Out and About in Dubai

On the way to work in the mornings, DB likes to listen to Dubai Eye FM 103.8 (therefore subjecting me to listen to it as well). From 6 to 9am, they have a segment called “Business Breakfast” where the hosts Brandy Scott and Malcolm Taylor interview different guests on business and financial topics like oil prices, inflation, the USD-Dirham peg, etc.

Yesterday morning, Robert Norton, CEO of Dubai-based Zabeel Properties, was interviewed from Las Vegas about Brad Pitt’s involvement with one of their luxury and economically-friendly 5-star properties (location in Dubai is top secret but DB knows and won’t/can’t tell me!).

Anyway, you can read some of the details here.

At the end of the interview, Mr. Norton was asked why Zabeel Properties chose to suddenly make public the Brad Pitt association even though they had been in collaboration for a year now. Norton responded that there was so much publicity on this recently that they decided to go public with the news. Something about paparazzi and taking the pressure off Brad.

Norton was also asked if Brad Pitt would get a free condo/unit in the new property since the consulting work that Brad is doing is all pro bono. Well, the answer is no, Brad will not be rewarded with a free unit. (Not that he needs one, he’s already bought a private island in The World.)

The final question that was asked of Norton was if they will use Brad Pitt’s name as a marketing ploy? Again the answer was no. (WHAAAT?! Not use a celebrity figure as marketing? Ha! That would be a first for Dubai.)

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