TOTAL LICENSING
THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE
sents the 99 attributes of God and
Mutawa’s superheroes are modern su-
Shopping in Dubai is less of a pass-time than a way of life, thanks to the myriad of major shopping malls
perheroes capable of moving between
that have sprung up over the area in recent years.
East and West. They come from 99
According to reports, there are now over thirty world-class shopping malls in the city, the most recent of
countries and are split between males
which – The Dubai Mall – opened late last year. Of course, with malls in competition with each other to
and females.
attract visitors, many now have add-on attractions – including anything from ski slopes to ice rinks.
The heroes include Darr the Afflicter,
When fully completed, the Dubai Mall will have over thirteen hundred retailers including the Middle East
an American paraplegic named John
debut of several global brands such as Waitrose and Hamleys. In addition, the mall has a number of leisure
Wheeler who manipulates nerve
offerings including a Gold Souk, the Olympic-sized Dubai Ice Rink and the Fashion Catwalk atrium. The
endings to transmit or prevent pain.
Dubai Aquarium & Discovery Centre – the centrepiece of the mall, contains an astonishing 33,000 differ-
Noora the Light and Dana Ibrahim,
ent species of fish.
a university student from the United
The retail mix includes two anchor department stores – Galeries Lafayette and Bloomingdale’s; 220 gold
Arab Emirates show people the light
& jewellery outlets; 160 food & beverage outlets; a supermarket and an organic food mart.
and dark inside themselves. Mumita
The mall is the brainchild of Emaar
the Destroyer is a ferocious fighter,
Properties. Commenting, Mohamed
and Catarina Barbarosa, a Portuguese
Ali Alabbar, Chairman, Emaar Proper-
bombshell in tight clothes.
ties said, “We are thankful to His High-
Maurizio DiStefano, Warner Bros.
ness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al
Consumer Products General Manager
Maktoum, UAE Vice President & Prime
of Italy and the agent markets believes
Minister and Ruler of Dubai for en-
that the Middle East region has huge
couraging us to stretch our business
potential for the WBCP properties.
model, and create a shopping destina-
“This is one area we are really focuss-
tion that is among the elite malls of
ing on”, he explained. “We don’t actu-
the world. The Dubai Mall will address
ally have an agent in the Middle East
the world-class shopping needs of a
as a whole although we do have an
population of over 2 billion people in
Egyptian agent in place”.
the catchment markets of the Middle
Part of the mix has been a deal signed
East, Asia, Africa and Europe.”
with Aldar two years ago to build a
Entertainment within Dubai’s malls is an important factor. The Wafi mall as storeys-high climbing walls, the
major theme park in Abu Dhabi, along-
Festival Centre has creekside attractions and, of course, the Mall of the Emirates which, prior to the open-
side the Ferrari Park. Moving forwards,
ing of the Dubai Mall was the largest in the world, has indoor ski slopes, complete with real snow.
Aldar also has plans to open themed
Another first for the Middle East is the high-adrenaline entertainment Sega Republic Park, an exhilarating
hotels with Warner Bros. This is cou-
indoor theme park that features thrilling rides, cutting edge amusements and next generation motion-
pled with a major deal signed with
simulator adventures. The theme park spans 76,000 sq ft and is split into zones to reflect the experiences
Palm International for a broad range
on offer from the active Sports Zone to the thrill of the Seed Zone.
of products that are being distributed
But the biggest is yet to come. The Mall of Arabia will be situated in Dubailand and, when completed, will
throughout the region.
cover more than ten million sq ft – making it the world’s largest mall.
However, DiStafano would like a di-
rect presence in the region. “We have
a long way to go to achieve our goals”,
sweeping the globe’ Al-Mutuwa, a Kuwaiti, created The
This is the third major venture that 99 after realising that all super-
Teshkeel Media Group has inked for heroes were Christian and there
The 99 in the last few months. The was a gap in the market, and a
first was a license granted to UETC, need as he saw it to create Islamic
a Kuwaiti Investment Company, for six superheroes for the Arab world.
theme parks to be opened under the As he explained, “Like children the
banner of The 99 Village during the world over, Middle Eastern chil-
next six years. The first of The 99 Vil- dren have long fantasized about
lage parks will open in Jahra, Kuwait superheroes battling injustice in
to coincide with Kuwait’s National and American cities or fighting beasts
Liberation days at the end of February in Japan. I felt the time was right
2009. for them to have some champions
The second international milestone of their own”.
was the licensing of The 99 charac- The 99 was the result and the
ters to Nestlé to use on their Nestlé superheroes are endowed with
bottled waters. Millions of bottles car- Muslim traits and virtues which
rying The 99 characters will roll out Al-Mutawa is now looking to take
globally by March 2009. around the world. The 99 repre-
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