Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) recently revealed a new brand direction that aimed to unite its large and diverse range of retail and leisure companies under the one brand identity; MAF. The rebrand marks the beginning of MAF’s vast expansion into new markets – by 2018 the company aims to have doubled the size of its business.

MAF has made the first steps of its expansion with the opening of My City Centre in Nasseriya, Sharjah. The Sharjah complex alone has set MAF back Dhs 84m and covers 5,540 square metres. This is just the beginning of MAF’s expansion plans; the brand will be investing Dhs 3bn across Dubai in the next five years.

Iyad Malas, chief executive officer at MAF, said, “Our brand name and logo are important indicators of who we are and what we stand for. Now we are taking the opportunity to strengthen how we represent ourselves in new and existing markets to our consumers, our people, and the communities in which we operate. The result is a clear unified corporate identity that cascades across the business like a visual identity glue, acting as a ‘quality stamp’ that will differentiate us and reinforce our bold and passionate commitment for the future.”

Leading international branding consultant Martin Lindstrom worked with MAF to create their new brand identity. The new brand image incorporates a symbol which combines a sandy colour, an arch; which represents the dome from Mall of the Emirates, and an M; which stands for Majid.

MAF is currently an unlisted firm with 70% of its assets based in the UAE; it operates in 12 international markets and employs over 26,000 people.