Digi bank and Lebanon's national sport

So let's admit it - banks are not exactly high when it comes to people's trust and respect after swindling their customers with a huge ponzi scheme which defrauded everyone and stripped them out of their cash. So most Alpha banks are pivoting to digital banks - so that at least the association to the original institutions is a little camouflaged. Digi joins the fray as the new arm of Bank of Beirut. The ad, courtesy of Mink, plays on the "national sport" that is waiting in line to have you bank matters attended to.

Well, the idea is simple, is to "finish, without taking part of the marathon". Because obviously no one wants to queue when they can handle that privately from their telephone app. And... it is "a bank without being a bank" - which it is, yet, no one said it this way prior. See the ad here.

Mohammad Halabi, of boldness dipped in nuance

 

Mohammad Halabi and myself only met once. Further attempts to meet were hampered by health setbacks from my part, and then war issues for the country at large. But the contact is ongoing however. One of our first emails – over Linkedin mind you – was for me to inquire what pushed him to go to the US. He said he wanted to immerse himself in jazz, and “ended up falling in love with classical music.”

When it comes to jazz – he discovered Chick Corea in one of the Transtel Cologne documentaries that TeleLiban used to air in the late 70s and early 80s. This sent my antennas buzzing, because normally when I talk of such documentaries, the ubiquitous reply is some sort of “rez2allah” or “that used to be my childhood” or whatever some sort of generic feedback. But Halabi was listening and paying attention. As a gift I sent him the iconic video of the closing of the Transtel Cologne works.

Perhaps the click had already happened earlier, but to me that was the defining moment. Knowing he did not sell me short but rather spoke about the content of the program, as someone with an obsessive memory like me would do.

As for the origin of his name? Halabi refers to the Syrian Aleppo, “well, seems my grandfather was a troublemaker so his mother shipped him to Lebanon and here we are” and since the apple does not fall too far from the tree, Halabi himself is a troublemaker of his own right. Opinionated, very frank, carries his thoughts on his sleeves, and advertising agencies hate that.

After having worked decades on Apple, he currently criticizes the tone of voice the brand is carrying right now. His usual classic sentence when writing about the Cupertino behemoth is “Has the brand that was once (insert appropriate epithet related to context) gone awry or…” and underneath expect a collage of the current ads which do not sit well with him, hence him terminating his Apple contract. A rarity in the industry, but it goes to show how solid his moral compass is.

In a more recent example, when an agency decided to wave Emirati flags in a short video – you know, as a mercantile act of allegiance to the country – Halabi did not hesitate to comment “how to uncover a Phoenician”. The agency did not like his thoughts so the comment was deleted.

But all these are just tiny examples of how Halabi operates. He simply cannot give a hoot about people playing double-games or being sycophantic. His motto seems to be “if you don’t mean it, don’t do it”.

Halabi spent 22 years at Leo Burnett, which only adds another layer of interest between us. Whereas I did not end up working for the esteemed agency (even after getting an offer), we both love – as in love – the chairman emeritus MEA of the agency, namely – Farid Chehab.

“First day at the agency, he finds me in the corridor and without even a hello he simply asked “are you knowledgeable in the Koran?” – this is how Halabi defines his first interaction with Chehab. And yes, our sadly so far orphan meeting happened with Farid in tow. “We both just listened” recalls Halabi, and that was true. “That man is an incredible well of information”, adds Halabi – even if it goes without saying, but to quote General De Gaulle, “it goes better saying it”.

It is not uncommon for us to exchange whatsapp notes at how horrible a new campaign is, or how horrible a certain person is, or how horrible certain agencies have become. Halabi and myself name names, and we often have receipts in tow. And it is refreshing to know that, at least someone else in the industry, is not protecting their hide but rather throwing everything out in the open.

If anyone knows the advertising industry, it is all based on gloves and manicured talks. So having Halabi shoot things straight is breath of fresh air. Even if he has to lose considering he is a freelance copywriter between Beirut, Dubai, and California. He still says it as it is.

And when it comes to copywriting, and – all ego aside – considering am an excellent one myself, that man knows his craft. In one of our interactions about Águas de março – the Elis Regina and Tom Jobim version that we both cherish – I said “oh I did it in Arabic” to which he immediately replied “you Arabized it or Lebanonized it?” Only an exceptional copywriter would even think of this nuance. Proud as a punch of my version, I sent it to him on the spot and passed with flying colors. But the question stayed in my mind as very few would have the immediate reflex to ask.

