Almarai launches Haboor - gets lost in translation

Brands or products which do not make it across different languages are a dime a dozen - Mazda Laputa? Mitsubishi Pajero? (try Spanish for both) Honda Fitta? (try Swedish/Danish/Norwegian) Bing? (try Chinese) and the list goes on endlessly. Sometimes one can be forgiven - Coca-Cola means "bite the wax tadpole" - so eventually the drink giant opted for Kě kǒu kě lè which means "delicious, enjoyable" or "happiness in the mouth". Close enough. So yes, sometimes names of companies or products do not exactly translate well in other languages, cultures.

Well, Kylie Jenner changed her son's name from "Wolf" at birth to "Aire" - which is supposed to be Hebrew for "lion of God", apparently it is not - but what it does mean is "male organ in Arabic slang". But that's Kylie Jenner, she is American, non-Arabic speaking, and well with cousins such as "Psalm" "Chicago" "Saint" - and that's just from half-sister Kim - she is forgiven for trying hard (pardon the pun) to get a name that sands out from the crowd.

Which brings us to Almarai. According to Wikipedia, "Almarai Company is a Saudi multinational dairy company listed on the Tadawul stock exchange. It specializes in food and beverage manufacturing, including distribution. The company's main offices are located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia." In other words, they speak Arabic, they are immersed in Arab culture, and they are distributed in Lebanon via major supermarkets.

Kind note, what Aire is to grown up men, haboor is the equivalent to small children.

Suffice to say they did not make enough research for sure, the comments on their social media are enough reflection of that (here). Basically, from the funny, to the witty, to the bewildered, everyone is trying their own version of the joke.

And seriously if Almarai claims to be as Arab as it is, maybe, just maybe they could have consulted different Arabic-speaking cultures before jumping on this. Kylie Jenner is not a reliable consultant in that case.

Pepsi vs Coca-Cola for the Super Bowl. Yes, really, again.

Pepsi is launching a new ad to compare itself, once more, to Coca-Cola while using the Coca-Cola white bear. No, really. Apparently, it is a blind taste. And Pepsi is trying to say "the proof is in the pudding" and therefore once and for all (until the next Cola war is ignited) that taste is on their side aside from marketing and branding gimmicks. Maybe the best way to sum up the situation is to go The Onion brilliant "Ad industry veterans honored with Cola wars memorial". It was fun while it lasted the first time around. But honestly, I am so over it.

And let the AI ads floods begin!

Coca-Cola (here).

Mango (here).

Well, so here we are. The flood has begun! 

Apart from the question is the ads look good or not (Coca-Cola does not mind you), that's it - it is indeed the beginning of a new era. All brands combined will jump on the bandwagon. If it works or not, looks realistic or not, is well-received or not, is beyond the question. AI is going by leaps and bounds daily. Each brand has a different logic to do what they are doing - experimental, cost-saving, easily-generable or whatever all else. The result remains the same - the era of AI generated ads are here, for better or for worse. I will withhold my judgement at this point - perhaps this is just the beginning so the lack of narrative might be expected, but I still don't see anything worth writing home about at this point.

Coca-Cola shoots itself in the foot with its Bangladesh ad

So small background: Coca-Cola is among the brands targeted by boycott due to its perceived support of Israel with the Hamas war in Gaza. Actually it just put out an ad in Bangladesh to distance itself from the whole debacle. In the ad - which is a regular one, nothing too special - the talent says "even Palestine has a Coca-Cola factory" and invites the people to search for "Coca-Cola Palestine factory". The problem? It is in Atarot, an illegal Israeli settlement built on stolen Palestinian land. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Note that Coca-Cola no longer exists in the Lebanese market (here) but that between 1968 to 1990 Coca-Cola was boycotted in the Arab world by order of the League of Arab Nations since it provided "financial help for Israel" in the 1967 six day war. So here we are again - sometimes as the saying goes "when in a hole stop digging". If you wish to see the Bangladesh ad please look here.

Apple, Coca-Cola or when copying ads is reassuringly inexpensive.

Well, how about that? Apple has launched its ipad campaign and Coca-Cola launched its own "taste can't wait" for its Coke Zero. Turns out both ads have been done before. First look at Apple (here) and LG (here) - note that the LG dates back to 15 years, then look at Coca-Cola and Stella Artois (here).

For two major brands to send out copied ads is - to put it mildly - alarming. It is as if no one even bothered to do basic research, not only from the ad agencies, but also from these giants' marketing department. That no one has a memory of already-done ads (and ads which won major awards mind you - the Stella Artois was a gold winner at Cannes Lions 20 years ago) because everyone was too young is not an excuse. Today, all you have to do is type the descriptive of the ad on Google and bam, you have exactly what you were looking for, in addition to many many other resources online and offline.

