Heineken - between Amsterdam and Beirut

Apparently, despite selling back its majority shares in 2022 of the Brasserie Almaza to the Jabre family, Heineken never left the Lebanese market and the said brewery still retains the sales and distribution rights for all Heineken products on the Lebanese territory. So it is a pleasure to see a Heineken ad at the gates of summer - and especially with the World Cup kicking off soon - somewhere in Lebanon. As far as I saw the ads were not plastered all over, perhaps Brasserie Almaza wishes for its star product to remain center stage, also this could be down to the price factor - with Heineken being 0.5 to 0.6 USD more expensive than its Lebanese counterpart. Still, "born in Amsterdam, enjoyed in Beirut" clearly wishes to differentiate the two products giving one an international cachet. I think this might be to distinguish between the two target audiences.

Awal chi... Almaza deserves a victory lap!

Almaza has two back to back new ads (on instagram at least), the first "queen" is a wink on the election of the new Miss Lebanon (they had better entrances on this prior so am skipping this). Then... booom they have an incredibly nice one. I mean this harks back to their days being very much on the zeitgeist, of knowing how Lebanese banter, or really having an ear on the vernacular - heaven help us I am ventilating in superlatives here. But here we are... Awal chi bonsoir... Tene chi keskon (first a good evening, then cheers to you). I know, I know, too simple but it works - as in really really works. This is how people talk, this is what Almaza always stood for (at least during the Intermarkets days and within some nice flashes with Force Majeure). But I, impartial as I am, have actually criticized Almaza left and right (and center for a good measure!), but - this one made me melt. The beauty of it is that it came out of nowhere, a reminder of how good Almaza can be when it wants it. Here's hoping it wants it more.

Almaza: Welcome to the bottom of the (beer) barrel

Is this ad tasteless? No, more than tasteless. Triggering? Actually, a lot more than that. Has a sick twisted sense of humor? I am not laughing. This ad, to any Lebanese, is truly, seriously, the bottom of both, creativity, lack of empathy, and disrespect for collective trauma. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

For anyone who did not understand the Arabic: "in both cases the summer is on fire".

What both cases? Duh, are you not following the news, or worse, living the news (last year 2024 was a good sample). This is, truly, shameful, and a disgrace for both the brand and - trying to keep my words in check - anyone who came up or approved of it.

Almaza has touched the bottom of the (beer) barrel.

Heineken enters the chat in the beer wars

Almaza, Beirut Beer (add Keo), and now Heineken has entered the chat in the summer beer wars in Lebanon with each trying to establish its own share of the market. Funnily, Heinkeken used to own (not sure if outright) Almaza but sold their shares to an investment banker. In case you are wondering "for that first ahh" is Heinken (campaign from last year). Still, here were are, a lot of beers, for a supposedly flush clientele (innocent question: where is the money coming from knowing the market is in shabby state still?). Well, if you got it flaunt it, let the summer enjoyment begin (if only the weather was compliant though! Still grumpy on the whole).

Keo beer goes golden. Yellow too.

I have previously spoken about the Keo beer (here) so it is refreshing (har har) that they are back with a new campaign. OK, they are axing it around yellow/golden (the problem with either color? Google "Golden shower" at your own risk and peril)... Still - I might be reading too much into a color. The campaign is sort of everywhere with many variants about the color and all that (real beer is golden for example). Of course there is the usual let-us-cut-from-the-Almaza-market "time for a change, go yellow" (mind you Beirut Beer is a professional in this - here).

Laziza - Pineapple-flavored beer

OK, I admit, I am no beer specialist so it took me a while to understand what the product was. Apparently it is a "pineapple-flavored beer" brought to you by Laziza. Been a while since we last heard of Laziza which makes this re-entry out of nowhere. And again, the product is incredibly niche. But hey, what do I know. After the Beirut Beer Mexican (Mexbeer) which apparently was panned by anyone who understands beer (not me), let us hope this one is more in line with what it says on the outside. So here it is, pineapple-flavored Laziza. 

Almaza releases a headscratcher

I can write paragraphs upon paragraphs about this.

Or I can simply say: I have no idea what they are saying.

