(07)Guide
Launch marketing
for Dubai developers, explained.
What a project launch actually needs from content, what it costs, and where the money usually goes wrong. Written for sales directors and marketing heads planning the next six months.
What a launch content system contains
A launch is a sequence, not a single film. The minimum set: a teaser that runs two to three weeks before launch to build the registration list, a launch film for the event and the website, an agent kit of vertical cuts and stills that brokers can post without touching an editor, and a set of paid creatives for Meta and Google built from the same shoot.
The agent kit is the piece most developers skip and most regret skipping. In Dubai a project is sold through hundreds of external agents; if they have nothing to post, they post a competitor's project. One shoot can feed all of it if it is planned that way from the start.
Off-plan: what to film when there is no building
Show units, the sales gallery, the surrounding community, the view from the plot, the people selling it, and the lifestyle the buyer is actually purchasing. Renders belong in the brochure; in the feed they read as advertising and get skipped. A director-led shoot of what exists today outperforms animated renders for enquiry volume in our experience, and it is cheaper.
The buyer's language
Dubai and Abu Dhabi projects are sold to buyers in Istanbul, London, Riyadh, Mumbai and Moscow. An English launch film reaches the agent; a version in the buyer's language reaches the buyer. For Mudo Properties on Saadiyat Island, Turkish-language villa films for Turkish-speaking buyers were part of what produced 79.1M account views in 90 days. Language versions are cut from the same footage, so the marginal cost is editing and voice, not another shoot.
What it costs
Launch packages are scoped per project, in writing, after the free Project Launch Plan. As anchors: monthly partnerships start from AED 12,000 per month and multi-project partnerships from AED 22,000 per month, both from our published social media marketing tiers. Media spend for Meta and Google campaigns is always quoted separately and paid to the platforms directly.
Timeline
A teaser can be shot and delivered inside a week. A full launch film plus agent kit is two to three weeks from shoot to delivery. Working backwards from the launch date, the shoot needs to happen at least four weeks out to leave room for approvals, language versions and the paid campaign setup.
Where launch budgets go wrong
Five vendors and five looks: the photographer, the videographer, the drone operator, the editor and the ads freelancer each deliver something that does not match the others, and the project reads as five brands. Paying for renders as film. Launching without a qualification step, so the sales team spends launch week calling people who wanted a brochure. One team, one signature, one funnel fixes all three.