Manisha Bhatia, Head of Strategy and Planning (KSA), Impact BBDOI did not arrive at this through a report.
I have arrived at a very humbling and a very awakening truth by meticulous observation.
Reading what’s being said across platforms.
The think pieces. The advice. The frameworks.
The constant reminders to stay active, stay visible, manage tone.
And then I look up. I see what’s happening on the ground.
And it doesn’t feel like it’s coming from any of that.
Across the UAE, something else is unfolding.
Something quieter.
But far more instinctive; powerful.
Businesses are showing up for each other; no frameworks or formulaic industry theories.
Not because a framework tells them to.
Not because an industry voice validates it.
Because they can feel something shifting and they respond.
You see it in the obvious places first.
Restaurants are not just talking about other restaurants, they are showing up at each others’.
People are sharing small businesses like it actually matters because it does.
Platforms and brands like Crunchmoms and Squatwolf are amplifying businesses, founders, ideas without asking for anything in return.
Just visibility. Just support. Just belief in the idea that if one grows, others can too.
That kind of behaviour doesn’t come from a content calendar.
It comes from a mindset.
Then you see it take shape in more structured ways.
Alserkal isn’t changing who it is.
It’s leaning further into its ethos.
Opening up space.
Backing creatives.
Creating access through residencies, research, programming giving people a way to keep going when things feel uncertain.
These aren’t campaigns.
They are responses.
Immediate. Human. Unfiltered.
At scale, the same instinct shows up just with more infrastructure behind it.
Majid Al Futtaim is opening its ecosystem through Ma’an.
A way in for businesses that would otherwise take years to access.
Talabat is removing one of the biggest pressures for F&B: rent.
Justlife is reducing the cost of something as basic as a clean home.
Careem is embedding giving into everyday behaviour.
Even policy is moving in the same direction.
Support systems are being put in place to ease pressure across the board.
Different players. Different scales.
Same instinct.
Making it easier for someone else to keep going.
And this is the part that stays with me.
Because none of this feels like it’s coming from marketing, branding, campaiging, call it whatever you like.
It feels like it’s coming from empathy.
Not the kind we write into decks.
The kind you feel before you can explain it.
And when empathy is real, it doesn’t stay still.
It moves.
It becomes action.
It becomes usefulness.
Which makes me question what we keep telling ourselves in this industry.
We talk about relevance.
We optimise for visibility.
But visibility doesn’t mean anything if no one feels you.
And right now, people feel something very clearly.
Who is helping.
Who is showing up.
Who is making things just a little bit easier.
Because what I’m seeing is this:
People, brands, aren’t following strategies.
They’re following instinct.
They are responding to each other.
Supporting each other.
Amplifying each other.
And in doing that, they are building something most brands are still trying to manufacture.
Trust.
The industry keeps telling us to stay active.
And it’s not wrong.
But it’s incomplete.
Because staying active is easy.
Showing up is a choice.
It requires us to feel something.
To act on it.
To give something of ourselves, our space, our platform, our time, our margin.
And maybe that’s the shift this moment is asking of us.
Less activity.
More intention.
Less presence.
More participation.
Less performance.
More care.
Because this is still unfolding.
And the opportunity isn’t to observe it.
It’s to join it.
To contribute to it.
To proliferate it.
And when things settle, when things evolve, when we walk out the other side of the door, because this will happen;
People won’t remember who stayed visible.
They’ll remember who showed up.
By Manisha Bhatia, Head of Strategy and Planning – KSA, IMPACT BBDO
