Abu Dhabi Film Festival Continues Growth in Partnerships

The 6th Abu Dhabi Film Festival sees the event grow in stature as one of the UAE's most exciting cultural events and with this comes an increase in commercial partnerships as brands realise the benefits and return on investment from being linked to one of the key dates on Abu Dhabi's calendar.

The line-up of films and stars for 2012 is probably the best yet including Egyptian screen legend Sawsan Badr; Hollywood stars Richard Gere and Nate Parker; Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani; and Bollywood megastar Mammootty already confirmed for the opening night alone.

In addition, many of the UAE's filmmaking community, as well as film industry VIPs from across the world, will combine to make the Festival a must attend event. With such glamour on offer and the excitement generated in the UAE community, the resultant media attention is particularly attractive to brands.

This attraction is highlighted by the list of partners for 2012. New to the Festival is Principal Partner, Dolphin Energy, who joins the list of brands continuing their association with the event including Make Up For Ever, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Masdar. There are also increased commitments by Emirates Motor Company, the authorised distributors of Mercedes-Benz in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, and the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, Etihad Airways.

"Our list of partners this year highlights the commercial reputation the Festival now enjoys," commented Festival Director, Ali Al Jabri. "We provide an attractive platform for our partners in terms of community engagement and exposure and this has once again proved to be a successful formula in attracting brands to associate themselves with our event."

The exposure is fuelled by the reach the Festival achieves through its media partnerships. Media partners like Sky News Arabia, OSN and Abu Dhabi Media ensure the event reaches households across the whole of the Arab world, while CNN International takes the Festival to an international audience.

The print media coverage also extends across the globe with more than 500 accredited media across the full range of platforms, from daily newspapers to magazines, broadcast to online portals.

"We are working very closely with our partners to maximise their involvement," added Al Jabri. "When you combine this with our extensive, year-round marketing campaign and our media partnerships, the Festival is an extremely compelling proposition for brands and we are looking to establish long term relationships to build on our success into the future."

This is the first year the Abu Dhabi Film Festival has been presented under the management of twofour54, as part of a the plan to strategically align the Festival alongside Abu Dhabi's other media initiatives and related events, reinforcing Abu Dhabi as the creative hub for the region supporting film production.