Pepsi - now with a car lottery

I think this is alarming. OK, last time Pepsi did a car draw was in the mid 90s for a convertible XJS Jaguar (the rumor goes that it was won by a Syrian worker who owed money to his boss, the head of a petrol station and the boss forgave the loan as long as he got the car, which he did). But mid-90s was a time when Coca-Cola was about to enter the market in Lebanon so Pepsi was protecting its market and here we are now, Pepsi is offering a car - again. A hybrid Hyundai Elantra 2025, however with Coca-Cola now being not present in the market, one wonders why the offer. This leaves us with - a severe dip in sales? Pepsi trying to stimulate its audience at the gates of summer for them to buy or buy more?

Again with Pepsi having the market almost totally locked, one wonders why they are cajoling their audience and doing such an offer. Because apart from the above answers, there are very few options. Unless Hyundai has too much stock? Oh the copy is a bit corny this being said.

So Pepsi zero has a new strange ad.

Blink and you'll miss it. No seriously, took me about 6 trials just to take one screen shot so much the ad is quick - and see how quick it is, the bottom timer scroller is still on. But apart from "open and win" (yes, I know, the 90s called and they want their offer back), Pepsi which is now solo in the market now that Coca-Cola quit the Lebanese market (here) and which held strong among the Gaza callouts (apparently Pepsi was in the Israeli team), does not do much ads (see their last all-star pan-Arab encompassing one - here) on the Lebanese scene. So this one came a bit out of nowhere - can't link the full ad as it is just one of those several seconds before youtube videos. Still, the above is the packshot.

Now the headline is a bit peculiar - "the zero now has a taste" which is akin to shooting yourself in the foot (meaning the old one did not have a taste at all?) "original taste, zero sugar". Once more, a little strange, but I guess who cares, as if all else is logic in Lebanon!

Dark Blue vs Pepsi - compare and contrast

Am not saying they did, am not saying they didn't. But this new Dark Blue drink in Beirut hinted to an old Pepsi line. You compare and contrast and be the judge. Interestingly, Beirut Beer did exactly the same line previously (here).

Pepsi pulls all the stops, still attracts controversy

Pepsi just went mega (here). Using Amro Diab, Mohamad Salah, Ahmad Saka, Karim Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, Nawal Zoghbi, Kosai Khodr, Roberto Carlos and Sami Jaber. Interestingly, the stars in questions hail from different sectors - actors (Saka, Abdel Aziz), footballers (Salah, Carlos, Jaber), and singers (Diab, Zoghbi, Khodr - who is a rapper). By the way, AI was used to digitally de-age the stars in question depending on the era they were supposed to be representing in the evolution of Pepsi identity (which is the ad is about).

Heavy guns all the way. Interestingly, this did not stop the stars in question from ending up in a controversy considering Pepsi is one of the brands being boycotted for supporting Israel in the current war going on in Palestine. Apparently the ad was shot prior to the beginning of the war (meaning before October 2023) but still some fans are up in arms against the stars in question for their "collaboration" (with the brand in question). 

This could explain why Pepsi closed the comments on the ad and none of the stars reshared it on their own channels or social media accounts. 

Pepsi has a new logo (again) - except this one works.

Well, here we are - again - Pepsi has a new logo (you realize we never say that about Coca-Cola).

But still, this one actually works. The 2008 redesign was - how can one say it without offending anyone - quite "effeminate" (although apparently it was supposed to show a smile). It lacked the presence and the boldness and the umph.... This one - with its throwback colors but also black central element - is a child of the older 1950 logo (and apparently used till 1986) except that, and this according to Pepsi execs, the black color that centers the logo is a commitment to Pepsi Zero. 

Whatever the rationale, it is not that people will switch in affinities between Coca-Cola and Pepsi (not that we have a choice in Lebanon, Coca-Cola has left the market outright - see here), but at least - at least - we got the logo we deserved as a continuation of the older generation which was rolled prior.

Now, I do wish Pepsi would - like their archrival - would stop with the chronic rebranding and settle on one identity. This new one they came up with is indeed lovely, why not keep it?

Snips - as if the 90s never happened

Snips Baked Snacks is having an "open and win" competition - much like all those brands did in the 90s (from Pepsi onwards - interestingly, even Pepsi is now having such an offer!)... Here's the deal, you open a Snips bag and if you see the image of your reward you can phone 76888945 Monday to Friday from 8 till 5 to claim your award. The second choice is that you enter on a draw on a Mini Cooper on this link (here). If it seems a little complicated, then maybe because... it is. You should already read the comments on Facebook from people unable to register, or those wondering if they should bother pay all this gasoline to go pick the gifts they won (with gasoline being uber high and the gifts being, well, meager in price), and so on. This is without even registering the costumers complaining on wrong codes to register, or those with unreadable numbers and what not.

If you are interested to know, the lucky winner of the Mini Cooper will be announced on December 19.

The 90s are calling and they want their lotteries back. Now about that Pepsi offer...

The PHNX 2022 Grand Prix winners announced

The PHNX Awards announced four Grand Prix winners at its online ceremony at 6pm CET on June 16.

 

GRAND PRIX FILM

 

“Open Spaces” for Burberry by Riff Raff Films (UK)

 

GRAND PRIX PRINT

 

“Better With Pepsi” for Pepsi by alma DDB (US)

 

GRAND PRIX DIGITAL

 

“Did you mean Whopper?” for Burger King by Publicidad Commercial MullenLowe (Guatemala)

 

GRAND PRIX DESIGN

 

“Tough Turban” for Pfaff Harley-Davidson by Zulu Alpha Kilo (Canada)

 

There was no Grand Prix awarded in the Strategy & Technique category. The jury felt that the selection was too diverse to choose an overall winner and that each candidate stood on its own merits.

