Vaseline went to it is needed the most: The slopes! (here) Apart from all the activities and winnings and whatever what attracted me the most is the pure logic of it all. I mean if you are skiing (and no, I do not, still learning to walk without tripping) you definitely need hydration for your lips and skin and what not, so honestly the place is just super-logical for a product like Vaseline. So here we go, now Pimo has done it! As they say in French "il fallait y penser".
McDonald's has an offer for a "veggie burger" (the ad says "we picked you one") for a "limited time". Guess what the limited time is? Lent! Of course, there is no such mention of it, and also no mention of fish-o-filet which was literally invented at the time for Christians who abstained on meat on Fridays. So here we are are again, lent time but don't call it so. If interested about places mentioning lent go to Mr. Brown (here). Crepaway (here). and the first to mention the word in their ad in 2012 Classic Burger Joint (here).
Because this year Almaza went with a literal platitude (here), how about going back to the time when Almaza ads actually mattered with this beauty above. How Almaza came to personify "meh" in their ads is beyond me, but here we are. This year's ad is so unmemorable it is excoriating to see how much of a shrug they deserve. The ad above dates back to 2019. The one below to 2016.
Sorry I caught this late! Mink went for a brilliant Mother's Day ad (note I did not mention their Ksara effort which fell a bit short this year). For their own brand, Mink simply took their logo and added a "alef". Why? Because reading it right to left as Arabic does it ends up spelling... Emm. Or Mother. Genius as always!
Not content to sleep on its laurels for Mother's Day (here) Exotica just launched the Mother's Day translator. So if she says "this is a thunder" it means "this war plane doing sonic boom" if the says "hey you didn't phone today" it means "I miss you", and if she goes "OK, do as you wish" it means "no, and last but not least "don't get me anything" actually translates "don't forget the bouquet". As I said, Exotica are soooooo back!
OK, I admit, I am no beer specialist so it took me a while to understand what the product was. Apparently it is a "pineapple-flavored beer" brought to you by Laziza. Been a while since we last heard of Laziza which makes this re-entry out of nowhere. And again, the product is incredibly niche. But hey, what do I know. After the Beirut Beer Mexican (Mexbeer) which apparently was panned by anyone who understands beer (not me), let us hope this one is more in line with what it says on the outside. So here it is, pineapple-flavored Laziza.
Or I can simply say: I have no idea what they are saying.
I really don't. If anyone can translate am listening.
Today an ad for Apple pocked my interest. Called "the matchmaker". In typical Saudi culture, a matchmaker finds "a suitable groom" for the girl in question. See the film here. The ad marks a very clear shift to the GCC culture. But it was not the first. If you look at the ads above combined show that they are entrenched in an Arabic pseudo-slang way far from the super copywriting on the iphone 15 (here). I have heard clear rumblings that the brand has lost its direction with this copy. But my point of argument is elsewhere: These ads, if they bother the purists or do not, have zero effect on sales. And I don't say this negatively, but rationally. Apple will still sell by the bucketload. Women will still want the newest phone in their "mahr" or dowry. The newest Apple gizmos will still be a claim to bragging. Whatever the tone of voice of the ads is irrelevant.
Which of course begs the question:
Is advertising in any way related to sales?
Oh so this slipped through the cracks. BOB Finance placed an ad for Ramadan, well I shall spare you the technicalities but apparently you win gold by using their app. Apart from the - weirdly sensational - "Akram min min" on LBC, offers have been few and in between so noticing there is one is interesting this Ramadan. Actually BOB Finance went strict basic in both design and slogan - not that I have anything against considering one has very little time to see the ad on the highway billboards anyhow. Interestingly, transfer services such as BOB Finance have come to replace banks in Lebanon which has become almost strictly a cash economy.
In 2010, while I was visiting a friend in San Francisco, and on a whim, we went into thrift store. John, my friend who is the CEO of a huge company, absent-mindedly rummaged briefly through the racks and decided he did not want anything. I threw an eagle-eyed look at the store, went to that basket near the cashier, and immediately took out a tie. I paid 6,25 USD Dollars for it. Showed it to John, his jaw dropped. “Would you gift it to me? Please?” He said. Or rather pleaded. The tie in question was the ultra-rare, obnoxiously expensive vintage Versace Miami print in mint condition. He wore it the next day to his board meeting and returned with giddy glee to the rave reviews he received.
Another time, I was at a second-hand store in Beirut. I saw a pair of shoes, instinctively knew what they were and casually strolled to get them. Before I reached for them another woman grabbed them, and although they were in pristine condition, she – thankfully – decided against them and threw them back carelessly. I took the pair without even trying them on, went and paid for them – 2 USD if you want to know – and bang! Their original price was 340 Euros. The lady tried to buy them back from me at the store door (apparently she checked them online) and I kindly declined.
These are not isolated stories. My life – or rather closet
and house - are full of them. In today’s world, the word luxury is loaded. Its
meaning shifting and morphing from one generation to the next. Originally, and
according to the Oxford dictionary, the word means “a state of great comfort or
elegance, especially when involving great expense.”
