Sorry I caught this late! Mink went for a brilliant Mother's Day ad (note I did not mention their Ksara effort which fell a bit short this year). For their own brand, Mink simply took their logo and added a "alef". Why? Because reading it right to left as Arabic does it ends up spelling... Emm. Or Mother. Genius as always!
Well, we can safely add Mink to the list of companies trying to advertise in these testy times (Slowear and ParAzar were incredibly good, Crepaway really needed to read the room). Mink is on the bandwagon, basically taking all the emotional angle out. Just to be clear, the company that graced us with superior and impeccable ads (some samples are here and here) does make its "rational" point across. But perhaps they set the bar too high themselves so maybe they fell short of some of their brilliance. I am not saying the idea or copy is bad, just that somehow one does not feel the oomph with it. Very decent outing but again, close but no cigar. See the ad here.
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.
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| Cover by Mink for the Lebanon issue of ArabAd (February 2023) |
A recap of 2022 in the advertising scene for ArabAd, please see it here. A very long and exhaustive article about where advertising stands. Sadly we got too many delusional answers, a lot of them had to be either discounted or heavily edited. It was Ogilvy who said "the consumer is not a moron, she's your wife", substitute that with "the journalist is not a moron, he's your Tarek" and you get how outlandishly positive some of the contributions were when the market is totally in the dolldrums. Still, we managed to construct a very even-handed article. Much props to the editor of ArabAd Ghada Azzi for working under such conditions and still being able to turn out a magazine and a website.
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How about a naming branding/masterstroke?
Leave it to Mink to come up with incredible names for two varieties of gin and vodka which are locally produced in Lebanon by Double Shake. Their thinking was oblique to say the least. The two most endangered species in Lebanon are the Wagtail bird and the Loggerhead Turtle. And here we are - from endangered species to alcoholic drinks! Obviously, the packaging is rockstar as well.
Seriously, I am impressed. Whomever came up with the naming has done a tremendous job and whomever translated it visually also deserves respect.