I really don't. If anyone can translate am listening.
 

Almaza - Valentine's

Just not to leave it out, here it is - after other brands did it, and Exotica won it handily (here), Almaza is here for a Valentine's ad - "tab2in" which means "they click". Not bad, not a vintage either. But since Almaza is winning awards, not sure they care (no names, but you know which awards!). Again, I said it many times, since Almaza owns its old ads by virtue of paying for them in the past, why not rehash them. They worked perfectly well!

Almaza - expats ahoy!

So expats came and went (much earlier than expected for many), and expats never ended up coming due to the very entangled political situation. And Almaza is riffing rightfully on those who still are here. Heck, maybe it is even talking about those of us stuck here! "He who is still here raise your hand" - OK I admit it reminded me of the teaser revealer long long ago (Raise your head - raise your head and the revealer: Almaza raises the head (a double entendre in Arabic because you need to raise your head to drink and the Arabic equivalent of "makes you proud" - ارفع راسك - ارفع راسك - الماسة بترفع الراس) Small note all this happened sometime in the mid 90s so it's very old stuff.

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.

Almaza stresses Lebanese identity

Photo credit Nibal Hadchiti Dfouni

So Almaza is pulling on up! Their newest efforts center around their identity. Mind you the trick has been played long ago when Almaza was with a different agency (لبنانيه وشايفة حالها - Lebanese and proud of it). But that was probably in the mid 1990s. Anyhow, Almaza played the trick of how words are said in different language - which is common on Instagram, in English (Beer) in French (Biere) in Lebanon (Almaza). As I said this is current on Instagram where Lebanese always have a different way of saying words. And yes, Almaza could be the first name to come to mind in Lebanon when mentioning beer.

Now the second ad is a bit less obvious - "despite is all, Lebanon is Almaza" (Almaza means diamond in case you did not know in Arabic). 

Beirut Beer - UEFA Euro

So Beirut Beer just went full UEFA Euro football.... The angle is this, "the game is European, the cheering is Lebanese" and the concept is extended towards local expressions - with explanation in tow. Purely slang, only understood by the Lebanese, which make little or no sense to other - specifically European - nations. Now, let's be honest this is not like "earth-shattering" but the ad is nice in its own perspective, and yes, people do drink beer extensively while cheering their favorite football team (and in case you are not aware, Germany, Brazil (which of course have no team playing in the UEFA Euro games), Italy, and even France have very sizable fans among the Lebanese population leading to some very ugly scenes). You can enjoy the ad here.

Almaza - Bottle inside a can

Yes I know the photo is horrible, but sometimes I take photos from odd angles and research the brands back online once at home for better views. Well, seems this one was not posted on the Almaza site or on any of its social media. Which left me stuck with a bad image for what actually is an interesting ad. Well, sometimes advertisers do not have to go till the end of the earth to come up with something catchy and if you read my blog Almaza has been have a patchy run (sometimes it works, at others it does not - here). And maybe just because they went back to basic - red background, white typography with a good copy - that I sympathized with the ad.

Actually the ad is simply "a can with a bottle inside". Simply, they have managed to fill the cans with the same centiliters in a bottle. And they just expressed simply and rather wittily. What is there not to like?

Beirut Beer goes summerish

Well, Beirut Beer has issued a summer visual. I am not calling it a campaign because a campaign requires at least 3 connected visuals to be counted as such. But with the state of advertising as it is, you deal withwhat you can get in Lebanon these days.

Now truth be told, I am not sure the whole thing was worth it - "new summer wave" with the beer doing a "wave" with the overspill and the foam. Actually what would have made it nicer maybe would be the inclusion of Hokusai's "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa" (here) and rendering the whole thing as an illustration. But that I suppose it asking too much....

So voila, we end up with a first degree ad. 

Keo beer - a reintroduction to the Lebanese market

OK, forgive my ignorance - am not much a beer drinker. So Keo slipped from the radar - please check here and here. Interestingly, whereas the pages seem inactive, the brand just launched an outdoor campaign. The secret lies in the fact that it seems it has changed importers in the meantime, so its newest home seems to be here. Well, the original campaign which dates back to 2019 was a little too childish a la "alcohol you later", so thankfully, having just the beer and its various sizes and shapes with a simple logo is much better fitting. 

