In 2021, many countries worldwide started lifting border restrictions to support their hard-hit tourism sector. Meanwhile, people worldwide were eager to resume their lives, with a revived appetite for travel. But, they were cautious with their spends and hence their choice of travel destination; they desired a wow factor when choosing a place to visit. As a result, major international destinations were luring people in through tourism campaigns featuring their flagship attractions. Our task was to create a global campaign that would spark conversation, inspire interest, drive consideration for the city and ultimately, make Dubai THE destination of choice for tourists worldwide. But, while Dubai has always maintained a global appeal as a luxurious and glamorous holiday destination, it wasn't seen as a place that offers a diversity of tourism attractions and experiences for different budgets and travel profiles. We needed people to recognize Dubai as a city of multiplicity.

“Dubai Presents”: a disruptive creative approach showcasing Dubai’s range of tourism experiences through six entertaining short movies of different genres. Each component in the campaign felt like something out of a Hollywood movie. We collaborated with talent from across the world, including Hollywood actors – Jessica Alba and Zac Efron and award-winning director Craig Gillespie. Media channel selection mimicked that of a typical movie campaign too – leveraging social and digital platforms, broadcast, outdoor, cinemas, and PR. We selected 6 genres (Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Adventure and Animation) that tied well with the different travel audience profiles across the world. The films cleverly blended the diversity of rich landscapes, experiences and attractions into a series of engaging plots, showing Dubai in a new light - from the best of luxury holidays and vacations filled with cultural exploration to active holidays with friends and the perfect getaway for families, and more.

All people, no matter how old they are or where they live, seek inspiration and ideas when planning their next holiday. People get inspired to visit destinations that appeared in popular films and television series: “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” attaracted people to New Zealand, etc. So, we chose to leverage film tourism and make Dubai an entertainment property vs. destination, by borrowing from the film entertainment industry, going beyond advertising and creating entertainment content audiences enjoy watching and sharing.

Due to universal appeal of the different movie genres, we could connect with different audience profiles across the world by only adapting the language. Every aspect of the campaign from the assets and content hub to the wider media strategy was designed to spark dialogue, extending across an entire ecosystem of media- from digital and social to billboards and posters.

Beyond the 6 films, we created teasers, highly stylized movie posters, animated posters, audio spots, and more. The campaign was promoted globally across 27 countries in 16 languages across social and digital platforms, broadcast, cinema and outdoor. Every aspect of the campaign, from the assets and content hub to the wider media strategy, was thoughtfully designed to spark dialogue, extending across an entire ecosystem of media touchpoints.

To ensure campaign longevity and engagement among our audiences, the campaign was split into multiple bursts of 4 weeks. With the launch of the 1st Spy Action trailer, people worldwide were trying to work out when the movie would launch, and the conversations didn’t stop with new trailers and teasers launched every few weeks. Movie posters were featured in prominent locations across key cities. Assets were also featured across cinemas worldwide, in addition to international television stations such as CNN, Euronews, etc.

Unlike other campaigns in the category, “Dubai Presents” positioned Dubai not just as a destination but as an entertainment property, showcasing the surprising multiplicity of the city via Hollywood-style movies and posters designed around popular film genres from action-spy action to romcom and more.

Through this disruptive approach, we spoke to travel audiences via the language they all enjoy and understand, sparking conversations and inspiring interest worldwide, becoming the most talked about travel and tourism campaign globally in 2022. The popularity and relevancy of this campaign drove search and consideration for the city, making Dubai the most popular destination in 2022 worldwide.

Campaign impact: 1+ billion reach, 860+ million views, 1000+ pieces media coverage, $7.5+ million earned media.

Brand impact: 150+ organic searches, +75% recommendations.

Business impact: +32% visitor growth vs. 2021.