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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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
If a brand can recognise a specific customer need and do a nice turn in community marketing, it should be win-win, right?
Good piece on Kipp, via Communicate, on the intimidation of the media, and press self-censorship in the region.
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.
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.
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.
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
