Consumer Long-Haul Airline Travel

How fundamental a shift is to occur in long haul airline consumer travel, the Economist describes the growth of Emirates, Qatar Airlines and Etihad Airlines here.  Interestingly, the Economist dissects the complaints of the European carriers, disqualifies them and only offers that continued success is to follow.

The impact on the "business" of airlines in the West will be fundamental and foundational.  In the Air Transport World article here.  Note that the comments at the end of this article are particularly poignant:

"Pointing to that order, CAPA commented that the eventual size of Emirates will be "significant enough to make irreversible the airline industry's transformation from a heavily regulated, nationalistic anachronism to something approaching a real business. No longer can traditional competitors hope to stave off this threat to the status quo, as they have been hoping in recent years while the airline expanded threateningly. This order marks a genuine turning point in that process of change. It is so large in fact that competitors' business plans will be reshaped by it.""

The Economist's Adam Barns (Gulliver here) provides both business and consumer insights in the audio below:

Startup Visa to USA?

USA's innovation comes from the outside or the "outside" mind (~50% of top tier patents filed are by immigrants to USA or naturalized citizens)... details regarding legislation being requested here. Similarly, I wrote about Dubai's startup visa here.

If passed, this will be an interesting way to attract "creative" minds to the USA. The cost of entry is pretty minimal if one considers - "The bill requires each entrepreneur to have a sponsoring US venture capital or angel investor who will invest at least $100,000 in their startup, and total funds raised must be at least $250,000 per company."

The question that remains for me is if the equity of USA is still strong enough among the innovators of the world for them come over? Also, why wouldn't the Silicon Valley VC give, let's take for example a robotics company in Thailand (the reader can easily find the company I refer to) $100,000 which will go ten times farther in both attracting top talent and run operations?

Perhaps the policy being suggested is more reactionary as most things government are... that is after the fact! Has the ship sailed?

Copy and Paste Urbanism - New Songdo

Friend and colleague Franz Dill sends along a great article from Fast Company, "Cisco's Big Bet on New Songdo: Creating Cities From Scratch" here.

Having experienced the building and growth of cities from scratch such as Dubai, a key aspect missing in the article is the fact that humans form societies and the societies revolve around culture.  The success of copied and pasted cities will depend on whether the regime or government supporting the effort is autocratic or democratic.  Autocratic regimes will have a higher success rate with copying and pasting.  A democratic environment that will respect individual rights and choices, either perceived or real, will have a tendency to challenge the status quo represented by the product (city) being replicated.

Replicating cities in democracies will need a substantial marketing budget to be successful!

Also, such cities developed in regions where the qualitative and quantitative value to the inhabitants increases substantially, the success rate for a short period of time will again be good.

In the final analysis, if a people or place defining the cities, regions, or nations do not represent a uniqueness or distinction, after the initial uptick the sustainability of such becomes questionable.

New Currency on the Horizon for the Gulf

The Dubai concerns and continued global economic fluctuations are resulting in pushing forward the single Gulf Cooperative Council's (GCC) plans for a single currency among the 6 Gulf nations of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.  Read details here.

Interesting to note from the manufacturer and buyers of consumer goods perspective is the fact that the single currency has not been pegged yet.  Dollar? Euro? Gold? Basket?

Growing Entrepreneurism - "Start-up Visa" to Dubai?

Interesting piece on offering visas to individuals who plan to start new businesses in a location that is not their native country.  The concept is discussed in the Abu Dhabi newspaper, The National, in an article "Making Dubai the global hub of start-up success", here.

The article provides comparisons to major start-up centers of the world such as San Francisco with an evaluation of infrastructure, tax consideration, etc.

Yahoo and Maktoob - Social Web Growing Up in the Gulf

Yahoo will be acquiring Maktoob.com.  Click here for details.

About four years back, while working with Mr. Khurram Hamid who was leading digital mobile marketing for P&G out of Dubai, I met with Mr. Ahmed Nassef, GM of Maktoob (website here) to review their web and social network analytics capabilities.  Ahmed stated his goal of becoming the Yahoo of the MENA region.

Maktoob impressed me with what they were trying to build.  More importantly Maktoob Research (website here) was starting to develop deeper understanding and garner insights on the Arab consumer.  I had worked on the definition and concpet of the Muslim consumer for P&G and felt that Maktoob was leading the way in social networks and social media for the Arab populace of MENA.

Congratulations to Ahmed and Maktoob employees!

Consumer Insight: Middle East - Beauty and Health

New technological entrees into emerging markets always provide an insight into what the consumer is asking or aspiring for.  Beauty (health, skin, etc.) is a consumer product goods category that grows as the consumers become more affluent in a region.

A related example here "Middle East Launch of Revolutionary Cold Laser Technique For Body Shaping" is a solution that was either very exclusive in the region or one had to travel to receive.  The article states:

"Dr. Douglas Dedo of the Palm Beach Institute of Cosmetic Surgery and past President of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery added: “This revolutionary treatment can work without any kind of surgery or the need for excessive dieting or exercise; though as a doctor I always recommend a healthy lifestyle for my patients. What is also exciting is that clinical studies have revealed that ZERONA™ can help in the treatment of acute and chronic pain relief as well as in controlling cholesterol and triglycerides.” "

Arab Brands?

"There are no strong, Arab brands. Dates could have been the best brand. When you think chocolate, you think Switzerland and Godiva, ... But which brand do you think of when you say 'date'?"

