Collagenix - a more negative than positive line.

When you tell someone, at least in Lebanon, "what have you done to your face?" it is usually an expression with negative connotation which is more apparent (even if sporadically, it can be used positively). Which is why I found it extremely strange for Collagenix to have adopted this line for their ad. Apparently Bio Collagenix is a beauty formula lift which is sold in pharmacies. Once more the effect is supposed to be positive for a woman's face, but try as I might to bypass this I simply could not.

Is Nescafe changing its positioning?

For a long time Nescafe has labelled itself as a morning drink, using the line صَح صح which is akin to wakey wakey. Slowly but surely, it is drifting from it even if never in explicit terms. Now the cat is out of the bag.  "Continue your day with Nescafe" - there are many different options, the one above is 3 in 1 with Caramel taste. But they all focus on the fact that Nescafe can be had not just in the morning. Which as I said, moves the drink for its early morning positioning to something to be enjoyed all day long. Mind you, they are not inventing gunpowder, people have had Nescafe at different hours of the day already.

Choc-Ole is punching above its weight

Now this is a strange one. The first thing I checked online about Choc-Ole was the price. Which was neither more nor less than any of its competitors. The reason I did that is because the ad, no matter the "Arabic" copy, surely targets some uppity fragment of society. Sure, all ads invite you to dream, but somewhere, there is this feeling that Choc-Ole is for a wealthier audience, which is not the case. Interestingly, if you compare with with Marie (here) everyone can relate to the protagonists, in this one, I am not sure. It feels much more aspirational rather than real. The end copy could have been a slam dunk but it left me cold. "le? la2ano atiab chi". Mind you le? (which is in Arabic means "why") should take you back to "Ole". La2ano atiab chi - means because it is the tastiest. A bit too generic if you ask me. In other words, an ad too well done for a product that should reach all audiences, with a stress on the lower socio-economic strata. See the ad here.

Cedre Vert, make my logo bigger

Well, took me forever to understand what ad this was. It has different executions and all of them barely show what brand we are talking about. All of them related to cleaning (from the shape of the product). But try as I might to figure out the brand, well, this was difficult until the saw the images back in zooming while checking the phone later. So it was "Cedre vert"... And yes, this is one of those "make my logo bigger" instances because as I said, took me forever to figure it out. The ad itself is more "just let us handle it".

Abou Andre, "Y" the error?

Abou Andre has a riddle, the idea is that they opened in Ghazir with an ad. Well, there's a catch, the ad has a mistake, find it and win an invite for four. Not to spoil it for you but this reminded me of this sign I found at the Syrian National Museum in 2007.

Please no enter. Which someone correct to Please no enterY, and someone later correct Please DO noT enter which someone correct to Please DO not enterY. The last two corrections are debatable in terms of sequence. But the idea of the "Y" added was interesting enough.

A full circle back to Abou Andre. Wink wink.

CIS and Kortbawi, stereotypical imagery.

"Preferred throughout the generations" - well, considering CIS is celebrating 35 years and that one generation is 33 years, I am sure they are speaking about the many students that got through their doors. But I digress. As usual, a cook, a foreman/mechanic, and a nurse (almost stereotypical but true as they used interchangeably in technical school ads).  Interestingly, Institut Cortbawi plays it almost the same - OK, at 80 years though - but the cook and the mechanic are there along with someone who has some Harry Potter portal to a new dimension. "Today's talent, tomorrow's success". I have told this anecdote before (here): In the 80s, Byblos Institute inserted the only girl studying car mechanics in their TV ad. I later learned that enrollment swelled exponentially because boys were dying to meet the girl in question. Well, I told you there was always a mechanic in the ad.

Pizzanini - make that make sense

Another back to school, and another head scratcher. Well, "from the first bell ring to the last slice". How this integrates into school lunch boxes, is beyond me. How this can be transported to a school setting, is also not exactly logical. But here we are, let's-do-a-back-to-school-campaign-since-everyone-else. Now yes, a large pizza at 9 USD is a good offer, but seriously, the context is just completely wrong. If the target audience were exhausted mothers, that would have made sense, but students per se, and in the classroom no less, does not exactly add up. Maybe Pizzanini needs some math lessons, without pizza involved.

