Aishti - A Christmas ad from a brand that never learns its lesson

So Aishti never learns its lesson. I can write pages up on pages. They did it before for Independence day in 2016 and now Christmas 2025. Aishti get your act together.

Aishti campaign, new but not so for end of year

This is what Aishti did for end of year in 2021, then 2022, then this for 2023. Look, maybe, just maybe, there was some sort of animation in those 2 years, but for some reason when I saw the above I gave me a distinct impression of deja vu (OK, no jokes about reloading the matrix, than you). It is indeed, very close, as in very, very close to the two former campaigns which also included window dressings for its various stores including the flagship which got damaged in the 2020 August explosion in downtown Beirut. But all this is to say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". But even the town's most upscale retailer is not immune to the catastrophe that befell on the Lebanese economy. Surely, it has its VIPs and big spenders, but knowing that the aspirational consumers are no longer there nor are they accessible must have hurt. But well, still, launching a small end-of-year campaign when all merchants are telling me that the second half of the year was completely abysmal is commandable.

Is Almaza unfiltered taking a page from the Aizone playbook?

On the plus side, Almaza seems to be the only major player still advertising - which I guess is good for the economy. On the minus side, the results are really inconsistent (here). For their latest installment, Almaza unfiltered, the brand tries to riff on all those problems in Lebanon - anything from how the beach in Saida has been taken over by Muslim extremists denying women the right to wear a swimsuit, to women walking the streets and being harassed, to men with non-conforming genders, going through a whole multitude of issues that gen Z or millennials find challenging. 

However, the tone of voice, the way the ad was shot, the whole ambiance made me remember a much, much better ad that riffed on too many such social issues... The ad was done by Leo Burnett in 2005 for Aizone (the kid brother of Aishti - the town's most luxurious adress) which you can find here. I truly think Almaza redid the original though with less gusto than the Aizone effort (which I still find sublime after all these years).

Watch the Almaza effort here, which in itself is interesting. And to give credit where credit is due, the original concept - Un-filtered beer which is as brave as the Lebanese "enduring unacceptable and unjust daily deceptions" (as per the words of Almaza) which leads to the words un-censored, un-hate, un-armed, un-censored, un-afraid and so on in the ad is actually not half as bad. 

I still think however the Aizone ad was much better done.

Summer 2023: Is Lebanon back to its old shenanigans?

Portemilio resort ad from my archive

At a time when the salary of most people working in the public sector is now at 100 USD, when most people are "making do" and barely making it till the end of the month, Lebanon goes back to its old shenanigans - which ones? Wherever I go on the net, titles such as "Is Beirut back as the shopping capital of the Middle East?", "fully booked long hot summer awaits", and the list goes on.

Here's the deal: for a very very long time, the banking sector which has now totally collapsed taking with it people's money, along with the construction industry which has almost vanished at this point (every person no matter their background called himself - interestingly herself was almost non-inexistent - a "promotor"), and tourism were the backbone of what was holding the economy together.

And now, it seems that tourism is the only one left standing. 2010 was a booming summer in terms of tourism in Lebanon, people were flush wish cash, expats were returning in droves, Beirut was making it to the top of must-visit cities in the world and the list goes on. 2019 along with the crash it precipitated, followed by hard-hitting Covid in 2020-21 (and the 2020 explosion in Beirut), ushered the closure of around half a thousand HORECA (Hotels, restaurants and Cafes) establishments. 

This without counting the usual shopping places - I already spoke of Kaslik (here) and last time I went to the originally very vibrant Beirut Souks mall, only 7 stores in all the mall were open. The Librairie Antoine for example which occupied 3 floors closed down its branch there. Aishti - the nation's most luxurious shopping destination (with its flagship store in downtown Beirut one street away from Beirut Mall) - had to bankroll its own fixing after the 2020 explosion since (according to its CEO Toni Salame) banks were in not the mood to lend money to anyone. Do note, I am neither defending Beirut Mall or Aishti or slandering them - it is just that at some point, the area below the ring bridge became.... a ghost town for a long time.

