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It has long been the more composed, less showy type. A little more corporate, a little less diverse, but always the strong silent kind. In comparison to its neighbor up the coast, it didn’t get much attention. Abu Dhabi was to Dubai what Washington DC is to New York City; one the lesser-known capital, known more for its governmental role than for what it has to offer, the other a bustling metropolis with something to suit everyone’s taste. But today, Abu Dhabi is coming into its own, whether by default or through the progress it has made over the past few years to formulate the Abu Dhabi 2030 vision, a comprehensive plan that includes economic and urban development, alongside environmental plans.
As Dubai faced the demons of the crisis, Abu Dhabi burst onto the international scene with events aplenty, including the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Justin Timberlake and Aerosmith in concert among other big names, and with attention-grabbing business opportunities like Masdar City, a carbon-neutral and zero-waste city which will be the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The development of Saadiyat Island’s cultural district, where museums including the Louvre and the Guggenheim are being built, and the setting up of twofour54, a content creation initiative which has attracted the likes of CNN, BBC, and National Geographic so far, add to the hype. With so much going on, some say the advertising industry in Abu Dhabi will not only take off too, but could even eclipse Dubai. Communicate wanted to hear more from industry insiders on the ground.
Whether Abu Dhabi’s growth is at the expense of Dubai or not is debatable, but most will say there is no need to pin one city against the other. “The temptation to talk about Dubai versus Abu Dhabi seems to be common in the media,” says Nick McElwee, managing director of TBWA/Raad Abu Dhabi. “Formula 1 [see our comparison between Abu Dhabi’s F1 track and Bahrain’s, page TK] was a very public display of Abu Dhabi’s powerful market, which coincided with a really bad time in Dubai. But it’s really coincidental, and doesn’t give you a reflection of the true narrative. When it comes to business, it’s not something that ever really plays a part; rarely does Dubai come up in our conversations, because for the most part, clients in Abu Dhabi are trying to build businesses in a global or pan Arab context. The pan Arab region needs the UAE, and the UAE needs both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, so it’s wrong to be hung up on Dubai versus Abu Dhabi.”
CARRIER PATH. Dubai aside, there is no doubt the Abu Dhabi advertising scene is growing independently, with government-led initiatives fuelling a big part of the capital’s economy. McElwee says TBWA/Raad set up in Abu Dhabi in 2005 when the agency won the Etihad Airways account, and that the agency experienced a “watershed” moment at the beginning of 2008, when all of Etihad’s global communications organization and development was moved from London to Abu Dhabi. With clients now including the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, twofour54, Abu Dhabi Airport Company, and the Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), TBWA/Raad has also recently announced it will move its Abu Dhabi offices to twofour54, and will share space with media agencies OMD and PHD.
Impact BBDO is another global agency that set up shop in Abu Dhabi early on. Sam Husaini, managing director of Impact BBDO Abu Dhabi, says he – along with 11 others – came to Abu Dhabi in 2006, when the agency won the Executive Affairs Authority’s Abu Dhabi Awards account. “Back then, we already sensed an opportunity in Abu Dhabi, and we realized it was a market to be in,” explains Husaini. “But you cannot get into Abu Dhabi like mercenaries; it needs a long-term committed approach.” Impact BBDO in Abu Dhabi counts telecoms provider Etisalat, Mubadala Real Estate, and production house BKP as its clients, among others.
Husaini says he welcomes competition from multinational agencies potentially looking to set up in Abu Dhabi to lift up the game in the industry, but says it should be competition that is committed to Abu Dhabi, not opportunistic, tactical competition. “It takes an immersive relationship to be able to create meaningful, insightful work,” he explains. “What has happened is because the recession is more evident in Dubai, a lot of Dubai agencies have very little work, and so a lot of them are coming here trying to take work out of Abu Dhabi. Fair enough, as the strongest and fastest agency will win, but I don’t think that’s a phenomenon that’s healthy for the growth of the marketing and communications industry in Abu Dhabi.”
Toby Southgate, managing director of branding agency The Brand Union Middle East, works between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and says the agency established its offices in Abu Dhabi in 2004, working with clients such as real estate developers Sorouh, Al Hilal Bank, and TDIC among others. “It’s a pretty focused group, but at any one time the nature of our work has it that we have a handful of very deep long-term relationships, rather than work on a project basis,” says Southgate. He says that it was of prime importance for The Brand Union to set up shop in Abu Dhabi, and that while advertising and branding businesses were probably looking to open up in Abu Dhabi in 2009, the challenges of the crisis may have disrupted plans, leaving The Brand Union as the only multinational branding agency in the capital so far.
FALLON ANGLE. “However, tactically, there will continue to be a huge client base in Abu Dhabi,” adds Southgate. “A leading example of that is the work that [ad agency] Fallon did for Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, which was handled from Minneapolis. That campaign attracted a huge amount of attention, but I’d imagine everybody has a different view of local and regional knowledge being that far away.”
