ABU DHABI // A national brand for the UAE is one step closer to being created after a team of local, Hong Kong and US-based researchers received a two-year-grant this week.
The team includes marketing experts from Zayed University, University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD), George Washington University in Washington DC, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Academy of Arts University, San Francisco, state news agency Wam said yesterday.
The team submitted its bid to the Research Incentive Fund, a Zayed University scheme, and was awarded Dh65,200 – all of which will go towards coming up with Brand UAE.
“There isn’t a vast amount of international research on place branding, so this collaboration aims to provide the insights that will help develop a greater understanding of this important subset of marketing, whilst delivering a national brand for the UAE,” said Dr Ian Michael, associate professor at Zayed University and a tourism marketing expert.
“The first phase of the research involves building the brand architecture – identifying the components and values that represent the essence of the UAE, and that people elsewhere can relate to. Branding has to tell a story, and in order to do this, we need to capture the heart and soul of the country through the insights of its own people,” added Dr Melodena Balakrishnan, Associate Professor at UOWD and an expert in place and Mena marketing
Brand UAE is expected to be unveiled early 2015.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
