Luxury’s New Ramadan Playbook for the Middle East

As luxury marketing hits saturation point in Dubai during the Muslim holy month, global brands are ramping up theirlocal engagement in other Gulf cities including Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait City.

KEY INSIGHTS

• Brand-led Ramadan marketing activity is approaching saturation point in Dubai, prompting brands to deploy both new and old strategies across multiple Gulf cities.
• An increasingly localised approach to Ramadan campaigns, collections and events has encouraged brands to try out alternative formats and venues.
• Despite heightened activity, most brands have opted for a ‘quieter’ tone to avoid overly ostentatious or frivolous activations due to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Dubai’s fashion VIPs have been busier than usual recently. In just one evening, Valentino, MCM, Miu Miu and Marli all hosted marketing activations for top-tier clients and industry insiders across the city. The crowded roster of attractions was typical of the level of activity throughout much of the 30-day Ramadan period this year.

“This has now become the norm during the Ramadan season,” said Reem Kanj, partner at Dubai-based marketing agency Maison Pyramide and co-founder of influencer management agency Ego & East. “With the number of international brands who have entered the market and the rise of homegrown brands, it has become inevitable for multiple events to take place in one evening.”

The holy month of Ramadan, which started on Mar. 10 this year, and is expected to end on Apr. 9 ahead of the Eid-al-Fitr celebrations, is one of the most anticipated occasions in the Islamic calendar. A time for spirituality and reflection, the month sees Muslims around the world gather with family and friends to open their fasts at iftar and connect over a late night suhoor meal. Ramadan is also known to bring one of the biggest annual upticks in consumer spending for Muslim-majority countries across the Middle East, with food, fashion and gifts being key categories.

“Ramadan’s traditional emphasis on new attire being reserved for Eid, luxury segment spending patterns typically slow in Ramadan’s early weeks, picking up as Eid approaches,” said Ashley Cadzow, founder of Sunday Media, a Dubai-based creative marketing agency that manages and produces campaigns for brands such as Van Cleef & Arpels, IWC and the Dubai Mall.

This means there is currently a lot at stake for luxury brands in Dubai, the preferred shopping destination across the entire GCC region of Gulf Cooperation Council countries comprising not only the United Arab Emirates but also Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.

Valued at $10.5 billion in 2023, the GCC luxury goods market is forecasted to grow to $13.7 billion by 2028, demonstrating a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 5.42 percent over the five-year period, according to a Mordor Intelligence report. The rush to cater to affluent clients during Ramadan has caused a bottleneck of activity within the 30-day period. With people fasting during the day, brands are limited to engaging with them — and industry insiders — exclusively between the hours of 6pm and midnight. In Dubai, this has led to a saturation of brand-led iftar and suhoor events.