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OK, most of us have seen the billboards etc. but who are they?

I've done a search on the interweb and it has turned up nothing.

What is it gonna be .. another holdings company/real estate developer. *yawn* .. those branding companies are making a fortune

MaaaD wrote:What is it gonna be .. another holdings company/real estate developer. *yawn* .. those branding companies are making a fortune

Well, Shoof, Emirates Outdoor, the RTA etc. have made a fortune out of them.

I have heard rumours of a new *big* player entering the market, to rival Emaar and Dubai Properties, so that would be interesting.

someone who is not connected some way or other with the goverment ? yes that would be interesting

Well the second syllable, although mispelled, has to do with all the money they'll make as in "Waad of money"

Poke your nose around long enough and you will find.

Ruwaad is a Property Company that is a conglomerate formed between Emirates Outdoor, a Sharjah based company and an Indian developer.

They are in branding at the moment but will be releasing some developments soon.

^ian^ wrote:Poke your nose around long enough and you will find.

Ruwaad is a Property Company that is a conglomerate formed between Emirates Outdoor, a Sharjah based company and an Indian developer.

They are in branding at the moment but will be releasing some developments soon.

did you manage to find out what company is doing the campaign for them ?

MaaaD wrote:

^ian^ wrote:Poke your nose around long enough and you will find.

Ruwaad is a Property Company that is a conglomerate formed between Emirates Outdoor, a Sharjah based company and an Indian developer.

They are in branding at the moment but will be releasing some developments soon.

did you manage to find out what company is doing the campaign for them ?

Well, given the ties with Emirates Outdoor it would be their incumbent I imagine.

this is also my question eversince, everyday when i go to work, i see its billboard in the free zone... i do search on the web but found no concrete and relevant articles... found some articles written in arabic, which of course i couldnt understand... now at least we have an idea what it is about hehe

at first sight I read the arabic version as "CIGI", so it reminds me of that cryogenics company...

Their branding and their campaign is just AWFUL!!

Princess Banana Hammock wrote:Their branding and their campaign is just AWFUL!!

i agree .. and to make it worse its everywhere

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hi serer. you are not smart enough, because your parttime online job nothing to do with this topic. so please stop putting this crap everywhere. also this kind of job are bullshit and rubbish. I don,t think anyone apply for this kind of job. we are smart enough to decide what kind of job is good or not. please don,t do it. you have to put in job section not everywhere.

I think it is very effective branding. I mean we all know the name and logo it is stuck in our heads from over exposure.

They better do good when they launch though - time is ticking on

It's not effective branding though, it's just over exposure.

Effective branding needs to represent the business have meaning to the customer. It also needs to have meaning globally, which is something many businesses are unaware of. How effective would RUWAAD be in London? To me, their campaign is meaningless. I can paint my name on top of every bridge on SZR with a smiley face next to it, I can guarantee people will remember what it said and they'll be talking about it. However, nobody will have a clue who I am or what I'm about...

Princess Banana Hammock wrote:It's not effective branding though, it's just over exposure.

Effective branding needs to represent the business have meaning to the customer. It also needs to have meaning globally, which is something many businesses are unaware of. How effective would RUWAAD be in London? To me, their campaign is meaningless. I can paint my name on top of every bridge on SZR with a smiley face next to it, I can guarantee people will remember what it said and they'll be talking about it. However, nobody will have a clue who I am or what I'm about...

Hrrmmm what is effective branding? I know a whole science has grown overnight related to effective branding and yet most of the top 20 brand names were thought up on the spot - not by branding companies.

Effective branding is this - deliver a quality product consistently and people will remember you. There's no shortcuts to building an effective brand.

I dont know about effective or not effective i leave that discussion to the experts in the field. But all i know is that its a real estate developer and its targetting middle class to high income indivisuals .. paying 10 million dirhams a year for a bill board on SZR is not a good idea to me because the majority of people who will see it in dubai are laborers.

