There’s More to Dubai Than a Sunkissed Glow and Designer Shades

Glitz, glam, and a high end haven. Dubai. Most people associate it with a lavish lifestyle or a place for influencers frolicking in the shore-break. The Dubai Tourism Board needed to show the world that there’s more to Dubai than its exuberant reputation. We needed to develop a campaign to run globally, driving consideration of the city as a must-visit holiday destination, as well as recovering tourists after a difficult year for global tourism following Covid.

The challenge was getting people to recognise that the city is more than just glitz and glam; showing the world that you can have anything from an action-packed adventure, a romantic city break, a holiday with your mates and anything in between; in a single campaign. We wanted to do something that would spark conversation, inspire interest and eventually drive search and consideration for the city and ultimately, make Dubai, THE destination of choice.

Putting the Hollywood in Holiday…

It was essential for the campaign to be universally understood…and what better way than the language of trailers to communicate to our audience. After all, everyone all over the world watches and understands movie trailers.

Our Campaign, ‘Dubai Presents’, showed the city to the world as a blockbuster entertainment property. Hollywood A-listers Zac Efron and Jessica Alba, the protagonists, acted their way across five films, across five different genres (Action, Drama, Comedy, Romance and Adventure). Each representing a different side of the city.

The resulting campaign blended rich landscapes, experiences and attractions with a series of engaging plots to speak to a vast and varied audience across the world - with Dubai acting as set throughout. This highlighted bespoke itineraries and experiences for all categories of travellers – from the best of luxury holidays and vacations filled with cultural exploration and discovery, to active holidays with friends, the perfect getaway for families and more. The films were supported by a press, OOH and online campaign drawing inspiration from the same genre. While on social media, the campaign featured teaser assets styled around popular entertainment series to highlight the best of gastronomy, nature, active and self-indulgent holidays in Dubai. An online hub allowed all this content to live alongside the real experiences of Dubai, where users could search out and plan their perfect vacation. We delivered a multi-media campaign to 25 markets, across 15 different European & Asian languages, totalling over 2,000 discrete assets.

It was important that each component in the campaign legitimately felt like something out of a Hollywood film, so we enlisted genuine Hollywood talent each step of the way - from the actors to the director (Craig Gillespie), the photographer for the poster campaign, the score composer, and the post-production crew. It gave credibility to the campaign, and elevated the trailers above mere spoofs. It was essential that we made genuine trailers for movies you’d want to see, and in every single shot there is the product showcased as you have never seen it before - the city of Dubai.

Results as Hot as The Emirate City

• In just four weeks from launch, the campaign crossed over 200 million views, more than any other Dubai tourist campaign. To date, the campaign has achieved over 850 million views - with the talent social media responsible for close to 100 million of those directly.
• In PR, over 1000 pieces of earned coverage were achieved across the world. Not only did it draw eyeballs and spark conversation, it drove interest in searching Dubai as a holiday. With the United Arab Emirates becoming the world’s most searched destinations for 2021.
• With search being a key step in the holiday selection process, our campaign led to search levels increasing in key markets - this includes Germany +156%, UK +68%, France +79% and Russia +115%.
• Dubai was named “Most Popular Travel Destination of 2022” by TripAdvisor.