Art Dubai, a key annual moment in Dubai’s event calendar and the Global South’s leading art and culture fair, faced the challenge of evolving its PR strategy after 18 remarkable years. SEC Newgate’s task for 2025 was to evolve the fair from previous years, drive footfall and weave a compelling narrative, emphasising Art Dubai’s institutional role, year-round creative endeavours, and its status as the premiere international art fair in the Middle East.

The agency managed press activities in the Middle East region for 5 months ahead of the annual event, which included:

• Using the individualistic curators of Art Dubai’s 4 gallery sections as spokespeople, along with finding as many media opportunities as possible for the participants, giving breadth and dimension to the messaging.
• Developing unique story angles as part of the editorial strategy, ensuring that coverage included multiple story angles across a range of media outlets. Ensuring the messaging and the volume of information was communicated through as many different story angles as possible, with some under embargo and as exclusives, and as far out as 5 months before the event, required a methodical and considered tactical campaign.
• Liaising with +100 Super Gold and Gold Media titles, the chosen conduits for Art Dubai’s story. SEC Newgate distributed exclusive content, interviews and data, ensuring Art Dubai’s resonance with all influential platforms.
• Manging the regional press trip, and on ground support across the 5 days of the fair.

OUTCOME

The 2025 campaign resulted in 1,749 articles featuring Art Dubai, generating a total media value of USD 17.5 million.