Monday, March 18, 2024

Vegans, now that's a campaign with no meat in it

Photo: Bassam Karam

Now, how do you tell a campaign without a backbone? It is firing on all fronts but missing most - if not all - if its targets. Let's recap. Vegans went all out, I covered the first unipole thinking it is a stand-alone (here). Turns out there is more where it came from. The first installment was very provocative, reaching to negative psychology. The second, above, goes "did I bother you saying vegan? What if I said vegetarian, Better? OK what if I said lent food?". Just to be clear, vegan has no Arabic equivalent and "vegetarian" is "nabati" (as mentioned in the ad - and up to my knowledge vegetarian and vegan are completely different diets). As for "lent food", I am not sure it is judicious to play on religious sensibilities in a country like Lebanon. 

So between the first installment and this, I can feel that the notion was "let's fire on all angles". Or as I called prior "the spaghetti theory" - you throw the ball at the wall and see what sticks.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Decathlon: Why do companies change their logos?

Here's a thought, when a company changes its logo, it is either because it is changing its line of products, its target audience, and therefore its target market, or it has changed its whole mission statement. So when luxury companies rebrand, as in the chart below:


It was, almost always to announce the arrival of a new creative director. But such is the musical chairs play of creative directing that the turn over is so far it was not even worth it to rebrand the shops, the labels, the collections, the bags and whatever all else paraphernalia that needed rebranding. Most of the press releases when a new logo is born stress words like "humanizing" and what not. The reason is more simple. Social media. You need your logo to be as 2D as possible to be seen in places like Instagram or Tiktok.

The wave of car manufacturers who reworked their logo to fit social media is below:


 Obviously, the "flatter" your logo is, the more visible and easy to read it will be online.

With this in mind, lately, Pepsi rebranded, with a beautiful new logo (here). Chloe (the fashion house) also has a new logo which harps back to its 70s iteration (a beautiful one at that). Zara did the same - for truly unknown reasons (here). 

Which brings us to Decathlon, the latest in the chain of - I am changing my image, won't tell you why, you won't feel any difference, but let's see if it works. The old and new logo are posted on top: Here's a funny story. A friend of mine has three kids - each has a different sport hobby. She often shops at Decathlon accordingly. When I whatsapped her the image above, her reaction was: Which is which? She had no clue which was the new one (OK, to make it easier the one below), even if as a customer if should be "top of mind".

Seriously however, why bother? Sure, Decathlon phased several of their own in-house brands keeping "just" 80. People do not care about the sub-brands and just know Decathlon to be honest. And if my friend's example is of any worth - not even that well. And yet, the exercise continues - barely a week passes without any behemoth announcing they are rebranding, changing logos, changing identity - yet, I see very little of it trickling down to how their products are evolving, or how their target audience is morphing, or their positioning is.

I honestly don't get it - with 1700 shops in the world, Decathlon is up for a huge investment in changing their logo and applying it on all possible and imaginable products. What for? I have no idea.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Vegans go public in Lebanon

Photo credit: Bassam Karam

So this is an ad, not just for vegetarians - but for out and out vegans. Well, thankfully no nudity (I'd rather go naked than wear fur for Peta comes to mind). But hey, well the ad uses negative psychology by starting with "don't be a vegan" (interestingly, vegan has no translation in Arabic because "نباتي" means vegetarian "only"). So voila, once the negative psychology deployed, it continues with "because whatever is happening in the slaughterhouse resembles you". A few months ago a close friend came up with the joke "how do you know that someone is vegetarian or an AUB student? They'll tell you this right from the get-go". Well, I am an AUB student... Ooops. OK, fine, and I tried to be a vegetarian (not even vegan) long ago but well, did not work, so what I do now is really, really decrease meat as much as I can. However, I heard many reactions to the ad above, the strongest was "I just ordered a steak out of spite". I guess this covers it.

