961 Beer deserved better

Remember how lately I spoke about 961 Beer relaunching (here)? Well, I was a bit cautiously optimistic. I mean the campaign knew who it wanted to target that is for sure. I was actually talking about it with an industry veteran and he too was a little skeptical but my final judgement was "let us wait and see where they are taking this" (knowing there is a respectable agency behind the campaign). Today it seems we have the answer, "they are not taking it too far". Or, in the words of the same industry insider, "childish". To which I agree. I mean there's just not enough you can do when the concept is, a little limited truth be told.

The ad above was launched for international beer day, apart from the puzzling art direction (sorry the bottle placement is not believable!), apparently they are targeting "travelers" (well, that's several steps higher than "passionates" in their first ad). But, somehow, at this point, I am even sure where they are going to go from here conceptually. 

To be honest, I think 961 Beer deserved better than this.

961Beer is relaunching

So 961 is relaunching apparently (unless it was always there and I never noticed). But here we are - with the mainstream positioning already taken by Almaza, with Beirut Beer on a hit-and-miss mission, 961 had the "anti" positioning left for it for the taking. I mean, being "alternative" is nothing wrong as a positioning especially that 961 Beer prides itself as the original craft beer in Lebanon since 2006 (here). 

961 Beer is relaunching with "do you have the code?" (obviously as a wink to the 961 - in case you did not know that is Lebanon's international phone code). Oddly it does remind me very much of the Carolina Herrera 212 VIP ads "are you on the list?" (212 being NY's phone code as well!). Now, the ads obviously target "rebels", but also "passionates" (no, that is not a word but heck it's advertising so anything is allowed), "lovers", "clubbers", "believers"... Look, let me be honest, every time there is an ad that talks to the "alt" category of people I cannot but feel they were inspired by the original ad that started it all in Lebanon - Aizone "Vote" ad (here).

Still, the campaign stands on its own two feet. Knows what part of the market it wants to conquer, so for this alone, it merits respect.