During a television interview last week, the host asked me a simple question: when does a real estate advertisement become compelling, and when does it become an exaggeration?
My answer was that a compelling advertisement presents reality in its best light, while an exaggerated one presents something that does not truly exist.
But the question stayed with me after the interview, because I think the issue goes deeper than advertising itself. A project that needs exaggeration to sell often means that, from the beginning, the people behind it were not entirely clear about what they wanted it to stand for.
For years, real estate marketing came at the end of the journey. The land was acquired, the building was designed, prices were set, and then the marketing team was asked to "sell it."
That still happens today.
I don't believe this approach works anymore, particularly in a market like Dubai. Buyers are not comparing two or three projects. They are choosing between dozens, almost all promising a prime location, attractive design, impressive amenities and flexible payment plans.
In a market like this, you can build an excellent property and still fail to build a name people remember.
The value that doesn't appear on a spreadsheet
The value of a real estate project can be measured: location, size, finishes, views, construction quality.
But there is another kind of value that does not appear on any spreadsheet, and that is the value created in the customer's mind.
Why is someone willing to pay more for one project than for a similar development next door? Why does one name stay with them after they have seen dozens of property ads in a single week?
That is why, whenever I begin working on a project, I start with one question before we discuss any advertising:
What do we want this project to mean to the customer?
Is it an investment opportunity? A family home? A quieter life away from the intensity of the city? Or an experience that simply does not exist anywhere else in the surrounding market?
If the developer cannot answer that question clearly, the customer never will.
A brand is more than a logo
One of the most common mistakes I see is reducing branding to a name, a logo and a colour palette, then moving straight into campaign execution.
To me, a brand is everything the customer experiences. The name, the idea behind the project, the website, the sales gallery, the way prices are presented, even the first message someone receives after making an enquiry.
Every one of these details either builds trust or weakens it.
And we are not talking about buying a phone, or even a car. For many people, property is one of the largest financial decisions they will ever make. That is why I often tell my team:
Trust is not a marketing tool. Trust is part of the product itself.
AI has made advertising easier, and trust harder
With today's AI tools, I can create a visual of a project that has not been built yet, virtually furnish an empty apartment, and produce content in several languages within minutes.
I use these tools in my own work, and I believe in their value.
But when content becomes easier for everyone to produce, the ability to impress stops being much of a differentiator. The real difference lies in something technology cannot decide for you: knowing what you stand for, and presenting it honestly.
There is an irony here. AI is now also being used to make the market more transparent. The Dubai Land Department reported that its AI-powered Real Estate Advertising Governance Platform has monitored more than 279,000 property advertisements, and that 29% of them were automatically modified using AI.
The same technology that helps us create advertising is becoming part of the system that governs it.
Success begins long before launch day
What we usually see is the final result: a strong campaign, a launch event, a busy sales gallery.
But that moment is the result of decisions made months earlier. Who is the customer? What genuinely sets the project apart? What is the message? And what will the customer experience, from the first advertisement they see to the day they receive the keys?
When all of these decisions move in the same direction, customers stop feeling that they are looking at an advertising campaign. They feel they are looking at a project they understand, and they know why they should choose it.
This is why I believe marketing no longer comes after real estate development. Marketing has become part of the development process itself.
We don't need more advertisements describing every project as "exceptional" or "iconic." We need projects that clearly understand who they were designed for, what they represent, and why people should choose them.
Because in the end, people are not simply buying walls. They are buying what those walls mean to them.
And that is why I believe real estate is built twice. Once in reality, and once in the customer's mind.