Andrea Assi
Nour Haddad
Sahar Nifnaks
Andrea Assi
Nour Haddad
Sahar Nifnaks
​​In order to establish and promote the identity brand of Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways in two periods across the future era, we have to implement cultural branding strategies explored and discussed by Douglas Holt in “How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding” (2004). Holt suggests that too often advertisers rely on the use of traditional mind-share principles and brand attributes when it comes to selling to a customer. However, he reveals an alternative; a cultural branding strategy that focuses on building relevant “identity myths” that are formed through the deep analysis and understanding of ideologies, populist worlds, and consumer anxieties. Holt defines cultural branding as the “set of axioms and strategic principles that guide the building of brands into cultural icons”. This formula of cultural branding principles has led to the mass success of iconic brands.
We will be creating an identity myth chart for the two potential periods in the future era of Etisalat and Du branding. The first step is to identify the appropriate ideologies along with their contradictions for each period. By analyzing the potential social, political, and economical issues that could arise in the future while keeping in mind the understanding from previous research conducted in the past and present era we have developed, we were able to create four myth markets (two myths per period) in order to address the anxieties, desires, and needs.
​​In order to establish and promote the identity brand of Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways in two periods across the future era, we have to implement cultural branding strategies explored and discussed by Douglas Holt in “How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding” (2004). Holt suggests that too often advertisers rely on the use of traditional mind-share principles and brand attributes when it comes to selling to a customer. However, he reveals an alternative; a cultural branding strategy that focuses on building relevant “identity myths” that are formed through the deep analysis and understanding of ideologies, populist worlds, and consumer anxieties. Holt defines cultural branding as the “set of axioms and strategic principles that guide the building of brands into cultural icons”. This formula of cultural branding principles has led to the mass success of iconic brands.
We will be creating an identity myth chart for the two potential periods in the future era of Etisalat and Du branding. The first step is to identify the appropriate ideologies along with their contradictions for each period. By analyzing the potential social, political, and economical issues that could arise in the future while keeping in mind the understanding from previous research conducted in the past and present era we have developed, we were able to create four myth markets (two myths per period) in order to address the anxieties, desires, and needs.
Environmental Issues
Etisalat
During the modern era, the world began to pay close attention to environmental issues because they affect the entire globe, and nations and organizations began to implement rules and standards to deal with major environmental issues such as
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The major reason for choosing sustainability and pollution as an environmental issue is because both of them are important for both human health and for the environment as they improve the quality of our lives.
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Sustainability
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Sustainability has become a major concern in the modern era, where sustainability is the ability to persist in a somewhat continuous manner throughout multiple aspects of life is referred to as sustainability. Sustainability focuses on addressing the demands of the present without endangering future generations' capacity to meet their own needs. The reason for choosing sustainability is because it is crucial in this day and age for preventing further damage to Earth and saving the planet.
Since 1971, when the seven emirates united to become the United Arab Emirates federation, the country has risen to become one of the Middle East's most prominent economic centers. The UAE is a regional finance, trading, and tourism powerhouse with good infrastructure, thanks to an open economy fueled by petroleum resources. The UAE Vision 2021, which aims to build an innovative, inclusive, and resilient economy that raises living standards while ensuring environmental sustainability, has made developing a more diversified economy based on green growth principles a key component of the country's keystone development initiatives. By 2021, the UAE wants to get 24 percent of its energy from clean sources, according to this aim. The UAE has implemented many policy frameworks to support the development of a sustainable and diversified economy, including the National Green Growth Strategy(NGGS), to achieve these and other strategic targets across sectors of the economy . The NGGS, which was approved by the UAE Cabinet in 2015, is the key vehicle for achieving the UAE Vision 2021's sustainability goals. It will oversee the implementation of 12 comprehensive green growth projects aimed at hastening the UAE's transition to a green economy.
How Etisalat leveraged the environmental issue of Sustainability in their AIMC:
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In 2017, there was a strong emphasis on living a sustainable lifestyle in UAE (Low et al., 2017). Etisalat began announcing an annual sustainability report in 2018 to address the increased demand for sustainability (Etisalat, 2020). One definition of the term is "the action of gathering and/or using a product in a way that does not drain or harm the resource," and it refers to living a sustainable lifestyle.
This specific report covered operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the calendar year 2020. Etisalat's dedication to sustainable development was demonstrated in this report, which highlighted the company's economic, environmental, and social performance. The report provided details on what is most important to the company. Climate Change and Energy Management, Health and Safety, Water, Waste, and Biodiversity, and Sustainable Procurement Practices were among the environmental themes covered.
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Figure 20: Etisalat's print advert for Sustainability
Communication Platform:
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Issue Being Addressed: Climate change and the high amount of waste in the country
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Communication Objective: To make UAE a greener country and making it a more sustainable country
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Target Audience: People from ages 20-50 who care about sustainability and care about making the country more green and waste free.
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Compelling Benefit: Develop new items that are more environmentally friendly, and innovate and develop existing products that are more environmentally friendly.
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Creative Strategy: To show all the facts and information to inform the audience and consumers about all their goals and visions to make Etisalat a more sustainable brand.
Du
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Pollution
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The year 2018 greatly boosted people's awareness about environmental pollution, particularly in the UAE; people grew more conscious, particularly about air pollution and the carbon emissions caused by generators. And the environmental pollution caused by the use of plastic and other long-degradable materials (Sahay, 2018).
Since du did not come up for an ad relating to this issue we created this simple ad to show what du could have done.
How Du leveraged the environmental issue of Pollution in their AIMC:
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It was critical for du to confront such an issue since it runs only on generators and uses plastic for all of its cards and uses paper in its documents.
In 2020, During the pandemic, Du shut down non-essential loads in their different locations, resulting in an overall energy savings of 8% throughout our offices in comparison to 2019.
Du mentioned their environmental initiatives on their main website, including that they are energy-efficient in their network and non-technical sites, where they used solar energy as a total of 30 sites that run completely on solar panels, they mentioned the danger of greenhouse emissions and that they are working more and more to reduce any type of these emissions, and they mentioned waste management, where they aim to minimize waste across our operation (i.e. paper, plastic and cardboard) (Du, 2021).
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What Du could have done differently:
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Communication Platform:
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Issue Being Addressed: Pollution due to plastic card usage
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Communication Objective: Raising awareness that Du is being sustainable and caring about the outcomes of its activities.
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Target Audience: People who care about keeping the planet safe contributing to reducing pollution
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Compelling Benefit: To convince the audiences to stop creating pollution and support du
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Creative Strategy: to show that the audiences can help contribute to reduce pollution by joining du.
Figure 21:How du could have addressed their sustainability issue
