Case Study
UNHCR
AgencyConstantine Corporate Communications
DesignationCEO
RoleBrand Strategist
Year2014–15
SituationUNHCR’s Dubai operations were overshadowed by the city’s own glamorous image.
ChallengeDubai’s commercial image is powerful. How does a humanitarian cause get seen through it?
BriefRaise UNHCR’s profile above Dubai’s own.
StrategyInvite an international humanitarian figure, HM Queen Rania of Jordan, to headline the platform and put UNHCR’s work in the spotlight.
Scope of WorkA large exhibition stand and peripherals for the trade fair.
ResultMeasurably increased awareness of a different side of Dubai, one of compassion rather than commerce.
NoteFirst-hand experience elevating the profile of a humanitarian organisation.
Getting UNHCR seen in a city built around a commercial image meant borrowing a spotlight rather than competing for one. Inviting HM Queen Rania of Jordan to headline the platform gave the cause a voice loud enough to be heard over Dubai’s own glamour, without asking the city to change what it was. It remains one of the clearer examples of a humanitarian brief succeeding by working with a place’s image rather than against it.