Hamptons International and Dot Dot Growth
Discovery and 90-day pilot
Prepared for Ian Fairey and Hamptons International, following our conversation on 29 September 2026.
Hamptons has what Abu Dhabi buyers look for right now: a 150-year-old name, 20 years in the region, the backing of Emaar and a close working relationship with Aldar. The current paid campaigns don't show any of it. Paid marketing is producing leads, but those leads have not yet turned into closed deals, so today it runs as a cost to the business.
On 29 September 2026 we reviewed the live Meta campaigns. The setup can't separate serious buyers from casual enquiries. The ads and lead forms are the same for every audience, part of the budget goes to placements that rarely produce buyers, and most enquiries arrive with no qualification. Those campaigns have since been paused, so this is a good time to rebuild.
We propose a 90-day pilot from campaign launch, starting with the Aldar launches in Abu Dhabi. The pilot will:
- rebuild the paid setup around Hamptons' name and access to launches, in the buyer's own language
- qualify every lead before it reaches a broker, and route the best leads to the right people
- reactivate recent enquiries as a quick win
- use DDG's data from across platforms to decide where the budget goes.
The pilot can run as full management with a fixed retainer, or as a hybrid where a lower retainer is balanced by a payment on each closed deal.
Hamptons has the standing and the developer relationships that buyers look for in a market that is correcting. The paid campaigns use neither, and paid marketing is currently a cost to the business.
This is how most brokerages ran paid marketing until this year, and it worked while the market was rising. Since the disruption earlier this year, buyers are more careful, and the setup has to work much harder to find them.
Hamptons has 20 years on the ground in the region and is owned by Emaar. As buyers come back, many will look for an established name they trust.
Aldar has invested time in Hamptons as a partner and plans a launch every 10 days until the end of the year. Each launch needs buyers who are ready to act within days.
Around 15 campaigns were running across different projects. The leads have not converted into closed deals, so the ad spend has not produced a return.
- Qualification is thin.A lead currently counts as qualified if the person is willing to engage. Search enquiries arrive with a name and number and little else, so brokers start every conversation cold.
- Leads reach brokers without a qualification step.We strongly advise that the first call a buyer takes is with a broker. Most buyers decide on that first call whether they trust the person advising them. If it comes from a call centre, they are much less likely to pick up when a broker calls next, however well the call centre is trained. Qualification should happen before the call, so the first person a buyer speaks to is someone who can advise them.
- Budget is moving away from Meta.More budget is going to Google Search because Meta is seen as not working. Our review in section 3 suggests the setup is the cause, and the channel can work well for Hamptons.
- The ads could come from anyone.A brokerage with two brokers that opened last week could run the same static post with a logo. Nothing in the ads shows why a buyer should choose Hamptons.
We walked through the live Meta campaigns on 29 September. They are built to collect contacts, and they have no way to find the buyers among them.
Those campaigns have since been paused, so this is a good point to rebuild rather than adjust.
- One message for everyone, centred on the Aldar open house on 3 October.
- Static images with logos and a QR code, and no reason to act before the event.
- The same headline text across ads.
- Little or no split testing of formats, editing styles, calls to action, captions or endpoints.
- Instant forms and WhatsApp as the only endpoints.
- Ads running on the Audience Network.
- An Arabic video with an English caption, headline and lead form.
- Separate campaigns and messages for each project, each language and each stage of the buyer's decision.
- Hamptons' access to Aldar launches as the message.
- Broker-led video alongside static formats.
- Planned split tests, one variable at a time.
- Landing pages and surveys tested against instant forms and WhatsApp.
- Audience Network switched off.
- For events, limited slots confirmed with a small token deposit, returned when the person arrives.
- Ads fully in Arabic for Arabic audiences, and the same for any other language we run.
- Budget goes to low-value placements.The Audience Network shows ads inside third-party apps and games. Meta will typically push around 15-20% of a budget there when it is left on, and it rarely produces genuine property enquiries.
- Arabic buyers need Arabic throughout.We couldn't see whether Arabic was selected at the ad set level. Across the Arabic campaigns we run, the ads that perform best are in Arabic from the video to the caption, headline and form, because native speakers browse and type in Arabic on their phones.
- Instant forms fill themselves in.Meta pre-fills the last page of an instant form from the person's profile, which often holds an old number or email. It is quicker to submit than to correct it, so many contact details are wrong before a broker ever calls.
- WhatsApp ads don't capture the lead.A chat opened from an ad gives no name, email or verified number, and it is open to bots and spam. As soon as someone engages with a property ad, Meta shows them more ads like it, including other brokerages'. If Hamptons doesn't capture their details at that first moment, it can't follow up before they have seen other offers.
- Nothing only Hamptons could say.In Abu Dhabi, buyers care more about genuine access to launches and allocation than about a render of the project. The ads didn't mention Hamptons' Aldar access.
The proposed setup tests one variable at a time and asks every enquiry the questions that matter before it reaches a broker. Budget then moves towards whatever produces qualified buyers.
For an Abu Dhabi launch, one survey question could be: "EOIs are due within the next 7 days. Does that timeline work for you?"
