Aritzia x UAE is a market entry campaign for a brand nobody in Dubai knows yet. Using Hofstede's cultural dimensions, we built the strategy around one insight: in the UAE, what you wear signals who you're with. Aritzia enters as an invitation to belong, not a product to buy. Built with a team of five for my international advertising class.

aritzia x uae campaign

roles
creative director, strategist, designer

programs
canva, gemini, adobe express

timeline
march 2026 - may 2026

AI-generated concept image, developed through original prompting, iteration, and creative direction.

cultural research

    1. Market: a high-income, status-conscious, culturally diverse market where brand perception drives buying.

    2. Culture: compared the UAE and Canada across Hofstede's dimensions. The UAE scores high on power distance (74) and low on individualism (36) and long-term orientation (22).

    3. Fit: physical retail builds trust, the store becomes a status signal, shopping is a social ritual, and in-store presence drives conversion.

    4. Competition: Zara, Reformation, Massimo Dutti, and Club Monaco, each with a clear gap Aritzia can fill.

    5. Persona: Fatima Al Mansoori, 28, a primary school teacher in Dubai. She takes cues from women she trusts, and once trust is built, she commits fast.

    1. Appeal: prestige through belonging.

    2. Form: association transfer. Aritzia borrows credibility from trusted figures because it's unknown here.

    3. Big idea: Aritzia sells community, not clothes.

    4. Influencer: Karen Wazen Bakhazi, a Dubai-based lifestyle and fashion voice.

    5. Media mix: 40% social (reach), 35% influencers (trust), 25% WhatsApp and local platforms (conversion).

    • Three rounds of creative direction, refined from a rooftop dinner concept to a diverse group of Emirati and expat women.

    • Final ad: the group is the product, and the clothing is incidental to the connection.

    • Each design choice ties back to a Hofstede dimension (slide 18).

    • Instagram and WhatsApp mockups show the ad in the channels where it would run.

    • Launch plan: pre-launch (localization, influencer seeding, teasers), launch (e-commerce, social, influencer drops), then post-launch (retargeting, WhatsApp, repeat purchase), spanning July to June.

    • Risk mitigation: the trust barrier, modesty and styling, the credibility gap, and purchase hesitation, each with a fix.

    • KPIs across awareness, consideration, conversion, and retention.

digital campaign

Outcome - A culturally grounded market entry strategy that treats localization as strategy, not translation.

Final Pitch Deck - Aritzia x UAE Final

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