Big projects need big names. And they did not come any bigger than the A-list cast that turned out for Cityscape in Dubai last week. Michael Schumacher, Boris Becker, Antonio Banderas and Amir Khan were just a few of the famous personalities who could be found mingling with property executives at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre. For some time now, the country's property firms have been savvy to the benefits of associating a popular celebrity with their brands.
Nakheel was one of the first to realise the power of celebrity when it capitalised on a fleeting visit to Dubai by the England football team shortly before the World Cup in Japan in 2002. Just days after the visit, the whole world knew that footballer David Beckham had bought a villa on Palm Jumeirah, further catapulting the island, and Dubai, into the media's spotlight. Not long before reclamation work finished on another Nakheel project - The World - reports emerged that the American actor Brad Pitt and his wife Angelina Jolie had bought an island on the development. The couple's publicist later denied the reports, but once again, the mention of such star power focused attention on another of the emirate's pioneering projects. Nakheel went one further last week when it invited the American actor Michael Douglas and his actress wife, Catherine Zeta Jones, to the launch party of its Nakheel Harbour and Tower Development, which will feature a skyscraper more than one kilometre high.
While the couple was in town for another reason entirely - to accept a Dh7 million (US$1.9m) donation from Nakheel on behalf of the Free the Children Charity - their presence added a bit more glamour to the marketing of the project. According to the company's chief executive, Chris O'Donnell, any association with a celebrity is done within the marketing budget for each individual project. "Having celebrities involved makes sense in promoting projects, but then having said that, I think the projects have to stand on their own as well," he said. "Used in the right way, celebrities make sense, but I think you could potentially overdo celebrities. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones were here primarily for the Free the Children fund donation - so it was an admirable visit from their perspective." Douglas and Zeta Jones were not the only stars whose visit was timed with the country's biggest property show, Cityscape. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, used the eve of the event to launch her charity for disadvantaged children, Sarah Selects, in association with the UK property firm Select Property and the Dubai-based Select Group. The charity was launched in conjunction with Select Group's unveiling of Aquitainia, an island development on The World. Select Group had signed the two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank to host the launch party, but the actress pulled out because of illness. Still, Destiny's Child singer Kelly Rowland was there to keep the crowd entertained. Simply getting a celebrity to show up at a press conference or party can cost a developer millions of dirhams. In August, Desert Dream Real Estate and Investments paid more than Dh7.3m to hire the singer Enrique Iglesias and a number of others to perform at the launch of Dream Harbour. In the same month, Stallion Properties spent about Dh1.8m on a line-up including the American actress Tara Reid to mark the launch of Santorini on the Marjan Island development in Ras al Khaimah. "It does take out quite a big chunk of your marketing budget, but at the same time it helps to add hype to the project, especially when the market is very tight and aggressive," said Ankur Mehta, the chairman of Stallion Properties. Sports stars were also out in force during Cityscape. The British boxer Amir Khan became the brand ambassador for the Tejarah Executive, a residential tower to be built in Ajman, while the seven-time Formula One winner Michael Schumacher launched the Michael Schumacher World Champion Tower on Abu Dhabi's Reem Island, in partnership with Marasi Real Estate Fund. This is the second project that Mr Schumacher has lent his name to in the UAE. He also tied up with the developer ACI earlier this year to work on Michael Schumacher Business Avenue in Dubai.
But celebrity involvement in Dubai's property boom is not limited to simply creating hype around a project's launch. Developers large and small seem to be going to greater lengths to strike deals with famous people for the actual design and development of property. Spanish actor, Antonio Banderas, was spotted hanging around the Hydra Properties stand at Cityscape. According to Sulaiman al Fahim, the chief executive of Hydra Properties, a property deal with Mr Banderas is in the pipeline. "We want to invest together in some projects in different countries," he said. "We will discuss [this prospect] more in Los Angeles in two weeks. He will be investing not just as an actor who puts his name to a project, but more as a businessman who would like to invest." But in these cases, not just any old celebrity will do, added Mr Fahim, who has also forged a friendship with Leonardo DiCaprio, the star of Titanic. "Hiring a celebrity has its pros and cons. You should carefully choose a name that is good for the culture," he said. "Actors are looking at the UAE as a place to reinvest their money because with the crisis in the US and Europe, the UAE is a haven now." Famous people with a penchant for architecture also seem to be vying for a slice of the action. In June, Brad Pitt signed a multimillion-dirham deal with Zabeel Investments to be a design consultant on a five-star hotel and resort planned for Dubai. In a statement at the time, the actor said: "Selecting this development as my first major construction project has been a simple decision. It will underpin not only my values for environmentally friendly architecture, but also embrace my career in entertainment." Boris Becker, the former tennis star, has taken a 50 per cent stake in a tennis academy that will be built as part of ACI's Dh3 billion Boris Becker Beach Resort & Tennis Academy in Ras al Khaimah. Becker will also part-own the rest of the resort. This is his second project endorsement with ACI. "The market was quite simple four years ago, but now you have to be more outstanding," said Robin Lohman, the managing director of ACI. "Branding this way gives us better recognition." According to Duncan James, a strategy director at The Brand Union Middle East, celebrity endorsement works well when it is completely aligned with the brand strategy of the property firm. "If you're using them in a superficial manner to try and gain PR then it's like a painkiller - it will only work in the short term," he said. agiuffrida@thenational ngillet@thenational.ae
