Interesting, McDonald's has a new offer, the reason I say "interesting" is because lately McDonald's has been trying to promote "statistics". Hear me out. The last McDonald's ad that made a splash was the one below:
MP4 has apparently an oddity within the red/white/just-add-ornaments of the pre-festivities jungle. It is promoting its "Pistachio caramel" shower gel, and why not? People still shower during the festive season what's with the gatherings going turbo-mode and "Pistachio caramel" must be an excellent smell if I am not mistaken. And again, because the ad is so distinct from everything else, it does stand out even if I just saw it on just one large unipole - but when everything else is almost uniform in message and colors, it does make you look.
Well, theoretically this is an odd time to launch a new liquid cleaner. I mean before the holidays. Then again, family feasts and gatherings imply a lot of grease and sticky things on plates and cooking utensils so maybe it is the right time after all to launch one such product. Interestingly, the two heaviest players - Fairy and Pril - are both at it. With Pril going for the huge ad on Dora and Fairy going for every other billboard in town, both with the same promise. Considering brand loyalty is now a non-issue my vote is that women will go to the most cost-effective at the supermarket. Lebanon has changed, the consumer has changed.
Two double Grand Prix – in Film and Responsibility – reflect a year of high-quality entries. South Korea wins its first Epica Grand Prix.
GRAND PRIX
• FILM: “No Project Without Drama”, HeimatTBWA\ Berlin, Hornbach (Germany)
+ “We Need to Talk About Eli”, Morgenstern, Maxbo (Norway)
• RESPONSIBILITY: “AXA – 3 Words”, Publicis Conseil, AXA (France)
+ “Miniatur Warmland”, Grabarz & Partner, Deutsche Telecom (Germany)
• INNOVATION: “Night Fishing”, INNOCEAN, IONIQ (Republic of Korea)
• PR: “The Final Copy of Ilon Specht”, McCann Paris, L’Oréal Paris (France)
• DIGITAL: “Camdom: The First Digital Condom”, INNOCEAN, Billy Boy (Germany)
• PRINT: “IKEA – Made For Life” campaign, TRY, IKEA (Norway)
• NETWORK OF THE YEAR: Publicis
• AGENCY OF THE YEAR: TRY (Norway)
• INDEPENDENT AGENCY OF THE YEAR: TRY (Norway)
It was a year of doubles as the jury decided to award two Grand Prix in a pair of closely-fought categories. In Film, which continues to shine in an era of multiple media platforms, two very different films for home improvement brands won big prizes.
The Film Grand Prix “No Project Without Drama”, from HeimatTBWA\ Berlin for long-running client Hornbach, transforms advertising into theatre with handcrafted sets and choreography that turn a leaky pipe into a “plumbing opera”.
The second Film Grand Prix went to “We Need to Talk About Eli”, by Morgenstern for Maxbo in Norway. It hilariously portrays a little girl who’s picked up some seriously bad language from Dad. The jury felt that it was pure entertainment, perfectly pitched.
The Responsibility Grand Prix – celebrating work for good causes – was also awarded to two different projects. “AXA – 3 Words” from Publicis Conseil in France takes victims of domestic violence into protection as part of a groundbreaking new insurance coverage.
Meanwhile, “Miniatur Warmland” from Grabarz & Partner, for Deutsche Telecom, combined technology with the world’s largest model railway, in Hamburg, to demonstate the potential impact of global warming to a young audience.
There was a first Epica Awards Grand Prix for South Korea, thanks to INNOCEAN, which won the Innovation prize for the film “Night Fishing”, shot entirely on the cameras of the Hyundai IONIQ car.
The PR Grand Prix went to McCann Paris and L’Oréal Paris for “The Final Copy of Ilon Specht”. At the campaign’s core was a documentary about the copywriter behind the iconic line “Because I’m worth it.” But the agency used the film’s launch on International Women’s Day to provoke a far wider conversation about the ability of that single line to empower women and its importance in the battle for equality.
The Digital Grand Prix was awarded to “Camdom: The First Digital Condom”, from INNOCEAN for condom brand Billy Boy in Germany. The unique application for mobile phones blocks the device, and all those nearby, from filming intimate encounters and the results potentially being used as “revenge porn”.
The Print Grand Prix was awarded to the “IKEA – Made For Life” campaign, from TRY in Norway. The classic and beautiful print ads link two different IKEA products with a line of touching or humorous narrative. They combine copywriting and art direction to sublime effect.
