away from home. Your second living room. Your refuge from the rigors of the day." Sure, if you like filthy toilets, dirty tables, unswept floors. I used to love Starbucks but now the promise has turned to week-old grinds. I think of Starbucks as pigpens with java.’
The brands are nothing more than logos, he goes on to say, the promises they pedal are lies. The promise, he says, takes place in the nitty-gritty of execution; of training people how to welcome customers; how to field calls with enthusiasm; to solve customer problems with determination; to see names where others see only numbers.
Now how many businesses in the Middle East does that sound like?

A quiet word

The UAE government says it will deport the workers rounded up after riots at a Jebel Ali labor camp. The Labor Ministry called the protests “uncivilized” (stones were thrown and police cars damaged) and that it won’t tolerate illegal strike action.
The workers can’t say they weren’t warned. The authorities have always insisted on a zero tolerance approach to labor relations, and that they will listen to any legitimate complaints. It can point to progress on contract disputes, wage increases, working hours, accommodation, transport, and summertime breaks.
But this is clearly not enough. The first most residents of the UAE about worker dissatisfaction when the media picks up on trouble - and riots, walk outs and go-slows usually do the trick. The international media is finding the subject an easy stick with which to beat Dubai.
There could be as many as 500,000 laborers currently working in the city, but how many of us really know their issues? From media reports it seems to be same old complaints – wages, accommodation, contracts. But how many of theses are serious, intractable differences, and how many could be solved with a quiet word and a little action?
Giving the workers a voice, letting them know there is an outlet for dialogue, rather than confrontation, would be a better solution than riot police and stone-throwing.

Ministries can't stop meddling

The meddlesome Ministries are at it again. The UAE’s Higher Committee for Consumer Protection, under the Ministry of Economy, is telling private business what they think constitutes a right and proper price rise. Water, rice, cement and fast food suppliers are affected.
The move is a response, reportedly, to a 30% price hike by Oasis water during the summer. Consumers complained and the Ministry felt it should act. Could they not have told consumers to buy another brand of water?
The meddling is the latest example of a culture of Government interference, and comes in the same week as the UAE commits to backing a Bahraini proposal to set a six-year visa cap on unskilled worker visas. And it is not unique: in the run-up to its presidential election, Russia has imposed price controls on basic foodstuffs, and plans an export tariff on wheat. China already controls prices; other importers, including Egypt, Jordan, Bangladesh and Morocco, are increasing subsidies or fiddling with their tariff regime.

The government is right to be concerned about the cost of living for the very poorest in the community, but price fixing is not the solution. It distorts the market, prevents the most efficient flow of capital and undermines business. If consumers won’t pay high prices, someone will find a way of selling at a cheaper price. It shows a lack of trust in free enterprise and that meddling is the default-setting.

Spain plane pain eased

The UAE and Spain have finally signed to allow unlimited flights (for designated airlines) between the two countries. Which means Dubai residents will soon be able to fly direct to Madrid or Barcelona.
Good that this happening, but why has this anomaly existed for so long? And are there other glitches in Emirates network?

The Dunderhead Sharks

There is research that gives you fresh insight, and there is research that confirms what you already know. A report this week from Zurich International Life which tells us expats in the Middle East are loathe to use financial advisors, is very much in the latter category.
While one in three expats say savings and investment is their number one priority, less than 10% turn to financial advisors for advice. Most prefer to take advice from family and friends, 38% work things out for themselves. Worryingly, just 2% of expat Arabs use financial advisors.
Full marks to Zurich for doing the work (500 expats were polled in Bahrain the UAE), but the report falls short of telling is why there is such a lack of take up. I'd suggest an absence of proper regulation, too many fly-by-night operations, a history of rip-offs, and commission-based sales. There may be very many good financial advisors in the region, but the perception is of an industry staffed with sharks. Having met several new recruits to the industry, in the bars of Dubai, fresh off the plane, it is image many seem to revel in.
Will the financial industry take any notice? Does it care? While there are quick bucks to be made from cold calling (I once met a financial advisor who would steal the business cards from the drop bowls in expat restaurants, and start calling the next day), why invest in long-term brand building?

ITP & the art of joined up thinking

Two years ago Jumeirah International rebranded as the simplified Jumeirah. Arabian Business, less than impressed, labeled Jumeirah CEO Gerald Clueless. Or was it Hapless? Or Useless? Either way, it was a cheap play on the Irishman’s family name. The magazine then frothed about the wasted expense of dropping the ‘International’ tag and how the logo looked crap.

Lawless remained outwardly unflustered, but his bosses demanded – and got – action from Arabian Business’ publisher, ITP. Apologies were issued, staff were reprimanded. It was a needless personal attack.
This week ITP completed the latest stage of its penance strategy. Gerald Lawless picked up the lifetime achievement award at ITP’s CEO Middle East Awards. Somehow they resisted using the word ‘flawless’ in their press release.

