DUBAI AT ITB 2015: Award-winning Dubai Tourism furthers partnerships with global industry opinion formers and increases awareness of new city brand

DTCM and Emirates Airline Awarded ‘2014 EMEA Most Innovative Campaign of the Year’ by Expedia

DTCM used this year’s ITB in Berlin to establish future trade and digital content partnerships with industry-leading online travel agents (OTAs), booking engines and opinion formers. With discussions focusing on developing partnerships with owners of both offline and digital channels that impact potential tourists’ perception of a destination and influence the consideration to visit, the exhibition also provided the opportunity to broaden awareness of the new Dubai city-brand and its appropriate usage as part of the marketing of the destination.

Since its preview at Arabian Travel Market 2014, in addition to being used in all DTCM marketing activations, the brand has been adopted by a large number of government entities, creating a coherent, city-wide identity. Governmental entities that have already adopted the brand include Dubai Culture, Dubai Sports Council, and Dubai Health Authority. The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has placed the logo on new vehicle number plates as well as the Dubai Metro, trams, taxis and buses. Police cars and ambulances also carry the new logo.

Speaking at ITB, Issam Kazim, CEO of the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said: “A key focus of our work in the past year has been expanding our influence and reach across all channels that influence tourists’ and potential tourists’ perception and decision-making. This work has seen us form a number of fruitful partnerships, and ITB provided the perfect platform to hold further discussions with opinion formers and influential third parties, both in terms of forming new partnerships but also ensuring that such parties have up-to-date and relevant information and content on Dubai’s destination offering.

“The new city-brand architecture unites government departments and stakeholders under a simple, all-encompassing brand identity. Adoption of the brand by our partners across the city is indicative of the collaboration between government and private entities, and representative of our ultimate goal of achieving a seamless visitor experience. As the new city-brand architecture continues to be implemented, it’s important that entities and individuals understand the appropriate usage and follow the implementation guidelines established to protect the copyright of the brand. In addition to liaising with our partners in government and the tourism industry, a team is in place to ensure that any other parties interested in using the brand and logo follow these guidelines.”

The discussions coincided with Dubai Tourism and Emirates Airline being awarded Expedia Media Solutions’ ‘2014 EMEA Most Innovative Campaign of the Year’ for its campaign to increase year-on-year early bird bookings in the first quarter of 2015. The campaign which was titled “Travel Yourself Interesting,” leveraged the power and innovation of Expedia’s branding platform to create a dedicated, content-rich landing page that positioned Dubai as an ideal destination. The award is one of five included in the annual EMEA Partner Awards, which recognise original, ground-breaking campaigns with exemplary innovation and success in digital marketing and advertising. Expedia Media Solutions is the advertising division of the Expedia group, one of the world’s largest online travel companies.

Noah Tratt, Global Senior Vice President, Expedia Media Solutions, said: “The multi-faceted Dubai Corporation of Tourism & Commerce Marketing campaign leveraged compelling content and the power and innovation of industry-leading partners to increase awareness and visits. The campaign successfully positioned Dubai as a top destination and drove impactful results for all of the participating partners.”

The Dubai city logo and associated brand marks are owned exclusively by the Government of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing. For terms and conditions regarding the legal use of the brand, interested parties should go to:

http://www.visitdubai.com