Fattal rebrands to Tamina

By now you have probably heard of CMA CGM acquiring Fattal Group (an incredibly smart move if there was one - Fattal being a leading regional distributor of national and international premium brands, so CMA CGM gets to ship the goods and sell them locally and regionally too! A very symbiotic move indeed). Recently CMA CGM announced the integration of the Fattal teams within their structure. And now they even have a new name - as a rebrand I presume - "Tamina". Well, originally it is "Thamina" (precious/expensive) in Arabic. Yes yes, you can read it already on the photo about to "create value" for so and so. But Fattal is a name is a major weight, a long heritage since 1897, and truly inspires faith, confidence and brand recognition throughout.

So I am not even sure why the name change. Especially a "feminine" name change. Because in Arabic "Tamina" is distinctly women-oriented (Tamin is for men). So honestly, between the distinctive typography of the name Fattal (beautiful Arabic calligraphy) to the bland Tamina, I am neither seeing the logic nor the value of any of this especially that this will extend to many countries, many product categories, many internal stratagems and seriously, it's not worth it. 

Fattal, 120 years and a new ownership

Fattal just issued its 120 year anniversary documentary. No surprises there, but then again the company is so large and established I guess there was too many layers of approval before this came about and eventually flattened it a bit creatively. But then again, no biggie, the company does manage to tell its story, via some archival images - the documentary does find its personal footing when real images from the past of the company are used. One connects with them especially if of a certain age when the war images - and yet the normalcy of the workers in the warehouse - both blend together.

It goes without saying Fattal is a huge group that represents too many brands - most exclusively - and good for them. Also their social arm is not some let's-greenwash-this but rather a very serious endeavor from their part (side note, through a friend we were approached long ago to do a documentary for them and for some odd reason, one of their employees thought that they can change the statistics offered without having to re-record everything a studio. Bit bizarre if you ask me!).

But now Fattal has been sold to CMA CGM, the shipping monster. A smart move? Yes if you ask me. Because there's so much a company can do, without emphasizing how compatible and logistically synergistic the whole thing is.

That CMA CGM has a CEO and Chairman in the person of Rodolphe Saadé means that the whole enterprise is still largely Lebanese in identity. So on to the next chapter. See the documentary here.

CMA CGM - master storytellers!

Wait, did a freight company almost made me cry?

Here. The company is supposed to be just carrying containers for heaven's sake! And here they are, a beautiful, incredibly well-made, superbly copywrited, emotionally moving (sorry, a pun!), but they just done it. They made me dream, they made me engage with them, yes, even with their CSR side-foundation which they inserted without being chichi, they highlighted their racially diverse staff without being haughty (and if you look closely there is the Arabic sticker on the box!), and everyone seemed to be steered by the immense force of dreaming, of making things better. Apologies if I am getting too emotional but not sure superlatives exist to describe this.

Well, no, the ad did not made me almost cry. There is a real tear in my eye. Brilliant! Just brilliant.