Like every other Lebanese, Halabi lost a sizeable amount of money at the Lebanese banks, “I am horrible with math and numbers, but even I know how bad it has been, right now, no penny is entering Lebanese banks” – echoing the vast majority of Lebanese and how we operate as of late since the crisis hit everyone of us.  

Halabi is a bon-vivant without being reckless. He has been in Lebanon for a while, but the US will come calling soon. “Life catches up with us” – he simply admits. To be stuck in Lebanon at this point was not ideal obviously. But Halabi – an American citizen no less – took it in his stride.

Whereas there is still hope for us to meet again – with or without Farid – at least we keep the conversation alive via Whatsapp and Linkedin, as we share our frustration over the dwindling standards, the silliness of some people, the arrivistic attitude of others and many other thoughts people in our industry refrain from sharing.

Halabi has a reassuring boldness in him. But one filled with nuance.

Rim, forgets single-minded messages.

Photo credit Mohamad Haidar - I had mine but Mohamad had better colors

There's so much going on here. A canned water, with lemons, giving you pure sensations, all of this in the realm of a small billboard right on top of the Rim water building. If I did not have time to process this later at home, I am not sure I would have understood anything of what was offered. Still, I have no idea if this a new category introduced in the market, and if so at what pricing considering the Lebanese customer at large is still incredibly price-sensitive. Sure with less clutter this could easily be salvaged but sadly Rim fell into the let's=insert-as-much-info-as-possible gimmick so much they lost their own footing.

JP & Partners, isn't it late to save our money now?

When the financial crisis broke in 2019, and when it really went turbo-mode starting 2020, there were a lot of ads for buying real estate abroad - Cyprus, Turkey, Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria, you name it, it was there. Why? Well, here's the trick the earlier you salvaged your money, the higher the % you for your banking check (at the beginning it was 90%, now I hear it hovers around 6% of the original value). Long story short, you withdraw your money at a loss, you invest it in real estate abroad, depending on how much you are investing you might get a gold visa with it, and tadam - either you use it as a summer residence or put it on Airbnb, or whatever. But that was then.

JP & Partners, are now offering to invest in real estate in Greece. It one does the calculation, it is not for the money stuck in bank accounts and now almost non-recuperable. So basically, they are aiming for what is called fresh-Dollar money. Now, if I am not getting a European residency with it, honestly, why bother?

Cortas, smart without being arrivistic

It seems I do not speak much about Cortas - last time was in 2019 (here). But Cortas has a new ad - a very smart one without sounding arrivistic or seeming like using the current problems Lebanon is facing for cheap thrills. A very dangerous road to walk I can assure you. So the ad in question goes: From the same earth, and always next to one another. And in a smaller rectangle "for 100 years". As I said, the ad is very smart, it winks at everything without stating it, lets the target audience decipher it without belittling their intelligence, and keeps the face value which is directed to the product alive and well. I could be over-analyzing here but perhaps the ad is also talking about the chickpea and the tahina sauce being together. No matter the layer/s the ad offers, it wins all of them in a smart, understated way.

Quaker has a new ad which tries to please everyone

So Quaker has a new ad. Well, to quote queen of shade Aretha Franklin, when asked about Taylor Swift, she said "she has beautiful gowns". So, in the same analogy, the song accompanying the film is really nice. The rest? The film is too bloated in time, has a million ideas at once, is supposedly constructed around the comcept that every time of the day has its recipe (but we learn this at the end having endured 90 seconds of platitudes), but honestly, the way everything is crammed hodge-podge, thrown into different angles, with veiled women here and there (you know, to make it a pan-Arab campaign), and - there you have it - with a full cookbook worth of things, and animated oats exploding at every scene, not to mention the annoying way how every scene leads to another one, and all of the 19,578 ways you can actually serve oats (interesting, Quaker omitted oats from their name this being said). 

Seriously I couldn't wait for the film to finish. Even with a "nice song"/"beautiful gowns" leading the very, very long ad. This is a case of trying to please everyone - and we know how this goes.

See the ad here.