Kamal Dimachkie, managing director of Leo Burnett Dubai, Kuwait, and Lower Gulf, says it is very obvious Abu Dhabi is “glowing” and that it has “great potential.” “We are definitely thinking of Abu Dhabi, and we’d like to start yesterday, because it’s an important market,” says Dimachkie. “We may have been held back by formalities, but that has neither changed our commitment nor our desire to be in Abu Dhabi, so we are very confident we will be there in 2010.”
Dimachkie says Leo Burnett began working with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank early last year, as well as with Masdar, and that with other significant prospects in the pipeline, it makes sense for the agency to establish itself in the capital. “We don’t believe in having a presence just for the sake of it, it’s not just for representation,” adds Dimachkie. “It needs to be part of a plan which encompasses a strategy on how to deliver on clients’ expectations.”
The capital has been on a steady uphill slope, no doubt, but that’s not to say it isn’t facing any challenges. Husaini puts it, Abu Dhabi is “not there yet.” “I’ve seen a lot of change here, and it’s a vast improvement over the past few years, throughout which the advertising industry has moved from a vendor-supplier culture to a more partner-consulting culture,” he says. “But we still have a lot of miles to go to bring Abu Dhabi’s advertising industry to international standards.”
CLICHÉD CONTENT. Husaini adds that while a lot of clients used to advertise for “ego” purposes – simply wanting to put their name out there – today they are more focused on the content of the communication, the kind of results it produces, and whether it provides a return on investment. But the persistent problem of a lack of creativity in advertising remains. “We have to move away from the fact that the only way of communicating heritage and culture and vision is an old Emirati man looking at the sky with a child with dreamy eyes next to him,” he says.
Bassem Slim, managing partner and creative director at Calcium, an independent advertising agency set up in Abu Dhabi five years ago, says the capital’s industry doesn’t like to step on anyone’s toes. “They’re always keen on not offending anyone or provoking anyone,” says Slim. “I can understand, but in terms of creativity, I’ve been disappointed for a long time, and sometimes it can put you off. We have this great creative team; they work so hard to put out ideas, and then clients choose the safest route. It’s becoming a habit of ours to always present a safe option when we’re presenting to clients, because if we’re too witty or different, they’ll step away.”
Working in an environment dominated by government clients, Husaini says marketing and communications teams are part of a larger decision-making body, which in turn affects creativity. “What happens is that creative work gets filtered through that whole process sometimes, and gets reduced to the lowest common denominator,” explains Husaini. “You’re peeling off layers until you’re left with a skeleton that appeals to 30 individuals. That works against creativity.”
Agencies in Abu Dhabi face another major problem, albeit of a slightly different nature. “A big issue for us is the cost of housing,” says McElwee. “It’s very difficult for us to attract a junior creative who can’t afford to live here. So a lot of people live in Dubai but work in Abu Dhabi, and that’s not in favor of the health of either Abu Dhabi or Dubai, so we need to resolve that.”
PRIME LOCATION. Slim says Dubai has an advantage over Abu Dhabi now, in respect to housing costs, which has made bringing talent to Abu Dhabi very costly. However, despite the challenges, he believes that from a business perspective, the capital comes up trumps. “If you asked me at this point in time if I could be anywhere in the world, it’s Abu Dhabi,” he says. “All of this government work that’s fueling the industry keeps us going, and I think it’s great to be part of this huge and exciting plan for Abu Dhabi. I think everybody is benefitting from it. Almost all of the agencies here are involved in some way or the other, either in building the Abu Dhabi brand as a destination, or in events, or in the 2030 plan. So it’s very corporate, but overall it’s driving the economy and I don’t think anyone is complaining.”
Abu Dhabi may suffer from a lack of economic diversification due to the fertility of the governmental sector in comparison to the slowdown of the private sector, but McElwee says the city is growing, and that there is a tremendous push to diversify from the oil and gas industry that makes it so wealthy. “It takes time; the Abu Dhabi 2030 plan is a time period to deliver a diversified economy in Abu Dhabi.”
Southgate says this plan needs to play out for its full impact to be seen. “It’s not something anyone can judge in the interim, it’s a real sense of progress,” he says. “You won’t really be able to see the impact for another 10 or 20 years, but there are really exciting potential areas. It’s a long term vision, built on a really well-founded strategy.” For Abu Dhabi, it seems like being the strong and silent type is paying off; with the city already buzzing with so many activities and opportunities, the next 20 years will be worth watching.

Flip opens in Abu Dhabi
Flip Media, a Dubai-based interactive agency is moving to the capital. “Since 2005, Flip Media has played an integral role in shaping the digital strategies of some of Abu Dhabi’s most iconic brands, including Mubadala, Sorouh and twofour54,” says Yousef Tuqan Tuqan, the company’s CEO. And so Flip has announced the launch of its ninth office worldwide, housed in twofour54. “We’re realizing that we can’t run Abu Dhabi accounts by remote control,” adds Tuqan. “I think it’s good manners to be here to support this city, to put something into this city and not only take things out of it.”

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