Yet, paradoxically, Hermes artistic director Pierre-Alexis
Dumas says that the brand is costly, not expensive. “Expensive is a product,
which is not delivering what it is supposed to deliver, but you paid quite a
large amount of money for it, and then it betrays you”. It feels as if this
hinges on a technically. Yet, in 2024, major “luxury brands” were embroiled in
a sweatshop scandal – in Italy no less - whereby a 2600 Euros bag was costing
53 Euros to make while using workers toiling in abominable conditions.
Speaking of Hermes, somewhere between Chirstmas and New
Year’s Walmart, the discount department stores in the US, sold – what is
technically a “dupe”. A product which looks like very expensive designer item
is but is a copy, which is a tendency that invaded the markets when people
could not afford the originals. The dupe in question was dubbed the Wirkin, or
Walmart Birkin, for the price of 78 USD for the regular leather and 200 USD for
its premium leather – literally at the 1/100th of the price of the
original.
Right now, the world of luxury brands however, is in full
crisis. The Chinese – often the backbone of the clientele - found themselves in
a wave of real estate crash and wave of youth unemployment. Currently, major
houses, including LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy), Kering, and other such
empires find themselves playing catch-up for having lost 60 million “aspiring
shoppers” and concentrating on their Very Important Clients (VIPs) who still
found themselves short-thrifted on experience and treatment when compared to how
much they were buying. Only Hermes rode the crisis high, still producing its
extremely “costly” bags – the Kelly and the Birkin – and still enjoying the
aura of their exclusiveness.
The more we delve into the word, the more complicated in
becomes. If “vintage” is indeed luxury, then no wonder the world of
second-hand, deadstock merchandise, upcycling, thrifting, and pre-loved is
booming throughout the world. The value of that market is supposed to reach
113.2 Billion USD by 2030 up from 42.5 Billion in 2023. So much that major
brands are initiating second-hand lines from their overstock, archive pieces or
garments and accessories cosigned by their clients from previous collections.
Mona Ayoub, who in 2023 auctioned many items of her haute
couture Chanel wardrobe, said of her coat which took 800 hours to make and
embroider and which sold at 312000 Dollars: “I wore it at a venue when Karl [Lagerfeld
– former chanel designer] was present”. She styled it open “over a turtleneck
and a pair of pants. “When Karl saw me he was so shocked and asked me how could
I do that. I told him that I gained weight and can’t close it. He then laughed
and said to me, ‘join the club’.” Because even owning such exclusive pieces
cannot negate you from gaining weight and not fitting into them.
Luxury is so multifaceted, it could be a nice meal, a good
night’s sleep, a treasured sweater from high school, a simple wedding band with
sentimental value, time spent with family (or “chosen family” as the expression
goes), or time alone.
Speaking of time, in 1988, watchmaker Piaget came up with a
series of ads which went "La plus belle facon de porter une Piaget c'est
de n'en rien montrer" – “the most beautiful way to wear a piaget, is not
to show any of it”. Because you are wearing it for yourself, not for bragging.
Because self-appreciation beats all show-off.
In Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s lovely book “The Little
Prince”, the titular hero meets up with a merchant selling pills that quench
thirst. You only needed to take one per week and feel no need to drink.
Apparently this saved 53 minutes a week. The prince, in his own logic said, “if
I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure
toward a spring of fresh water.”
Because walking at one’s leisure toward a spring of fresh
water is, indeed a luxury.
 |
| Artwork by Tarek Chemaly |
Remember Valentine's Day? That epic classic glorious ad by Exotica (here)? Building on the strength of the other one, Exotica is now writing "oum" (mother) with flowers too after writing "hobb" (love) with a rose. Ok, maybe this one step lower than the other but it still works. So if it ain't broke Exotica is not fixing it. But hey, this is indeed steps closer to their glory days. If I understood correctly this comes from The Department ad agency.
Maliks is at it again, oddly they fell on a good idea. Which of course means they have the worst most cheapening art direction ever! Because, of course! Now there might be a bit of undertone on this ad meaning that "M" is also "oum" (or mother in Arabic) but I don't think they dug that deep and they just went with the first letter of the logo. But again, Maliks and I said it many times just tries too hard, except on this one, idea-wise they were really really on the money. So here's hoping.
Well, drink to her health. No, better, drink to her health with a specially-labelled bottle from Ksara.
So how one-on-one can this be? Indeed, seems Ksara is launching this - understandably - a bit early (as logistically this might be a bit difficult to pull) and one can personalize their bottle of Ksara wine with the name of their mother's. Sure this might be a bit Coca-Cola throwback but the end effect is still neat!!
