Chateau Musar has a new one for Independence Day (sadly it gives me an impression of deja vu - here). Still, on its own merit the ad is very good - it includes the product in the advertising. Still, a good one is a good one. Chateau Musar apparently wishes to greet every Lebanese (not just those in the army or anything).
Hallab 1881 just did "something" for Independence Day (here). I was hesitating to post the link because it must come with a warning "I saw this on behalf of humanity so you don't have to". The ad, is even an insult to cliche! It is this bad. A hodge-podge of imagery over an insufferable copy which ends with one of the worst lines I have come across. I have no idea if this was done in-house or by an agency, but approving such atrocity is simply beyond the level of logic and good taste. Hallab has had a string of flops as of late (here and here as examples) and with every new outing they sink lower.
Parazar just did Independence day (here). A proof if any is needed that one can do a lovely, strong, and well-meaning ad with a creative backbone without going totally overboard. Parazar specializes in shooting events - marriages mostly. So the images are from the in-house archive. Not bad considering they are pros at what they do. The copy is a bit soppy but nothing to complain about (it is independence day!) and - interestingly, the copy drives its way forward to the ending line "may every Independence Day finds us really well".
So let's recap, clean imagery, a copy that knows where it is heading, no over-doing patriotism and what not, but rather a way to integrate their product within the event. So honestly, there's nothing to complain about.
Evo e-wallet (apparently with a Central Bank permit!) has joined hands with Touch, the phone company, in order to give you 10 USD (for free apparently) once you recharge your line. Do note, most Lebanese have temporary lines which we recharge monthly with throwaway tickets. So much that these lines are not temporary any longer, I have mine since 2003 - same number sine then though technically it is supposed to be temporary. On all accounts QR on a billboard? Really? Who comes up with these ideas?
It is nice when your favorite coffee brand is out there strutting their stuff. No I am not a "the other brand" (which shall remain unnamed) person. So seeing an for Tchibo Gold is kind of refreshing. "Every day needs a bit of Gold"... Now how much is a "bit" remains a little mystery. OK, so the positioning is not exactly tops, but who cares, considering the unipole is actually well-placed on a strategic place. Not sure if this is enough to convert people, but in my case it is preaching to the converts as the saying goes. I am #teamTchibo just for to know there might be other people with the same (good) taste out there.
The Pope is coming to Lebanon (again, I mean different pope but same visit!). So naturally, there is a tone of ads on the streets to welcome him. A certain campaign however has taken as many OOH as allowable (and then some!). "Blessed are the peacemakers" (for those who do not know it continues "for they are the sons of God"). Same in Arabic. Well, as I said this is not the first visit by a Pope to Lebanon. Paul VI in 1964, John Paul II in 1997, and Benedict XVI in 2012. The first visit, Paul VI was a stopover at the airport which generated enormous buzz for small school children to go and see him at the airport. My late mother, who at the time was a teacher at Sagesse school got a notifier for her students and herself to undergo the airport trip. Mother, who just wanted an afternoon off, went to the head of the school arguing it was exhausting over and above all else, and then ended her plea with "a la prochaine!" ("we'll see him next time". As luck would have it, she did see the John Paul II 1997 mass - but hey, a promise is a promise).
Wow, the 80s called and they want their teaser/revealer back. But here we are, another November/December and Abaad (as well as Kafa!) are both on unipoles and billboards and digital OOH. Well, a friend and myself have a theory how come they choose these times specifically when other billboards are a bit more Christmassy... We think it has to do, not with visibility or awareness, but rather with spending donor budget before the end of the year. I went back to my archive, and it is amazing that both Abaad and Kafa both show up in force in November and/or December - no matter the year. Still - the other issue with this ad? A teaser/revealer. Seriously? And the issue is that the revealer was poster while the teaser was on so many other billboards. Yes, as if confusion is not enough. So - to recap: The teaser goes #name_it_right (in triplicate in the same space!) and the revealer goes "no concealing, this is not an assault on dignity, it is a sexual assault, #name_it_right to judge it correctly" and in smaller character "change the sexual assault law".
Well, yes, the ad does try to say a lot - if we add to it the picture of the scotch-taped woman (which could have come from the Paris Fashion Week but am digressing), with a lot of words attached, but also - as mentioned - a teaser/revealer as well.
Take Maliks and his silly riddles (here), then take Halim (first here) now the above. Halim, truth be told is on fire. Now that Independence Day is approaching, Halim went with - the gratuitous but very smart hint - of the Lebanese National Anthem. The quizz is simple - or rather deceptively simple - what comes after the two words in the Halim ad which are taken from the anthem? Truth be told, our national anthem's lyrics (courtesy of Rashid Nakhle) are nothing but very - as in very - convoluted. So guessing the next two words is, a bit memory searching, a bit ChatGPT searching, a bit Google search as well. But still - the ad (which has a third installment I did not picture) is in White/Red/Green - the colours of the national flag (a nice gimmick!). Apparently you win something if you answer correctly. But beyond the gifts, Halim is on to something - without silly riddles.
