Projects

Time For Coffee with Panerai

The Brief

Signe Magazine, a premier men's lifestyle magazine known for its illustrated covers was keen to find a new collaboration Panerai Watches. A cult favorite this Italian watch brand was looking to touch base with its Italian roots in this Middle East magazine without seeming out of touch or unattainably posh.

Solution

We have identified the perfect influencer to represent both Signe Magazine and Panerai Watches brands and developed a creative activation both for print and digital.

Italian Bespoke tailor and mega influencer (240k followers) Mr. Raro (@mararo) had been seeking ways to reach out and cater to his GCC clients.

We have executed a gorgeous photo shoot that would explain the most Italian morning experience: Coffee. Including a behind the scenes video, the morning shoot showed the Dubai Marina Skyline, Mararros gorgeous bespoke suit and highlight his Radiomir while explaining the difference between a Ristretto and an Espresso.

Result

Both elegent and pared down the cover was the first time we placed an international blogger with a global brand partnership for the Middle East. Mararro continued on to do a wildly successful trunk show in collaboration with Signe Magazine every year since then and has become the exclusive designer for the GCCs

VERTU - A gentleman's day out

The Brief

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Vertu, the exclusive luxury mobile company was looking for a way to expand its reach with young gentleman tastemakers. The activation would be filmed and photographed with the phone and used as way to reach the end client via an experience that resonates with the brand's personality and unique positioning in the market

Solution

First we created a synergy with the Gentleman's dapper magazine de jour, The Rake Middle East.

This allowed us to create a targeted niche platform from which to communicate and whose database complete our 10 key players of the fashionably privileged. Providing an entire day out that included being picked up by a squad of Bentleys, being driven to the Jebel Ali Shooting Club where our guests were treated to a shooting experience, followed by a beautiful lunch in the veranda. Picked up and chauffeured to the Dubai Creek, our guests were taken out on a private yacht for cigars and adult beverages and enjoy the evening stars for a few hours until reaching the Dubai Marina. Finishing the evening we provided an Asian Inspired private dinner and celebrated the picture/ video worthy day out.

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Result

Considered to be the first of its kind in cross collaborations we were able to highlight and expose, Vertu, Bentley, Chivas and The Rake all at once. A resounding success that was followed up with a double page spread in The Rake, Spring 2015.

Tag Heuer and @ArabWatchGuide Partnership

The Brief

Hassan Ahkras, GCC watch collector, blogger and content creator is second to none in the region with 95,000 followers. He was looking to expand his reach and pivot his brand into a more proactive, 'real world' figure with accountability and unexpected activation. His brand was too mixed with other "bloggers" and, in 2016, decided to train for the 2017 Ironman 70.3 in Dubai and Bahrain. But first, he needed a partner, a watch brand that would support his vision and sponsor his journey.

Solution

After outlining his main purpose @Arabwatchguide decided to link up with a brand for an entire year. The half Ironman consisted of 1.9 km swim, a 90 km bike ride, and a 21.1 km run. It would be grueling work and we could only think of one brand that ticked all of the boxes.

Meeting with Tag Heuer we came prepared to show how their motto of "Don't Crack under Pressure" would be best served by Hassan and his journey. The agreement had to include the use and launch of the Connected (and later the Connected Modular 45) watch, a digital timepiece that ushered in a new era of the Luxury connected watch.

Hassan was signed as an official "Friend of the Brand" Their goal was to demonstrate how he would train with it for biking, running and yes even swimming.

Kicking off the partnership we held a media breakfast and created the press release and exposure needed to kickstart the collaboration and announce it to the region.

Result

12 months, 3 brand videos *a few injuries and countless social media mix posts and Hassan successfully finished his Ironman 70.3 in Dubai and Bahrain. His achievement and collaboration with Tag Heuer have appeared in the likes of Khaleej Times and Sports 360.

He didn't quit, and he trained the entire year. Tag Heuer and @arabwatchguide continue to work together and their collaboration marked kicked off future long term collaboration with social media influencers moving forward.

Beneath a Sea of Lights
Product Placement Movie

AKELA Productions: 

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akela is two boys without a fallback plan

After years in advertising agencies like Young & Rubicam, Lowe, and Saatchi & Saatchi, director Neel Kumar and cinematographer Umran Shaikh left to pursue their dream: Film. Since forming akela in 2011, they have created commercials, corporate films and documentaries for Emirates, Land Rover, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Toshiba, Samsung, Proctor and Gamble, Unilever, OSN, Qatar Airways, Sony, Sharp, Anta Sports and a number of Dubai-based startups.

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They have just finished their first feature film, 'Beneath a Sea of Lights', and are working on their second: 'Epitaph'.

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Brief: Find brands that would not only fit into this heist movie filmed entirely in Dubai but also integrate the brand into the film in to add both commercially to the film but also add value to the brands involved

Solution:  Seeking out the main element of the film we focused on partnering with a brand that was both high end and luxurious but  also forward thinking and daring enough to take on a new director with an exciting vision for the film and the role they would have in it. Enter, Franck Muller:  Franck Muller watches are one of the finest and most complicated of the world. The manufacture was founded in Geneva by Franck Muller and Vartan Sirmakes with the aim of creating exclusive timepieces characterized by complicated movements and original designs.

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Result: 

Integrated part of Movie Script with over 10 minutes of screen time including boutique shots, wrist shots and the most important element, the majestic billboards of SZR in Dubai. 

Currently Airing : SHOWTIME, USA

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