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In an age where global competition is so aggressive and time and attention spans so limited, branding has become a highly coveted strategy and perhaps necessarily so. Where brand names were once only identified with companies such as Coca Cola and McDonald's , now even celebrities and museums have jumped on the branding bandwagon (Haider, 2008). Cities worldwide have similarly caught on, and are increasingly developing brands in an attempt to participate and differentiate themselves in the new experience economy. In effect, they are vigorously engaged in constructing images and representations of their locations in accordance with new trends in culture, experience and design (Florida, 2002; Jensen, 2007).
The capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, is one such city that has taken to the discipline of urban branding in order to gain prominence on the global map. This article will attempt to unpack the Abu Dhabi brand by analyzing current practices of urban branding in the city's newly planned Cultural District, Saadiyat Island. The article is structured into four sections. In the first section, a literature review of branding is provided to help situate the reader in the theoretical framework. Section two presents a brief history of Abu Dhabi's development, followed by an examination of the efforts of the Office of the Brand Abu Dhabi as part of the city's attempts to place itself among the list of globally significant cities. The third section (un)covers the paradoxes of the city's branding efforts by looking closely at the brand's target audience, as well as the players involved in the branding process, using Saadiyat Island (Abu Dhabi's Cultural District) as a case study. That is, the questions branding for whom? and branding by whom? are addressed. Section four holds concluding thoughts, arguing that those who are quick to dismiss the emirate as merely an elitist tourist development, in which art, history and regional identity are reduced to marketing commodities, might be missing the larger picture.
BRANDING IN LITERATURE
The literature on urban branding is extensive, and a brief review is attempted here in order to give the reader an understanding of what the strategy and the concept entails, particularly as it affects cities in a globalizing world.
David Harvey (1989) examined the transition from...