Yet the question is, when two major brands basically - knowingly or unknowingly - copy two previous ads, can we still blame smaller agents who do the same? I was taken to court twice for exposing theft by certain agencies - the funny bit is that the courts did not argue if the agencies in question were stealing ads but rather if I was allowed to call them "thief". Just to be clear you cannot copyright an idea what you can copyright is the execution of the idea which both Apple and Coca-Cola have infringed upon, and by copyright it is simply the notion of "hey, I have seen this done before" as opposed to legally "copyrighting" the product.

So now what? Do we go the "everyone is doing it, so why can't we?" route? Or do do we tell both giants that they were in the wrong? The only silver lining is Samsung trolling Apple with "creativity cannot be crushed" (here).

McDonald's Lebanon is being dragged into what is happening in Palestine

"No two countries that both have a McDonald's have ever fought a war against each other" or so said Thomas Friedman in his book The Lexus and The Olive Tree (1996). OK, fine, the principle proved wrong, first India and Pakistan in 1999 over Kashmir, followed by Israel and Lebanon in 2006, Russia and Georgia in 2008 - although not in a declared war - Russia and Ukraine in 2022. Did you know that between 1968 to 1990 Coca-Cola was boycotted in the Arab world by order of the League of Arab Nations since it provided "financial help for Israel" in the 1967 six day war? And now McDoland's in Israel has been distributing free food with "we came!" written in Hebrew under their logo.

This prompted the Lebanese owners of McDonald's to come clean and issue a statement - the gist of which is - we are a Lebanese company and we have nothing to do with what other franchisees are doing in other countries (read the full communique here). Honestly, can't I just enjoy my Happy Meal in peace? Bfff.... What a strange, convoluted world we live in.

Pepsi has a new logo (again) - except this one works.

Well, here we are - again - Pepsi has a new logo (you realize we never say that about Coca-Cola).

But still, this one actually works. The 2008 redesign was - how can one say it without offending anyone - quite "effeminate" (although apparently it was supposed to show a smile). It lacked the presence and the boldness and the umph.... This one - with its throwback colors but also black central element - is a child of the older 1950 logo (and apparently used till 1986) except that, and this according to Pepsi execs, the black color that centers the logo is a commitment to Pepsi Zero. 

Whatever the rationale, it is not that people will switch in affinities between Coca-Cola and Pepsi (not that we have a choice in Lebanon, Coca-Cola has left the market outright - see here), but at least - at least - we got the logo we deserved as a continuation of the older generation which was rolled prior.

Now, I do wish Pepsi would - like their archrival - would stop with the chronic rebranding and settle on one identity. This new one they came up with is indeed lovely, why not keep it?

Cola-Cola goes for a day at the museum

Remember Ben Stiller's "night at the museum"? Well, make it "day at the museum" for Coca-Cola.

Here. It animates works of art - anyone from Warhol (who included the bottle in his iconic series) to Van Gogh (who did not) passing by anyone and everyone including Vermeer and Turner and a hoard of others. The ad is certainly ambitious. It centers around a bored student in a sketching class (falling asleep no less) and then all hell breaks lose with the bottle being taken by another painting and getting thrown over from one artwork to the next.

Just getting the licenses of the artworks must have cost a fortune. Animating them that way another. The concept is "real magic". But let's be honest here, for all its technical prouesse.... to me it fails to deliver. The ad is too technical, magical yes - but not in the way it was intended to - because the emotional bit is lacking. It does not make me aspire or want to be part of that universe - and take it from someone who loves being in museums.

It is just too sterile to make me believe. But hey, what do I care? Coca-Cola exited the Lebanese market again (here).

Coca-Cola and its forgettable Christmas chimney.

Coca-Cola has a Christmas ad! Well, the idea is simple - a child who lives in one of those multi-floor buildings sees that Santa is going down through a chimney on TV. Considering he does not a have a chimney he decides to build one from... Carboards... Which gets the whole (multiracial) neighborhood abuzz (do note we are talking here about the spirit of Christmas as diluted through different beliefs or better, as a marketing tool rather than a religious connotation). Now there is, of course a lonely Asian woman (the kid seems African American mind-you) in the building. Ok, you get the drift. Frankly the whole thing is very... Meh. To be honest despite all the concept and the creative production effort, there whole thing is forgettable. Watch here.

Pepsi Max - the campaign that tries too hard

Brand rivalries - we miss those. But then again some try too hard. So Pepsi Max (France) is trying to put down Coca-Cola. "Choose the brand that you do not think about when they say cola", "a unique taste rather than an iconic bottle", "if you want your name on the bottle, use your pen", "we haven't invented Santa Claus, just a max of taste".

On paper they work, in real life they come from a position of uncertainty. Here's a small comparison with a Smirnoff ad from the 90s: "Vodka from the time the vodka mattered not the bottle". See the difference in tone? The Smirnoff is not apologetic, or riding from behind, it is going all aggressive and for a reason. Ok now the mistake of the campaign was that the tone was a bit off, though on the whole one can understand why they chose it. 

