...still more...

What with the World Cup at its final moments, its been 4 whole days since I added more about the Conference or my usual rantings about the marketing scene here...but watching Rooney do what he did - and what he shouldn't have done - was worth it.

Am watching Brazil play Portugal right now, and so far its been a right smasher of a game. Both are on defense AND offense. Both know its do or die, especially France.

Which brings me to my reason for this entry: What the local advertising geniuses in this country and region are up to. Campaign magazine and Communicate both had articles in their Spin and Dish entries regarding the ART network's agency's handling of the World Cup account. How in the world can even the thickest creative guy there get the flags wrong for England, Iran and Mexico. What possible excuse?

We're here winning Lions and Gold at the Cannes awards, with the world thinking 'hey, Dubai's marketing times have arrived' while here at home the community is actually kicking itself everytime they pass by a silly hoarding on Sheikh Zayed Road that costs half a million dirhams to buy and wastes more than that in worthless deliverables.

Yes, I'm talking about the property business. Whether or not Emaar or Nakheel can justify the quality of the homes (or houses, I should say, seeing that there is yet some love to be discovered there for the place) I don't know, but the others players should be far more accountable.

An example is the kind of marketing that it goes to: giving away free Audis? Damac's promotion was to give away a free Audi to anyone buying an apartment in one of its offerings. I bet I would certainly feel 'unique' and 'elite' when I walk into the Damac parking lot to find 300 Audi's parked side by side. What a riot if the remote unlocked more than one car! German technology would definitely be a test there!

On the positive side, hurrah to Grosvenor House. While they may have broken a rule or two in their advertising campaign (black on white) I must say most of their creatives made me want to get in a cab right there and go get a room for myself. And their opening the Buddha Bar only speeds up their rapidly growing market share. The fact that they're not just noticing the gap but actually filling it is what takes them a notch higher in my book of Dubai's successes.