Dubai Economy

Capturing the entity’s broader purpose

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PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Dubai Economic Department was on the verge of their 25th anniversary. There was also a broader strategy by the Government of Dubai to further focus government entities and agencies around consumers and hence several DED services had been upgraded or replaced and most now existed in digital channels. The market facing brand was to be changed to Dubai Economy. The DED needed a new brand to reflect all the positive changes.

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WHAT WE DID

The new name, Dubai Economy, was a fundamental shift in the agencies strategy to be more customer focused and shift to a private entity mind set. The name also signified the broader purpose of the DED and the role it plays in structural transformation across all aspects of the economy.

We started by exploring the evolution of the brand to set the future state of the brand. We were conscience to retain the heritage of the last 25 years and equity that the DED had built to date. Each of the DED agencies, FDI, SME and Trade and Export had developed their own brand and whilst individually they are very successful, there was an opportunity with the name change and the 25th anniversary to align the agencies under one brand and represent the singular vision for a diversified economy.

The DED and the agencies had also recently been very active in creating new services or updating old services and in their haste to get these new services to market had created a products and services portfolio that was difficult to manage and required significant resources and budget.

Taking all of these key factors into account we proposed an evolved brand identity for the Dubai Economy brand and created a visual system for the agencies that clearly aligned FDI, SME and Trade and Logistics to Dubai Economy. We also reviewed the brand architecture and the products and services portfolio, creating a future map that defined the approach to each category and the link to the Dubai Economy or agency brand. Through this process we consolidated the portfolio considerably, removing nearly 20 brands and rather providing these services and initiatives with a branded or endorsed system that ensured that all activities were building equity in the Dubai Economy brand.    

We worked with the client team to internalise and validate the new approach through a series of presentations and workshop with the senior management of the DED and the CEO’s of each of its agencies. Once the future brand direction was agreed we extended the new brand identity across multiple digital and real-world touch points, creating a comprehensive set of brand guidelines for Dubai Economy, FDI, SME and Trade and Export.

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PROJECT DELIVERABLES

Insights
Brand strategy
Brand architecture
Brand assets
Design systems
Environment design
Brand guidelines

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