Burger King Belgium and that smart McDonald's dig

So Burger King Belgium is reopening its stores. Good for them after jumping, like the rest of us, from one lockdown to another and from one difficult situation to another. So they're launching this cute campaign where they show forgotten things in their locales and invite people to get them back (a cell phone, a birthday balloon, a backpack).... thrown in the melee is a McDonald's employee cap. Had the McDonald's cap been a stand alone, it would have been too "badly seen" but being part of a bigger campaign not only reinforces its wit and charm but also dilutes the acrimony. To be honest though, very well played from Burger King.

All this reminds us of the uber funny The Onion which published (back in 1997!) a satirical article about how Cola industry veterans are getting their own memorial following the lovely Coca-Cola/Pepsi war.

Coca-Cola Christmas 2020 - a paint by numbers Almosafer replica

Coca-Cola 2020 ad.... OK, the ad has everything going for it. Remember, Santa Claus as we know it is a Coca-Cola creation. The director is Taika Waititi, the production is enormous. Everything in it is truly up to scale until the last frame. Sadly it made me feel as if it was a paint by numbers: What can we do to make it more exciting? (Add a whale) What can we do to add a twist? (Open the letter) What can we do to make it more impressive? (Add a snow scene). Watch the ad here. And then compare it to the beautiful, authentic, heart-wrenching Almosafer Ramadan ad (watch here). On the bright side, the Coke Santa Claus truck is back.

In Lebanon, brand loyalty is out the window

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Do the Lebanese like to brag? Do they like to show off? Do they like to live above their means? Oh, is the pope Catholic? If I ask these questions if is because there is a palpable shift somewhere in the Lebanese consumption pattern in Lebanon (see here). Maybe one of the first signs that Lebanese use to mark how they went to an upper socio-economic class is the "signé" attitude (or the branded - naturally, it could be a knock off or a counterfeit, and only logoed garments are used - hence no discrete Hermes but more like a stamped Louis Vuitton all over, in the end, if it is not visible, why bother get it?). "Ana ma bechtere ella min 3and..." - I only buy from (under brand name, fancy store), used to be a catchphrase so overused and abused. But again, the parameters are shifting. 

When I asked students to give me a luxury brand in class (back when I used to teach), several thought Zara was one. When estimating the price of a Louis Vuitton bag, a girl thought that 100 Dollars was a good guess. Paul, the French brasserie one finds in metro stations in Paris is marketed here as a high end brunching destination, same applies to Gap (which shuttered its store in late 2019) and Benetton.

But again, the financial squeeze hit Lebanon incredibly hard. I said it before, brand loyalty is now out the window. "Did you know that between 1968 to 1990 Coca-Cola was boycotted in the Arab world by order of the League of Arab Nations since it provided "financial help for Israel" in the 1967 six day war?" Well, we were a household that exclusively bought Pepsi. Sometime in 2001 I went back home with a bottle of Coca-Cola, my mother looked at it with amazement and asked what it was, and if it was available everywhere?

As long as I can remember since the mid 90s we have used Persil washing detergent (why we made the switch from Ariel is beyond me!). Then a few months back, the washing machine got clogged. The repairman said the washing powder was stuck in the tube, so we switched to Persil gel. Last time I went to the supermarket though, I went back with a Lebanese made Sanita washing gel, which was so much cheaper, and it had 30% free. Oh and I also bought a large size frying oil gallon from a brand I had never heard of, which was (again) substantially cheaper than the one we were accustomed to. Our house-help said that both, the Sanita and the frying oil, washed and fried just as well as the ones we usually bought.

It is said that the pandemic has taught us that we have already enough as it is in our closets. How correct and true this is for the average Lebanese is still a debate. Though shops are closing like crazy in nearby areas, there were still very few people who shopped. How this is representative of the population is not something I can answer (due to COVID-19 self-imposed restrictions I have not been to many malls as of late and even that (malls) might not be indicative to the general population movements).

But am still sticking to my guns. I still believe people are now buying more budget friendly than the brands they used to know or believe in (because brand loyalty is about allegiance above all). The other interesting aspect is that, it is known that in time of crisis, brands are encouraged to advertise, so as to remain top-of-mind in the consumer's mind. This, however, is not something am seeing in the local market. 

Coca-Cola exits the Lebanese market (Again!)

Did you know that between 1968 to 1990 Coca-Cola was boycotted in the Arab world by order of the League of Arab Nations since it provided "financial help for Israel" in the 1967 six day war? Well, it seems Coca-Cola is about to close its Lebanese bottling company as of tomorrow. "Is Pepsi OK?" - you are about to hear that one way more often than before! So here we are - another one bites the dust. This time a big one!