So states my friend Mr. Abed Bibi, Managing Partner Wolff Olins, based out of Dubai. Bold statement while being true. Read further insights from Abed at Media Week Middle East here from pages 12 to 13.

I would like to provide a counter point with one specific example, Arabs are the only ethnic group that continues to wear their customary clothing when engaged professionally or politically even outside of the region. That is identity in itself.

Abed does believe Dubai to be a brand, while stating:

"Dubai is a lot more than what's the largest or the biggest. It's about the people, the traditions, the culture, the values, the hospitality..."

I would add something more tangible for the consumer of Dubai i.e. its visitors, its citizens, its laborers, etc. - Dubai is a megalopolis (and growing) without the crime or close to none. This cannot be stated of just about any other major city in the world. Powerful!

UAE Business Insights

The Kipp Report here is a good source for business information related to the UAE in specific and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) in general.

Couple of interesting articles of note, (1) The projects on hold in Dubai here, these include mostly real estate projects while some power and industrial infrastrucutre projects, (2) "Capital Boom" - Abu Dhabi continuing to make major investments in UAE here.

World's Largest Retail Space - Dubai Mall (The Consumer Heaven)

"Of the total indoor floorspace of 5.9 million square feet, a massive 3.77 million square feet is the gross leasable area."

States an article in the Gulf News here regarding the newly opened Dubai Mall. During my evaluation of retail markets of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah in early 2006, it was obvious that Dubai was redefining how one looks at the concept of "shopping". Again, as I have discussed in my previous posts regarding design and experience (see "It is all about Design and Experience?" here) - the design of these retail spaces are associated with functionality of being able to purchase products / services of choice while enjoying a unique experience whether it is  sking the 1.5 kilometer slope at the Mall of the Emirates (see here) or the aquarium at the new Dubai Mall (see here).

Back in early 2006 during my analysis, it was clear that foot falls were the measure more so than for example adjacency of complimentary sale opportunity, ex: outside a niche, high-end watch shop a cheap children's toy cart was parked. It had not improved tremendously till this past summer when I was there. Many other retail space use and growth principles were missing. Another reason I discovered was the space's owner has to contend with a globally diverse population.

Dubai to me is an ideal place for using immersive and experiential environments to understand the consumer and uniquely deliver to them what they desire. For now, it is big, bigger to huge! In a little rewording per Mr. Abed Bibi a marketing executive and friend of mine - "Please come and Do-Buy".

Dubai - Financial Health

A good article here (by way of Dharm Kapadia) evaluating the concerns and possible ramifications of Dubai's current financial leverage and the US economic crisis. The article states:

"Dubai's biggest risk is its daring reliance on debt to drive its breath-taking building boom. Last week, Moody's estimated that in 2006, the most recent year for figures, Dubai's government and public sector company debt was at least $47 billion, a staggering 103% of Gross Domestic Product. The investment rating agency said it expected Dubai's debt to continue outpacing GDP for another five years, exposing Dubai to pronounced financing and geopolitical risks."

Yet the article goes to conclude in positive terms providing regional insights and a little bit of history of Dubai and Abu Dhabi's relationship:

"An underlying reason for the relative lack of panic so far is that Dubai real estate remains a financial haven for wealthy individuals from riskier nearby countries like Iran and Pakistan. What's more, Dubai's real estate sector is dominated by a handful of major companies — collectively dubbed "Dubai Inc." — that are directly or indirectly owned and controlled by the government. This means, analysts say, that Dubai authorities could effectively stave off a bubble burst by keeping finished projects off line until market conditions improved. In the event of a systemic threat, Dubai can probably rely on super-rich Abu Dhabi for a bailout. "We consider it highly likely that the authorities will step in at some level to support entities that are strategically important for the economy," Moody's analyst Tristan Cooper tells TIME."

UPDATE: The above article on TIME online has sparked exciting and interesting conversations among my friends in Dubai. The insight is that over 90% of the demographic represented by my friends engaged in the discussion (male-70% and female-30%) (1) South Asians, Middle Easterners and North Africans, (2) Are between the ages of 28 and 44, (3) Married (or about to be), (4) Educated in the West (or equivalent Western University in the region) and lived there prior to moving to Dubai, and (5) Have lived in Dubai for over 2 years - (a) Are not planning to leave Dubai, (b) Are happy to see "small timers", "short timers" leave or "Go Dubizzle" (as one person stated), (c) Are confident in Dubai claiming and taking the place of being "The Financial Center" of "Middle Earth" (as one person put it).

I like to suggest ~10% margin of error to the above qualitative analysis to what the individuals actually do.

Could it be that Dubai "may" have created the method of capturing the Knowledge Worker? See my future post on challenge from Qatar in the from of Qatar Foundation, see here.

Dubai - Rotating Tower

Everytime I am in Dubai, it looks like a different city due to its continuous growth. Over time large cities tend to take on an aura... yet, this may be the first time in the history of mega-cities that the view of the skyline of a city will continue to morph, not due to its growth but due to "dynamic architecture".

See here the video of the world's first 80 story rotating tower to be built by Florentine architect Dr. David Fisher in Dubai. You can see Dr. Fisher's dynamic architecture details here. Dubai also plans to become an exporter of the pre-fabricated rotating towers to the rest of the world.

See more videoes on YouTube.com of Dubai's "dynamic architecture" here.

Dubai

Dubai, a frequent destination for me is presented here in pictures by Gulf News. Excellent tour of the city if you have not visited it.

The picture here is of the World's only 7-Star hotel Burj Al-Arab in Dubai.