One of the internet’s most talked-about viral moments has officially become Dubai’s newest marketing template.
After climbers Angela Nikolau and Ivan “Beerkus” Kuznetsov captured global attention with a banner unfurled atop the Empire State Building, brands across Dubai and the UAE wasted no time recreating the now-iconic image. Instead of romance and world peace, they swapped in shawarma, skincare, shopping, cinema, real estate and beauty, turning a global viral sensation into one of the region’s funniest examples of real-time marketing.
The original image featured the pair standing hundreds of metres above New York City with a giant banner stretched across the Empire State Building’s antenna.
The dramatic visuals spread rapidly across Instagram, TikTok and X, inspiring thousands of memes worldwide. In Dubai, however, marketers saw something else: a ready-made creative format.
Within days, brands were producing polished versions featuring their own slogans while keeping the unmistakable composition intact.
Among the biggest names joining the trend were:
Several other restaurants, cafés, beauty brands, wellness companies and retailers have since joined the trend, with new versions continuing to appear across Instagram.
This is textbook newsjacking.
Instead of creating entirely new campaigns, brands adapted an already viral visual while it was dominating social media conversations. Because audiences instantly recognised the reference, the posts required very little explanation to generate engagement.
The trend also highlighted how quickly Dubai’s marketing teams can react to global internet culture, producing high-quality creative assets within days of the original post going viral.
Probably not for long.
Like most internet trends, this format has a short shelf life. But while it’s still circulating online, more brands are likely to jump aboard with their own takes before the internet moves on to the next viral obsession.
What began as a daring stunt above one of New York’s most recognisable landmarks has evolved into one of Dubai’s most entertaining marketing trends of the week. Whether the goal was selling shawarma, skincare, cinema tickets or apartments, one thing is clear: Dubai brands know exactly how to turn a viral moment into a marketing opportunity.
