Castania goes the easy route this Christmas

Castania, well, yes, gatherings go require mixed nuts - and gatherings abound now that the festivities are near (also note Santa's hand?) - but I do not blame Castania for going for a simpler creative route. For heaven's sake, again, now that brand loyalty is out the window, everyone is competing on lower prices and more affordable items and - like any other brand - Castania has a full range of them from the entry point to the ultra expensive kernels only. "Share joy" - I am not sure how much sharing there is had I been around - but then again let regular people to their own... 

Nuts is everywhere in Lebanon

So the title was a double-entendre, but seriously nuts is everywhere. Exhibits 1, 2, and 3.  Namely "Castania made for the good times" (interestingly, Castania and Pepsi are offering a combo as well), Krikita is introducing its spicy party mix, and Al Kazzi is stressing it is baked not fried. Obviously too many angles for the same product - and with summer swinging high, people are actually gathering with nuts as a ritual offering. So here we are, 3 different brands, each with a different positioning and promise. Of course, the big question is - how brand-loyal Lebanese still are? My take is not much. The proof, I buy cricri and roasted corn by the kilo from a brandless sack. They taste wonderful, and I get them at a fraction of the price of any of the brand-heavy ones.

Side note? The first Al Rifai selling line was "Drives you nuts", but that was the 80s, a lot of water passed under the bridge since then.

Castania goes peanut butter, unconvincingly

Remember Boulos? (Here). Well, Boulos was trying to expand from "oil" to "mouneh" - and in their case the step was a small one as it made sense. Now, I know on paper, a company selling nuts is moving from nuts to peanut butter sounds the same. For some reason I find it incredibly more complicated. To begin with the concept of peanut butter is not popular in Lebanon as it is in the US for example, also, the company is moving from a "bag" product to one in a glass jar, oddly this seems very off. Sure, they do gain from their name notoriety, and the "peanuts/nuts" association. I still think this is a bridge too far to cross though.

Castania goes World Cup

Ah I am a bit surprised not more brands jumped on the World Cup bandwagon, but then again what's with everyone slashing budgets on all fronts I guess World Cup was among the casualties. Which makes the Castania Nuts ad a bit of a rarity. "The game is tasteless without Castania" - now "tasteless" or "ma elo ta3me" also translates as "boring" in slang Arabic. So it's two birds in one stone. Now do note that Castania and accompanying drinks (I am thinking of beers actually) which normally accompany football matches for Lebanese are now exorbitantly expensive as a combo - so it's not like every other Lebanese is munching on nuts and jugging beer and watching the football games. 

Castania trail mix - no hike necessary

Well, here we are - something not elections related! Castania, a Lebanese leader in nuts is advertising its Trail Mix - you know, those dried fruits and nuts people munch on for energy during hikes. Mind you with many people avoiding hikes due to Coronavirus (and again understandably so), the timing can be a little odd. But the lovely pop art infused visual makes it for a lovely addition on billboards (which again are not very used as of late since the crisis began in 2019 - some billboards still carry the signs of an end-of-year party when we are already in almost mid-March).