Friday, August 25, 2017

Al Rifai, of packaging and the airport complex

So Al Rifai lost its airport concession to Castania. At the time I even did a full ad as to how Al Rifai should have handled it so as not to appear as a sore loser. Except Al Rifai drove itself nuts (yes, their original line was "drives you nuts") over the issue, and now they have a new ad which took that huge building on the highway to say "we will deliver them for free so as for you to save in terms of packing and price." Obviously, there is a travelling bag - could they be - ahem - still referring to the airport issue? Oh but look at what is written under the logo - "with you in all of Lebanon and in your travels"...
Now here's a small notifier - when you go to any Al Rifai shop (or other upscale brands for that matter) you can ask for nuts "packaged for travelling" (vacuum packed) which ends up condensing itself into a big lump you throw in your suitcase. Since Al Rifai is present in all major supermarkets, people end up buying its products (and have them vacuum packed) before reaching the airport.
I understand the airport concession must have been important to Al Rifai - and I myself used it many times. In the early oughts there was such a professional salesman there who could fill - exactly - a full kilo (meaning 1000 grams) without even using the weighing the balance!
But as the saying goes "min ma akhad emme sar 3amme" (whomever marries my mother becomes my stepfather), so at this stage, anyone still waiting for the last second to buy nuts would have to use the Castania concession at the airport. Brand loyalty goes this far I am afraid.