Higher wages don't kill inflation

In 2005 public sector employees in Saudi Arabia were handed a blanket 15% increase in wages. The gift was not dependent on pay scale or performance; with the economy booming the Saudi government reckoned its huge number of civil servants, all Nationals, deserved a slice of the action.
Two years on and inflation in the Kingdom is running at a seven-year high. Rents in August were up a record 12.1%, with food product prices up 6.6%. Puzzled by this, the government has convened a special council to look at ways of tackling inflation. The panel has just recommended a pay rise for both private and public sector workers.
It has to be hoped the panel has some more ideas. Critics point out that the 2005 handouts have helped create inflation; and the ‘print more money’ approach is not indicative of financial control. Meddling in the wage market also caused imbalances as private sector wages did not bump by 15%. The continued peg to the dropping dollar, and its impact on import costs, is a greater concern.
What this does show is Saudi’s sensitivity to the political impact of rising prices. The country’s huge numbers of civil servants have long benefited from easy work conditions and decent wages. They will be aware the country is enjoying bumper oil revenues, and that the economy is opening up. They want their share; the government wants to keep them happy. If their wages are not buying them as much, pay them more, seems to be the plan.
There is no happy end game in this kind of thinking.

Blessed are the Model-Makers

Cityscape, the world's biggest real estate show, and boom time for model-makers. If a fraction of what is planned actually gets built, then the Gulf will be transformed. Kipp has the slides.

Devon Burj

Funny. Jumeirah Group is threatening a UK developer with legal action if it doesn't change the Burj-like design of its planned Plymouth hotel. Looks part Burj, part JBH to me.
This from the city that is building an Eiffel tower replica full of 'luxury' apartments.

Nike's community gamble

If a brand can recognise a specific customer need and do a nice turn in community marketing, it should be win-win, right?
Possibly not. The Nike Air Native N7 has been produced in consultation with Native American tribes, will be sold only to Native Americans and a percentage of monies raised will go to Native American health programmes. Nike says Native Americans have wider-than-average feet (up to three width sizes larger than the typical Nike shoe) and that Native American communities suffer from higher than average levels of obesity and diabetes. There are less than 3 million Native Americans according to the 2000 census, and the N7 is a small attempt at tackling some of their problems. Nike hopes to raise $200,000 for welfare programmes.
As I see it, the downside is Nike has admitted its core offer is no use to Native Americans, it does nothing for non-Native Americans with wide feet, and other ethnic groups will want to know 'what do we get?'. It would be nice to think Nike will get round to everyone. As Kipp says: What price the Nike Air Arabia?

News media, & self-censorship

Good piece on Kipp, via Communicate, on the intimidation of the media, and press self-censorship in the region.

It’s like the worst kind of lion taming. Brutalize the animals until they behave, reward them when they do (perhaps with corporate press awards), then unveil your act to the public. “Look, the lions are not restrained. They balance on balls because they want to.”
The crowd politely applauds, but they long ago stopped paying attention to the program – and its corporate sponsors. What they really want is for the animal to bite the lion-tamer in the ass.

I'd like to say this is all the fault of the authorities, but I'm not sure I believe that. This blog is written anonymously - should it need to be? Most of the comments on the Dubai Media Observer blog are anonymous. If more journalists were prepared to speak up, go on the record, and back their colleagues, there might be some progress. Truth is, most expats are content to bumble along knowing they'll move on if the pressure gets too much.

Business media buzz, or lack of

I've been enjoying Conde Nast's Portfolio magazine online, though I now hear the print version's not been selling too well. Lois Kelly at Foghound has a great piece on how the 'buzz' has not been great: too many high-anxiety stories, not enough inspiration, an absence of trends-to-decipher. A handy lesson for would-be publishers.

The hellevator

There are 31 floors in this building, and it can feel like I've stopped at all of them some evenings as the office empties. I read an interview last week with Akbar al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, in which he fumed at people pressing the 'up' button when they wanted to go down, and vice versa. If I use the lift here four times a day, this will happen at least once: some dumb fug standing blankly as the doors open at the 11th wanting to up, as we're heading down.
Lifts clearly aren't as simple as we think. Maybe the up/down buttons needs more explanation. Or maybe I'm the dumb fug, and Blankly 11 is zipping up and down, double quick.

Copy cabs

Abu Dhabi is getting a fleet of London cabs (painted pearly white). The fools think the cabs will be an icon of the city. They won't. With a Guggenheim, Louvre, cookie-cutter F1 track and Warner Bros theme park on the way (and copies of Dubai's Film Festival and golf championship already in place), the UAE capital is fast gaining a reputation for unoriginality. Plenty of cash, no idea.
In London, the cabs have become iconic because there are 1,000s of them and they've been running for years. In Abu Dhabi they will just look tacky.

Gazing down, clever branding

The Media City Ramadan tent is sponsored by Schon Properties. Nothing remarkable about that (international company wanting to show it 'gets' Islam), what is clever is they've branded the roof of the tent. With four (and counting) 25-story towers circling the area - along with five low-rise office blocks - there must be plenty of eyeballs looking down. The company is brand building, and big outdoor sites are an obvious route, doing something a little different helps breaks through
With little regulation on outdoor advertising, expect to see more of this: car roofs, low-rise residential blocks (the Greens is surrounded by high-rise), commercial transport, bald guys.
As ever, there is no shortage of media in Dubai; what is sometime missing is a creative use.