A property developer who invested millions into an archipelago of man-made islands in Dubai roped in a nine-year-old Instagram Influencer to help flog luxury villas on the development.
The World, a 300-island chain laid out in the shape of the world’s continents and made out of sand dredged from the Gulf, has only been partially developed after the lavish project ground to a halt in 2008.
But enthusiasm for the project has been rekindled in recent years, with the decadent ‘Heart of Europe’ development set to include a luxury 100-villa resort and floating ‘Sea Horse’ homes costing up to €20million.
Despite ongoing construction, developers still appear to be struggling to sell property – with one marketing executive enlisting the help of Instagram famous child, Zayed Karam, to sell luxury villas on the ‘Island of Sweden’.
Appearing on BBC2’s Inside Dubai last night, French expat Delphine – tasked with selling property for Austrian investor Josef Kleindienst – was seen inviting the youngster – who charges £2,000 per post – to one of the properties in the hope he would promote it on social media.
Zayed Karam is one of Dubai’s youngest influencers with more than 30,000 Instagram followers and charges as much as £2,000 per social media post
A property developer who invested millions into an archipelago of man-made islands in Dubai roped in a nine-year-old Instagram Influencer to help flog luxury villas on the development
The World, a 300-island chain laid out in the shape of the world’s continents and made out of sand dredged from the Gulf, has only been partially developed after the lavish project ground to a halt in 2008
Located 4km off the coast of Dubai, the 5,000-hectare cluster of man-made islands began in 2003 in a multi-billion plan unveiled by ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The islands were marketed as a playground for the rich and famous, but 15 years after the development was built, 80 per cent of the islands remain unsold.
Kleindienst was one of the project’s original investors and spent millions on six islands in the ‘Heart of Europe’ and after raising £5 billion in investment, is keen to build a further 15 five star hotels and more than 100 luxury villas and mansions.
Each of his developments will offer a taste of the country it represents, for example in ‘Spain’ there will be Flamenco bars, gondolas in Venice, while England will feature a street where artificial rain falls every day, all year.
Zayed, who boasts over 30,000 followers on Instagram, describes himself as the ‘youngest Emirati blogger’ and has shared videos promoting coffee brands and restaurants
The nine-year-old is pictured pretending to drive a car in a humorous video posted to his Instagram page to promote a coffee brand
‘This is a dream come true, and the dream doesn’t have a business plan,’ said Kleindienst appearing on the documentary series.
‘My wife was totally against it and I had to convince her to help me in this project and this was not an easy task, she thought it was too big.’
The investor’s right-hand woman Delphine has been tasked with selling the luxury villas on Kleindienst’s six islands, and was seen ‘trying to sell the Island of Sweden to a nine-year-old’ while appearing on the show.
Zayed, who boasts more than 30,000 followers on Instagram, describes himself as the ‘youngest Emirati blogger’ and has shared videos promoting coffee brands and restaurants.
Despite charging a hefty fee for a post, the influencer visited the luxury villa to post for free with the promise of enjoying the property’s artificial snow room.
‘It’s exciting and entertaining to see kids’ reactions and when the reaction is positive it sends a good message we are on the right track,’ said Delphine.
Despite charging a hefty fee for a post, influencer Zayed, who boasts over 30,000 followers on Instagram, visited the villa for free with the promise of enjoying the property’s artificial snow room
French expat Delphine – tasked with selling property for Austrian investor Josef Kleindienst – invited the influencer to help sell properties
Austrian investor Josef Kleindienst invested millions into the ‘Heart of Europe’ islands in the 300-island chain laid out in the shape of the world’s continents
Viewers weren’t impressed with the marketing tactic, with one writing: ‘You can sneer at #insidedubai. But a property developer persuading a super rich nine-year-old Instagram influencer to help sell multi-million pound houses on a fake sandbank by seducing him with a room of fake snow says more about the death of the planet than any Attenborough show.’
Others questioned why travellers would visit the archipelago rather than the country itself, with one writing: ‘I’ve never been more PUT OFF a destination than I have Dubai after watching that. Awful place fully loaded with self obsessed morons, and a group of tiny islands named after countries who’s culture you can experience there??? Or ACTUALLY visit’.
The chain of ‘Sweden’ islands also features 133 luxurious floating ‘Sea Horse’ hotels and villas, which marketing manager Delphine once again enlisted influencers to promote.
Viewers weren’t impressed with the development, with some stunned the luxurious floating ‘Sea Horse’ hotels and villas cost as much as €20million
‘As the models will be posting on their instagram the destination will be published, people will be made aware of what the destination looks like and what it feels like when you’re there’, she said.
‘We’re selling the dream but also showing the dream is real. So you can live the dream as well as dreaming the dream’.
The floating luxury properties weigh 400 tons once complete and feature bedrooms metres underwater – but with starting costs at €20million, viewers weren’t impressed with their hefty price tag.
One shocked viewer wrote: ‘€20million? For that? Holy Hell these people are insane’.
‘€20million for a house that could possibly sink’, said another.
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