How is business in Dubai doing right now? A PR agency CEO’s perspective

I had just come back from padel, and my partner forwarded me the news right before bed. It was, of course, a little scary — it was unclear what exactly was happening. There was this inner anxiety. But I didn’t feel any sharp panic about the business itself. Mostly because we had already been through COVID, and then everything that happened in Russia. At this point, I can explain these things to myself logically: yes, there may be a slowdown for a month or two, but there will still be an upswing afterward. As a PR business, we have not felt any serious decline. The only thing was that in the first weeks I saw panic among some journalists. Some canceled interviews, others refused to cover topics we had already pitched for clients. I tried to stay calm. Even in the first week, I was trying to keep the dialogue going, saying that positive news would still be published and that there was no need to cut all ties so abruptly. Some journalists even accused me of being insensitive or rude. And then, literally two weeks later, I could already see the news agenda shifting: resilience, sustainability, support for local businesses, support for yourself, how companies are supporting themselves and their teams.

Anything connected to support is okay. That can mean personal support, mental health, team support, good leadership, or internal communication. People here also really respond to topics about how business keeps going: sharing analytics, talking about what kinds of requests clients are coming to you with right now. In other words, human stories that do not look like an attempt to create a news angle out of the conflict, but still provide a useful and relevant comment on what is happening.

On the first day, when everything happened, I sent a message to everyone. I showed that we were continuing to work, that we were available, open to any feedback, and ready to support them in any way they needed. We also immediately got on calls with many of them just to check what was happening inside their companies. And as an agency, we often give something beyond our KPI anyway: we can help with a statement, with social media, with urgent posts. The client has to feel that they can rely on us. We did not lose clients. On the contrary, we got around four new requests. And because we work with global brands, I immediately started thinking: do I have companies that operate not only in the UAE, but also in Europe or the US, and what options can we offer them in those markets? We moved quickly with those proposals.

I think that, based on many years of experience, we already have an internal strategy that we do not even need to articulate separately. We are a global PR agency, and overall it does not matter that much to us what or whom to pitch, because we have contacts both in Europe and in America. We did not discuss any separate crisis plan in the sense of, “What will we do if absolutely nothing is left?” I simply do not see any reason to think that this could happen. I guess I just have this built-in sense of optimism.

Only on numbers. If we understand that we can no longer cover our costs and grow here, then yes, we will think about it. But I see Dubai as a long-term investment. You definitely cannot base decisions here on emotion. You simply have to keep working.

I always believe in common sense, logic, and relying on numbers. If you can see that revenue and clients are genuinely dropping sharply, then yes, you probably need to make decisions. But making them on an emotional swing, simply because you heard bangs at night and got scared — no. We are definitely not planning to leave. And judging by what I see among my clients, especially in the larger tech segment with sustainable business models, founders are staying here. At this point, I do not see any reason to leave.