And now what? Now we are back to promising people things. Now we are back to bathing them in dreams. Just to give a small example: suppose this is indeed a great summer for tourism, how will Mr. and Mrs. Average Lebanese profit from it? I know your thinking - "oh they will be hired in hotels or restaurants for the summer". Well, what's with the level of poverty, the presence of Syrian workers, the fierce competition for any salary, the ones who will accept the worst conditions will be recruited.

As it is, electricity bills have gone 10 fold to eye-wateringly obnoxious figures, it seems the internet will follow suit soon, and the list continues. All this without factoring the new "customs Dollar" which will push any imported product by about 10-15% in price. 

As a side note, the new price list to go to beach resorts has been published for the summer of 2023 - in Dollars mind you - and there you go, the prices do make you wonder how can anyone afford spending a day there. How people hope and cope is beyond me. There is zero logic to all this "positive vibes" being spread, unless of course it is "fake it till you make it". 

I was never part of the "fake it" crowd. And I am not joining for the summer 2023 season.

Christmas according to ABC mall, Aishti and GS

It is, believe it or not, Christmas. Hard to guess it from the ambient lack of cheer in Lebanon what's with the economic crisis still hitting everyone hard no matter the socio-economic class. Yet still, Christmas this year for the ad industry is slightly - marginally slightly - better than than the 3 years that preceded it. ABC mall (with its major flagships in Dbayeh, Achrafieh and Verdun) has unleashed its "unwrap Christmas" campaign with a visual a little too on the nose (even if well done art direction wise of - you guessed it - a large ribbon being unwrapped from the dress of a woman). 

Aisthti the most upscale retailer in town has gone the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it route by rehashing the "give plenty" campaign it unveiled last year (here), to be honest I think the Christmas tree made of boxes was also done prior though I cannot find it in my archives.

GS - a multibrand store - which represents companies not as luxurious as Aishti but still well seen and (pricey in their own way these days) such as Timberland or Geox has gone with "Holiday in Style" inside a rectangle - which it applied to various visuals or stand alone ads.

Of course, asking cash-strapped shoppers to be enthusiastic for Christmas is a very tall order especially with everything going completely bananas at this point.

Aishti is back via Lake Como

Aishti - the country's most luxurious retailer - is on the streets. Several billboards indicate it. Sure, it's online is a little in disarray (on its website, fashion is in 2021 - look here - and its facebook is only used to announce online shop updates - here - but the focus seems to be on its Instagram page which is chronically updated - here). For a long time, Aishti has used the services of &Walsh which veered it towards a surrealistic territory (see here).

Aishti has a new campaign - one that was shot at The Grand Hotel Termezzo, Lake Como in Italy - and it goes back to practically the beginning. Long gone is the conceptual work, instead, we have models parading clothes in dreamy settings. Just to note, there's nothing wrong with that. Basically all upscale retailers use this technique.

So here we are, in the messy post-election world, some billboards are now focused on luxurious summer dressing. And you know, it is kind of refreshing to see beautiful women and handsome men in Italy (on Riva boats) all dressed up (while we have nowhere to go).

Aishti - Mother's Day on the down low

Aishti does the Mother's Day treatment, but does it a little on the down low. Keeping with the idea of the strikethrough headline (see here) Aisthti (Lebanon's most upscale retailer) went with the idea of boxes (a little like Hermes truth be told) with a heart-shaped box (no seriously! Just look at the visual).

Mind you Aishti suffered the destruction of its flagship stores in downtown Beirut following the August 2020 blast, along with its mono-brand boutiques. It had its Zaha Hadid new stores (still not open) suffering a fire blaze, and lately its Jal el Dib anchor branch also suffered a small  fire blaze on the roof. To cut costs the retailer had to fold its publishing arm (A magazine and l'Officiel). So a small ad for Mother's Day is just a sign of the times.

Aishti - Valentine's Day

Photo credit: Bill Taha

Perhaps you do not remember these ads. When Aishti used to a huge fanfare for Valentine's day (I could not find them anywhere online, but I remember the trilogy of "Love is a game" (where a man and a woman would play games and keep score - like who bats the eye first or who pushes the highest floor on the elevator) or the one set to Frank and Nancy Sinatra's "Something Special Something Stupid". As I said, it was truly advertising galore. Until of course, it wasn't.