Friday, March 15, 2024

2023 A year of "Middles" - Tarek Chemaly's for Arabad

Copyright Arabad

And in Case you did not read it yet, please check this year's round up about advertising in Lebanon in the yearly issue about the country from ArabAd. Long but worth it. Here.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Undo the damage. A look at the (Syrian) refugees

At this point, I have crossed the 100th Syrian refugee family asking to rent the upper floor of my house. My answer from the get-go was no. I can already see your judgement - you are "racist" (even if Syrians are not a race). OK you are "xenophobic" - and guess what? I am not. Here's my logic, the upper floor contains furniture from three different houses (dismantled beds, 3 sofas, 1 salon, 2 dining room tables with their chairs, 1 living room apart from the knick-knacks (mattresses etc...)). So, what do I do with those?

Long story short it is easy to jump to judgement when one does not know the story. Thing is, what if you twist the facts and rearrange them so that they tell the story you want? Welcome to "undo the damage before it's too late" - a campaign against Syrian refugees.

First let me tell you a story: In 2022, during the parliament elections Farid Boustani, who was campaigning for a seat in the Chouf area plastered his message in Kesserwan. What? But the logic is simple: During the war many, many, people from the Chouf area got displaced, a lot of them eventually ended up in Kesserwan (to be clear the displaced people were Christian), and despite the whole surge of rebuilding their houses in the villages they left, basically they remained in the areas they migrated to - using the Chouf houses are some sort of weekend/summer escape. 

Statistics clearly indicate that 90% of displaced people never go back home. Worse? What if they have nothing to go back to? Our immediate neighbor who is renting the house below mine had 2 restaurants and 2 houses. He lost all of them. He is now employed at a very famous restaurant in Lebanon as a chef. He is trying to build a new life knowing that back "home" there is nothing.

What about those required to serve in the Syrian army, want it or not? As soon as they cross back the border, they are wanted again. I know, I know, this is a simplistic argument but this does not mean that the original statistics used by the "stop the damage" campaign are correct (example, they claim that refugees are 40% of all Lebanese inhabitants whereas the correct number is 15%, the use photos taken from Turkey claiming they are in Lebanon etc...).

Whereas I claim no easy answer, when one goes back to what happened in Lebanon - that a major fragment of the population became displaced, one can only sympathize. But perhaps sympathy is selective.

Can it ever be Ramadan without Sherihan?

So the month of Ramadan is upon us and may it be blessed on everyone. Here's a fact: I grew up in what was known as Eastern Beirut - the Christian quarter. So I was not exactly involved in Muslim rituals. But I knew that "Ramadan" was a thing. The reason I knew is because each and every afternoon - Sherihan would show up on television to ask riddles. I can think of her "amthal" (proverbs) in 1986 when LBC was merely in its infancy and teleliban was the screen to watch still. Honestly, the riddles were sometimes too easy (like, how difficult it was to pick Spain or Japan as an answer). But beyond the riddles, it was her. Talented, mesmerizing, dancing, singing, with some gimmicky computer tricks. She managed to be the center of the show, without it even looking like she was trying hard.

Of course, I knew Sherihan as an actress as well from several programs she was in (I can think of Rahma, or the epic Daouni Aeish among others). Sure, back then I was much more interested in shows such as Magnum, or Hunter, or Night Heat. But as a testament to her talent, she would be brilliant in whatever she was in (OK, just to call a spade a spade, one of her TV shows in the 90s was... ahem, not exactly classic). Still, a lot of other actresses have done fawazeer (riddles) in Ramadan. I can think of Nelly for example. Not to throw shade on anyone any time you mention the fawazeer, people of my generation would gravitate instantly to Sherihan.

Funny, last year someone asked me when I posted a video of her on instagram "min hayde?". A young person from a much more recent generation. I explained and linked one of her Fawazeer intros. He came back aghast "this existed and I had no idea?". I always go back to the same thought, pop culture will always be the bridging gap in a society. Even when I was in East Beirut someone like Sherihan was being watched (on teleliban) by someone else in West Beirut. And if we met today, I suppose we would say "A2olak ah ah, a2olak eh eh".