PBH your point about what does RUWAAD mean to someone in london, i dont really agree with you on that one. What did google mean to you before the inception of the company ? What does Emaar mean to someone in london ? and both now are strong brands.

MaaaD wrote:I dont know about effective or not effective i leave that discussion to the experts in the field. But all i know is that its a real estate developer and its targetting middle class to high income indivisuals .. paying 10 million dirhams a year for a bill board on SZR is not a good idea to me because the majority of people who will see it in dubai are laborers.

PBH your point about what does RUWAAD mean to someone in london, i dont really agree with you on that one. What did google mean to you before the inception of the company ? What does Emaar mean to someone in london ? and both now are strong brands.

But both Emaar and Google are strong brands because of what they have done, not what they set out to do. The point is, a brand is a story relating to the history of the company. If you have no history, then you have no brand, no mattery how much symbolism is buried in it.

I disagree... Coca Cola, Pepsi, Cadbury's, Nike, Puma... their branding was not thought up over night. From the logo to slogans to store layouts and signage. It's a very well thought out process. It's even moved into entertainment with many bands and artists having some kind of branding.

It's a psychological process, similar to advertising. For example, Axiom have opened up a branch in London, yet there are many telecommunications stores throughout the UAE. Why Axiom? Why chose to buy a Nike T Shirt over a Kappa T shirt? They're products of the same material and quality, for a similar price (in fact Kappa is probably cheaper) but people think Nike is cool. Why? Branding.

Princess Banana Hammock wrote:I disagree... Coca Cola, Pepsi, Cadbury's, Nike, Puma... their branding was not thought up over night. From the logo to slogans to store layouts and signage. It's a very well thought out process. It's even moved into entertainment with many bands and artists having some kind of branding.

Again I will point to the fact that a brand tells a story, but you need a story before you can have a brand. When Coca Cola was launched, it was nothing, just another fizzy drink, but the brand's story has developed over time.

Ruwaad means nothing today, because there's no story. But then again, they are there with every other company that launches a brand with no history today. End users will be the judge.

It's a psychological process, similar to advertising. For example, Axiom have opened up a branch in London, yet there are many telecommunications stores throughout the UAE. Why Axiom? Why chose to buy a Nike T Shirt over a Kappa T shirt? They're products of the same material and quality, for a similar price (in fact Kappa is probably cheaper) but people think Nike is cool. Why? Branding.

Because of what they've done in the past.

As for the psychological process, please tell me the psychological process behind the name Microsoft.

Personally, I don't believe in branding as a science, I believe in doing great things and letting people be the judge. If I consistently perform well, that will do more for my brand than any psychological process or imagery. No matter how fluro the green, the proof of a brand is in what it achieves.

You are playing in my park now!

What you are discussing is the subtle, yet vital, difference between 'Brand Awareness' and 'Brand Equity'.

Sticking billboards up all over the city with just the brand name on it, with no message or offering, is a well tried, tested and exhausted example of a 'teaser campaign'. It creates exactly the reaction as seen here. "What is it?" "Who is it?" The idea being that the brand will then appear to be 'familiar' to the consumer once the sometimes more complex actual product offering is unveiled. It can be an expensive way to go about it, but in this market the tendency is to aim to the lowest common denominator and clients follow the golden rule: "He who has the gold....rules!" With media still being unquantifiable and unaudited, the policy is just buy lots and lots of it and hope that some of it reaches the target audience and sticks! As almost everyone has to drive here, then outdoor media is an easy sell and reaps huge profits for the media owners and the ad agencies.

This creates initial 'Brand Awareness'. Human nature is conditioned to warm towards a brand with which they are familiar or at least feel comfortable with. If you drill your brand into their heads often and loudly enough, then that familiarity makes them feel that the product is reliable and therefore of sufficient perceived value to be acceptable.