Solet Tapis... "carpets are the decoration of the house" with a visual of a house made of carpets. Sorry for the image does not show exactly all the ad but that's after three trials, or mostly errors to be honest. But I did think the ad was worth it to talk about. I mean Solet Tapis as customers from all walks of live, even if I presume mainly from the middle class or what is left of it in Lebanon. So the ad needed to be straightforward, and needed to hit, and needed to be placed at a time when people actually put their carpets. As the saying goes "the carpets are from independence to Martyr's day". Independence Day is just around the corner.
All right, all right I am the ignorant one. "For those who know" - well, I don't know. There I said it, sue me. Apparently it is a craft beer. To be fair though the ad is well done. I love the typography, as far as I know this is only placed in one place only. I love their logo as well... But I am very ambivalent about their line - I mean it puts everyone on the backpedal... What if we don't know? What if we don't care? (yes, that is worse that knowing). Maybe "for those who have standards" would have fit better as it elevates the brand as this line does without alienating the (existing or potential) audiences.
Concord, I am not even sure if this is a campaign though it is periodically present on the highway. The idea is simple - Concord is a Lebanese brand, so this is exactly what they aim for in the ad. "The pride of the Lebanese manufacturing". To be clear Concord is into white goods productions (you know stoves, washing machines, refrigerators). These are not items one replaces or buys every day. The layout is simple, the background is red (though used to be blue in previous iterations) and the product is shown. Nothing fancy, but if you want such a good, you know where to go.
All right - here's the source. And it's royalty-free. On Shutterstock.
I am not saying the ad is without merit, but well it is taken as is from somewhere else. It does say coffee love. As in literally. Not sure how this came about - did they scour the internet to look for two beans to make a heart sign once they found "coffee love" or more realistically they found the image and came up with the line? Anyhow if one did not know the origin, this would be a respectable ad.
Well, it worked for Mother's Day (here), so why not a pre-Christmas redux? Ksara is on it again - create your own label for your bottle. According to their own words: "Our bottles can now speak your language! With your own custom label design, each bottle becomes a reflection of your creativity. Place your order now on our website." So here we are again, perhaps a keepsake, or a special gift, or just a way to bottle your souvenirs (no pun!). Whatever it is, this must have worked earlier and Ksara is warming the cover again.
What is there to say? Weather still mild, people still in t-shirts and despite some chilly nights in September and sporadic rain the saying "between techrin w techrin sayf tene" proved right (between October and November another summer). Which brings us to... Christmas. Storium is already on it. I can't blame them but - not even sure there is the ambient mood to go with it, because as I said, people are still wearing summer attires. Joy/Love/Christmas all this is fine and dandy but again, it all comes at such a strange time even if, calendar-wise they might be up to something.
"All Eyez on me" titled his album the late Tupac Shakur, but LTV is far - very far - from this with their "all eyes on us" which works very well for a TV station, because this is exactly what LTV is. Apparently all this is to launch their new grid with some heavy weight presenters - though the image is a bit reminiscent of "Real Housewives" season launch. The line also works as a double-entendre because "all eyes on us" means everyone is watching us. And it also implicitly means, everyone is trying to see how far we can go. Interestingly, the ads tend to cover the Kesserwan part of the highway but it stops there and does not seep to Beirut circuit.
Look - I love this ad. Is it kitsch? Yes. It is blink-and-you'll-miss it? Also yes. It is funny as hell once you see it? Incredibly so. Can you unsee it once you do? No, not at all. So what's the catch? Pasta Reggia is "Molto Rahibe" - molto is "too much" and "rahibe" is slang Arabic for "wonderful"... Whomever thought of this must be genius-level copywriting wise. Or rather "rahib/e" depending on their gender.
So here we are - Toters Fresh has a new promise: "we're coming on motorcycle to make you win a car" with - obviously the car strapped on the motorcycle for good measure. Well, the other day I saw a Syrian man who strapped a full washing machine on his motorcycle (yes, my jaw dropped) so who knows a car is not that far fetch (that Syrian man defied the laws of physics so one of those Toters motorcycle drivers could pull the same trick). The line is funnier that the visual though. But the whole ad is cheeky.
Wolfofbey has new workshop - the training is for free and the whole thing is to "Start your online business". All of this is fine and dandy, the ads flooded the streets so heavily that in Dora there were three of them at literally three adjacent buildings. Which, honestly, is a bit too much. Now I am all for entrepreurship and all (apparently working 9 to 5 is too old hat!) but please people, seeing the same ad everywhere in town is really, a lot to take.
Is this ad creative? No. Is this ad conceptually interesting? Also no. Is this ad exceptionally art directed? Triple no. What this ad does though is make you look, which in today's world is a rarity. As I said, nothing in the ad is exceptional, but it does what it is devised to do. Stand out, portray the product, and eventually make you buy it. Considering Cosmaline is a Lebanese company, this might attract a lot of people since brand loyalty got thrown from the window since the financial crisis started in 2019 and everyone started counting their pennies. So here's a thought, sometimes you need to go back and trade pseudo-creativity for something that actually sells. Cosmaline just did that.
Well, here's a very basic ad. So basic it actually makes you look. As I said prior so many times, comparative ads are banned in Lebanon, so the slogans need to be "vague" such as the one above "the tastiest coffee" - because "tastiest" as compared to some non-entity without having to support it statistically. So voila, here's the slogan, here's the packshot, here's a red background, thank you very much. Honestly, in a sea of more of less mediocre ads, this one makes sense.