Desis dominate dubai, more work here.

[Krish]

Did a little search and it is funny how many desis are working in all those agencies, some we never heard.

Agency: Publinet Advertising, Dubai - UAE
Creative Director/Copywriter: Benjamin Borges
Art director (ACD)/Illustrator: Ashwin Pednekar

[Krish]

for lulu ketchup.

Client: Emke Group, UAE
Agency: Frequency Adverting Dubai
Art Director: Shajinarayan
Copywriter: Louis Bereto

[Payal]

thanks krish, this is amazing, while we see regular work of desis from dubai at a reasonably decent quality, we see mostly average work from our regualar work done in india.

does this mean we indian desis spend more time for award winning work (which is world beater) and below average work when it comes to paid clients????????

[ADivasi]

i have seen better stuff from dubai, but these are nice as well. i would love to see some more work from india though.

[shantyarow]

Absolutely...there's much better work done in Dubai than these. Things are dominated to a large extent here by us desis. But even then, it's normal to see the gorass (spelling correct!) run away with more pay without doing anything on a normal day.

[Shahrukh Khan]

shanty fill us on the scene here, you are not the first one who mentions that the goras rule in dubai while desis do all the donkey work...how much do u see this in ad agencies? how many desi CDs?

[shantyarow]

Dear King Khan, Dubai's ad scene is dominated by desis. Indians have always been at mainline positions in art, copy, servicing, media and planning for most agencies here. And in the 2 years that I've been here, I've seen many a talented person from India join the fray.

Indeed, Dubai is no longer just a place to pay of those credit card bills and home loans. Work is increasingly getting better and more international. Budgets for shoots and good photographers are on the rise. And clients are shedding their usual 'we want a hard working sale ad' in favour of ballsier, fresher communication.

When it comes to senior creative positions, Indians again occupy quite a few key positions in good agencies like Lowe, Brandcom, Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Intermarkets, Partnership, etcetera. Of course, you always have the odd Brit or Lebanese shepherding creative departments, but Indians are still in the more.

Generally, I speak from experience. I do not have any malice towards goraas or the way they work. To each his own, after all. But, my personal experiences with creative people of the white skin kind, have been disappointing to say the least. Most think they are above board when it comes to creative thinking. But the reality is that the freshest ideas based on strategy comes from us desis. Then again, politics and inefficiency are also part of the biggest all-desi Indian agencies.

Guess no one is complaining and like any other pressure in advertising, one has to take the rough with the smooth. Overall, Dubai is very cosmopolitan, very welcoming and the benefit of being small is that you could get noticed pretty quickly.

As long as you keep yourselves one step ahead of yourself and the others, and retain a modicum of sanity, you should be Ok here.

Cheerios, Shanty

[Shahrukh Khan]

What about the client side? How do they rate desis? Are the leading clients desis or goras or it is a fair mix?????

[shantyarow]

Whatever cards one is dealt, one has to play with them. Whether by desis or goraas, clients or customers.

[DesiPimp]

shanty Dubai or India? Where would u rather be?

[shantyarow]

Dp...i'd be where my heart and mind are...usually, in the morning, this means at the loo...