'Brand Equity' is a longer term and more complex issue. This is created out of continued quality product offering. Many brands have grown into prominence not through splurging their name across every media they can get their hands on, but because the product or service is of such quality that the consumer buys purely on a value proposition. Hoover is a good example: There were many original brands of vacuum operated floor cleaning products on the market at the turn of the century when the 'Hoover' was first introduced. It was the first to appear, backed by a concerted marketing campaign to promote the company name as well as the product benefits. The product was good quality, reliable and affordable. That investment in the brand, as an entity, over a long period of time eventually paid off to the degree that almost ALL vacuum cleaners were referred to as Hoovers, no matter which manufacturer produced them. That sector dominance continued for many years until the 1990's when the Dyson appeared and re-wrote the brand manual. Hoover had diversified to such a degree that, although the brand equity was still high, they were spread too thinly across the white goods market. Add to that a disasterous 'Below-the-Line' marketing foul up, where they tried to offer free British Airways airline tickets with every Hoover vacuum purchased...and people bought and bought and bought, redeemed their tickets, and then returned the goods as there was no clause in the contract saying they had to actually keep the vacuum cleaner... and Hoover went under. This development of a generic brand ownership is still the grail of all branding and advertising agencies and is a science within the advertising industry.

In Dubai, brand equity has yet to be fully realised as it takes many years to be 'earned'. Emirates Airline is possibly one good example, however the brand that will be the most interesting to watch and see how it performs...is Dubai itself.

Your marketing guru!



Knight

impressive.

Cheers,

D

I love marketing, so this company just flooding people with adds everywhere. To achieve what? Engrave it in people’s head? Branding? So what is a brand supposed to do? Encourage customers to be loyal? Help a company build its position and long-term viability?

Companies now days spend millions developing their brand. They want the consumer to recognize their brands. I think branding is waste of time, consumer care about the product which include the quality of the pdoduct, price and may be the brand. I think the big companies who have loyal customers played the game right. Get the product right and then you can build a brand ( which means long term customers) but if you going to do it the other way around, why would I buy from this new company that flooding me with adds?
The way you get your brand across is projecting your personality . What is your product? how well you deliver products, promises and services. So I find it very difficult to understand how anonyms product marketing will achieve?

sara_uk wrote:I love marketing, so this company just flooding people with adds everywhere. To achieve what? Engrave it in people’s head? Branding? So what is a brand supposed to do? Encourage customers to be loyal? Help a company build its position and long-term viability?

Companies now days spend millions developing their brand. They want the consumer to recognize their brands. I think branding is waste of time, consumer care about the product which include the quality of the pdoduct, price and may be the brand. I think the big companies who have loyal customers played the game right. Get the product right and then you can build a brand ( which means long term customers) but if you going to do it the other way around, why would I buy from this new company that flooding me with adds?
The way you get your brand across is projecting your personality . What is your product? how well you deliver products, promises and services. So I find it very difficult to understand how anonyms product marketing will achieve?

Hi Sara,

Don't become confused with 'The Brand' and 'Brand Communication'.

Advertising is purely the means by which a brand owner communicates the message and tone they desire for their adopted brand identity. "The Brand Identity is the uniform a corporation wears as its face to the world." (Wally Olins)

Lets take Levis as an example:

According to advertising communication, the Levis brand was built on a reputation of ruggedness and durablilty in a tough working environment. Cowboys out on the range, sleeping in their boots, days in the saddle...
The reality is a little different. yes, cowboys wore denim from sheer practicality, however the brand of choice by the professionals was Wrangler. The Levis corporation initially developed the blue denim material variant and produced mostly sanforised overalls for use in shops and factories!

In the 1950's the denim 'jean' was adopted by the US youth culture due to its low cost, practicality and lack of formality in a social environment where 'rebellion' against the mores of staid dress and the establishment, were seen as a fashion neccessity. Rock and Roll adopted the denim jean and the Levis corporation jumped on the bandwagon. It became the symbol of a growth in youth freedom and was hijacked by the fashion and the popular music industry. Levis actively branded themselves to the youth market through music and popular culture media as the 'symbol of rebellion'.