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Silkor - where English goes awry

Photo credit: Natalia Nasser

The photo above shows two very interesting things. The first is that Silkor, which has long pushed its laser and hair removal procedures to the forefront of its activities, is trying to make people aware it goes other things as well, namely cosmetic procedures. The second thing it shows is that - considering Natalia Nasser took this photo in the Bequa'a valley, apparently the region there is more permissive when it comes to the English language because the sentence seems - to be lopsided grammatically to put it politely. Well, seems Silkor (according to another billboard which sadly I could not capture in Beirut) is celebrating 25 years with the line "age is just a number" - considering their whole premise was to make people (mainly women) look younger, the line fits.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Tarek Chemaly's كون مرا for Women's Day (etre une femme)

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Inspired by Michel Sardou's "Etre une femme" please read my own كون مرا - to all you women out there who know their worth:

كون مرا

لطارق شمالي

مبنية على

Etre une femme

 

باحلام اليقظة

يللي بتجيني كل فترة وفترة

حلمت هونيك مرة

انو جسمي صار جسم مرا

 

مرا عايشة بهالايام

مرا مش عايزتك انت كمان

كون مرا

كون مرا

 

مرا شوفورة تاكسي عخط الحمرا

مرا معا اوبر بكعب عالي وحمرا

مرا بسيكس ويل ونقلة باطون

مرا بفستان سهرا بتحكي بافلاطون

مرا سواقة جحش الدولة عالاتوستراد

ومرا توصل بالسلامة ان الله راد

كون مرا

كون مرا

 

مرا فخامة بقصر بعبدا

مرا بالسراي رئيسة وزرا

مرا ماسكة ساحة النجمة

مرا نائب بس بالسابع حبلة

مرا سفير وعارضة ازياء

ومرا بتشرح قانون من الالف للياء

كون مرا

كون مرا

 

مرا جنرل بالقوى المسلحة

مرا سيدنا وحاطة ماسكرا

مرا بايدا سياسة الشرق الاوسط

مرا كابتن بطيران الشرق الاوسط

مرا ترد عليها من برج المطار

ومرا مدير عام سكسي نار

كون مرا

كون مرا

 

مرا بالدفاع المدني

مرا لحام وخضرجي

مرا ميكانيسيين وبنشرجي

مرا طراش على السيبة

مرا سنكري وحداد ونجار

ومرا جلا بلاط ومعلم عمار

كون مرا

كون مرا

 

مرا رئيس مجلس ادارة

مرا بتمشيكن دوبارة

مرا بتعمل فور باي فور

مرا سايقة فان عطريق البور

مرا بتدوبل عنك على الكوع

ومرا بتوصلا بطلوع الروح

 

مرا عايشة بهالايام

مرا مش عايزتك انت كمان


Beirut Beer and a mixed message for Women's Day

It could  be just me but I am not sure this hit the right notes. See the reel here. Cute, Small, big, suave - and proud. I know they are supposed to describe their bottles but the innuendo says they are describing women too. I always say it is very difficult to include your product in "occasions" and this one was really "tiree par les cheveux" as the French say. I am not sure it worked. The above is a mixed image I did myself. Small side note - "Lebneniye w cheyfe 7ala" (Lebanese and proud) is an old - very old - Almaza ad from the 90s.

Almaza - women's day

So today is Women's Day. Not always an achievement sadly. Almaza has gone right on the job (literally) to talk to male and female employees about the role and impact of women on the workplace. On the whole, the total correct notes were hit for both genders in terms of testimonials. You can see the film here. My favorite bit is when a female employee says "we compare ourselves to ourselves" (that would be Joelle el Zein - accountant). As I said, sadly we are still at a point where we need to prove that women contribute to the betterment of companies. I once asked a (young) taxi driver, "does your wife work?", his answer? "iza bt2oul bah bdammema" (which means "if she even thinks about it, I will hit her till blood runs out"). And that was 5 years ago. The good news is that 40% of leadership positions at Almaza are women.

