Branding the Middle East : communication strategies and image building from QOM to Casablanca / Steffen Wippel.

Part I: Introduction .-- Introduction: A Thoroughly Branded, but Little-Known Middle East.-- Branding as a Global Phenomenon: From Theory to Practice and Vice Versa.-- Branding the Middle East: A Review of Regional Manifestations of a Global Phenomenon.-- Studying Branding in the Middle East in Challenging Times: Outline of the Edited Volume.-- Part II: Consumption, Culture and Lifestyle.-- Milk Nationalism: Branding Dairy and the State in the Arabian Peninsula.-- Branding Chinese Green Tea in Mali.-- Selling Alcohol to the Muslims? Making Byrrh a Brand in the Colonial Maghreb.-- Branding Wine in Morocco: New Efforts to Qualify a Contested Commodity.-- From City to Society: Alcohol Advertising in Lebanon.--False Fakes, Fictitious Fashion, and the Liberation of Logos: On the Islamisation of International Brands.--Dubai Gold and Diamonds: Tracing Dubai’s Influence on the South Indian State of Kerala.-- The Branding of Dubai as the Capital of the Islamic Economy.-- Islamic Ideals, the Concept of Love, and Processes of Individualisation: Muṣṭafā Ḥusnī’s Writings and his Spiritual Brand.-- Queer Brands, Branding Queerness: Fractal Orientalism and Selling Gay-Friendly Beirut.-- Part III: State Branding.-- Sinan’s Iconic Practices: Staging Early Modern Ottoman Architecture and Power.-- Branding the United Arab Emirates as Nation Building? Constructing Unity versus Acknowledging Diversity.-- Branding and Spatial Planning in Oman: A Neoliberal Turning Point in Politics? .-- Egypt With or Without Islam: The Work Behind Glossy Tourism Advertisements.-- Mobile Images: Stamps as Branding Tools in the Gulf States.-- Greening the Desert: Emirati Youth’s Perceptions of Green Branding.-- Branding Gibraltar: British, Mediterranean, European, or a Bridge between Two Worlds? .-- Part IV: City Branding.-- City Branding and Residents’ Perception: The Case of Casablanca.-- The Multilevel Branding of Tangier at Spatial and Temporal Interfaces.-- Constructing Legitimacy through Pro-poor Housing? Branding Cities in Egypt and Morocco as “Slum-free” .-- The Power of the Speculative Image: On Branding Desert Developments and Selling Cairo’s Urban Future.-- Branding Backlash: The Erring of Urban Advertising in Gulf Cities.-- Qom to Tehran and Back, Express: Branding a “Suburb”? .-- Who is Branding Beyoğ lu? Commodification and Surveillance of Public Space in Istanbul.-- Part V: Place Branding.-- Place Branding as a Political Act: Approaching Saudi Arabia’s NEOM beyond its Shiny Façade.-- Two Politicians and a Shrine: Competing Personal Brands around Eyüpsultan in Istanbul.-- Who Labels the Camp? Claiming Ownership through Visibility in Jordan.-- Branding the Middle East in the Diaspora: Names of Mosques in Denmark.-- Showcasing Tulips in Istanbul.-- Architecture and the Myth of Immaculate Form in Dubai.

This edited volume investigates place, product, and personal branding in the Middle East and North Africa, including some studies from adjacent regions and the wider Islamicate world. Going beyond simply presenting logos and slogans, it critically analyses processes of strategic communication and image building under general conditions of globalisation, neoliberalisation, and postmodernisation and, in a regional perspective, of lasting authoritarian rule and increased endeavours for "worlding." In particular, it looks at the multiple actors involved in branding activities, their interests and motives, and investigates tools, channels, and forms of branding. A major interest exists in the entanglements of different spatial scales and in the (in)consistencies of communication measures. Attention is paid to reconfigurations of certain images over time and to the positioning of objects of branding in time and space. Historical case studies supplement the focus on contemporary branding efforts. While branding in the Western world and many emerging economies has been meticulously analysed, this edited volume fills an important gap in the research on MENA countries.