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.
Political and Economic Issues
Economic Issues:
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Also, to add on, there were a few major economic issues that happened between the years of 1980 until the year of 2011. Some of the major or global economic crises that happened during those years are;
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The major reason for choosing the financial crisis as an economic issue is because the financial crisis in 1980 caused a major economic dislocation for the countries within the Gulf region.
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The Financial Crisis (1980)
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With those two countries being at war, they both had a similar effect, as it established and stabilized their political systems, but at the same time, they were worsening the economy and they pushed their own countries into a deep crisis that would long continue after the war (History, 2021). This war caused a major economic dislocation, which decreased the petroleum and the industrial developments, and this caused a decline within the agriculture sector, and those countries along with the gulf countries had drastically suffered (Metz, H. C, n.d). In Iraq, they had a major loss of almost 35 billion dollars of foreign exchange reserves (Mofid, K). “Iranian oil exports were estimated to be at 1 million barrels per day (bdp), down from an estimated 1.9 million bdp within 2011” (Metz, H. C, n.d). The war had cost Iran in a significant way. As half of Iran’s revenue was being spent on the arms and imports during the mid 1980’s, as they needed to dedicate half of their budgets to the military equipment and expenditures. Because of that, it had forced Iran to reduce the basic essential needs of imports. “The economic cost of the conflict which may have exceeded $500 billion is also staggering in terms of its impact on and implications for the economies of the two nations” (Alnasrawi, A, 1986).
With that, this caused the citizens to wait in long lines just to get their basic needs from the grocery stores such as (rice, bread, meat…), and as the citizens saw the crisis coming, people started to black market items on the basic needs (Metz, H. C, n.d). In addition, during the war, trade had to be rerouted through the Soviet Union and Turkey, which in that case also increased the transportation costs. The military equipment in Iran accounted for almost 25 percent of the total imports by 1984, as well as the budgeting funds majorly exceeding the financial allocations to the economic sectors (Metz, H. C, n.d).
Political Issues:
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There were a few major political issues that happened during the years of 1980 until 2011. Some of the political wars that happened between those thirty years are:
The major reason for choosing the Iraq invaded Iran crisis as a political issue is because the main motive behind it was that Saddam Hussein wanted to invade for geopolitical gain when the international factors have worked in his favor.
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Iraq Invaded Iran
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The Iraq- Iran war took place between 1980-1988. This war lasted longer than both World War I and World War II combined. The reason why this war began, was because Iraq invaded Iran, when they decided to launch an air and land missile within the Iranian borders. This war was initially led by Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, who was intentionally trying to invade Iran (Britannica, 2021). Which immediately sparked a war between the two most powerful countries in the Persian Gulf. Those two countries were the world’s largest producers of the petroleum industry. This war was mainly affecting the oil industry, thus it led to many new innovative weapons in Iraq.
The main chaos of why this had started, was because the war was somewhat rooted within the ideology and the pioneering of the leaders of each country to try to find a way to somewhat take control over the regional and the internal politics (Oweis, K. Y, 2020). This war had many sides to it, but it also had many religious divisions, different political opinions, ethnic debates, as well as a very personal conflict between the two leaders. Iran continued to fight the war in a way to try and overthrow the leader of Iraq. This war was very bloody and caused more than one million casualties and it lasted eight years. Iraq was losing hope as his troops were dying and suffering. In July 1988, the two countries agreed upon accepting United to ceasefire. The war ended officially on August 20, 1988 (Encyclopedia, 2021).
How Etisalat and Du could have addressed the issue of Iraq- Iran War and the Financial Crisis in their AIMC:
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Due to the political and economic issues that Iraq and Iran faced during the war, it resulted in adverse effects on both communities and individuals. The fear of losing their lives and their families often leads to people fleeing their homes when a war breaks out, and as a result, they become either internally or externally displaced. Because of the misplacement that happened, Etisalat could have partnered with Thuraya and Du with Yahsat by providing free satellite services for the people who have been misplaced and are unable to connect with their families and loved ones. This is a great way to allow communications usage of services for everyone.
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TV Script
Figure 5: TV Script for Storyboard Commercial
Storyboard Commercial for Etisalat & Du
Figure 4: Storyboard commercial for Etisalat & du