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Dear agency, creatives have names.

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

All right, color me upset. Yesterday, an agency sent me a teaser for their campaign. A very well-written teaser actually. I emailed back asking the name of that talented copywriter and the answer came back "the agency". My blood went boiling. Why? Let me tell you this story: A long time ago I had a major presentation for an Arab client. A specific art director and myself did everything from A to Z. The presentation (by yours truly) was a smash. On the way back, we get a message from the agency owner, whereby the client told him "oh it had your fingerprints all over it". And the owner was bragging about it even though he had zero input or knowledge of the content of the presentation.

Which brings us back to - NO, the agency did not write the copy. A very specific person in the creative department did. He or she toiled on it, wrote drafts or perhaps spit it out in one go (that's usually my method actually), words came out fully-formed or had to be tweaked, maybe that person came up with the sentence while on the WC, or as it happened to me once a 9 P.M. while opening a refrigerator (thankfully the art director lived nearby and was able to rush to tell him what it was). Bottom line: creatives need to be celebrated, not just agencies.

Also, a long time ago, I came up with a brilliant idea for an ad. The creative director ran with it, phoned the agency boss who happened on a business trip in Tokyo and claimed it was his idea. The worst part is that the creative director went to Prague to shoot the ad and came back with a distorted and deformed end product. But again, this is not about me - one of the things that "saved" me in this industry is that I came to it rather late, and already was dismissive of egos and accolades and awards and competitiveness - funnily on my cubicle at one of the agencies I inhabited was a sign "please leave your ego at the door".

But I am still upset. Because agencies do not write copies, and agencies do not come with creative ideas, and agencies do not do incredible presentations. It's creative people who do. And there's nothing wrong with giving credit where credit is due. When I ask who wrote the copy, please, do not say the agency did.

That creative needed to be celebrated.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Optique et Vision - of 75 years

Ah Optique et Vision, a shop of which my family and myself are occasionally clients is celebrating its 75th year. Well, that's a lot of years and a lot of glasses! And what do you know? They came up with a cute logo for the occasion. The logo obviously riffs on the original Optique et Vision logo all while incorporating its 75th anniversary signaling. Sure, the graphics are cute too, but I keep going back to that understated, smart and very evocative logo. I really do like it, because it takes a lot to make something so simple and communicative.

As a reference, here's the original Optique et Vision logo.



Monday, March 4, 2024

BUMC has a legitimate warning

BUMC has a warning and a very legitimate one at that. "Avoid danger. Only electric and hybrid Toyota cars sold via BUMC enjoy warranty from the Toyota international factory". OK, so the idea is - do not buy electric or hybrid Toyota cars unless you get them from the BUMC official dealership. Now, if you do so, do not expect BUMC to fix them for free. Furthermore, if anything that happens to you while driving such a car not bought via BUMC, well - only you have yourself to blame. Well, not sure what prompted BUMC to buy such an ad space (whereas prices are relatively cheap, they still cost money) - maybe too many people are trying to get BUMC to get them to fix their cars which they got from private dealerships? Or from abroad (which I doubt to be honest, but still a possibility)? Whatever it is, BUMC makes it clear where they stand. 

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Skoda goes vernacular

Oh... If this means what I think it means then it is quite funny. Normally when you visit someone and they offer you something, you say "mich jeyin njarebkon" - which means "were're not here to test you". And now Skoda is saying "come test us" in their new showroom in Mdawar. Either I am reading too much into this ad, or it is funny (because of the double-entendre). I still do not know which is correct though in terms of interpretation. Maybe they are simply asking people to just test the cars, or maybe there is a deep wink there.

