Brand & Media Advisory
Repositioning a Gulf Destination for the Modern Traveller
Repositioned a Gulf destination's brand and led a multi-market media campaign that lifted visitor advocacy scores and broadened how the destination was perceived before travellers ever arrived.
The challenge
The destination's brand had been built around a narrow set of associations — luxury shopping, a convenient transit stopover — that no longer reflected a tourism offer that had diversified considerably into culture, heritage, outdoor experiences and family travel. Visitor satisfaction on the ground was strong, but pre-travel brand consideration was weak, and competing regional destinations were investing heavily in more emotionally resonant campaigns.
The authority's own research showed the gap clearly: travellers who visited rated their experience highly, but the destination rarely made it onto shortlists during the research and booking phase, particularly in newer source markets the authority was trying to grow.
What we did
- Ran qualitative and quantitative research across four priority source markets to identify the gap between the destination's lived experience and its pre-travel brand perception
- Developed a new brand positioning and visual identity anchored in the destination's cultural and outdoor experiences, tested with focus groups before rollout
- Built a media strategy spanning digital, out-of-home and partnership content, sequenced around each source market's key travel-booking windows
- Trained the authority's in-house marketing team and agency partners on the new brand guidelines and campaign toolkit for ongoing use
- Established an always-on measurement framework tracking brand consideration, NPS and campaign attribution across all four markets
The outcome
Post-campaign tracking recorded a 22-point uplift in Net Promoter Score among surveyed visitors, alongside a measurable rise in unprompted brand recall in two of the four priority source markets.
Owned and earned media reach roughly tripled over the campaign period compared with the prior year's activity.
The authority's in-house team has since run two further campaign waves using the brand toolkit without external creative support — the clearest sign the capability transfer held.
Facing something similar?
Our Brand & Media Advisory practice works with GCC leadership teams on exactly this.