Medco a smart ad in a smart location

Medco has a smart one. And its positioning is ever smarter.

OK, let's start with this: Using colloquial Arabic does not always work (Halabi is a case in point here). Medco via - mostly - its petrol stations is acing it. Espacially that it is using it in the way we write it in a Latinized language (certain letters in Arabic appear very close to other signifiers in Latin - and this goes back when people were using MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger or ICQ - what? - did not have Arabic support so people invented the language as they went along). 

The Medco line translates into "we can never have enough of you - don't be strangers". Which is obviously a way to entice people to come back to the Lebanon. Which, honestly, is a nice way of saying it in Arabic - slang Arabic. Now, the interesting bit?

This is placed right at the entrance of the airport. Which honestly is very neat.

Because you are telling people to come back right at the place where they are the most emotionally vulnerable.

As I said, Medco played it smart.

Medco vs. Slim oil: Compare and contrast

Image - Mix between a photo from Nibal Hadchiti Dfouni and Tarek Chemaly's archive

I am not saying they did, I am not saying they didn't. But I guess the repertoire of jokes/double-entendre is limited. Meet Slim oil (the slogan dates back from 2000 or 2001 and was still used up until 7 years ago), and Medco. The idea is "zeit" means "same" but also "oil". Naturally the Medco ad is way too recent whereas the Slim Oil has been there... forever. But hey, every new generation of advertisers thinks it is breaking the mould when it keeps repeating stories already told (and for the record it seems Medco has an offer on oil change - either you win gasoline or a trip!) 

Pikasso d'Or finds its footing again

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.

Of Linda, Medco, Havoline Oil and Byblos Institute

In the 80s, Byblos Institute inserted the only girl studying car mechanics in their TV ad. I later learned that enrollment swelled exponentially because boys were dying to meet the girl in question. Today, Medco seems to have revealed the story of Linda, its only female driver among its 120 strong truck drivers.

Much like her mother who taught her how to fix diesel trucks, Linda is there displaying its competence in the ad. Sure, there's a Havoline oil there somewhere if you look closely (OK, not a pun about Linda's chest where the logo is plastered), and well all of this is done subtly and smartly.

I do hope Linda, being a woman truck driver, will not overshadow the Havoline as everyone will end up talking about her not about Medco or Havoline. But then again, if the Byblos Indicator precedent is any indicator, I feel Medco will have many people knocking on its door asking for employment.

See the full ad here.

A Medco Beirut tribute that actually works.

Ah the Beirut tributes! After the explosion so many brands rode the bandwagon of sending tributes to the city - most bland, several of them not sincere, others bordering the horrific (here's looking at you Pepsi!). Which is why, at times, the low-key ones are actually the one that work best. Take this spectacular Medco example - blink and you'll miss it. Medco still sticks to its Arabo-Latin transcription. Which makes the two flags read "forwad! for the sake of Beirut" - the 2021 has a peace dove in it instead of a zero. I personally really love it - maybe the idea they did not plant it in front of everyone's nose is what it makes work, as it comes off sincere rather than show-off. 

The Medco campaign that actually works

Yes I know, Arabic/Latin typo transposition has been happening since ages - yet, Medco managed to still make it fresh and enticing with its campain. The trick was using the "chadde" which is usually used to emphasize letters (in one of the cases they used the skoun which "silences" the letter when pronounced). As I said whereas the original idea of using Arabized latin has been in the market for too long, Medco spiced it up to still make it relevant and interesting which is no mean feat.