A Lack of Attention | How careful brand development could have influenced public opinion on the db Group City Centre development.

September 20th 2018 saw the approval of what's to be Malta's largest residential and commercial development, the db Group City Centre towering over St. Julians, Paceville, and Pembroke alike. This €300 million project will include a 37-storey tower together with a 17-storey hotel, and has already been added to cash-for-passports scheme overseers, Henley & Partners's, portfolio of properties available through its real estate arm. 

This colossal development has naturally been met with fierce backlash and debate, erupting in violent confrontations between activists group Moviment Graffiti and police in the final days prior to the project's approval. Most recently, the project has been put on hold due to an appeal filled by 17 entities including local councils of surrounding areas, together with several environmental groups and a €24,000 crowdfunding backing. In response to this, the Group’s CEO Arthur Gauci has publicly claimed "We have nothing to hide", drawing attention to the concept of transparency, which has been heavily questioned ever since these plans were first approved.

In addition to this, db Group's extensive investment received more than 4,500 objections from various entities, including a comment from European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager on the legality of the land's sale. It's safe to say that db Group (also referred to as San Ġorġ Property Ltd in this case) was, and still is, a hot topic among the general public. However, this Maltese giant appears unmoved by the backlash and welcomes investigation. db Group, who haven't made themselves too vocal on the project, have issued 10 facts, "to conclusively demonstrate that this EU criterion was completely fulfilled". Among these, three have directly stuck out to me as positively concerning the general public, these being:

8. In total, the City Centre project will generate around €490 million of direct revenue to government over a 10 year period.
9. The project includes the creation of an underground carpark for 1,700 vehicles.
10. Once the project is completed, the contract obliges the db Group to create 1,500 jobs. If not, the Group will have to pay a penalty. This is apart from the work and jobs created during the construction phase.

Without a doubt, db Group is currently balancing on a fine-line in confrontation to extreme public backlash. However, it may also be argued that the group does in fact bring forward some concrete points, they refer to as 'facts', to combat this backlash and justify the project as fast-forward development.

Here's where I feel db Group slipped up on an opportunity - one with the potential to have softened fierce public backlash while also generating an intimate, vocal audience of pro-development and pro-business individuals - ready to actively debate with opposing entities. db Group, through San Ġorġ Property Ltd, failed to build a brand reflecting a €300 million investment directly effecting the lives of thousands of residents and businesses in the surrounding areas and impacting the general public as a whole.

A brand is a set of associations that a person (or group of people) makes with a company, product, service, individual or organisation. Brands, although having real effects on the lives of individuals, are perceived, and not defined by the general public. It is up-to those building the brand to define this internally, however it's interpretation is open-ended This is the nature of a brand.

San Ġorġ Property Ltd could have been a brand which embodied the economic benefits this massive investment brings to the island, targeting those who heavily believe in the economic success of the country. As recent elections have shown, there is an enormous group of individuals who believe in this, therefore naturally one may understand how this project could have actually generated support if branded and marketed properly. db Group missed out on an opportunity of showing the public the positive points they wish to portray, and building campaigns around these. The ethical nature of this is always up for debate, however taking an approach political parties take in their brand campaigns could have softened this backlash, and encouraged those who may be unmoved by the project to actually support it.

This approach isn't the most glorious, in fact, it plays on the idea of sugar-coating and pick-and-choosing. However nowadays, this unfortunately has become the approach which must be undertaken with regards to development, since this is always faced with fierce opposition. With a project of this scale and effecting the lives of so many people, the worst stance to take is no stance at all, and when economic improvements lie as the core-foundation of your potential brand, it is evident that these should be carefully communicated in order to create a defence mechanism- one which acts as the other side to the story, and the opposition to the opposition.


Main stories this entry has been based upon:

1. https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20180920/local/live-pa-decides-on-38-storey-db-group-tower.689607
2. https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20181120/local/pembroke-db-group-project-works-halted-until-appeal-is-decided.694775
3. https://www.newsbook.com.mt/artikli/2018/11/21/we-have-nothing-to-hide-db-group-claims/?lang=en
4. https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20181022/local/controversial-db-groups-city-centre-added-to-henleys-property-dealings.692244