Dubai, the El Dorado of reality TV influencers: the emirate had it all planned

Our series “

Influencers in Dubai

” in five episodes

:

Nabilla, Jazz, Hillary… "they sell dreams in a dream setting"

"Now we are all here"

The birth of a cash machine

Dubai had it all planned

The "French bad" crispe locals and expatriates

Jessica Thivenin, Nabilla Benattia or Caroline Receveur.

These three influencers among the most followed in France now live in Dubai.

All in all, around thirty starlets, men and women, made famous by the shows “les Marseillais”, “la Villa des cœurs brisés”, “Secret Story” or “les Anges”, have set down for three years in the Middle East. East.

Far from being a coincidence: these repeated installations are the fruit of a visionary strategy and completely assumed by this small emirate, anxious to cultivate… its own image.

“All cities have marketing strategies.

In Dubai, it is particularly visible, ”notes sociologist Amélie Le Renard.

The goal?

“Build the image of an essential center for business and where life is easy”, answers this specialist in urban studies.

Everything is done to facilitate the installation of influencers in Dubai: here Marc Blata and Nadé.

LP / Fred Dugit

If Kuwait, Qatar, Abu Dhabi or the powerful neighbor, Saudi Arabia, are full of hydrocarbons (gas and oil), Dubai is not so lucky.

From its creation in 1971, the best-known of the seven micro-states that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE) must be imaginative.

"The government has sought to diversify the economy through transport, tourism, luxury ..." recalls Amélie Le Renard.

In the early 1970s, the emirate in quick succession inaugurated an important freight port and its international airport.

It will be a hub between Asia and Europe, and an air “hub” thanks to Emirates, which is heavily subsidized.

The company offers high quality service.

The value for money is unbeatable.

The staff are recruited from all over the world and convey an attractive image of the destination.

"Wherever you go on the planet, you can go through Dubai," observes the sociologist.

Many travelers stop there, which allows them to visit the city in a few hours.

The strategy is to make yourself known.

"

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The reigning Al Maktoum family is also launching the craziest, most ambitious and grandiose real estate projects for which the country is famous today: Burj Khalifa, a world record building which rises to 828 m, the island of palm trees. , the Marina, etc.

"It is an architecture designed above all to be seen and photographed, to create a buzz," notes Amélie Le Renard, who insists on the authorities' desire to "stand out" from the very conservative Saudi Arabia.

"Soft-power", tourism and influencers

With the 2010s, social networks integrated this strategy of "soft-power" (translate: "power to convince") intended to charm Western countries.

We must promote a liberal and modern image.

And, to develop tourism, the authorities smell a good vein: the emergence of influencers.

In 2014, a special pole was created for them within the Ministry of Tourism.

To diversify its economy, Dubai has relied on transport, tourism and luxury, in particular.

LP / Fred Dugit

Mathilde (the first name has been changed), a Frenchwoman still living in Dubai who wishes to remain anonymous, was hired at the pole a few months after its creation.

"Our role was to find the right influencers and invite them over for a few days, to accommodate them for free in hotels and to offer them experiences in exchange for publications on social networks", she explains.

The pole is made up of about fifteen people and has a colossal budget.

“It comes in millions of dollars a year,” says Mathilde.

It is a full time job.

The system, well established, involves hotel groups in the city, places of recreation, restaurants.

“Initially, Dubai said to itself:

what are the negative points that the world perceives about us?

It's bling-bling, too expensive, freedom of expression is violated… Mathilde list.

For each problem, we looked for influencers to help us fight these prejudices.

"

Contracts with the Ministry of Tourism

The strategy goes further.

Dubai is investing in tools to analyze “demographic”, the audience of Instagrammers.

The pole wants to know the profile of the subscribers, their origin… "We will not offer the same routes if the subscribers are Chinese or German," indicates Mathilde.

For example, we will not encourage an influencer followed by Europeans to visit the dolphin park at the Atlantis hotel, because animals in captivity will be frowned upon in Europe.

On the other hand, the Chinese are crazy about it.

