The GCC’s Creative Future Depends on Patience

The Gulf’s creative industry moves fast. Brands are launched, rebrands are unveiled, and thousands of campaigns crash through feeds with polish and promise. But speed is not the same as endurance. The uncomfortable question we need to ask is this: are we building brands designed to last, or just brands designed to impress on launch day?

Patience isn’t the word usually associated with creativity in this region. 

This tension framed our conversation with Khalid Abdulaziz, one of the region’s most inquisitive brand thinkers. As he puts it bluntly, “we’re stuck in a loop because the loop is being fed viciously.” Too many brands are built cosmetically, rewarded for quick fixes and applauded for cosmetic wins, but abandoned once the noise fades. The cycle repeats, and the region celebrates the veneer of progress while real equity stalls.

Of course, there are always glimpses of hope. Khalid points to PIF’s recent “Invested in Better” campaign. It served more than an ad, it hinted at a brand direction: a declaration that their investments, whether in sports, EVs, or airlines, ladder up to a bigger purpose. 

The truth is, tactics aren’t the enemy; the enemy is tactics divorced from purpose. “It’s not about disregarding quick wins,” Khalid explained, “but making sure they ladder up towards a bigger idea. You can still run a sale campaign, but how you format it, how you communicate it, who you collaborate with is where equity is built." A discount doesn’t have to feel cheap if the story behind it adds value.

When brand and business actually integrate, the results are unmistakable. For Khalid, Dubai is one of the most powerful examples. The city’s promise of “a taste of luxury” isn’t a slogan, it’s a system. From ride-hailing laws that mandate Teslas and Lexuses, to removing kiosks in malls for being “off-brand,” the city encodes its positioning into regulation, infrastructure, and behaviour. Whether you find it irrelevant or not, it’s consistent — and consistency is why visitors repeat the same story when they leave.

But consistency requires courage. Corporations with layers of shareholders and boards rarely manage it. They cling to data, which, as Khalid reminds us, is only a capture of the past.  “You’ll never do anything innovative based on data alone. You can have as many ideas as you want, but if you can’t act on them, they’re gone with the wind.” Faith is required, the leap founders instinctively take, but corporates fear. Without that leap, innovation and long-term brand building becomes impossible.

Culture complicates the picture further. Scaling globally without losing roots is a fine balance. Gulf brands risk falling into one of two traps: demanding the world take their culture wholesale, or diluting themselves until nothing is left. Khalid offers the Trojan horse: smuggling the essence of culture inside stories that connect universally. What makes you local doesn’t vanish when you package it in ways the world can hear.

The danger lies in abandoning who you are out of desperation. We talked about legacy brands that grow complacent, then panic and chase trends. The result is almost always cringe, like a grandfather suddenly dropping Gen Z slang. It may create a spike in attention, but it severs trust. True brand-building requires a long memory, not just a loud moment.

In today’s environment, understanding the balance needed for brand building is essential. Khalid sees himself as a bridge between worlds: part creative, part strategist, intuitive yet analytical. That duality is rare, but necessary in today’s evolving business landscape, where we need a new shared interdisciplinary language. It’s also personal: growing up across four countries, he learned to translate between cultures before he ever applied it professionally. That bridging instinct is what the region’s brand discipline is missing. Agencies, corporates, designers, and marketers all speak in silos. Without translators, the work collapses into aesthetic exercises instead of systemic change.

And yet, beneath the frustration, there is hope. A new generation of founders is emerging with both the resources and the conviction to build differently. They don’t measure solely in monetary value, but in social and cultural impact. They’re teaching, sharing processes, and creating a school of thought where one didn't exist. In parallel, local thinkers and creative professionals are stepping into platforms once dominated by global references. A culture of generosity and openness is beginning to take root.

The GCC’s creative future won’t be decided by who makes the boldest ad or who wins the next award. It will be decided by who has the patience to resist the loop, the courage to leap where data ends, and the clarity to build brands not just for the launch, but for the long road ahead.

Because creativity here isn’t about being trendy. It’s about being brave enough to build something that endures.

Images courtesy of Unsplash and Death to Stock.