20,000 guests over 18 days – roughly 1,100 people a day. Over 100,000 pieces of organic content published across social media, with zero paid amplification. Total earned media reach exceeded 10 million.
House of Porsche was more than a weekend pop-up – it became a living space that held the city’s attention for nearly three weeks.
However, the numbers tell only part of the story,
“For a project built entirely on culture and community, these aren’t marketing numbers. They’re proof of something harder to engineer: relevance,” says Sergei Gorpenko, Founder & CEO, Sorry Guys Creative Agency.
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Behind House of Porsche:
When Porsche Centre Dubai launched the first House of Porsche during Ramadan last year, the concept was rooted in place.
Set within Villa 515, the activation drew on the rituals of Ramadan, the warmth of home and the cultural rhythms that define the holy month. The activation sought to answer a simple question: what would Porsche look like if it lived in Dubai during Ramadan?
Twelve months later, the brand returned with a very different question. Rather than focusing on where House of Porsche existed, the team behind the project wanted to understand who was walking through its doors.
“Year one, House of Porsche was inspired by a place. A local home, its rituals, its cultural warmth. A strong foundation. Year two, we asked a harder question: who actually walks through these doors?” says Gorpenko.
He adds, “The answer shifted everything. Not guests. Not consumers. People — with their own interior lives, their own searches, their own need to be somewhere that feels like it was made for them. That shift — from designing a space to designing around a person — is what “Inspired by You” means in practice. Every element of the experience was built outward from that question. Friend of the House isn’t a tagline. It’s the operating principle. You arrive as a stranger and leave as someone who belongs here.”
The result was an 18-day activation that transformed PAUS Club into a wellness-led cultural platform built around three pillars: Mind, Soul and Body. The experience brought together wellness programming, live music, creative workshops, hospitality concepts and local community partners under one roof.
“It was activation — bringing the community together around the brand through experiential marketing: no hard sell, no product push, just a genuinely valuable experience that made people feel something real,” says Gorpenko.
Mind, Body and Soul
Open to the public, the experience brought together a curated programme of wellness masterclasses, cultural encounters, and creative workshops.
In a concept like House of Porsche, nothing is random. It’s a world of its own, and this world was inspired by the city of Dubai itself. The theme was informed by observations of Dubai’s rapidly growing wellness culture. While the city has seen a surge in meditation studios, fitness communities and wellness-focused destinations in recent years, the team identified a more emotional insight beneath the trend.
“The insight came from the city itself. Dubai lives in an endless rhythm — and so do the people inside it. The UAE wellness economy is now valued at $40.8 billion, the fastest-growing in MENA. But the more interesting number isn’t in any report — it’s in the sheer volume of new spaces opening. Meditation studios, sound healing rooms, community fitness concepts appearing faster than the city can absorb them. That doesn’t happen because of a trend. It happens because of a need,” says Gorpenko.
This insight shaped every element of the experience.
Guests took part in art therapy and sound healing sessions, guided meditation and yoga nidra, as well as pilates and aromatherapy, each designed to encourage mindfulness and self-expression.
House of Porsche isn’t an event. It’s a world
The Mind, Soul and Body framework extended beyond the programme itself, acting as a creative filter across every aspect of the activation.
According to Gorpenko, the cohesion came from two elements working in parallel: a narrative framework and a distinctive visual identity.
“Every touchpoint was chosen because it unlocked one of three territories — Mind, Soul, Body. Sport wasn’t programme filler. It was Body. Publishing and art weren’t decoration. They were Mind. Hospitality and gathering were Soul. The framework did the editorial work — if something didn’t open one of those doors, it didn’t belong inside,” says Gorpenko.
The same thinking informed the activation’s visual identity. Deep green with burgundy accents ran across everything — from the overnight-repainted facades of Paus Club to custom constructions, the branded merch capsule, every surface and object in between.
“The environment told you before a single word did: this is one place, one idea,” says Gorpenko.
Last year, House of Porsche spoke primarily to the Emirati community — rooted in local culture and tradition. This year, the 2026 edition was designed for everyone who calls the UAE home: Porsche enthusiasts — owners and fans of the brand; people who share Porsche’s values of craft, excellence, and intentional living; and Dubai’s growing wellness community, for whom the Mind, Soul, Body framework was a natural entry point.
“This year, we opened the doors wider. The ambition was simple: if you belong to this city, you are a Friend of the House,” says Gorpenko.
