This report first appeared in Gulf Marketing Review's October 2008 issue. The full report with statistics is available for download at the bottom of this page.

Background

Eight real estate developers were studied to evaluate their media performance and the public’s trust perception of their brands through the period of 20 July to 20 August. Emaar, Aldar, Sorouh and Damac represent the UAE developers, while Barwa and Qatari Diar represent Qatar. Manara Developments and Al Kaheej Development Co. (Tameer) represent Bahrain.

Emaar is one of the world’s largest real estate companies. It is a public joint stock company, based in Dubai, which was established in 1997. Aldar is an Abu Dhabi based leading developer, owned by Abu Dhabi institutions, founder shareholders and 20,616 investors. Damac is a private owned property developer, established in 1995 and operates in the Middle East. Sorouh is another Abu Dhabi based publicly listed developer, which was established in September 2005.

Al Khaleej Development Co. (Tameer) is a real estate development, investment and advisory group, based in Bahrain, which operates in accordance to Islamic Sharia. Tameer is a public company that was established in June 2002. Manara Developments is a new Bahrain based real estate company, which is a joint venture between a consortium of investors.

Qatari Diar is a master developer, based in Qatar, fully owned by the Qatar Investment Authority. Finally, Barwa is a Qatar based public real estate developer, which was established in November 2007.

Media Coverage Performance

In terms of amount of coverage, it is no surprise that all the UAE developers took the lead in the UAE market, followed by the Qatari developers and finally the Bahraini ones. Emaar also took the lead in the Bahraini market, followed by Aldar and Tameer. Barwa took the lead in the Qatari market, followed by Emaar and Qatari Diar. Overall, Emaar took the lead, followed by Aldar and Sorouh. It is worth mentioning that Manara Developments had no coverage at all in the period.

Emaar took the lead, followed by Aldar and Sorouh in terms of impressions (Number of potential people who were exposed to their mentions) in the UAE market, followed by Aldar and Sorouh. Emaar also took the lead in the Bahraini market, followed by Tameer and Aldar. Barwa took the lead in the Qatari market, followed by Qatari Diar and finally Emaar. The overall impressions ranking, placed Emaar in the lead, followed by Aldar and Sorouh, which is a direct result of their overwhelmingly greater amount of coverage

In terms of both newspaper and magazine coverage sizes, Emaar took the lead, followed by Aldar and Sorouh. While Barwa ranked 4th in terms of newspaper coverage size, followed by Damac. Damac ranked 4th in terms of magazine coverage size, followed by Qatari Diar.

The media coverage was further evaluated in terms of the content. Tameer had the highest percentage of manifest (direct) mentions, as its mentions are predominately from press releases. Qatari Diar ranked 2nd in terms of manifest mentions, followed by Damac and Barwa. Damac ranked 1st in terms of PR Influence (percentage of press releases from the overall mentions), followed by Tameer, Qatari Diar and Aldar. Damac also ranked 1st in terms of percentage of positive reputation drivers from the overall coverage, followed by Tameer, Qatari Diar and Sorouh. It is important to highlight, however, that looking purely at the amount of manifest and positive reputation drivers, Emaar and Barwa rank the highest.

All messages were on projects execution, completion, updates and launches as wekk as sponsorship of various events. The coverage also included messages on participation, organization and hosting of events, posting profits growth, expansion into other markets, stocks movement and deals.

Survey Findings

A survey was conducted in the UAE with a sample size of 522, in Qatar with a sample size of 511 and in Bahrain with a sample size of 490, out of a pool of 18 year olds and above, encompassing both males and females and all nationalities. The survey question was ‘To what extent do you trust the following companies’. Respondents were given an option to respond with ‘I strongly distrust’, ‘I distrust’, ‘I neither distrust nor trust’, ‘I trust’, ‘I strongly trust’ and ‘I do not know’.

Emaar, followed by Damac and Tameer are the most trusted in the UAE, while Tameer, followed by Emaar and Sorouh are the most trusted in Bahrain, and Barwa, followed by Qatari Diar and Emaar are the most trusted in Qatar. Overall, Emaar is the most trusted.

Barwa, followed by Manara Developments and Qatari Diar ranked the highest in the ‘least known’ category in the UAE, while Barwa, followed by Aldar and Manara Developments ranked the highest in Bahrain and Manara Developments, followed by Sorouh and Aldar ranked the highest in Qatar. Overall, Manara Developments is the least known.

Damac, followed equally by Qatari Diar and Tameer were the least trusted in the UAE, while Barwa, Damac and Aldar were the least trusted in Bahrain, and Manara Developments, followed by Damac were the least trusted in Qatar. Overall, Damac is the least trusted.

People felt mostly indifferent when it concerns Barwa and Manara Developments in the UAE market, Damac, Barwa and Manara Developments in Bahrain and Aldar and Sorouh in Qatar. Overall, people felt mostly indifferent about Manara Developments.

Evaluation

There appears to be a direct relationship between high amount of manifest mentions and high trust levels irrespective of content type and messages. Emaar for instance, had high amount of manifest mentions in the UAE and Bahraini markets, and as a result, ranked very high in the trust perception levels for both respondents in the UAE and Bahrain. Barwa, which had a high amount of manifest mentions in the Qatari market, had the highest trust perception level for respondents in Qatar.

Although Tameer, Qatari Diar and Damac had the highest percentage of manifest mentions, their amount of coverage was relatively lower than Emaar’s and Barwa’s, and thus did not score high in their trust levels. Aldar, on the other hand, had a relative high amount of coverage, yet it was not as manifest as Emaar’s and Barwa’s was, did not receive the same high trust perception levels Emaar and Barwa did.

Bahraini media appears to have what can be described as a healthy infatuation with UAE projects, unlike Qatar where the media is mostly interested about local projects. The same applies to the public’s trust perception in Bahrain and Qatar. While people in Bahrain are fascinated with the work of UAE companies and their projects, people in Qatar are primarily interested in Qatari companies.

Overall, it seems that Bahraini real estate developers don’t appear keen on raising awareness of developments in Bahrain to those outside of Bahrain. All developers need to increase their media coverage and in particularly their manifest mentions in order to gain a bigger slice of the trust perception.