Dubai running out of lower case letters as boutique PR firms mushroom

DUBAI: Sign makers in Dubai have warned that they are “dangerously close” to running out of lower case letters as a flurry of boutique public relations firms open across the city.

New agencies, such as the recently launched ‘kumquat’, ‘phat-toush’ and ‘zero five zero’, which cleverly uses the mobile dialling code, have shunned grammar in favour of cute logos in purple or lime green. But the trend, which first emerged in the cupcake business, is placing a serious strain on the supply of minimal type. The current rate of 172 new firms launching each day could well prove unsustainable.

“I mean, we’re coping for now,” said Calibri Bold, director of Sign-4-U. “But if one more PR girl with modest experience and a selection of small, eclectic clients, decides to go it alone we could be in serious trouble. We’re making extra ‘e’s as we speak.”