Mink is back at what it does best. Distilling complex elements into easy and creative advertising. This time for Mother's Day it went with Master (using nuts and not potato chips) and Ksara (one of Lebanon's finest wines). The result? Two well done and put together ads which truly say a lot about mother's - funnily these are real slices of life that Mink managed to portray. Good to know Mink still kicks.
Yes, yes, it fell through the cracks yesterday but this is an Independence Day worth mentioning for the concept above all else (execution is minimal which I do not mind). So here we are: "It it very possible that, in 1945, independence was toasted with a glass of Chateau Ksara" - include a fez in the photo and you're home safe. Interestingly, this reminded me of a (very very) old Benetton ad "si en l'an 1 Benetton existait, les rois mages n'auraient pas hesite" (if in year 1, Benetton existed, the three wise kings would not have hesitated). But as I always say, this is a different story for a different day. Ksara almost never disappoints!
Well, it worked for Mother's Day (here), so why not a pre-Christmas redux? Ksara is on it again - create your own label for your bottle. According to their own words: "Our bottles can now speak your language! With your own custom label design, each bottle becomes a reflection of your creativity. Place your order now on our website." So here we are again, perhaps a keepsake, or a special gift, or just a way to bottle your souvenirs (no pun!). Whatever it is, this must have worked earlier and Ksara is warming the cover again.
Along with Ksara (here), Chateau Musar (here), Ixsir is joining the wine summer fray - from what I have seen, a double ad. The first goes "revive every moment" the second "great wines are born to great heights", truth be told this is not a "campaign", how could it be? When there is no creative concept tying them - but then again probably this is asking too much from a summer campaign aimed to sell. Still, and again, not to spoil the Ixsir moment, I also found this ad in downtown Beirut.
The ad is for Go Cola, the line? Revibe the moment. Once more the occurrence of both at the same time is a bit funny. Ixsir went revive and Go Cola went revibe. Oh well, you know the line "great minds think alike" but do you know the other half? "fools sledom differ".
Well, drink to her health. No, better, drink to her health with a specially-labelled bottle from Ksara.
So how one-on-one can this be? Indeed, seems Ksara is launching this - understandably - a bit early (as logistically this might be a bit difficult to pull) and one can personalize their bottle of Ksara wine with the name of their mother's. Sure this might be a bit Coca-Cola throwback but the end effect is still neat!!
First see the ad here.
The Ksara ad stars George Chalhoub and Lea Bou Chaaya. Shot at the Chateau Ksara - fine, at least there is production value, I admit. But, all I could ask is "why?" - if it is about comparing the wine to the woman, the innuendo has been done thousands of times, if it is about using a great talent like George Chalhoub well it is a missed opportunity. Pity am trying to salvage anything from the ad but failing specifically that it comes the company that gave us so many hits in a row!
Pity, am still trying get - why?
One of things I am loving about the ads coming out these days, is that most of them are actually not even trying to sell me anything. The majority of them are being tactful, respectful and just showing support - much needed support to the Lebanese in this time of crisis. Ksara is the last entrant in this proud category with a copy for the ages, which is very connected to who they are and what they do. The gist of it? "This is our land, here with every new dawn new dreams are born, (dreams that) neither the winds would kill nor time would disappoint, we won't leave this land, neither the land would leave us". This ladies and gentlemen is the way to do it - proud, entrenched, with the head high. See the ad here.
There hasn't been much creative buzz around Father's Day this year (IPT being an exception here). Sure there has been the usual greetings with some brand logo attached. In comes Ksara with a very low key but quite smart iteration. "Raised to be your favorite" - OK, we all agree parents have a favorite child (any parent who does not concede to this is lying!) and what do you do with a child? (OK, no smarty pants answers!). You "raise" it. Now, what do you do with a glass of wine? You... Raise it as well. How smart is this? Very indeed. Happy Father's Day to one and all (yes, even from non-favorite kids who'll be brooding on a wine glass this evening after gifting their father a tie!).
File under - why-didn't-they-think-about-it-sooner... Ksara is now offering screw cap opening! Granted Gris de Gris is not their top of line or anything, but when you are on the beach, do you really want a top-notch wine as the taste mingles with either sea salt or pool chlore additives? But still, the idea is not without merit because honestly, do you go to the sea with a wine-bottle opener? I guess not - so voila, full marks....
After last year's ho-hum crop of awards (save a couple - read here). Pikasso d'Or is back - as in back. The results this year do make much more sense. Marked under "the wave of the future" the 28th ceremony celebrates Out Of Home creativity. As I said very recently, an industry source told me that prices are so dismally low that OOH companies are practically begging agencies to book their campaigns.
Pimo rightfully bagged the Grand Prix award for their Lux ad (they also won the supersize category). Kefraya had a Pikasso d'Or - nice and clean art direction but sadly forgettable as an ad. The Pikasso d'argent went for Beirut Beer and their summer wave (many people liked this ad, I found it a little underwhelming). The Pikasso de Bronze went for Cafe Abi Nasr and their cute campaign by Bizaroob.
Mink won a Pikasso d'argent in the supersize category for a solid campaign for Ksara. Almaza is back on the awards scene for a negligible ad (they won big last year, and I still don't understand why!).
Roadster and TBWA\Raad won the mall category with their lovely self-depreciating campaign, while Joe Fish won Pikasso d'argent in the same category for the consistently nicely art-directed Zarina, the bronze went to the potion kitchen (in a badly copywritten effort I must add).
