Brands attempt to enter the ‘Doorway of Youth’ in UAE

Brands attempt to enter the ‘Doorway of Youth’ in UAE

UAE brands looking to cash in on young guns in the country, now have a single unified platform to tap into the potential of this lucrative resource.

June 12, 2012 3:52 by Priyanka Pradhan

The IML group, a global marketing services company is making an effort to bring UAE’s university students and ‘youth’ brands in the UAE together under a single roof with their umbrella portal, Bab Al Shabab.

It sounds like a win-win scenario for everyone. Brands that target students in the age group of 16-22 can benefit from access to an extensive database of all university students in the country from various backgrounds for test marketing products and services, special offers, promotions and word of mouth marketing.

For students, the platform will offer a variety of opportunities such as products for review, internships from companies across the UAE, a forum to voice their thoughts and discuss relevant issues, invitations to events and access to free products from companies who’ve tied up with Bab Al Shabab.

“The name, Bab Al Shabab means ‘Doorway to Youth’ was chosen to indicate the power of youth marketing. We believe it’s best to represent the platform with an Arabic name. It is relevant to our platform, close to the culture and offers a talking point for people.” Rayne Botha, Account Director Bab Al Shabab explained.

Elaborating on the relevance of youth marketing in this region, Anouska Leibovici, Account Director said, ”Contrary to most other parts of the world, university students do have considerable spending power and are exposed to a wealth of brands. Today, big and small companies are looking to tap into the potential of youth marketing.

However, there’s no single platform to unify and bring these students together in a single platform anywhere in the Arab world. Marketers have to resort to reaching out to students through various Universities’ websites or Facebook pages, which can be quite cumbersome.”

Bab Al Shabab has already garnered support from Fitness First, Sensasia Spas, Philips, The Entertainer, Dubai Dolphinarium, ERE Homes, BonAvenue.com, Live Nation and Arabia CSR Network.

Subscription to Bab Al Shabab for university students is free till September 2012 but a yearly paid membership will be levied hence. For brands, the website offers advertisement banners as well as paid opportunity to create specially tailored offers and promotions for this demographic.