"

As soon as the hashtag # VisitDubaï is indicated on an Instagram post, the Ministry of Tourism hides behind.

“When influencers come on site, it's very framed.

They have a very specific route to follow, ”explains Mathilde.

In France, some Instagrammers gleefully advertise the emirate's activities or hotels.

The contracts are difficult to uncover, but we know, for example, that Jazz Correia, one of the most established reality TV stars, has already done so.

For 5,000 euros to 10,000 euros, you can create a business that will not be taxed

The bet is a winner.

With this publicity, the emirate is improving its image.

And the conditions for settling there permanently are unbeatable.

The most attractive: the "free-zone", free zones where taxes do not exist.

In the city-state, as large as a third of the Ile-de-France, there are forty-five.

“These are real geographic areas, more or less large.

It can be a real neighborhood with restaurants, housing or just a building on a small piece of land, explains Ga Nui Park, a Frenchwoman at the head of her business creation support agency.

It looks a bit like a

duty free

.

In each free-zone, we will have different processes, obligations and prices.

"

Ga Nui Park (right), head of a business creation support agency, here with English influence Mia Biscoe, has helped 500 French speakers, including Instagrammers, to set up.

LP / Fred Dugit

Creating a company in a free zone costs between 5,000 and 10,000 euros, a rent to be renewed each year.

Once the structure is created, no taxes on the dividend or on income.

“Obviously this is one of the reasons that push us to come here, recognizes Illan Castronovo, one of the few to welcome the tax advantages offered by the emirate.

Here, if you win 3000 euros, it goes in your pocket.

In France, you lose half of it.

Even if you earn 40,000 euros per month, you can't even buy yourself a house in Paris at the end of the year!

"

The attraction is strong.

Agencies develop complete offers for the pros of influence, from the search for accommodation to the creation of the company in free-zone.

“The French do not all speak English well.

And when you don't know the system, it can be complicated.

They are very demanding, ”observes Ga Nui Park, who has become the“ big sister ”of many French expats.

She helped 500 Francophones, including Instagrammers, to settle down.

Everything is made easy for them.

Even the little ones have real advantages.

Mia Biscoe, a young Englishwoman living in the emirate for two years, has only 2,500 subscribers.

In addition to her job in marketing, she has registered on platforms that allow her to test services - restaurants, SPA, etc. - for free in exchange for posts on her account.

“It was enough for my Instagram account to be validated and now I receive offers every day on the application, says Mia, scrolling the screen of her phone.

When the end of the month is difficult, it allows me to go out anyway.

"

Some reforms to attract western expatriates

It is on this already ultra-favorable soil that the Covid-19 crisis arrived.

In Dubai, the first containment was followed to the letter.

Then, life resumed its course.

Today, only bars and nightclubs are closed.

But many expatriates left the emirate at the start of the crisis.

To the chagrin of the authorities: the city of 3 million inhabitants is 95% foreign nationals.

A majority of Asian or Middle Eastern workers, and a minority of skilled Western expatriates.

From the summer of 2020, the government wanted to attract new ones by relaxing the Islamic law in force for morals: the consumption of alcohol is no longer repressed, a man and a woman can live under the same roof without being married. ...

With the advertising of influencers, the emirate is improving its image.

LP / Fred Dugit

This is how Hillary was able to settle down with her companion Giovanni without being married, or that Milla Jasmine and Illan Castronovo got together in the rules.

“It was just right,” Hillary admits.

" This is just the beginning.

In two years, all the influencers from around the world will be here, ”predicts Illan, ex-cook, handsome brunette discovered in the show“ 10 perfect couples ”.

One thing is certain, in Dubai, the restaurants, the dishes, the decorations, “everything is instagrammable”.

Read episode 5:

The “French bad” crispe locals and expatriates

"Since they have been there, they have tarnished the image of the city", complain of many French expatriates in Dubai who do not share the same life as the stars of reality TV.

A nightclub fight a few weeks ago, an embellished image of the country, tourists attracted mainly by the sets posted by French instagramers… gave birth to an expression: the “French bad”.