In case you did not know (and I did not, I had to search that!) Keo is the beer with the largest market share in Cyprus. Also, I found it funny that they had a large unipole right next to the Almaza brasserie in Dora - my first reflex was that the said brasserie is now brewing it. But I guess that was either a cheeky move, or just random luck.

So voila, Keo is back in the market - after what seems to be a failed first attempt.

Almaza is always a summer state of mind

 Almaza is either celebrating "akher iyam el sayfiyi" by Fairouz, or literally disregarding the calendar altogether as they're always in summer mood. Sure we are technically in autumn and the weather is a little - just a little - on the chill side, but then again why not milk the summer till the last drop. Which Almaza is doing anyhow.

Hot on the heels of their mock instagram shot - where everyone seems to be chilling champagne/wine - so why not chill beer instead and forget about the (r)ose - and now there's a "foam party". So there, summer is not a matter of dates but rather of opinions. Interestingly, finding an element in the bottle or the beer and constantly tinkering with it is no mean feat, so credit for Force Majeure agency for doing it.

Whatever Almaza is doing make it stop..

Remember when I said that Almaza got its grove back? (here)

I am starting to suspect I have spoken a bit too early. After yesterday's semi-forgivable blunder (here), today comes this.... Apparently there are limited edition bottles of Almaza from "A to Z". Innocent enough until you read it "A toZ"... toz being Arabic for "wouldn't register on my a**". To begin with this is too reminiscent of the Coca-Cola blottle naming thingy (the shareacoke campaign) but done on a budget as only one letter appears on the bottle instead of the more complex whole name. OK, even this could  be swallowed but the "toz"  thingy really takes the cake!  

Look am not asking for a lot, just for them to really watch out what they are doing. 

Almaza - summarizes summer

Almaza, our national beer, and summer - a typical hand in glove situation. Sure, prices make beer a luxury item at this point but still Almaza is going in full force with its summerish mood. Its campaign centers around the idea that it is "summer summarized" the two visual interpretations above - one with the bottle under a wave and another as a support for a palm beach umbrella convey the idea clearly.

Almaza has been doing some decent and consistent work with Force Majeure (they migrated from Leo Burnett), but part of me yearns for its Arabic slang outing back when it was still with Intermarkets (though creatively, Assad Doueihy who was creative director at Intermarkets is the lead behind these!).

The weather report according to Almaza

Almaza our national beer continues with its strategy of covering more or less daily events when they are worth celebrating (see here, here, and here for examples) and this weekend, Lebanon experienced its first taste of summer. Weather was nice, temperatures began to climb, and whereas the livin' is not easy one can always pretend. Cue the weather forecast courtesy of Almaza: The sun is a 5505 Degrees, the sea at 25, the air at 30, and Almaza? -2 thank you very much.

So yes, refreshing, cold and refrigerated. Of course, prices are soaring all over so people can no longer consume alcohol (even if locally produced!) with the same insouciance they used to. But then again I suppose a beach outing is never complete without Almaza, neither is a picnic or a family Sunday lunch.

So I guess it's sunny with a chance of Almaza.

Beirut Beer finally markets itself with its own merits (sort of).

I said it before in 2017 (see here), that it would be lovely for Beirut Beer to go out of the shadow of Almaza and stop its positioning as "anti"(leading brand in the market) and market itself with on its own merits. Their current campaign perhaps answers my thoughts. Sort of.

"We don't apply coats of paint" (meaning "spice stories artificially"), "our lettuce does not grow" (meaning "we don't get over ourselves"), "our feather does not show" (meaning "we don't brag") - all three half ads drive home the point that basically they say things as they are, and then the other half ad is "our beer doesn't bloat".

Which, if we go back to the beginning is exactly them marketing their own beer according to their own merit. Except of course, they had to - implicitly - compare it to Almaza (about the ego trip). But hey, baby steps, after so many years doing nothing but comparing, it seems there is hope after all.