How can you commemorate a war when another war is happening

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly - Fargo is the brand of the Ain el Roumaneh bus - the above is an exhibition I held for the 33rd commemoration of the war in 2015

Today is the commemoration of the official start of the 1975-1990 war. I say official because honestly the country was on a verge of eruption since time immemorial. But I digress. My problem is elsewhere: How can we commemorate the past when the present is still perpetuating it. Or to quote William Faulkner, "The past is never dead. It's not even past" - especially in a Lebanon divided on fictional and real faultlines.

And today is Easter Monday for the Orthodox Christians, so a supposedly holiday. A holiday from what I know not. And the original Ain El Roumaneh bus was according to legend, sold and eventually rotting somewhere in the south. But this is a detail, our collective memory is still alive and kicking. Our war reflexes too.
I already said this story before. but I am repeating it. The context is still too fresh.
Published October 1rst, 2013:
War is not over. It's a fact. It will never be. Today, in a slip of a tongue my mother said "in case I have to flee" - an awkward small sentence that could have gone unnoticed. But she said it, did not pay attention to it, and went on. But for me there was a sudden freeze frame. The exact word she said was "ehrob" - a word which could be interpreted as "run away", "flee", "save myself".
There she was, a woman secure financially, surrounded by her family in more ways than one, whose tasks have been brought down to a minimum which keeps her mentally and physically active without anything that might overburden her old age. And - subconsciously - she is still stuck in a loop. A loop that should have been finished since 1990 when the "Lebanese civil war" ended.
My first reflex was one of upset - where was she going to run flee? why would she?... And frankly, there was this cynic dismissal, whereas I did not articulate it, I surely thought it. But as I composed myself, I sat there thinking about it. In many ways, she is just a specimen of a generation. They're the ones who explored the Automatique cafe (Idriss) in downtown Beirut, the heyday of the supposed "Paris of the Orient" (what a fallacy!) and they are the ones who have had the dream of normalcy shattered - even if the war had been brewing for a long time under the champagne bubbles of the Phoenicia Hotel before it eventually exploded in 1975.
What struck me the most, was how similar she and I are. What I first dismissed as an outmoded reflex, soon dawned on me how ingrained it is in all of us. I was born on the onset of the war, and so this Capharnaum was all I knew. It was fun in a macabre way, but it was also the only paradigm and frame of reference. Not only this, in 2006, I got stuck in the US during the war which had erupted in my absence. A trip that was supposed to last two weeks ended up being two months long.
And it was those war reflexes that saved me. Whereas everyone around me was panicking as to these swift transitions, I was already doing mental checklists - something you have to do in times of war - organizing things so very efficiently and taking all emotional components out the equation. Naturally, it's when the anomaly of such situations subsides that you feel the full blow and when the psychological aftermath starts. But when you are still in your adrenalin rush, it all feels so peaceful, so normal dare I say.
And now I realize why my travel carry on luggage is almost set to go despite the fact that it has been a while since I traveled. In that luggage I keep - for reasons obscure to myself until now - a minimum survival kit: Anything from a good pair of jeans, to a change of shirts and socks, some cash and even a travel nail kit.
After all... What if I have to "ehrob" myself?

Some teasing in black and yellow (updated)

Source

Interesting. Teasing, again. I thought this would be relegated to the distant past but seems not. In black and yellow, the billboards are - literally - bursting with copy. Copy larger than life. "This billboard is too small for us" (also available in "board" format), "Wiiiiiiiiiiiider experience", "Beyond this space", "upgrade/enhance/level up/raise your experience", "Antelias make room" - the last one is actually a clearer pointer because it seems a certain supermarket is having a new branch in the area (Spinneys here's looking at you). In other news, the 80s called and want their teaser/revealer ads back.

Update:

And to no surprise to anyone, it was Spinney's. 

Anamorphic billboards hit Lebanon

Photo credit Jad Al Masri

So it took a while but here we are. Anamorphic (that's 3D) billboards hit Lebanon, and whereas still not "branded" Promomedia is showing the potential of what they can do with a bottle and a cat. Apparently there are a few of them to go around - Spinney's Achrafieh and Verdun - so this is becoming something to watch out for. Interesting, what's with everything going on, war and all, we eventually get a (relatively) new technology for advertising.

If we Lebanese learned anything, it's that life goes on.

