Star power lifts project launches

Enrique Iglesias will entertain buyers at a party for Dream harbour.

As competition heats up, property developers in the UAE are using increasingly aggressive tactics to market their projects, including spending millions of dirhams on recruiting celebrities to appear at launch events. Later this week, the singer Enrique Iglesias will entertain home buyers at the launch party for Dream Harbour - a Dh1.7 billion (US$4.63bn) tower being developed by Desert Dream Real Estate and Investments at Dubai Waterfront.

The former England footballer, Ian Wright, has been hired as compère for the evening, while Raghav, the Canadian-Indian R&B singer, and Elissa, the Lebanese singer, will also be in attendance. Desert Dream has spent at least Dh7.3 million of its marketing budget simply on ensuring the stars will turn up - by private jet, that is. This figure does not include additional costs such as the entourage of 17 people who will be accompanying Iglesias and the special instruments that his band requires, which must be flown in from elsewhere.

Mahmoud Khan, the chairman and chief executive of Desert Dream, said paying for the presence of celebrities was more about "thanking investors for their loyalty to the company" than selling this particular project. "As a company, we've been quite aggressive with our marketing for a long time now," he said. "But this event is not for the project - it's for our customers, because they've been very loyal to us. Whether they've bought a one-bedroom apartment or an entire floor, we wanted to give them all an equal opportunity to come and enjoy the event, while celebrating the success of our company at the same time."

Stallion Properties is another developer that recently attracted celebrities with big money offers. It spent about Dh1.8m on a line-up to mark the launch of its Santorini project on the Marjan Island development in Ras al Khaimah. Although much of the project was sold before the event, celebrities including Tara Reid, the American actress, were flown in to "create media hype around the project", said Ankur Mehta, the chairman of Stallion.

"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," he said. Mr Mehta added that in the weeks since the celebrity launch, the company had witnessed a rise in sales. "It attracted people and showed that we didn't just do a mild launch - if you want to market a glamorous evening, then it helps [to have a celebrity there]."

Pearl Dubai is another developer that spared no expense last month when it flew 150 people who had invested in its Baccarat Hotel and Residences project to Paris for a private concert by Elton John. In terms of increasing sales and raising its profile, Pearl Dubai said the trip was worth the money. The company said it had now sold 80 per cent of the Baccarat Residences at Dh6,000 per square foot. "Investor interest in Dubai Pearl is at an all-time high," said Santosh Joseph, the company's president and chief executive.

According to Ian Albert, a regional director at Colliers International, a commercial properties firm, spending on such lavish events has been brought about by growing competition in the market. "We're now seeing some developer one-upmanship," he said. "They're all competing for space - but simultaneously, a lot of developers who do this claim they've sold 80 per cent of the project before the launch anyway, so why do they need to spend so much on PR?"

Craig Plumb, the director of research at Jones Lang LaSalle, said trying to stand out was a natural step for developers in Dubai as the market evolved. "You can understand why they do it - it's a crowded marketplace and as the market gets more competitive, there's a need to differentiate your product from the competition," he said. "Up until now, you could probably sell property without too much difficulty, but now there's more of a need to set your product apart from the rest - and bringing in a celebrity is just one way of doing it."

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