Nobody is waiting

Every week another brand opens in Riyadh and announces itself as if the city had been holding its breath.

It had not.

There is more of everything here than there has ever been. More restaurants than the streets can seat, more skincare than there are faces, more delivery apps than there are thumbs. Distribution, which used to be the hard part, is now a form you fill in. The shelf is infinite, and the shelf is not the problem.

The scarce thing is a reason. Not a reason to know you exist, that is cheap, a launch post buys it for a day. A reason to come back on a Tuesday when nothing is on offer and nobody is watching.

I see the money go the wrong way constantly. The opening gets the budget: the influencers, the fireworks, the first-week discount. Then week four arrives, the first-week people have moved on to the next opening, and there is nothing left to say and nothing left to spend saying it.

A launch is not a moment the market was waiting for. It is the day you start earning the right to be remembered, and most of that earning happens after the noise stops.

Plan for week four first. Then, if there is money left, throw the party.