Junior mini croissant, let's try all possible ways

So do we go small children or illustrated characters? Yes. I mean the strategy goes let's-try-everything-because-no-one-cares-anyhow. The end result is too many ads which make you wonder what brand it is every time. Eventually you put 2 and 2 together and basically discover it is the same brand but with many different visuals. "Every beginning has a hero". Which could be a little confusing when you do not see the hero in question. I guess to hell with strategy...

Sensodyne, but who's that nameless doctor?

In the 80s in Lebanon, the most famous doctor on television was a butcher from Jounieh. The guy was good looking, greyish hair, put him in a white coat and bang. He's believable. Until that is the law in the advertising industry came up with the requirement that doctors should be named in the ads. Sensodyne has a new ad whereby it give teeth 2 shades whiter. On the lower right hand in the ad, a lovely nameless doctor. What? Nameless? Yes, indeed nothing in the ad indicates who he is or if he is a real doctor much less a dentist. Which makes the whole thing quite contrary to the law. After all, they might as well bring back the butcher. Though not sure he's still believable at this point.

OLX and IPT what goes around comes around *Erratrum

No, it's not exactly the same concept, but also no, it's not a different one either. For OLX it's "no matter how it flips, it comes back to you" and for IPT "everything comes back to you". See? Told you - to go back to go back to Paul Verlaine's poem "mon reve familier" - "ni tout à fait la même, ni tout à fait une autre," Not exactly the same, not exactly another". Of course that the two ads are running sometimes baely 200 meters from one another makes it a little embarrassing. But perhaps it is simply I who is embarassed, everyone else barely throws a glance.

PS - erratrum: Apparently for OLX marja3lak is "we are your reference" (whereas byerja3lak is "comes back to you"). Interestingly even if my very strong Arabic I missed that one.

Puck - back to school

Well Puck knows how to play its cards. OK the end game is that they are offering school tuitions - obviously you'll have to discover the terms and conditions inside the products after buying them (spread cheese, cube cheese and all. Obviously these are also good for sandwiches and the like for the kids to take them to school. But here's where the ad gets it right - by stroking the ego of mothers (a bit sexist? I think not in this case), "because you are the school". Beat that! "let Puck take care of the tuitions". I mean seriously whoever done this truly thought "how can I let mothers be proud?" because the tuitions seemed simply over and above.

Omo, quick wash, again

Omo - first this then this (2024 and 2026 respectively). Two very solid campaigns that made total creative sense but also - held their own with a campaign execution (meaning three or more derivatives of the same concept). Which brings us to the ads above, the new Omo campaign. The idea is simple, you are ready to go to your meeting, your party, your gym session but your clothes aren't. 15 mins and off you go. Now here's the rub the models feel too AI (yes, I know, everyone is cutting budgets and all). Then there's the heart-motif underwear. To their credit when they said pants/top/socks, they took off the pants and the socks but not the top - after all we are in a conservative society. I am not against the campaign but I surely did not fall in love with it like I did with the previous ones, specifically the 2024 one which was so relatable and believable.

Almaza - back to school

Almaza has gone back to school mode in what it does best - witty, simply, Arabic copy and just plain good old Almaza. The trick "in line" (the way students stand as they go to class, at least in Lebanon!). Sometimes, when Almaza shows glimpses of its old skin one wonders why their ads are all over the place (here) with no unified code, visual unity and even language coordination. With this one, they're good. But sadly, if history has proven anything, they're uneven.

Will the real Sandwich w Noss please stand up?

Rania Noureddine posted this on Linkedin (here). I almost refused to believe it. Sandwich w Noss, who built their identity on basically mocking light and picky eaters, is now targeting... the light and picky eaters. Sure, it won't be he first company to change positioning or target audience (look here for how Marlboro shifted from a cigarette aimed to women to the famous Marlboro Man). But Sandiwch w Noss was literally mocking the audience it is now chasing (sample: if you come to us for a salad, go then to Bachir (famous ice cream shop) for a scoop of hummus). And so now they pivoted to go along with the latest fad in the market. Everyone wants to eat healthy - counting calories and proteins and all.