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Divella - Italian passion

Divella - well, this is a brand I notice in the supermarket. With a high price-quality ratio. Yes, we are one of the families that drifted from Barilla when brand-loyalty got replaced with price-sensitivity. And there it is, Divella is on the streets. The idea is to adapt the shape of the pasta to "Italian passion" (or specialties). I am not sure if the campaign has further visuals, but the two I saw included a Vespa and fashion design.

So it will be nice to see this campaign - which is interesting to be honest - go further in the analogy. Again, perhaps this has already happened, except I only have these two visuals on my radar.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

L'Orient le Siecle - l'Orient le Jour is centennial

If anyone knows me, then my obsession is memory and archive comes to the front. And so today I wake up with this beautiful gem (from Mink no less!) who has worked with L'Orient le Jour (which is now l'Orient le Siecle - a beautiful project name if there was one). OK, first and foremost I am mad as hell for not being part of the project considering how easily I can tell tales related to the past from material already present (and sometimes not present!). But this put aside, this is a Gargantuan effort to tell the story of 100 years by l'Orient le Jour (see the film here). The composite image above is my work based on the film in question. You know what this film reminds me of? That beautiful ad for Dewar's 12 Ancestor (the witness of time - sadly I could not find the original but here's an updated version here).

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Lux blooms in Raouche


Well, what do you know? In Arabic fairy tales start with "kan ya ma kan" (there was there was not).... And Lux does this in real life with brilliance. Did it happen? Did it not? Who cares when the results are this interesting. First check them here. So here's the backstory - Lux just dropped on the Raouche rock and the whole sea is now in bloom as the parachute carrying Lux made its safe landing. Makes sense? No? Salvador Dali is on the line then. Seriously, I had to actually check with the agency if this was real or not - for your info it was 3D animation. But then again, who cares? I thought it was lovely. Sometimes, and especially these days, we need a bit of dreaming here in Lebanon! Lux is here to deliver.

Municipalities, again, and again...

Remember Nahnoo? (here). Well, guess who is back? This ad is - actually more explicit than the previous one (even if the creative angle leaves me perplexed). OK this one goes "municipalities are not made-to-measure they should fit the whole country" (I guess they are trying to mean that municipalities are not made to suit specific political entities but rather the whole population). Now, at least this time around they included a very clear "participate in the municipal elections, become candidates and vote". As I said, this ad is a bit more "obvious" even if creatively I am still a tad lost.

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Al Wadi Al Akhdar is jamming

Hmmm.... I could be mistaken, but I was always under the impression that Al Wadi Al Akhdar already had jams. According to their website they do (here). So it is a little strange to see them advertise the said jams on the streets. Perhaps their other products are doing well and so they needed to push these (well, I guess the other products are pseudo-staples on Lebanese tables). Anyhow, the selling point is that these taste like homemade jams in Arabic - except that in English is becomes spread the goodness (with spread having a double-meaning). The visual is a but lowest common denominator - with the jam in the shape of a heart etc.

As I said, interesting that they chose to do the jam ad now. Maybe there is a halo effect expect for the other products so it's two birds in one stone.

Small update: As this image show on Instagram, it seems this is part of a Valentine's Day campaign (here). Thank you Natalia Nasser for pointing it out to me.

Monday, February 26, 2024

Gac Motor and statistics

Just to be clear, I am not trying to be witty or mean or whatever. I saw this ad and still not sure what to make of it. Gac Motor (OK, it could be just me, but not familiar with that brand) has ranked #1 in "Chinese car, sold and registered in 2023". Now, the ad does not specify the % of Chinese cars sold as compared to other nationalities - which makes the statistic a little vague. Again, am trying not to be biased either way mind you, yet I cannot but take this headline with a pinch of salt as it does not specify comparatives or numbers (by numbers I mean - what if the #1 in Chinese cars is a dismal very low number - but technically they are not lying, it would still make them number 1).

On all accounts, perhaps further elucidating the statistics would make the ad clearer. But once more am trying to give it the maximum benefit of a doubt.