New Kipp study reveals love for Kipp

New Kipp study reveals love for Kipp

An exhaustive study by a local online business magazine has revealed that professionals in the region love to read local online business magazines.

January 17, 2011 4:04 by shafeer

“Reading online business magazines” has replaced “staring out of a window” to become the favourite activity of UAE business execs during working hours, finds a recent study conducted by online business magazine Kippreport.

Not buying it? Okay, but don’t be surprised if you see that headline on the site sometime soon, judging by what slips under the UAE press radar these days.

Take for instance, the article “Demand rises for master’s programmes in UAE” that Kipp spotted when we cracked open the Khaleej Times this morning. Apparently, over the years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of candidates enrolling for masters programs. These are the findings of the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD), which coincidentally offers a variety of masters programs. And if the universities findings seem serendipitous, wait until you hear this: They come just after UOWD held a series of postgraduate information evenings in Dubai and Abu Dhabi during which it promoted its various masters degrees. Timing is everything.

While we chuckled at this PR masterpiece, we outright laughed when we saw “Dubai tops list of global shopping destinations” while we were combing through the Gulf News. According to a survey conducted by Yahoo!Maktoob, 32 percent of Arab shoppers rank Dubai as the best shopping destination globally. The survey results come, surprise, surprise, three days before the start of the sixteenth installment of the annual Dubai Shopping Festival.

Let’s leave aside the leading nature of the question (it’s fair to say that Arabs shoppers are far more likely to have shopped in Dubai than second placed Paris); the article seemingly goes out of its way not to mention who paid for the research. We’re confident enough to take a guess, however, and venture that the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing probably still has wet ink on its cheque book stub.

Have you spotted any subtle-as-a-sledgehammer PR recently? Do you think it does these companies any good? And who bears the responsibility – us lazy journos, or the chronically uninspired PR industry?