London brand experience agency onepointfive has opened a Dubai office, marking its Middle East debut with a landmark Shopify installation at Shoptalk Luxe in Abu Dhabi. The move signals the agency’s ambition to bring its blend of B2B strategy and B2C creativity to one of the world’s fastest-growing experience markets.
London’s award-winning brand experience agency onepointfive has announced the opening of a Middle East office in Dubai, signalling an ambitious new chapter for the five-year-old business known for crafting immersive brand worlds for clients including Shopify, Bumble, Longchamp and Microsoft.
The expansion is not a quiet market entry. Instead, it is being marked with a statement project: a landmark installation for Shopify at the inaugural Shoptalk Luxe event in Abu Dhabi this week, a new ultra-premium B2B conference and exhibition for senior leaders in luxury, retail and technology. The project serves both as a launchpad for onepointfive’s regional presence and a demonstration of the agency’s distinctive approach to brand experience.
Founded in London in 2019 by Rob Pryce and Joel Barsch “over three shared pizzas” — the origin of the agency’s name — onepointfive was built on a simple premise: brand experience could be done better. Less siloed. More human. More fluent between the rigour of business-to-business marketing and the creativity of business-to-consumer storytelling.
In a short time, that belief translated into a growing portfolio of global work and a reputation for creating experiences that not only look exceptional but deliver measurable business impact. From exhibition environments that generate leads at scale to curated C-suite hospitality programmes designed to foster long-term relationships, the agency’s work sits at the intersection of strategy, design and human engagement.
Now, that London-built expertise is being brought into a market increasingly defined by scale, ambition and a hunger for world-class experiential thinking. The Middle East, particularly the UAE and Saudi Arabia, has rapidly become a focal point for brands seeking to engage audiences through bold, design-led physical experiences. Major events, cultural initiatives and retail environments are reshaping expectations of what live engagement can be.
For onepointfive, the move is a natural evolution rather than a leap into the unknown. Its clients are already global. Its projects span Europe, the US and Asia. What was missing was a permanent foothold in a region investing heavily in experience as a driver of economic and cultural growth.
“Our clients are increasingly global, and so are the opportunities for experience-led marketing,” says Rob Pryce, Founder of onepointfive. “The Middle East is investing in experiences at a scale and ambition that’s unmatched, and Shoptalk Luxe gives us the perfect launch platform to bring our way of thinking to the region, combining strategic B2B thinking with the emotion and craft of world-class B2C design.”
That philosophy is visible in the agency’s work for Shopify at Shoptalk Luxe. Rather than approaching the brief as a conventional trade show presence, onepointfive reimagined Shopify’s footprint as a fully bespoke brand environment. The installation spans a custom-built pavilion, interactive product demonstration areas, meeting spaces and even a beachside cabana hospitality experience designed specifically for a global C-suite audience.
The intention was to blur the lines between corporate exhibition and luxury retail environment. Visitors are meant to feel as though they are stepping into a designer store rather than a trade stand, with every detail carefully considered to create a refined and memorable brand moment.
The space combines strong product storytelling with a tactile, human feel — a demonstration that corporate experiences can be just as emotionally engaging and culturally relevant as consumer activations. It is a physical manifestation of onepointfive’s belief that B2B audiences do not leave their human expectations at the door simply because they are attending a business event.
For Shopify, the partnership builds on several years of collaboration across the UK, Europe and APAC. During that time, onepointfive has helped evolve Shopify’s physical brand presence from modular, sustainable exhibition systems designed to drive measurable lead generation, to owned conferences, networking programmes and high-touch hospitality experiences aimed at strengthening long-term relationships with senior decision-makers.
Joel Barsch, Founder of onepointfive, believes this long-view approach is particularly relevant to the Middle East market. “We don’t believe in cookie-cutter activations or short-term, churn-and-burn RFP culture,” he says. “Whether it’s a tech exhibition in Cologne or a consumer activation in London, people want to feel something real. Our aim in the Middle East is to bring that same philosophy: exceptional client service, creative firepower from London, and deep cultural understanding on the ground.”
The Dubai office will be led by the founders while the agency actively seeks to grow a regional team, drawing on local talent to ensure cultural fluency and relevance. The aim is not to replicate a London model but to adapt its thinking to a market shaping the future of live engagement.
Audiences across the region are increasingly expecting brand experiences that feel ambitious, thoughtful and globally benchmarked. Luxury retail environments, large-scale exhibitions and cultural events have raised the bar for what physical engagement looks like. For agencies able to combine strategic thinking with design craft, the opportunity is significant.
By planting roots in Dubai, onepointfive is positioning itself at the centre of this momentum. Its arrival comes at a time when brands operating in the region are looking for partners who understand both the commercial demands of B2B engagement and the emotional pull of consumer-grade design.
The Shopify installation at Shoptalk Luxe is both proof of concept and a calling card. It demonstrates how a corporate presence can become a brand world, how product storytelling can sit comfortably alongside hospitality and human connection, and how an exhibition space can feel as considered as a flagship retail store.
For onepointfive, the Middle East is not simply a new territory but a stage on which its founding beliefs can play out at scale. The agency that began over pizza in London now finds itself at the heart of a region redefining the boundaries of brand experience — and determined to play a leading role in what comes next.
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