So this year, Aishti goes out with "Love is the answer". Interestingly, it is also marked with a strikethrough. Which could either mean they are renouncing that statement, or simply, like the Christmas campaign, it is a design gimmick. Of course, Aishti, which has downsized by closing stores, folding its magazine arm, among other measures.

So yes, even Aishti is not immune to the current crisis. At this point, aspirational shopping and retail therapy are too far gone to factor as measures to redress the balance.

Aishti/Aizone and the end of year campaign

And here it is, despite all the horrors, all the turmoils of the last year and the year before, Aishti and its younger sibling Aizone splash an end of year campaign centered around graphics for festive sentences "Always be merry" for Aishti and "Always give plenty" for Aizone. The campaign is displayed throughout some very strategic billboards and adorns the shops themselves. Aishti is a prime luxury destination and Aizone is hot on its heels as well (though caters for a younger or funkier crowd), so the clientele is well known, and whereas I had a strong feeling Aishti 1) lost its aspirational shoppers 2) was competing with itself with its many many branches scattered in malls not too far from its flagship stores, eventually the brand downsized astronomically what's with the economic crash affecting heavily its clientele (example, all the mono brand shops at the Beirut Souks closed down except for Camper, and that was several months prior to the severe explosion of August 4, 2020 - in addition many outposts for the brand vanished from lower caliber malls as well). 

Still, the campaign is very much in line with the post Leo Burnet handling on the brand (which is now in the hands of &Walsh but I stand corrected) - meaning heavy graphics or surrealistic takes.
 

Aishti, the first TVC

Whereas lately I asked if this could be the first print ad for Aishti (here), now we have - for sure - the first Aishti TV commercial. The ad was done by (then) Saatchi & Saatchi which had later been rebaptized M&C Saatchi MENA. Of course I assume you know Aishti is the country's premium luxury retailer representing many many upper tier brands. So the ad had to be sophisticated, well-done, inspiring for upper classes, and so on. It fits the purpose indeed, but let us be honest as well, it also dates back to 1997 and well, by now it is incredibly dated. I know, most luxury ads are dated. But, some date much more badly than others. To begin with, Aishti shed its "Lebanese" connotations since - whereas the ad is stuffed with them. Now, maybe the luxury ads are not supposed to have a strong concept, but even with a very simple concept this kind of ad (beautiful woman being followed by the city's men) was done elsewhere and much better (see here for an exquisite example). Since then Aishti came a long way. See the ad here. 

Aishti by the sea goes... to the sea!

In a surprise to no one, Aishti by the sea goes to the sea in its new campaign. What is interesting for me, above all, is that Aishti - the country's most luxurious retailer - has a campaign to begin with. At this stage, prices even at your run of the mill shop are so expensive, Aishti is - by all means and measures - totally and completely out of reach even to aspiring consumers (believe it or not, this place now goes to Zara!) and to what is left of the Middle Class (see here for clarification) and its large and very intimidating architecture does not help (again see here). Still, Aishti and its flagship store (and its other stand alone shops) in downtown suffered major damage (including many employees being injured and the stores being too close to the epicenter of the August 4 2020 blast, rendering them literally inoperable for a long time). But in Lebanon, where the ad market flatlined, any new campaign is much welcome. No matter its target audience or to whom it addresses itself or how creative it is. Which is why Aishti dipping its toes again in an ad campaign is quite welcome.

Could this be the first ad of Aishti?

Is this the first Aishti ad? Well, naturally I cannot be certain, but there is a probability it might be among the first. It was published in Annahar newspaper in 1991. You will note that back then the old logo still stood, and that the boutique had two branches only - one in Jal el Dib on the bifurcation of Juicy Burger (a defunkt Lebanese burger joint), and one in Mar Elias behind Banque Mediteranee (likelihood the same bank branch still stands but has been rebaptized as BankMed). See? We are far from the luxury behemoth which is now present now just in several places and stand alone boutiques in Lebanon, but also in many other country (Jordan, Kuwait, and the UAE).

Once more, I tried to track other ads in the same time vicinity in the same newspaper, but could not find any. I tried to see if one year earlier there was anything, and no luck. Which is why my speculation was that this could be the first ad for the brand.