Dubai’s real estate market has been not been growing in the recent years. The positive momentum from 2017 did not translate into increased activity in 2018, as the decline was evident in both completed-units and off-plan transactions, with the total volume of residential transactions decreasing.

In this environment, Dubai Holding wanted to promote Madinat Jumeirah Living.

Despite the unremarkable market situation, Madinat Jumeirah Living (MJL) is pretty remarkable. Pedestrian-centric community living, with restricted access for cars. Exclusive, bespoke designs. Full sea views, including the iconic Burj Al Arab that’s right across MJL. An air-conditioned footbridge connected to Madinat Jumeirah. And lush landscapes.

But, in a busy real estate landscape, previous marketing efforts hadn’t earned the interest and leads needed. While MJL was launched earlier, the content focused on functional offers of the property.

We needed to relaunch MJL and make it famous across the UAE and the region.

The idea in a nutshell was to create a stand-out piece of real estate advertising that would knock our leading competitor’s main luxury development, Downtown Dubai into touch - while at the same time promote our latest luxury real estate offering; Madinat Jumeriah Living.

Downtown to some may be the epitome of luxurious living but it’s overcrowded, noisy and overtly flashy. MJL on the other hand is luxury without the cacophony of noise and wannabe try-hards.

So we recruited the king of understated luxury Gabriel Macht AKA Harvey Spectre from Suits, a man who is known to like the finer things in life and made him reel off the benefits of Downtown while subtly pointing out its many flaws. We then had him deliver the killer line: ‘The best thing about Downtown, is leaving Downtown’ before escaping in his Aston Martin to enjoy and show off the perfection of MJL.

It’s not an easy feat to impress high-net-worth individuals or sway their opinions. These people were already sold on Emaar’s representation of Downtown as the epitome of real estate luxury and we needed to make ourselves noticed. Our communication had to be brave, bold and big.

Our strategy was to build a comparison narrative that helped bring to life the contrasting experience that living in MJL can enable vs. what Downtown had to offer. We needed to undermine people’s perceptions of Downtown and offer them a better alternative.

By juxtaposing MJL’s key selling points versus Downtown’s downsides, MJL would become the real expression of luxury for those who can truly tell the difference.

The campaign ran from February 3rd 2019-March 15th 2019 on social media platforms including YouTube (pre roll and Masthead), Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn as well as digital platforms such as Programmatic, Bayut, Google Display Network, Google Search, Adshcolars (affiliate), Property Geeks, Property Hubz.

In addition to that, our creative was placed on a massive hoarding on Sheikh Zayed Road with our hero and campaign line for 4 months.

Becoming an online hit, the film became the most-watched real estate content in the world. Ever. Very rare for the category. It trended across leading construction and media platforms. Even Harvey shared his support.

Organic endorsements from real-estate agents, earned more visibility with potential buyers.

Ever heard of a real estate ad discussed on radio? Well, ours was.

And as the suave Harvey Specter charmed Dubai, and the world, this campaign became Dubai Holding’s most effective ever, proving that there’s real estate advertising and then there’s Madinat Jumeirah Living advertising.

Campaign likability: 95% out of high net-worth buyers.

Purchase intent: 75% out of interested buyers vs. the KPI of 50%; i.e. 25% above targets.

Leads generated: +62% from 59 to 96 in 3 months vs. the KPI of 75 in 6 months.

Unit sales: +35% above KPIs in 3 months vs. targeted 6 months.