This year there were no Design or Media Grand Prix, as the jury felt that the candidates had equal merit and decided not to single out an individual project.
The Grand Prix debate took place in Paris. The President of the jury was Claire Bridges, founder of the Now Go Create consultancy, who hosts a podcast of the same name and is the author of the book In Your Creative Element.
Entries by Country
The highest number of entries overall this year came from Canada (138), followed by Germany (120) and France (101).
Results by Country
Canada was top in the country rankings with 51 prizes including 1 Gold, 17 silvers and 33 bronzes, followed by Germany with 42 prizes, including 3 Grand Prix, 10 golds, 18 silvers and 11 bronzes, and France with two Grand Prix, 15 Golds, 13 silvers and 11 bronzes.
You will find full details of all the winners on our website at www.epica-awards.com
The idea is nice. On paper. But that translated was a mix of Anthony Hamawi, Fouad Yammine and Twinstagram (the twins Petra and Perla) going in Lebanese zajal. Zajal if you do not know is the Lebanese spoken poetry which includes witty replies between two bands of poets (if you have not seen Zaghloul El Damour and Ali El Zein butchering each other, your life is not complete), the problem is that witty was missing from the equation in the Pepsi Extra Fizz ad. The zajal was so incredibly lame, forced, and the brand had nothing to do with the whole concept. Which is a pity because it could have worked magic had the lyrics been up to it. Which, sadly, they are not. See the ad here.
Now that is an upscale ad. St Gabriel, goes with a line that is cut above (even if the imagery is a bit standard issue for the wine industry) and - surprisingly - it goes in French (not that I have anything against it mind you, if they know their target audience, then French is it), "un vin de vie" - a very upscale line. Quite dignified when most other wines went the easy route. The English transposition is "a wine of/for life" (it remains a difficult exercise to go between languages when the original line is so subtle). Major points for the beautiful logo as well. A winner for sure.
Watches? No seriously, watches. Why am I surprised? Because the primary functions of a cell phone according to research is - first tell the time, then send texts and eventually make calls. So at this point a watch is for... Either show off or marking a status symbol. So here we are, ads for watches - to be given as gifts one assumes - are all over the place (literally). I think there are more than the samples above - Grand Seiko, Maserati, Omorfia, Oliver Ross, and Zenith just to name a few. So it is interesting how this will pan out - and of course, the why behind the gift.
Well, if you already have an ad, you reheat it for the festivities. Kritika "you can't stop" (which I previously said it reminds me of Pringles) is back with "you can't stop even during the festivities". What did not work gloriously the first time around, actually found its correct footing this time. Oddly this does make sense in the festive season - we tend to eat more mixed nuts than regular food. So here we are, the ad works actually and it feed (sorry for the pun) on our most basic instinct of hunger.
USEK has an exhibition entitled "Hamra the sidewalk of coexistence" co-curated by Miha Vipotnik and Melissa Gazale (full disclosure, Miha and myself have worked on several projects prior and he even designed the scenography of my own exhibition in Slovenia in 2009) - first the technical details: the exhibition will stay open till December 19th, from 11a.m. till 7p.m. Saturday and Sunday included. The curatorial team also includes: Fabio Macari and Serge Gazale. The concept goes back to Maroun Kosseifi and the graphic design is by Jennate Laamyem.
Is it a not-to-be-missed event? Yes. How come? First let me be clear, no one knows Hamra. The more you dig the more you find, and also to be very clear, there would not a Kaslik if there was not a Hamra (Kaslik was the war answer in the "Eastern Regions" during the war for what Hamra was - before the war to everyone - and during the war to the "Western Regions/West Beirut").
The exhibition dwells on many formats and features works from students in the Arts and Applied Arts Department of USEK. It mixes nostalgia with today, archives with current images, and Hamra being what it is, you wouldn't know the difference. The street mixes everything and everyone in a ribbon of "coexistence" to go back to the title of the exhibition, and yet, for all of its mixing-and-match, (loaded) past, it all makes sense in a very oblique way. Just like the exhibition which is some of sort of organized delirium (hint, the artworks work much better in the afternoon's dimmed light), but to quote Erasmus' book title "In praise of folly", the exhibition gives Hamra its dues - ironically in the university that leads its mirror image street, Kaslik.