So Sandwich w Noss, went from feeding the "hungry to the gluton" (their words) to putting labels on their calory count and protein content. Which, mind you, is nothing wrong - apart from the fact that they were belittling, insulting and laughing at the exact same people they are now chasing.

Newsflash. As Ogilvy said “The consumer is not a moron; she is your wife.” Or your friend, or your family member, or your office mate, or your co-worker, or your university study buddy. So basically, consumers tend to have dignity. And a memory.

Dimex - fighting with a me too in mind

On the surface of it, nothing to write home about. Another me-too product in the Lebanese market (also made in Lebanon mind you by El Safa Group - here). To be clear, no one near me stocks their products. But the Dimex bleach ad is everywhere. So, with the same shape, look, and otherwise efficiency as any other product, why bother with Dimex. Well, for one, the 1 Liter bottle is priced at 1 USD when competitors go for 1.35 USD. Its 3.75 Liters sells for 4.66 USD roughly the same price as the leading brand in the market.  

Dairy Khoury rides the protein wave

I must start this post with a confession - the 2 courses in nutrition I attended at University? I barely passed them. Nutrition did not mean a great deal to me. Yet, I know the market is flooded with protein this and protein that etc...It's the latest fad. Which brings Dairy Khoury to ride the wave of it all. "Looks like dessert, acts like protein" now, it seems their Greek yoghourt has 8.6 grams of protein per 100 grams. Now here's the trick cow's mink has 3.4 grams of protein per 100. So comparatively it is high. But compared to other dairy items it is on the low side. So basically, what they did is give selective information. Oh well.

Lapiara, a good argument for back to school

You know the old joke? A lazy student was asked by his parents about his first day of school and he goes "there's a lot of time wasting between the recess." Which brings us to Lapiara and the ad that goes "if it wasn't for it, I wouldn't be back" because well, the best time at school is recess with the home-prepared sandwich. Well Lapiara was a staple of children's sandwiches, even if I sincerely believe parents are now adapting to more price-sensitive alternatives for their household and this is not just limited to school sandwiches. 

Beirut Beer, a continuation of their Back to School previous campaign

Remember the previous back to school campaign from Beirut Beer? (here). Beirut Beer is back for more this year, even if a redux of the previous one would have been more advisable. Same two bottles celebrating "school bus is here!". As with the previous campaign, and considering how hard the summer vacation is to coordinate for kids, parents are only relieved that finally kids are back in school. Worth celebrating for sure (even if, for many, this was a little bit of a head-scratcher).

Mazda - that's Japanese to me!

Well, you know when you see people with Chinese tattoos? Likelihood is that they don't even know how to read the letters. Yet, there they are, prominent on their neck, or their forehand, or biceps, supposedly saying "peace" or "heaven" or whatever else platitude they were sold. So now at least you need to trust ANB for what they wrote in their ad. Does it say Japanese craftsmanship? According to AI decoding it does. So now you have it in Japanese and in English. Do I need to read it in both? That is the million Yen question. Well, considering 1 million Yen is USD 6,263 maybe I should have aimed higher.

212 - counterintuitive AI

So Kettaneh Mobility is introducing 212 to the Lebanese market. It is trying to emphasize the brand’s bold identity, military heritage, and adventurous spirit to life with the help of Createagency. So far so good. So the best was to do it is obviously to see the car via urban setting, in cities or cruising through the highway, and also obviously through Lebanon's rugged mountains, surrounded by wolves at night, bypassing fallen trees. That the whole thing was done in AI is baffling to me. If you are going to prove all this, why fake it? It could have been whatever small car in this case. Well, at least in the old days, beauty shots were, well, believable. Now I see this film bragging that it is not, while trying to prove what the car can do, supposedly, in real life. See the film here.