The KitKat Heist: How a Stolen Truck Became the Marketing Stunt of 2026
Case study: how KitKat turned the theft of 12 tonnes of F1-shaped chocolate into a global brand moment with a stolen-bar tracker and an armoured convoy stunt.
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Brand breakdowns
What the world's smartest marketing moves teach us, and how brands in Dubai and the GCC can use the same thinking.
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Duolingo Killed Its Mascot: Inside the "Death of Duo" Campaign
Case study: how Duolingo announced the death of its owl mascot Duo, turned grief into gamified engagement and brought him back two weeks later.
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Airbnb's Big Bet: Cutting Performance Marketing to Build the Brand
Case study: why Airbnb cut performance marketing and shifted spend to brand building, and what it means for brands balancing short-term ROAS and long-term growth.
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Spotify Wrapped: The Annual Campaign Users Market for Free
Case study: how Spotify Wrapped turns personal listening data into the world's most shared annual campaign, reaching 200 million users in a single day in 2025.
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Liquid Death: How a Canned Water Brand Reached a $1.4 Billion Valuation
Case study: how Liquid Death used heavy-metal branding, comedy and anti-marketing to turn canned water into a billion-dollar brand.
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The Moldy Whopper: How Burger King Made Ugly Beautiful
Case study: how Burger King showed a Whopper decaying for 35 days to prove it had removed artificial preservatives, generating 8.4 billion earned impressions.
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Etisalat to e& and Back Again: What the Name U-Turn Teaches Brands
Why the UAE telecom group became e& in 2022, why it returned to the Etisalat name in October 2026, and the brand architecture lessons for growing companies.
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Careem's Everything App Rebrand: How a Ride-Hailing Brand Grew Up
How Careem rebuilt its brand in 2023 to grow from ride-hailing into an everything app (Go, Eat, Get, Pay) with an in-house studio, and lessons for UAE brands.
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Dubai Presents: How Dubai Sold Itself Like a Hollywood Blockbuster
How Dubai Tourism turned the city into movie trailers with Jessica Alba, Zac Efron and director Craig Gillespie, and what brands can learn from the format.
Read case studyThese case studies are independent analysis based on publicly reported information, linked in each study. The brands featured are not clients of Athul Iyju Jacob.