Event campaigns usually lose a share of people between sign-up and attendance, because confirming a place costs nothing. We offer a limited number of slots and ask for a small token deposit to confirm each place, returned in full when the person arrives. Paying even a small amount is a real commitment, and it is a format we have tested.
- Every answer carries a score.Each lead arrives in the CRM as hot, warm or cold. Hot leads go straight to a broker. Warm and cold leads move into nurture sequences on email and WhatsApp that run for months, with market updates and new launches.
- The best leads go to the right brokers.Broker scoring sends the hottest leads to the brokers with the strongest conversion record who keep the CRM up to date.
- The platforms learn from it.When the ad platforms are told which leads qualify, they find more people like them.
Everything we build sits in Hamptons' CRM and infrastructure. Our lead scoring and routing is bespoke, and we would bring the AI qualification tool Hamptons already uses into the same flow, so the two work together.
The channel mix follows the buyer. We set it from Hamptons' buyer profiles and our own data, then move budget based on the results.
- Our data.DDG manages just under AED 2M a month in client ad spend across Meta, Google, Snapchat, TikTok and other platforms. That gives us performance data across most demographics and audiences in the UAE, the wider GCC, Europe, the US, Canada and Australia.
- Budget split.Set at launch from our data and Hamptons' buyer profiles, reviewed at week 4, and moved towards the channels producing qualified buyers.
- Retargeting across platforms.Someone who sees a Hamptons ad on Instagram is followed up on Google, YouTube and the other platforms we run, and existing leads are excluded everywhere.
These are the minimum levels we work to, taken from the campaigns we run for clients today. Some deals take longer than 90 days to close, so the pilot is judged on the measures that lead to them.
In Abu Dhabi, the launch cycle creates urgency, so the sales cycle tends to be shorter than in other markets. That makes a 90-day pilot more measurable, although some deals will still close after day 90.
A lead only counts as qualified when all four are true:
- BudgetTheir budget fits the project they enquired about.
- TimelineThey are ready to act within the launch window. For an Aldar launch, that means submitting an EOI within the next 7 days.
- IntentThey have told us whether they are buying to live in or to invest, and it matches the project.
- ReachableTheir number is verified and they have answered a call from a broker.
Today, a lead counts as qualified if the person is willing to engage. These criteria are set for the Abu Dhabi launches. For other campaigns, such as Dubai or secondary, the timelines may shift and the questions we ask will differ.
A 14-day build, then 12 weeks from campaign launch, starting with the Aldar launches in Abu Dhabi. Hamptons reviews the results at weeks 4 and 8, before each step up in spend.
These follow our process from strategy through to broker handover.
A dedicated strategist, media buyer and content lead, with direct access to Mo and in-person reviews with him every two weeks throughout the pilot.
Hamptons sees the same numbers we do every week. At day 90 there is a clear decision based on them.
- Cost per lead by endpoint
- Lead volume
- Answer rate
- Qualified lead rate
- Qualified leads through to EOIs
- Cost per qualified lead
- Reactivation reply rate
- Deals and cost per deal, tracked beyond day 90
- Every weekA written performance update and a walkthrough with the Hamptons team.
- Weeks 4 and 8, and day 90Formal reviews.
- Every two weeksMo in person with the Hamptons team.
- Every leadAdded to Hamptons' own CRM and tagged by source and score, so Hamptons has full visibility at all times.
- Better lead quality against today's figures.
- Lower cost per qualified lead.
- Qualified leads moving through to EOIs at launches.
- Progress towards the minimum targets in section 6.
Deals are not the pass mark within 90 days, because some transactions close after day 90.
- CRM access and lead outcomes, so each lead can be followed through to an EOI and a deal.
- Access to the current AI qualification set-up, so it can be brought into the new flow.
Hamptons can choose a fixed monthly retainer, or a hybrid with a lower retainer where DDG is paid on each closed deal. Either way, DDG does the work and the costs are clear before the pilot starts.
- The pilot runs 90 days from campaign launch, after a 14-day build.
- The set-up and first month's retainer are payable on signing. After that, the retainer is payable on the same date at the start of each month.
- The performance component is calculated on the actual ad spend for each month and invoiced at the end of that month.
- WhatsApp numbers and messaging costs are billed to Hamptons directly, at cost, with no mark-up.
- A closed deal is one from a lead generated by DDG's campaigns, or an enquiry reactivated by DDG, recorded in Hamptons' CRM.
- It counts when the deal closes within 6 months of the lead date, including after the pilot ends.
- The payment is due within 14 days of Hamptons receiving its commission.
- Access to the ad accounts.
- Brokers available for content shoots.
- CRM access and lead outcomes.
- Recent enquiry data for the reactivation.
- Approvals within agreed timeframes.
If the primary measures have not improved on today's figures by day 90, Hamptons International has no obligation to continue, and DDG will not propose an extension.
Mo presents this in person to the Hamptons management and marketing team, and maps out the first 90 days with them.
- Aldar has a launch every 10 days until the end of the year, so each week before the build starts is a launch without campaigns behind it.
- The 14-day build begins on signing, and the reactivation can start within it.
- +971 50 130 8588
- mo@dotdotgrowth.com