John Brash can plausibly claim a chunk of the credit for the international image of the UAE.
The 47-year-old Scot has worked as a branding consultant for some of the Emirates' most enduring and characteristic projects, from skyscrapers to five-star hotels, and from commercial hubs to the global aviation industry.
"Our job is to make the clients look good, so we need to empathise with them," he says.
In the six years he has been running his own business, Brash Brands, in the UAE, he has learnt that a slow, sympathetic response to regional clients' needs is more productive than the "radical makeover" approach typical of the branding industry.
Brash by name, but not by nature.
This approach has won him business from some of the leading companies and projects in the UAE: Burj Khalifa, Emaar, Address Hotels, Dubai Mall, Mubadala, Aabar, Saadiyat Island, the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, are just some of the big-name clients he has worked for. "Amazing accounts", he calls them.
"The UAE matters to us because we are a UAE company. We were born here," he says.
Branding and design has always been his passion. "I graduated in 1988 and got on a cheap bus from Edinburgh to London with my portfolio, because London was the centre of the branding business in the UK. I got a job the same day," he relates.
Stints with international firms like Conran Design and WPP led him all over the world, until his first contact with the Middle East, via his friend James Hogan.
Now the chief executive of Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways, back in 2002 Mr Hogan was working on the challenging task of rebranding Gulf Air, the Bahrain-based airline under threat from serious regional rivals such as Emirates Airline and Qatar Airways.
"We had to build a regional, rather than national brand at Gulf, and we tried to bring some of the mystique of the Arabian world to it," he says.
WPP, his then employer, asked him to build its branding operations in the region from a new Dubai base, and Mr Brash leapt at the chance.
"Dubai was really rocking back then, and I wanted to build the best office in the WPP global set-up."
He proved so popular with clients that some of the bigger ones backed him when he decided to leave WPP and set up on his own in 2007. "Emaar has been very good to us," he says. But just as the new business was up and running, it was hit by the global crisis and recession that followed.
"But we worked through the downturn, and didn't run away from the region like some others. I suppose you could call it the Scottish work ethic, it's served us well."
There has been a recovery under way since those challenging days, but the branding business has not quite recovered to pre-crisis levels. "It's still tough, because the clients are linked to the global economy and the world is still a difficult place. Clients are getting serviced for lower fees than before," he believes. But he says getting through the recession is his "greatest achievement" in business.
There have been other challenges along the way. The renaming of the world's tallest building as Burj Khalifa in 2011 was one of them. "We had to keep a very big secret under our hats for quite a long time," he recalls.
The recent award of the branding contract for the Etihad Rail transport network was another "big moment". He and his team from Brash had to present to a top-level panel of UAE policymakers in the splendour of the Emirates Palace hotel. "It was one of the most exciting moments of my life," he says. He lists the rebranding of Dnata, previously regarded as a little more than a low-key travel agent, repositioned as the fourth biggest air services provider in the world, as another achievement.
But is the regional branding business something of a small pool for such an ambitious big fish?
He has recently expanded with an alliance with the design arm of Tata, the huge Indian conglomerate, but he still believes Middle East brands face a challenge to become truly global marks.
"It's a tough one. There are brands that break out, like Emirates and Al Jazeera for example, but many are never intended to go global. There are some though that are very well known throughout the world in the target audience, like DP World, or the sovereign wealth funds or, on a rather different level, something like Bateel dates.
"Regional brands are probably more comfortable going into Asia or Turkey. Taking on the world is a big ask for a Middle East brand, though I do have one client that wants to go global from day one," he adds.
The success of his firm must have made Mr Brash a wealthy man, but he insists: "I'm a creative at heart, not a numbers man."
fkane@thenational.ae
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
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'Operation Mincemeat'
Director: John Madden
Cast: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald and Penelope Wilton
Rating: 4/5
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
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THE BIO
Ms Davison came to Dubai from Kerala after her marriage in 1996 when she was 21-years-old
Since 2001, Ms Davison has worked at many affordable schools such as Our Own English High School in Sharjah, and The Apple International School and Amled School in Dubai
Favourite Book: The Alchemist
Favourite quote: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail
Favourite place to Travel to: Vienna
Favourite cuisine: Italian food
Favourite Movie : Scent of a Woman
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
