Johny Water the homegrown creativity that works.

Remember this earlier this day? (here). Well try the above for size.

Brilliant. Nothing else. Just brilliant.

Joe Lux vs Johnnie Walker: Compare and contrast

I am not saying they did, I am not saying they didn't but I had to do a full second look to believe my eyes. Well, ironically, Joe Lux is a hand-made shoe manufacturer who makes you a... walker?

A Christmas - End of year pot pourri of ads around town

No, it not starting to feel like Christmas. I am not saying this to be the messenger of doom but no matter who I meet, I can detect immediately how crushed, tired and - yes - defeated everyone is. The advertising scene is not much better. There are no official figures that I know of, but am sure this year has not been a vintage one. I spoke to several people who own shops and all of them agreed that the second half of the year was a disaster. Still, there are some mild efforts being undertaken. Below is a mix and match of some of them - and even if some ads do not refer explicitly to Christmas/End of year festivities, I included them because their raison d'etre seems obvious:

ABC Mall went their usual upscale route inviting their customers to "celebrate their love" (the love of the nearest and dearest). Well, considering the prices, the treatment makes sense.

Beirut Beer went with building a Christmas tree from their bottles. I saw this installation in two places (Gemmayze and City Mall in Dora). Well, it does make sense I presume considering what they sell.

Bildits - which has a name that immediately tells you what it does - is a children's set where the kind can build a house like a "real engineer". Well, OK, the kid is male which is a bit anticipated, but well, who knows, maybe including a girl could have caused some social stir.

Bo Concept is having an up to 60% off sale. I do hope they do mark down items - several years back on a "clearance sale" I was offered 15% off a sofa.

File this under "I had no idea Bombay Sapphire was in Lebanon" also file under "I don't consume much alcohol to know it is in Lebanon". Still, it is interesting Bombay Sapphire decided to launch such a wide-covering campaign to celebrate their "premier cru".

Boss watches & Jewelry - OK fine you get a free bracelet with every purchase. Interesting, considering the first function of a cell phone is actually to tell the time.

GS went for a bit of a serious image for their end of year outing - I already spoke of their advent calendar online though (here).

Deco Sleep Comfort - with wishes of a peaceful Christmas. One cannot miss this ad. Obviously you know what they sell.

Cyber Monday? Make that Cyber Christmas for Home Tag. Well, many companies are already offering sales and offers - just to tell you how dire the market situation is.

Ixsir has a limited edition of bottles out enticing people to add color to their celebration. Usually the bottles are co-branded with an up-and-coming and promising illustrator. Not this year. Obviously due to budget restriction.

Beauty x Magic for Izzat Daouk gave birth to something akin to ugliness and black magic. I am sure effort was injected in this ad. But am truly not a fan.

A long long time ago, there was a Johnnie Walker ad which went "some gifts are too good to give away" (whereby a man is writing a card to accompany a bottle of Johnnie Walker wrapped near him, he ends up drinking the whisky and wrapping the gold pen). I talk of this ad because Johnnie Walker has an ad for Blue Label which can set you back more than 300 USD. At that price, take my pen.

Reva is gifting "dreams for Christmas". Considering my many many insomniac nights, yes please. Also it was belatedly pointed out to me that "reva" and "dreams" are one and the same words, I missed the double-entendre.

As a friend of mine joked - buy tights and get a car, or mostly, the other way around. A bit of a head-scratcher if you ask me.

Zoughaib & Sons have a new collection out - the boussole. Interesting they bothered to design and produce a collection at a time when the market is in such doldrums.

Swarovski - celebrate wonder.... Again, well am sure the ad has its target audience. Women who really long to shine - without the price of real jewelry.

As you can see, some effort has been done. Nothing to write home about, but there is a very shy activity going on. Nothing like the mega campaigns that used to be done in the past, but one can feel the budgets squeezed to the maximum, and since the whole country is not in top shape, I suppose the ad scene sort of mirrors that.

Johnnie Walker goes out with all guns blazing

Johnnie Walker is out with a vengeance. With some very good copy in tow.

