UDPATED: See below

For all the possibilities that a service like Twitter offers to an enterprising journalist, advertiser or PR type, most "professional" usage here in the UAE has been ham-fisted at best, spammy at worst.

That is slowly changing, and tonight in Dubai is an event that is probably the sharpest and slickest use of Twitter by PR people that we have seen so far.

Spot On PR, who are clearly trying to make a name for themselves as the socially cluey PR agency for the UAE, are behind the OKI AWE exhibition tonight at JamJar gallery.

Here's five reasons why this event shows some proper Twitter clueyness:

1) Rides a genuine wave of human sentiment
The beautiful HDR photography of Catalin Marin (@momentaryawe)has been captivating the interest of local twitterers for the last year, and people love the wonderful images of the UAE that he has been capturing (and tweeting). So there is latent demand in the market for a nice physical exhibition of his work. There is no latent demand for press conferences, launch events, online competitions or the typical stuff being hawked by most marketers.

2) Inserts a fairly boring product into a fairly exciting place
The OKI half of OKI AWE is a fairly nondescript printer company that Spot On have been representing for a long time now. The nature of printers is that people don't really think about them much, and when they do, it is typically not a good thoughts ("printers, unlike other technologies, are remarkable in the fact that they're just as crappy and unreliable now as they were in 1995"). Unlike mobile phones or cameras or cars, there is not a lot of organic discussions about printers taking place between regular human beings whose jobs do not involve purchasing or maintaining printers (ie, pretty much everyone who matters).

3) Takes the one interesting thing about a boring thing and lets you ponder its interestingness.
On reflection, it is pretty cool that these magical boxes sold by OKI and others can take a blank piece of paper, work their strange magic and turn it into a beautiful looking photograph filled with pretty colours. What better place to make this realisation and perhaps ponder upon it for a few seconds than at an exhibition centred around beautiful magical colours. Those few seconds occupying the minds of an inspired crowd of fairly influential people are worth real dollars to a company.

4) Puts the horse in front of the carriage, where it belongs
This isnt The Launch Event of the OKI 3400p Colorscan Deluxe Range of Innovative Office Printers That Cut Costs and Improve Efficiency, Featuring Art by Catalin Marin, and Dear Twitter User, You are Invited. This is an exhibition of gorgeous photography that happens to have the word OKI in its title and some printers sitting around somewhere working their strange, unpredictable magic. The organisers of this event have shown a rare awareness of PR wisdom: people not actually caring that much about your product doesn't mean you have to throw the product in their faces in sneakier or more aggressive ways - you put the product somewhere they want their faces to be.

5) Does something broadly good for the world
I'm not well versed on the background of Catalin Marin, and maybe he has exhibited before. But on the assumption that a) he hasn't and b) a sponsored exhibition is aways a Good Thing for a photographer, it seems like this is a great way for corporate PR dollars to be spent supporting a genuinely talented local artist. If every silly product launch, press conference and random dog and pony show did something nice for local culture, instead of blowing cash on freebies, lunch buffets or expensive hotel space, the world (and the UAE) would be a much better place.


UPDATE: A pedantic commenter, Will Rankin, said the original title of this post ("Twittery PR Clueyness Emerging in Dubai") wasn't up to scratch. To appease to social powers that be, I said I would rename the title to whatever he suggested, that offer was duly taken up. Will also complained bitterly that men don't wear hats anymore and called for a return to national service. Both requests were ignored.