Audi seems to have chills and they're multiplying and its losing control to the power it is supplying, it's electrifying (sorry this dates me) yet this seems indeed what they are selling "electrify the season" in an ad which has the logo of the brand cut on the side (seriously someone should have had better print measurements!) and if you have 69,900 USD lying around the Audi A6 e-tron can be yours this season - solar panels for the recharge not included. But one has to salute the guts of someone actually displaying a car ad in Lebanon when - let's be honest - a major part of the population is still struggling from the crash one way or the other.
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So now that the Master nuts has been rebranded (here), Mink graces us with the film for the campaign. On the plus side, the cast is very well chosen, the slices of life very believable (bonus points for the luggage that rolls on its own - funny scene), and the whole mood does fit the product. On the minus side, it feels like a coffee ad from the 80s (with the Wadi el Akhdar truck scene in tow)... Old man/woman choosing every grain, artisanal preparation methods, people travelling with the product - OK, fine a Cafe Najjar ad to be specific. My major gripe? The film, whereas truly well shot, with the right colors and all, has such a let-down copy. The internal rhymes made me literally wince. Come on people, sacrifice these silly matching words for something more deep, with better decorum. Pity, the film deserved better wording for sure. Watch the film here.
Domo is - in a lot of places. Well, domo is offering the usual festive delights those who wish to do the Christmas treats but at home offering them powdered form from which they can craft the otherwise too expensive treats when bought already-done (note that - almost all Lebanese are struggling at this point cutting corners whenever they can cut). Obviously, and to be fair to Domo since Mr. and Mrs. average Lebanese customer they couldn't get too creative, so they put snow in the image and eventually a wink (the sweet!) in the headline. Because honestly, people are trying to save money not support and ad that might find its way to Cannes.
Castania, well, yes, gatherings go require mixed nuts - and gatherings abound now that the festivities are near (also note Santa's hand?) - but I do not blame Castania for going for a simpler creative route. For heaven's sake, again, now that brand loyalty is out the window, everyone is competing on lower prices and more affordable items and - like any other brand - Castania has a full range of them from the entry point to the ultra expensive kernels only. "Share joy" - I am not sure how much sharing there is had I been around - but then again let regular people to their own...
In the plethora of ads which are going the simpler route this year, let us add L'exquis. The idea is just to grab attention, and what L'exquis fails to do creatively it compensates for it by its presence on several billboards all across the road. The panoply of their offered goods is there to be appreciated among festive ornaments in the background. Once more, I am not blaming the easy route out, because seriously companies are trying to sell and people are lacking cheer for sure and have short attention spans and even shorter intrest.
Apologies for the horrible image but seems that Chateau Kefraya does not keep up in its social media with what it has on the street. So the image is very blurred, not that it is creatively too excellent (the ideas is that the wine inside the glass is tilted enough to make some stars shine). But again, another wine showing right bang on time for the festive period - quite a few of them this year. We are far from its slogan which made us dream "Un terroir, une âme, un grand vin" which thankfully they still use to introduce the website. Come on Kefraya you can do better than "to your precious moments". Or perhaps they are drunk on their own wine.
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In a pretty unremarkable ad, Chateau Ka does a showing for the festivities highlighting "for our times together" - which is a little timid as a promise, not because I am encouraging people to drink solo but still, makes the whole promise too placid. Yet, show up Chateau Ka did. And obviously this is for the festive season where wine is drunk more than usual. There is also a free gift (again this being festive times) which a "wine kit" (no idea what that means). So again, Chateau Ka is there, not quite impressive but so be it.
Did Maliks finally stop its silly riddle and managed to actually impress us with a good ad that works? Heaven help us, it did. Because after so many flunks and oddities and let-us-get-on-your-nerves-one-more-time for the festive season, Maliks found the exact concept which - not only "made you look" but actually has a smart element in it. The trick? MlKs Holiday Gits and underneath *you knew it without AI :) - and there you go, indeed you know the logo, even with letters missing (fun fact, the mind is trained to read the first and last letter of every word even with letters missing and inverted - here) and Maliks knew how to invest in this redeeming itself after what honestly a horrible year communication wise.
Exotica has has a legendary run of ads, this year it seems to have recaptured its mojo (here and here) which brings us to - Christmas. The ad has two different versions, I will take you to the breathtaking one immediately (here). Seriously, it is so emotional it is jaw-dropping (which I did seeing it on the street!). The idea is so simple, that magic can appear anywhere if we just want it (and mind you Lebanese people need magic more that anyone can care to know - especially around Christmas). Traffic jam? Just add a star and presto - you have a lit Christmas tree. This year, was truly magical for Exotica, onwards to the next one.