The campaign launched exclusively through Porsche Centre Dubai’s own channels and the Porsche Newsroom. Everything beyond that was organic and was picked up by the region’s lifestyle and industry media, along with regional influencers and community creators.
“No paid media. No boosted posts. Just a project the city wanted to talk about,” says Gorpenko.
Local brands, local partnerships
Community collaboration formed a central part of the activation, with Porsche bringing together a network of local businesses, cultural organisations and independent creatives to help shape the experience.
“House of Porsche was always designed to be more than a brand presence. From day one, it was built as a community platform. But this year we handed the curation to the community itself,” says Gorpenko.
The approach was inspired by what Adobe Creative Trends 2026 describes as “Local Flavour” — the idea that global brands can create stronger cultural relevance when they provide the platform while local communities contribute authenticity and perspective.
Partners were selected based on expertise, credibility and community standing, with each contributing to a specific element of the experience.
That’s how House of Porsche ended up with eight local partners, each owning a distinct territory:
Paus Club — independent wellness community — became both the venue and the curators of the entire wellness programme.
Tashkeel — UAE’s contemporary art organisation founded by Lateefa bint Maktoum — built the cultural programme and masterclasses.
The Fridge — independent music and performance platform — designed the full music programme.
Bookends — UAE’s largest pre-loved book marketplace — curated a public library of 4,500 preowned books.
Plntd — indoor plant brand — brought a living nature corner to the space.
Terribly Real — local creative studio — developed an exclusive collectible merch capsule.
Banou Studio — design studio working at the intersection of craft and cultural heritage — built custom speakers for the performance stage.
The Sandy Times — digital lifestyle media — created the first-ever physical newspaper exclusively for House of Porsche, printed in a run of 1,000 copies.
And beyond the eight — Caparol, a German paint manufacturer with 25 years in the UAE, collaborated with Porsche on what became one of the most talked-about elements of the project: an overnight artistic transformation of the venue’s white facades into colourful art pieces.
The decision to spotlight local partners carried additional significance given the timing of the activation.
House of Porsche was originally conceived as a Ramadan experience, with its programme and identity built around the cultural rhythms of the holy month. However, as regional circumstances evolved, Porsche chose to postpone the activation rather than proceed as planned.
The delay allowed the team to rethink the concept while maintaining its commitment to the communities and creative partners already involved in the project.
“As the regional context evolved, we took a step back and made the decision to postpone rather than proceed — out of respect for the community and the wider cultural moment. It also gave us the opportunity to rethink the concept and create an identity that felt right for a different time of year,” says Gorpenko.
Rather than scaling back, the revised May edition doubled down on community participation, giving local organisations, artists and entrepreneurs a platform at a time when many people were seeking connection and a sense of togetherness.
“In the end, May wasn’t a delay. It was the right moment to bring people together around creativity, culture, and community,” says Gorpenko.
Results
The clearest evidence of resonance is what the city did on its own.
Across social media, people described House of Porsche as “more than just cars — it’s a full experience” — and the content spread organically at a scale no regional activation had achieved before: over 100,000 pieces of user-generated content.
“Perhaps the most telling signal came quietly. The project was designed for a broad audience — and yet the majority of guests were Emirati. In a city of 200 nationalities, that’s not a demographic coincidence. It’s a cultural statement. It told us the project had landed somewhere real,” says Gorpenko.
The city wasn’t just attending. It was talking. People came back. Not once, but repeatedly. You can’t force return visits. They happen when a space means something.
“Beyond the audience, the project attracted institutional attention. Teams from Dubai Culture, Museum of the Future, and Dubai Economy and Tourism all visited the activation. The latter went further — producing a dedicated reel published on the Visit Dubai Instagram account, an international platform with over 3 million followers. That’s not a partnership. That’s the city endorsing what you built,” says Gorpenko.
The timing added another dimension. While many brands chose to pause their activities, Porsche chose to stay present. It invested in the city, in its creatives, in its people.
“That decision is itself a brand statement. Not in what was said, but in what was done when others chose not to act,” says Gorpenko.
The success of House of Porsche may be better measured in the smaller moments people carried away with them: a wellness session, a conversation, a live performance, a favourite drink, or a new creative discovery. The kinds of details that linger long after the activation itself has ended.
And perhaps that’s the real measure of relevance. Not the footfall, the reach or the content generated, but the moments that stayed with people long after they left.
