Raghad represents UAE in DSS apprenticeship initiative

Raghad Mahmoud Alqadi, a 4th year management student at the United Arab Emirates University, was chosen by a jury comprising of key DSS representatives and marketing professionals to represent UAE in the 7th edition of the prestigious programme.

The Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE), organisers of Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS), had announced the winners of the DSS Apprenticeship Programme 2012 – the region’s most hotly contested destination-marketing internship programme, which this year welcomes its largest batch ever.

The programme once again brings together some of the brightest marketing and business administration students from across the Middle East and North Africa. Offering an incomparable opportunity to get behind the scenes of one of the region’s biggest tourism success stories and work alongside highly experienced practitioners in the field, the DSS Apprenticeship Programme this year welcomes winners from 12 countries – the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, KSA, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Palestine and, for the first time, Morocco.

“UAE University’s Raghad Mahmoud Alqadi submitted a well-written essay outlining creative ideas to promote DSS. Her suggestion to leverage the advantages of social media for massive promotional and awareness initiatives as well as adding water-related themes and activities illustrate insightful thinking that is both practical and on trend in terms of the latest market dynamics. I am sure she will do her university proud and will be an asset to DSS,” Laila Suhail, CEO of Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE), said.

The programme this year reached out to a record 75 universities across 12 countries, growing tremendously from the pilot programme launched in 2006, which included four participating universities in two markets.

Each university was invited to nominate its top six senior students from the marketing, business administration and events streams. Each student was asked to submit an essay on ‘What new strategies and opportunities they would implement to make the 2012 edition have a stronger impact across the region’, a topic chosen by the DSS Apprenticeship Programme team. A special jury comprising key DSS staff and other marketing professionals evaluated the submissions before short-listing candidates for phone interviews and selecting the final winner from each market, based on the quality of their essays, answers and expressed ability to make a valuable contribution to the programme.

In their winning essays, all 12students outlined their creative promotional ideas.

“Social media has become so pervasive that it should be used as a strategic tool for promoting DSS. It can reach out to as many people as possible with the least possible cost. DSS will benefit tremendously from leveraging social media to communicate with different target audiences, and generate excitement all through the event,” Raghad Mahmoud Alqadi from UAE University, said.

“I would encourage greater collaboration between the organisers of DSS and the tourism ministry in Morocco. This will help strengthen ties and pave the way for both parties to explore mutually beneficial tourism opportunities. I would also include a greater focus on students for marketing initiatives because it is this segment that has a greater inclination and interest to travel. University students are interested in discovering new cultures and are more likely to share the excitement of travelling to Dubai with their peers,” the first-ever DSS apprentice from Morocco Houda Benamar from Al Akhawayn University, said.

“Saudi nationals look forward to DSS every year. Besides those who regularly make the trip to Dubai every summer, we can also target the other cities apart from Jeddah and Riyadh to reach out to fresh feeder markets. We can also give Modhesh a tech upgrade by developing game apps for smartphones to reach a much broader audience, and possibly add more characters such as Modhesh’s friends and family,” Mohammed Ahmed Aldawood from King Saud University, KSA, said.

“Integrating social media with the overall marketing strategy for DSS will help to achieve more visibility and create a lot of excitement about the event. What is critical to successfully using social media in marketing and promotions is to give people a platform where they can share their excitement about DSS,” Amal Ahmed Salman of Ahlia University Bahrain, said.

“I would implement a comprehensive engagement strategy that includes creating a more active presence for DSS in the digital media landscape, enhancing branding by introducing an Arab Heritage theme, and having bigger and more exciting promotions that will definitely succeed in attracting more tourists to Dubai during DSS,” Norhan Mohammad Abd El Haleem from the American University in Cairo, said.

“We can create a lot of excitement in the digital landscape in Syria where 20% of the population are heavy Internet users. Media engagement will also be a critical factor, so we need to create stories that can readily be published in the local media,” the winner from Syria, George Imad Batah from the University Of Kalamoon said.

“DSS has become a truly world-class event, achieving global recognition as one of the biggest success stories for destination marketing. I think DSS provides a perfect opportunity for Dubai to showcase Arabic cultures and traditions. Keep the cultural aspect of DSS as a way of promoting the traditions and culture of the Emarati people, and entice more people to come to Dubai during the summer,” Othman Jamal Al-Ayoubi from the American University of Kuwait, said.

“DSS has succeeded in attracting millions of tourists for the last 15 years because of adding something innovative each year, whether through a new event, promotion or theme. This year, DSS can enhance its sports theme, 2012 being an Olympic year. It can also increase visibility in Oman and attract more families through promotional activities in public places, such as placing a two-metre Modhesh model holding a DSS brochure in different malls and hypermarkets in Muscat,” Hamza Mustafa Al Lawati from Oman’s Sultan Qaboos Univeristy, said.

“My primary advertising stream will be directed towards children in an attempt to attract more families. It will be a multi-platform campaign that will leverage the popularity of its mascot Modhesh in children’s cartoon series that will be aired on Palestine TV and social media platforms that support videos, taking into account recent increases in the number of young Internet users. The show will be short yet entertaining (as well as educational), will primarily serve to spread brand awareness and serve as a call to action to visit Dubai during Dubai Summer Surprises,” Zein Azzam Dakkak from Palestine’s Birzeit University said.

“Sometime in 2007, DSS widened its target market to include the entire family – a strategy that has proved to be successful. Despite the crisis years that followed, DSS continued to record increasing visitor numbers as well as average spending during the summer festival. Therefore, we need to reinforce this strategy and capitalise on engaging more diversified age groups,” Khaled Ziad Hamadeh from the Lebanese American University, said.

“A well organised intensive awareness and promotional campaign is a key factor in the success of DSS. TO attract more tourists from Jordan, organisers have to make DSS visible in events that have recently become popular in the Kingdom, such as rallies and car shows; in addition to ensuring visibility through traditional platforms such as advertising as well emerging ones, such as social media,” Abdelwahab Zaki Al-Rawas from Jordan University, said.

“My strategy would be to segment the target audience by age and hence enable the festival to reach each target age group with a specific activity. This would also give each age bracket a choice of different activities to enjoy,” Usman bin Abid Al Minhas from Qatar University, said.

The winners will each receive an all-expense paid trip to Dubai, inclusive of return flights and a two-week stay at The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, one of the world’s leading business hospitality management schools, managed by Jumeirah Group the global luxury hospitality company and a member of Dubai Holding.

The winners will work closely with the DSS team throughout their internship, attending workshops, taking part in visits to key DSS events and tourism landmarks and meeting leading players responsible for building the Destination Dubai brand.

The internship will offer students the opportunity to get hands-on experience that will both enhance their theoretical understanding of their chosen field of study as well as its practical application while building a valuable network of potential future employers and corporate mentors.

At the end of their internships, the students will be required to apply the knowledge earned and practical skills gathered by creating a powerful presentation to be shared with senior DSS management, key stakeholders and the wider DEPE team, outlining feedback on their first-hand experiences at this year’s event as well as innovative strategies and creative ideas that could enhance the DSS offering in future years. Previous winners’ presentations have often yielded insightful ideas that have been successfully applied to enhance the DSS offering year on year.