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly based on the logo of the series Life Goes On

We as Lebanese have had very tough lessons - please do not say the R word (resilience). It's more like stubbornness and stupidity. But here we are, I ordered a new blazer online - and, superstition I know, my late mother told me not to wear something for the first time on a funeral, so I wore something else for our neighbor's funeral and saved the new blazer for Easter. Also the plumber just came and fixed and changed what needed to be fixing and changing. 

Why am I saying this?

Because we are in a country at war. A country with a winter that stretched long enough. In a country where news follows you even if you avoid it. In a country where little or nothing makes sense. Still, a new blazer, fixing plumbing things, going to see my ophthalmologist, doing blood tests, my glasses broke so I need a new pair, and so on and so forth, as if everything is "normal" when everything is not. But sure enough, like any entrepreneur will tell you over on Linkedin (heaven help us), there are no ideal circumstances, there is no perfect time, there is no stars aligning, you jump in and hope for the best.

That Ralph Lauren blazer - which mind you was so cool it impressed my young niece in the US when I sent her the Easter photos - was not going to wait forever especially that my size is, well, difficult (short, skinny with weird length of the arms). The clogged washbasin was not going to unclog itself. The cover of the WC which decided to crack was not fixing itself.

And so here we are, now it is raining again (insert Supertramp song here). And I am coordinating the rest of the weekly appointments. Life, you know has a tendency to go on.

Either you are on board, or you are in the way.

Anemoia - Nostalgia for a Lebanon that never existed

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly - part of the collective memory as a bridge to national identity series

I am sorry to burst the bubble, especially when everyone is hyping things up. When everyone seems to be suffering from "anemoia" - literally, a nostalgia for something that did not exist. First the fallacy: Lebanon was the Switzerland of the Middle East, or Beirut was the Paris of the Middle East. Was it correct? Yes, but barely. We got unlucky as opposed to lucky.

Beirut began as a "ville-escale" - meaning the city where planes land for 48 hours before jetting back. Not as it is known today where the whole landing-take off happens in less than an hour. To our bad luck, we had the Phoenicia, the Palm Beach hotel, the Kit Kat nightclub, the Caves du Roy, the Venus high end cabaret and the rest of the paraphernalia of entertainment. That our weather allowed to "ski and swim in the same day" only made it worse.

To be clear, the "age d'or" (golden age) of Lebanon only lasted a very short while. That we had a very stylish president and first lady (namely Kamil and Zalfa Chamoun) did not arrange anything, but I digress. So, where' my gripe?

My problem is that we are reminiscent of a Lebanon that never existed. One that no even our parents benefited from. Why? Because what is known as the golden age only benefited a very small buffer elite which was able to enjoy the benefits, leaving a middle class which was being formed, and in the words of a former Communist party commander interviewed for a documentary "I did not want to participate in the whole thing, all I wanted was a cab fair to just look at it from a distance." This alone should tell you how many people were literally marginalized and forgotten.

Also, the Shiites in Lebanon are known as "المحرومين" (the deprived) because the state never looked their way, and their own politicians/lords did not even try to help their own. In a famous (and sad anecdote) it seems people gathered their elders and went to Ahmed Al-Assaad (father of former head of the parliament Kamel Al-Assaad) to ask him for schools in the region for their regions, and he answered with "Kamel is learning on your behalf".

I am saying this today, because the fallacy we face too deep, the nostalgia for something that never existed is too strong, and the idealized version of a fairy tale is simply not true, and never was.

Blanchor - current news, April Fools, and Easter all in one go for Cocktail Lahoud!

Any questions? Because this is how you roll current news, April Fools, and Easter all in one perfect ad. First the background - and this I have explained prior - "maamoul" the traditional Easter cookie means "done with" or "done to" in Arabic, the traditional flavors include dates, walnuts or pistachios. So? How about an avocado maamoul from Cocktail Lahoud? Because - yes, you guessed it - April Fools! And a pre-Easter ad to boot and - wait for it - the headline goes "this year, what is "done to" is us is as if it was a lie" (darn it, in Arabic it is ever funnier with maamoul being a double-entendre). So here we are, several ads all rolled into one. And a perfect one at that from Blanchor for Cocktail Lahoud.

