Why Most Brand Films in Dubai Never Bring a Single Client
By Kamal Abdelrahman, brand filmmaker and marketing strategist, Dubai
Dubai is full of beautiful brand films. Drone over the skyline. Slow motion. A big music swell. Everyone claps at the launch event.
Then the film goes on the homepage and nobody can tell you what it did for the business.
I'm Kamal Abdelrahman. I've produced 500+ videos in 9+ years, and I also work in marketing. So I get to see both sides: the day the film looks great, and the month after, when someone asks what it brought in. When a film doesn't bring clients, the camera is rarely the problem. Usually one of four things got skipped.
1. Nobody wrote down who it's for
"Everyone" is not an audience. A film for a first-time investor and a film for a family buying their forever home need different stories, different pacing and different endings.
Before anything else, write one sentence: this film is for this person, who wants this thing. If you can't write it, you're not ready to shoot.
2. The first seconds give no reason to stay
Most brand films open with a logo or a skyline. The viewer already knows what Dubai looks like. Open with the thing that makes them lean in: the problem, the result, or a moment they recognise.
3. The beautiful shot stayed in
This one hurts. You spent hours getting a shot, so it has to go in. But the audience doesn't care how hard it was to get. If it doesn't serve the story, cut it. Some of the best decisions I make happen in the edit, when I remove the shot everyone loved on set.
4. There's no next step
The film ends. Logo. Music fades. Now what? If you want a viewer to book a call, visit the showroom or send a message, say so. A film without a next step is an expensive mood.
The fix happens before the shoot
None of this needs a bigger budget. It needs a few hours of thinking before anyone picks up a camera:
- → Who is it for?
- → What do they believe now, and what should they believe after?
- → Where will it run?
- → What should they do when it ends?
Answer those four and you've done most of the work. The camera is the easy part.
Planning a film? Send me your answers to those four questions and I'll tell you honestly where I'd start.
Looking for this kind of work? See brand films in Dubai.