In its latest advertising campaign, Emirates has gone where no man has gone before, right to the top of the Burj Dubai. The new ad stars Sudakhar Golem, a 24 years old Indian labourer who works as a supervisor for all the hoisting cranes at the Burj Tower. Created by Leo Burnett in cooperation with the Emirates Corporate Communications Team, the campaign ‘Meet Dubai’ focuses on Golem’s positive experiences in Dubai as a labourer.

With an aim to generate demand for travel to and through Dubai, the ad has received mixed reactions with many slating the ad following recent allegations in a BBC documentary that Arabtec, the company building The Burj Dubai, has filthy and overcrowded labor camps.

None the less, dig a little deeper and the ad appears to be spot on. Its clever marketing does not hide the truth about Dubai but rather embraces the fact that Dubai is a diverse city and a city, like any other, that has both good and bad attributes.

The Emirates campaign appears to be saying that Dubai is unique and in its uniqueness stories of hope and joy can be found. The story of Sudakhar Golem, a worker who is thankful for his job and appreciative for the opportunities he has been given, is rare to find in Dubai and thus worthy of being highlighted to the world. The glass is clearly half full for Sudakhar Golem, a rare story which will hopefully inspire others to think positively, work hard and focus on what they have, not what they don’t have and last but not least not judge a book by its over. After all there is more to Dubai than one TV documentary.

‘Meet Dubai’ will be appearing in international magazines and newspapers including Time, Newsweek, the Financial Times, National Geographic and the Wall Street Journal. It will also be run locally in Australia, India, South Africa and New Zealand. The wider campaign will include press, online, TV, radio, cinema, in-flight and outdoor advertising and will reach over 300 million households across 6 continents.

hi everyone. i came across this site. it is useful to see how other countries in the GCC approach their nation positioning. watch the ad. we might need to refer to it in pitches to come.

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