On the one hand I must appreciate the hard work. On the other it all ended up a bit... bland. I mean compare to the warmth of the Aramex ad (here), the Galaxy Jewels has a feeling of paint by numbers. You know where it is leading from the get go, and even though the main cast (the grandfather) does a good job, it all feels a bit too contrived truth be told. See the ad here. I am not reproaching the production, but something is missing - perhaps the suspense or not knowing where the ad is landing, but no, one can immediately decipher it from the get-go. Someone pointed out that it reminds him of early 90s ads done by Lebanese for the Gulf, the remark is a bit spot on. Oh well, still, I guess the brief was fulfilled.
Many moons ago for Independence Day Aishti came up with the ad above. It caused a stirr and some legal repercussions.... And today? It seems Annahar was behind (along with their ad agency one presumes!) the stunt of raising the Lebanese flag with the cedar striken-through diagonally. Apparently, with the approach of International Women's Day it seems it was the most fitting way to - what exactly, I know not! Yet, the furore was so big, even the presidential palace told them to shove it because you cannot deface the flag (kind note: who in his or her right mind did not know you could not deface the flag). Now, the stunt has been dismounted thankfully. But seriously, how idiotic is that?
I know, call me retro or whatever but I stand with the Jamhour management on this one. So, here's the background - there's this guy from Andalus restaurant who comes on social media with his inflammatory videos. Fine, no big deal such people are a dime a dozen. Then, in a recent video who is behind but... College Notre Dame de Jamhour students (CNDJ) - clad in their official school uniforms participating in the prank.
I am going to be honest, the circular the school issued to parents does not say if they students were outright fired, or suspended, or reprimanded. This came from the rector of the secondary classes. Whatever it is though, I stand with the school on this one. I know that social media has took off a lot of decorum from a lot of aspects, but believe it or not, I still believe that people ought to behave publicly, especially when "representing" an institution (and CNDJ is not one light-hearted institution, far from it).
The prank is annoying, let us face it, but also youth a very influenceable and gullible, and whereas top schools such as CNDJ prepare them for high careers (about a third of our current government are CNDJ graduates), maybe the youth themselves see such a vulgar film as something fun and that no one will care in the future.
Who knows? But sadly, the prank is silly. And yes, it was idiotic to do it while wearing the school uniform!
Was the excitement off the charts after last year? (here). It was indeed.
First let us start with the inductees:
Faris Abouhamad (IAA Global Chairman and President 2013-17), Alain Brenas (Director of Graphic Arts abd Advertising and the School of Cinema at ALBA), Elie Kai (Founder of MIS), Nabil Kazan (IAA Honorary Life Member), Ramzi Raad (Founder of TBWA\RAAD), Elias Hanna Al Rahbani (Composer), Rafic Saadeh (Founder of Horizons Holdings), Fadi Kalim Salameh (President CEO of MCN Holding), Jean-Pierre Sikias (Founder of Laser Films), Alex Slim (IAA Lebanon Board Member 1995-1997), Raja Trad (Chairman & CEO Publicis Groupe MENA).
I think the organizers learned from some of the issues last year - no neighing horses in videos, no people claiming that the litmus test of the success of an inductee was working with them, and no extremely lengthy speeches from sons who did not mention their inductee father (no names you know who you all are). As a matter of fact, speeches were very short (not even cut with the Oscars orchestra!), totally on point, actually quite emotional (OK, we did not get a redux of Josyane Boulos almost losing it in crying like last year though), and trilingual (Arabic, French, and English but the audience was sophisticated enough to get all of them). One can understand the enormous work the "Council of Judges" had to do (Naji Boulos, Roni Jazzar, Dani Richa, Georges Jabbour, Joe Ayache, and Naji Irani) to cut the possible number inductees as last year there was a backlog.
Of course, last year with the late Walid Azzi and the incredible Farid Chehab being inducted the emotional factor was too high for me. Still, if I am to give one major issue with this year, it would be - believe it or not - the main dish in the menu (that duo filet de boeuf et poulet does not hold a candle to last year's whatever it was "sur pave de saumon").
And interestingly, I heard - live during the evening "oh but last year was better", and "oh but this year is way better". So in which camp do I fall?
Considering I am introverted, extremely so actually by nature (don't believe the hype or the image I project), seeing people who knew me when I was incredibly young (hello Hanna!), seeing someone I love dearly (hello Farid!), seeing connections I speak to on the net but never met (hello Krix, George and Rami!), having side meetings to talk shop (hello Ghada, Geoana, and Ali!), seeing IAA members despite them running the show (hello Joe!) and with the help of the - like last year - incredible wine, guess who had a much better time than last year?
Guilty as charged.
And on to the next year indeed. Just let us fix the main dish haha!
Here and here. So comfort goes out of its comfort zone then! Lovely to know! Yes, yes, I know this was a trilogy but I am omitting the third. Just to be clear, the production value is fantastic, the slices of life make total sense in their own creative sauce, the casting is superb, whomever has done the wardrobe deserves a raise, the teaming up with agency and client (after the smash Omo - here) is once more impeccable. I loved the ads, the retro-pop-Wes Anderson elements in them (which predate Anderson but sigh, everyone now knows them as such!). Lovely work (and yes, I am not even going to talk about the third). Better just keep the hits!