Posts from — December 2008

You couldn’t help but notice the columns in the concourse level of the Montgomery Street MUNI station tonight were dressed up to look like palm trees from Dubai.  Smart, local advertising.  In what other American city could you float that pitch at so pedestrian a level (literally) and hope for enough takers to cover the cost of ten thousand green plastic palm fronds?  Actually that’s part of the brilliance of this campaign.  Normally, when airlines get this hokey they’re trying to sell you a $50 peanutless fare somewhere in the desert Southwest.  By contrast, “exotic destinations” usually try to appeal to you by seeming distant and aloof, and too cool for you to afford.  I for one like this rough-and-tumble invitation to think of Dubai as the Phoenix of the Islamic world.  I may even bite.