IKEA walked so that Maliks could run

Maliks is at it again, but oddly with a lovely jab - one that compares its own merchandise to the luxury house's insanely expensive alternatives. Lovely indeed, except, IKEA was there for a long time before Maliks did it. The proof is always in the pudding, and when IKEA joked about its own Frakta bag compared to the Balenciaga (here), or about its own towel as apposed to the Towel skirt, that's a bit old news at this point. But, still, props for Maliks for leaving behind his silly riddles. Also, never forget, design has humble origins (here).

M(a)l(i)ks finally gets it right

Did Maliks finally stop its silly riddle and managed to actually impress us with a good ad that works? Heaven help us, it did. Because after so many flunks and oddities and let-us-get-on-your-nerves-one-more-time for the festive season, Maliks found the exact concept which - not only "made you look" but actually has a smart element in it. The trick? MlKs Holiday Gits and underneath *you knew it without AI :) - and there you go, indeed you know the logo, even with letters missing (fun fact, the mind is trained to read the first and last letter of every word even with letters missing and inverted - here) and Maliks knew how to invest in this redeeming itself after what honestly a horrible year communication wise.

Halim goes smart with the National Anthem for Independence Day!

Take Maliks and his silly riddles (here), then take Halim (first here) now the above. Halim, truth be told is on fire. Now that Independence Day is approaching, Halim went with - the gratuitous but very smart hint - of the Lebanese National Anthem. The quizz is simple - or rather deceptively simple - what comes after the two words in the Halim ad which are taken from the anthem? Truth be told, our national anthem's lyrics (courtesy of Rashid Nakhle) are nothing but very - as in very - convoluted. So guessing the next two words is, a bit memory searching, a bit ChatGPT searching, a bit Google search as well. But still - the ad (which has a third installment I did not picture) is in White/Red/Green - the colours of the national flag (a nice gimmick!). Apparently you win something if you answer correctly. But beyond the gifts, Halim is on to something - without silly riddles.

Can anyone tell Maliks to stop their silly riddles?

First there was those (here), and now the one above. OK, the one above is easy to decipher (العلم نور) considering the other ones took forever to be solved (at least by me and I STILL do not understand why one way of reading is better than the other!)

Personally, I managed to understand one as "it is a headcracker to teach your kids now that you brought them to the world" (Kasser rassak ta t3alem wledak). Why? I happened to read the billboard from left to right (the Latin way) not right to left (the Arabic way). A mistake which is forgivable considering the ad does not make sense - head tail (or whatever way you are reading it).

Long story short, Malik's please stop the gimmicks.

Maliks posts a series of very confusing ads

Maliks is a it again. This time with a serious of incomprehensible, confusing, barely decipherable ads, a bit like reading hieroglyphics. Debate ranged on Linkedin (here) some people who are smarter than me managed to decode the billboards into one Lebanese proverb and a part of the Hadith (related to Prophet Mohammed): Teaching a small child is like engraving a stone (al 3ilm fil sighar kal na2ch 3ala el 7ajar) and ask for education even in China (outloubou el 3elm wa la fi al Sin). 

People who did manage to decode are way smarter than me (which is funny as I am very smart but I digress). Me? I managed to understand one as "it is a headcracker to teach your kids now that you brought them to the world" (Kasser rassak ta t3alem wledak). Why? I happened to read the billboard from left to right (the Latin way) not right to left (the Arabic way). A mistake which is forgivable considering the ad does not make sense - head tail (or whatever way you are reading it). 

Malik really, really upped the ante, and no it does not work when it takes a committee of several people to get what they are saying. Previous ads under the "ma7loule" label (here) were easier to grasp.

Maliks goes Mandarin, no not the fruit

Another of those ads which are either too smart or not too smart. Malik's goes on with its "ma7loule" streak (ma7loule means "the answer is easy"). This one however, has a problem, not in the answer, but in the problem itself. It took so far 5 people to decode this, all of us armed with decades of working in advertising, to arrive to - nothing. No one could make head or tails of this. It was all Chinese to us. No wait, this is Chinese!

Maliks wakes up with the house on fire

After trying hard (here), and then trying too hard (here), Maliks goes back to what made Maliks. Meaning? All the things we used go to him as students. Maliks customizes stickers, cake toppers, tote bags, roll-ups, thesis (printing and binding, not writing :) ), t-shirts, foam frames, sahses, and electoral paraphernalia. Actually the massive OOH campaign goes "Yes, we do that too". Because, "yes", this is what Maliks is beyond the silly gimmicky lines they bombarded us with. And somehow, Maliks realized that unless they go back to basics, the whole identity of who they are gets diluted. In an odd way, good we had Maliks back.

Maliks goes for Mother's Day

Maliks is at it again, oddly they fell on a good idea. Which of course means they have the worst most cheapening art direction ever! Because, of course! Now there might be a bit of undertone on this ad meaning that "M" is also "oum" (or mother in Arabic) but I don't think they dug that deep and they just went with the first letter of the logo. But again, Maliks and I said it many times just tries too hard, except on this one, idea-wise they were really really on the money. So here's hoping.

Can Maliks please stop trying?

First there was here and here. And now this. Look, this is neither funny nor gimmicky nor a great copy and the logo sucks. So can we at least stop this because it hurts the eyes and insults the intelligence as well. And in case anyone needs an explanation "malik(s)" means "owner" so the ad translates into "you (Maliks) my heart" (you own my heart). Please. Stop. This.

Malik's, still trying too hard

Remember when I said Malik's was trying too hard (here), so we start off the year with more of the same. To be clear the ads are not "bad", they just don't appear "organic". As if - not sure how to put this - really, as if the audience wouldn't catch this so they have to be spelled out. I mean do we need to have the pun of "alam" (which can be written as "kalam" which means pen and "alam" which means pain) to be underlined to get it? So the ad goes "hopefully this year this is the only pen/pain" - points were awarded for the effort.