IPRN in Dubai: Day Two
April 26th, 2008 Posted in BlogWe had our first session of the IPRN AGM this morning, breezing through the business portion of the meeting, approving last year’s minutes, the audited financials and this year’s budget.
Sadri Barrage, our host in Dubai, gave a brief overview of public relations in the Middle East. He said the main foci of public relations in Dubai are finance, tourism, real estate, IT and healthcare. All the major multinationals have a presence here…Porter Novelli, Hill & Knowlton, Edelman, Weber Shandwick and Burson Marsteller. As in other markets, these major players make it harder for independent PR agencies to win new business, but IPRN’s global reach and very local expertise level the playing fields a bit.
Sadri said that Dubai is a very business-friendly market, having replaced red tape with the red carpet. The city wants to be the next global commerce and tourism center like Hong Kong or Monte Carlo. It is building the largest theme park in the world, Dubailand, which opens in 2012, and the relentless, audacious entrepreneurialism of the region not only has catapulted Dubai into one of the world’s great financial hubs, but it has created 120 kilometers of beach front with the construction of three Palm Islands and the World Island that seen from space looks like a map of the world.
More than 60% of the people in Dubai don’t speak Arabic and more than half the population read and speak English. There are 150 nationalities represented among the population.
Several members shared some of the new business initiatives they have undertaken in a growing global recession. Annekatherin Koch of Pentacom in Dusseldorf specializes in beauty, fashion and luxury goods. She goes to conferences and trade fairs, finds new beauty/luxury products that aren’t well known, and offers their producers the ability to showcase them in special events she organizes for journalists and retail distributors. For 1800 Euros, the maker of say, a new handbag, gets to meet as many as 20 journalists and editors from the top magazines in Germany, France and Italy. Fashion and beauty magazines pick up on the products and feature them in product round-ups, distributors sign up brands, hotel chains discover products/amenities for their guest rooms and spas. Those participating in the “Discoveries” events get their products featured on Annekatherins’s Web site for three months.
After our business meetings, all 27 of us piled into SUVs to get a taste of the desert. After a half hour ride along the superb highways, we went off road and caromed over dunes, great sprays of sand rooster-tailing from our wheels. Small herds of camels watched our shenanigans with supreme indifference and imperturbability. The heat is truly awe-inspiring, and this is just spring.
Sadri, our host, put the searing heat in context. The late ruler of the UAE once said, “we didn’t know about heat until air conditioning came.”
After a feast in the desert of local delicacies and a riveting belly dance with the mandatory guest participation (Claude from Luxembourg was a stand-out) it was home to a quick shower and bed.
More later.