The digital category saw Almaza again, Jordan Tourism Board and Sanita get the top awards. The public interest category went to Medco for their Dawi Chere3 campaign. Enjoy all the campaigns here.
So the committee for electing best ads of the year convened (OK, fine, that's just me), and the top 5 ads of the year were selected. The main factor I relied on was honestly - not just creativity, but memorability. I literally closed my eyes and I thought - if I am to remember ads from this year, what would they be? Well, the answer lies below and please note this year, there is no clear favorite, the 5 ads are ex-aequo to me (meaning I have no preference between them):
Lux and women empowerment (here) - I really really loved how they changed the Arabic copy by tweaking a word (from "tamyiz" to "tamayoz").
Chateau Ksara keeps churning hit after hit, from this year's crop (har har) I selected the understated Valentine's Day. Not too obvious, very sleek, and indeed, quite intimate. See here. By the way since Ksara (and their agency Mink) was on such a winning streak a very honorable mention goes for their Christmas ad this year (here) - pity the end-of-year ad from 2023 cannot be included (here).
Roadster is suddenly back in the radar (here). One needs guts to self-depreciate, and I love what they've done. Really shows self-confidence without the braggadocio.
Malak El Tawouk - what can I say? Cheeky and smart and really "in your face". A great outing for the brand which - even if opening in Paris - still hangs in to its roots. Check it here.
A late entrant but one that completely blew me away. The layout sucks, the prices apparently expensive but the ad itself whereas "cheap" (hehe) and perhaps home-cooked was timely, smart and very very courageous. Indeed, Bayti Store is one of the best ads of the year. Here.
Brilliant as always - oh and it uses the product itself in the ad..... Truly a gem.
Bokja does the unthinkable by distinguishing themselves in their festive greetings. The trick? Use a very timely (and excellent poem) by Mahmoud Darwish. Bokja went with litterature and won.
This is a short post, I know, as all of us are busy setting the Christmas table. Merry Christmas and best festive wishes from yours truly.
No surprises here, Ksara did a wonderful Independence Day ad via the always reliable Mink. The trick? Ksara does wine. From what? Grapes. The copy? Our strength is in our unity. The visual? A grape with no space between the buds and done in the shape of the Lebanese map. Any questions? Maybe it is not as wonderful as their Army Day ad from 2020 (here) or their 2023 New Year ad (here), but a very solid showing nonetheless. Because after all, Mink set its own bar too high.
Ksara has been doing excellent ads with the help of Mink - their army day leaves me a bit... ambivalent though. Is the ad good? Yes. It used the bottle corks to create the illusion of a "barricade" which the headline "we are all your barricades" supports for further explanation. Is it on-brand? Yes, because it is tough to use brand elements inside advertising for other brands, something done in brio in this one. But.... something about the ad is bothering for a full generation of people - like me - and in a country where we have lived successive wars and traumas there is something very "triggering" about the ad. I could be stretching it perhaps, but seems other people who saw the ad feel the same way.
Ah, so Oreo has jumped on the celebration of Pakistan's 75th anniversary with a special edition wrapping. The Oreo has been dipped - har har - in a special mould, and - the touch I really like best - is how they wrote PAK15STAN - get it?
Well, most times brands celebrating special events are a total miss, but few pull it off. The secret of course is how to tie your product to the event without making it superfluous or uncalled for. But this one seems intrinsic. If you want a similar example go back to the Ksara Independence Day ad in 2019 (here).
But of course for every hit there a thousand misses. But this one works!
All right, everyone can go home. Ksara just launched its new ad. The visual is lovely etc... But it is the copywriting that completely left me taken aback. It. Is. Brilliant.
First it is French, which is reminiscent of the old Ksara language that it used to adopt in the 90s. But boom - inside there is Arabic "kes el ghiyeb" (a cup for the absent ones!) and "tilt b teltayn" (which is a nod to Ksarak the sister spirit of the wine produced by Ksara - which means "one third in two third" because this is how your "break" the Arak), now wait there's also "Sunday lunch" and "after work" too and that's English!....
Honest I was gob smacked. As I said, the visual is indeed nice and all, but when you ad such breathtaking copy whole thing goes to the power n!...
Wait, am I jealous?
See the full beauty of the Ksara ad here.
Everyone and their father are doing Father's Day (see what I have done?) so much it is actually nauseating. But well, on comes Ksara with a lovely one - "you'll always remain head of the grape" (Ksara which does wine based on grape struck right close to home). So there, at least something to write home about. Of course, if only everyone else injected effort in their ads - maybe their fathers would have been proud of them.
Chateau Ksara is at it again for Mother's Day which falls today. A lovely warm ad (I admit not up to the level of their incredible Army Day, but one cannot get lucky twice so soon!), still, this is not to tarnish their "unconditional love" outing - yes, look closely on the negative space in the wine and you will see what I mean. Actually, isn't this influenced by the UNICEF logo? But with the mother and child kissing? No matter, a good ad is a good ad, and Ksara has been hammering hit after hit.
You remember the Ksara campaign from earlier this year? Well, it ain't broke so they didn't fix it. Actually they retooled it for a bit more into a winter scheme. Interestingly, it could have become a second degree touristic postcard thing (because it mentions many Lebanese areas) but thankfully, including the bottle so prominently saved it from ending up so. Naturally, enticing the Lebanese to "hold their cup" in a gesture of patriotism really requires a lot of guts, which sadly is quasi empty right now in the land. But then again advertising is now inspirational for nothing. And well, if we can dream a bit at the end of this year, then why not?