'Win the City of Gold' campaign a huge success

The campaign drew shoppers from around the world as the Gold & Jewellery Group, Dubai, teamed up with Dubai Summer Surprises to lure visitors with a succession of tempting offers and giveaways. Shoppers from Syria, Canada, India, the UK and Bangladesh were among the winners who scooped a range of gold prizes, including limited edition one Kilo City of gold coins and 24-carat solid gold Visa cards.

"Win the City of Gold has proved a phenomenal success, meeting and exceeding all our expectations. The Gold and Jewellery Group registered a 35 percent growth and over Dhs. 350 million in sales," said Tawhid Abdullah, Chairman of the Gold & Jewellery Group, Dubai. "The Gold & Jewellery Group is no stranger to the power of promotional campaigns, but we have been overwhelmed by the response of our recent summer campaign".

He added: "A few years ago, summer was a quiet time in Dubai, when most residents left on vacation and few visiting tourists braved the Gulf heat. Today, it's a totally different story. We can truly say that Dubai has now emerged as a great holiday destination during the summer - and there's no doubt that campaigns such as Win the City of Gold and Dubai Summer Surprises have driven that success. It just goes to show what can be achieved if we work together as a city and an industry to achieve our common goals. We are now looking forward to Forever Dubai, which runs from September 10th to September 25th, offering people the chance to win 25 kilos of gold."

Win the City of Gold was an umbrella campaign covering the Gold & Jewellery Group's summer activities that included a range of innovative promotions and giveaways.

A weekly draw for 1kg of limited edition 'City of Gold' I Kilo Gold coins was the flagship promotion. There were 10 draws during the campaign, which ran from June 19th to August 29th. Each customer spending Dhs250 or more received a coupon that was entered for a weekly raffle. Some one million coupons were issued by more than 270 participating outlets during the 72-day event. As well as the ten winners who scooped the 1kg first prizes, hundreds more shoppers won smaller versions of the limited edition coins.

At the same time, the Gold & Jewellery Group teamed up with global payment card giant Visa International for a special promotion aimed at card users.

"The Gold & Jewellery Group's marketing team came up with an impressive range of innovative promotions that clearly captured the imagination of the gold-buying public," said Mr Abdullah. "These excellent campaigns, coupled with a concerted publicity drive through a variety of media, have generated millions of dirhams in revenue for Dubai's gold and jewellery traders. Even more important, we have helped attract visitors to Dubai during a traditionally quiet season, and that has to be good news for everyone in the city, from taxi drivers to hoteliers."