IKEA walked so that Maliks could run

Maliks is at it again, but oddly with a lovely jab - one that compares its own merchandise to the luxury house's insanely expensive alternatives. Lovely indeed, except, IKEA was there for a long time before Maliks did it. The proof is always in the pudding, and when IKEA joked about its own Frakta bag compared to the Balenciaga (here), or about its own towel as apposed to the Towel skirt, that's a bit old news at this point. But, still, props for Maliks for leaving behind his silly riddles. Also, never forget, design has humble origins (here).

TOEFL does 80s with a bang

TOEFL just got itself a new ad and an official song to boot, from what I heard this is a local production to go international as the song will become some sort of official TOEFL official hymn. Also there seems more ads in the drawer still not released yet all of them based on - you're not going to believe this - neuroscience. You have to give it out to them - the atmosphere is infectious, the dance moves quirky, the song catchy, and the primary colors are are either Celine this year or plain simple 80s galore. At 90 seconds the ad is not short, but it does hold one's attention enough to do through it all with the youth rotating dance moves and letting each other shine. Cast is very credible mind you so props to them finding this many variety. See the ad here.

And for Mother's Day, Joefish introduces Momfish

To hell with ad agencies, mothers could do it - and do it better. Come to think about it Joefish has a point, mother could predict things being two steps ahead, protect children at all costs, always keeping relationships alive, able to give brutal ideas and feedbacks, are able to manage accounts tightly, for them deadlines are strict and abided by, and carefully curate info that must go out. and they get no retainers, no breaks, and are irreplaceable, because indeed, they are mother. Well, that's one multitasking agency staff all boiled into one!

Parazar excels and Alfa deflates for the same Mother's Day creative concept

Alfa has issued its Mother's Day ad - the concept is "el denye emm" - an Arabic idiom that "life is a mother" (it teaches you, takes care of you etc...). See the ad here. OK, you did not hear it from me but I detected a very strong AI feel here, also, again - speculation your honor - but the ad seems like a down-low copy of the iconic Nido "kebro el wlad" ad (here). If not so I am betting my neck it was on their mood board.

In comes Parazar, with interestingly the same backbone "el denye emm" - listen, no, this is not one of my #CompareandContrast posts where brands end up imitating each other because well, it is only normal for the idea to float in different minds for the same occasion. The difference? ParAzar came with their arsenal of beautifully and professionally shot marriages and events. Add to this a kick-ass copy which drives the message home without being pinch-me-till-I-cry, and you have a dignified and well-put ad which expresses its message and lets you connect the dots. See the ad (here).

Mink goes on a double whammy for Mother's Day

Mink is back at what it does best. Distilling complex elements into easy and creative advertising. This time for Mother's Day it went with Master (using nuts and not potato chips) and Ksara (one of Lebanon's finest wines). The result? Two well done and put together ads which truly say a lot about mother's - funnily these are real slices of life that Mink managed to portray. Good to know Mink still kicks.

Beirut Beer - a great one for Mother's Day

Beirut Beer, yes, one that has nothing to do with Almaza, and they excel in it. "El batn besten" - a local phrase that means "the womb is a garden" whereby mothers give birth to different children. And yes, what do you know? Beirut Beer holds too many different variants of its products. Smart, understated, but very well done. A winner indeed.

Beytech Mother's Day, interesting concept but questionable execution.

Beytech has a new Mother's Day campaign, "wrong gift, big risk". A Dyson surrounded by sharks, a snake on top of a washing machine and a crocodile swallowing an iron. Loved the concepts. Or at least the whole creative idea to be honest - the executions left me a bit puzzled. Maybe I should post an old Barclay's ad to show the difference in terms of execution:

The snake is so well woven inside the ad one can totally understand the reference in question. This being said, as I mentioned, I do understand where Beytech came from creatively. 

Joefish vs The Lab #compareandconstrast

So this is suspicious. Joefish published a Eid greeting stemming from the topic du jour - no not the war but rather AI. A nice one about prompts and moons (obviously because it is Eid). 4 hours later The Lab published a Eid greeting stemming from the topic du jour - no not the war but rather AI. A nice one about prompts and moons (obviously because it is Eid). Wait - something is deeply fishy or joefishy here. Either The Lab has no idea or honestly, they did have an idea - or rather someone else's idea. I am not saying they did, I am not saying they didn't - compare and contrast yourself.