So voila, the once ubiquitous whisky, whose bottle can set you back 20.38 USD (which is innocent enough money until you realize it is humongous for the average whisky-consuming Lebanese!) is now back in full force.

I saw no less than 3 variations of the campaign all of them leading to this website (here) which yes, requires your birthdate to be able to access it. The website points to shops selling the brand on the Lebanese territory, along with the customary cocktails section and what not. 

I repeat, the copy is very impressive. This could be however, an international campaign despite the website giving Lebanese shop addresses.

Johnnie Walker - coming back for end of year festivities.

Now that has been a long absence.

Johnnie Walker is back, right bang at the end of the year festivities in... a ad that riffs on national identity? Color me a little confused. "Unfolding flavor" and underneath "keep the sparkle alive". All while the "Johnnie" effigy hold a Lebanese flag. Am still trying to grapple with this truth be told.

This is not Independence Day mind you and - not too sure - but I think the idea is to encourage the Lebanese to face another year of obstacles I presume all while keeping "the sparkle alive".

Naturally, with alcohol being a staple at end of year festivities, Johnnie Walker had to dip its toe. Even if am still trying to make sense of it all. What can I say. Keep Walking people I guess.

Johnnie Walker Black Label ends the year on a high note

Johnnie Walker Black Label ends the year with a bang.... "A gift to: The one who makes life a celebration". Honestly, it works like a charm. Mind you - and pity despite all my rummaging online I could not find it - Johnnie Walker (Red Label this time) is responsible for one of the most memorable Christmas ads I ever saw. A businessman is holding a golden pen and writing a card to go along with a wrapped Johnnie Walker bottle... Then, he changes his mind, wraps the golden pen (sans box!) and pours himself a glass of schotch. The tagline? "Some gifts are too good to give away". 

Well, I am not a scotch expert, but prices must be really astronomically high these days, being an imported product in a crumbling economy, so I suppose "the one who makes life a celebration" must be worth it all right.

Johnnie Walker Black Label and the perfect ad for its product.

Now, the price of. a Johnnie Walker Black Label may be out of the reach of the average human in Lebanon (check it here) but the ad has surely impressed me. It exudes everything Black Label is: elegance, a certain "flanerie", a minimal view of life where luxury is simple but very sophisticated (remind me of that Piaget ad "la meilleur facon de porter un Piaget c'est de n'en rien montrer"), and to go back to that gorgeous magazine Hermes issued with one of their previous collections (summer 2012): Le temps devant soi. A book where nothing happens.

Which is why this ad is a perfect capsule for the Black Label. This person is a far cry from the Red Label garden variety of consumers. His taste is more refined, he reached it by climbing the ladder ever so slowly. He earned it rather. Everything else in the ad shows it. The subtle art deco touches, the marble on the wall, small details that exude a way of life. Even with Lebanon experiencing a financial crash, this person either forecasted the crisis (sadly, am trying to imagine they did not smuggle their money after the crash began), or even in the deepest of dark moments knows that a glass of Johnnie Walker Black Label could save the day.

Johnnie Walker: Platitudes galore

Where does on begin? Johnnie Walker just unleashed a prepackaged, lowest common denominator, cliche filled ad - oh and the whole ad has one (ONE!) person wearing a mask! Everyone else is without it. Before I go on, perhaps you should see the ad here! Apparently, we have "resilience" and that people "deserve the best" and that "from rock bottom we have risen up" and "the city breathes again". If anyone is willing to mistake Beirut - the damaged, the shuttered, the pseudo-empty, the shell of its former self - with Lalaland, Johnnie Walker would be it. Many many brands have ridden the motivational wave, but at least there was "some" logic in it, but going back to Johnnie Walker, all I can do is quote The Eagles' "Hotel California" with "some dance to remember/some dance to forget" - and this applies to drinking in a city that is currently under the weight of a "perfect storm" where all elements are feeding on one another. And please spare me the "keep walking" because at this stage we are a populace that is "walking wounded".