Retaining this market leading position was a costly exercise as they were forced to invest in large scale traditional media spend and were constantly losing market share to other 'fashion brand' marques that appeared and disappeared just as quickly. This came to a head in the 1980's where Levis had been left behind sales wise and were in great danger of either going bust of being bought out by a competitor.

The then CEO hired a branding consultant to look at the Levis brand. The outcome was that they had diversified into too many different areas and the recommendations were to return to their core offering and re-discover the rebellious elements of their heritage. The marketing results were handed to an advertising agency who created a 'communication' that became iconic. By the use of key 'receptors' (young art directors with their finger on the pulse of future trends in music, edgy storylines that were often risque and strong ad direction) they returned the brand to prominence. Who remembers Nick Kamen undressing to his boxer shorts in the laundrette to the sounds of the Clash? Eddie Kidd walking up to the bouncers at the club with the sign saying 'no jeans' and getting in because his jeans were black? Remember Flat Eric the puppet?

Levis were the symbol of trendiness and cool...and the 'brand' returned a level of consumer awareness that is today a 'mega-icon'. That iconism still sells the 'brand' and there are many consumers who will buy Levis exclusively and are willing to pay a premium to do so.

The irony is, the professional cowboys and rodeo riders of today would not be seen dead in Levis! They still exclusively wear Wrangler!

The guru is 'in'...



Knight

Wow, DK on stage, way to go buddy.

Excellent work DK, I didn't realise we were going to get into Brand Theory, but now you've broken the ice, let's talk about another off-shoot, which is Brand-apathy.

I have read some discussion on the Ruwaad campaign that the extent and length of their teaser campaign may have already lead people to become apathetic of the brand, so much so that when they finanly do launch, they'll be greeted with a big yawn. Just another developer.

And my favourite - Brand Dissonance. Take for instance Etisalat, which appears to have a high level of BD in the UAE. This has been brought about undoubtly by high prices coupled with poor levels of services, not to mention anti-competitive practices. The net results of this is no matter what Etisalat/Reach do, it will be treated with suspiscion and contempt by the average consumer.

I will go on to say, that I bet there was a LOT of money spent on Etisalat's rebranding to Reach, and a lot of psychology, analysis, focus groups... and of course a lot of media spend to raise awareness. But do people have any faith in that Reach truly delivers on what it promises?

No. Because they have no Brand Integrity.

I have worked a fair bit with branding, and have even been the father of a few brand names (thankfully never the mother), and I can tell you a lot of people see rebranding as a means to fix their problems, or generate perception where no perception exists. Put simply, it won't. A brand should be a 2 way promise to both the public and the internal system of the company as well.

Again using Etisalat/Reach as an example, if they're going to brand themselves as a company that helps you reach beyond the UAE, then they should practice what they preach instead of engaging in anti-competitive and gouging practices.

In summary, a brand is just a logo, until Joe Public can see the brand and automatically attribute the qualities of the company to that logo, and the hard work takes place within the company structure and the offerings to the end user, not at the branding agency.

DK

It is the brand communication iam thinking, engraving the the idea before the product. The more I think about it, the more I get confused. You clearly know your stuff and your post is impressive. I just like the idea of marketing in general and iam loving this thread.

Sara i really enjoyed reading these two books:

Brand Royalty

and

Brand Failures

You might like reading them too.

I just like the idea of marketing in general and iam loving this thread.

i agree, plenty of applause. i have really enjoyed reading through this thread - way to go DF.......... unless in some sinister way DF is actually the mouth-piece of the state, sub-consciously affecting the way the visitors to the forum view Dubai….

I swear I saw an Emaar logo pop onto my screen for a 10th of a second!