 There were 108 winners in the competition, including 25 Golds.

 The third edition of the PHNX Awards attracted 1050 entries and participation by more than 900 jurors voting online. The jury is one of the world’s most diverse, comprising not only creatives but also strategists, clients, industry leaders, consultants and journalists – in short, jurors from every corner of the industry.

On that new Mohamed Salah Pepsi ad

There are apparently several multitudes of ads by Mohamed Salah for Pepsi. Actually I read today that he was a major reason for the decreased of anti-Moslem incidents in the UK (I take this with a grain of salt considering what happened when three players missed the penalties in the European Championship against Italy - namely Bukyao Saka, Marcus Rashford, and Jadon Sancho, as you may have guessed, the three of them are not Caucasians). Still, this brings us back to Pepsi and Mohamed Salah. I admit the version of the Rolling Stones "I can't get no satisfaction" in the ad is sublime. The story moves between Cairo, Liverpool (where he currently plays for the Liverpool F.C.), Rome and many other places across the world (and the virtual world too!!), in what could easily be a case of "Run Forrest, Run" - where Salah starts running since he was a kid, and grows up - ahem - running as everyone (but him) enjoys Pepsi. There are I admit very endearing parts to the ad, and other bits which are puzzling (I think it should come with a disclaimer not to run beneath a moving Pepsi truck as the Salah Avatar did in the virtual world!). Actually, everyone else is more natural on camera than Salah to be honest (but I suppose this is what happens where you hire professional actors). Well, I guess one learns not to expect a lot from celebrities in ads. But at least there seems to be some effort done in this one. See the ad here.

Should brands advertise in today's crisis-ridden Lebanon?

Portemilio ad from my collection

Sometime in the mid-aughts, a campaign in Lebanon (mostly Beirut) would only be visible if it had 600 billboards, otherwise it would be drowning in the sea of competitors. Today, you can literally pick around 5 billboards and you will be seen. This, to begin with, comes from the lack of ads (though the situation is very slightly improving - very very slightly), so suddenly, you are "seen". 

You know the old adage, that in times of crisis brands should advertise more. So that when the crisis ends their name would be top of mind for the consumer. In 1989 the father of a friend was working on a very upscale banquet area in a resort in Kaslik. Of course, everyone thought the owner of the resort was bananas. Why invest in such a luxurious thing when the war was raging? Fast forward to 1991 and the war ended, and guess where everyone who was anyone wanted to throw their wedding reception? 

But let us look at the equation from all angles. Take the case of Pepsi. One of Lebanon's most ubiquitous advertisers. Now that Coca-Cola left the Lebanese market (again), you can palpably feel the brand's advertising has decreased visibly (so much that it no longer advertises on the Guinness book trolley in Dbayeh opposite Spinney's which was usually its mainstay!). Now, the price of a 2,25 bottle of Pepsi has increased very very dramatically. And if our own house is an indicator, Pepsi which was in the 70s and 80s a drink more reserved to birthdays/celebrations or family lunches (here's an ad from the past to justify this positioning), has seen its consumption cut drastically. Now, do note, with no other alternatives, we still buy Pepsi (granted, diet Pepsi because am diabetic), but does Pepsi still need further ads and campaigns? Well, they did a slight one (the Chraba Redda thingy), but honestly, they were not really obliged to do it - they just did it because it allows people the flexibility to ask for it at shops. And because glass bottles became exorbitantly expensive (which was very well played from Jabaliyeh as they riffed on Pepsi!). 

Now, let us take the example of the HoReCa industry (hotels, restaurants and cafes). Have you tried eating out lately? Well, yesterday, a friend returned a favor I had given him in the past. But to be "correct" I invited him out for a dessert. The price was eye-wateringly expensive. And that was just dessert. Can you imagine what it would have been if that was a full-meal? Viewing the case, it is no wonder that such institutions are refraining from advertising. A certain hotel is to be honest, but it is doing so with the idea that if you rent a weekend you can get a night for free. And why would you want to rent a hotel if you are a Lebanese resident? Well, with travel restrictions and many people no longer being able to go to Turkey (why Turkey? I explained it here!) a hotel stay could make up for the "depaysement" that former middle-class could be yearning for.

However, this is an exception. The discrepancy between restaurant prices and the average Lebanese income has grown so high it is currently almost impossible for people to resume such a "lavish" spending. For a while things were going (and growing) digital, things have visibly cooled since the crisis deepened. 

Someone recently told me the story of how - four families agglomerated on a Sunday lunch of grilled meat, Arak and the proper accoutrements - and basically paid for it what amounted to what his father took as a retirement monthly salary from the army (though they did divvy the costs among the four families). Whereas the overall price was exorbitant, he spoke of the reunion with so much joy. Mind you he did add "honestly, there was almost nothing branded on the table save for the hummos which was from cans" - then he went crashing back to earth, "have you seen the prices of hummos cans lately?".

Perhaps one of the issues is that, if brands were to advertise in a time of crisis such as the case of Lebanon, the idea would be that the crisis has an end. Except that everyday is bringing its own problems further - which is making the end of the tunnel seem farther and farther. And honestly? If I were a brand today in Lebanon, to answer the question: Should I advertise?

My answer is a resounding "NO".

Pepsi Max - the campaign that tries too hard

Brand rivalries - we miss those. But then again some try too hard. So Pepsi Max (France) is trying to put down Coca-Cola. "Choose the brand that you do not think about when they say cola", "a unique taste rather than an iconic bottle", "if you want your name on the bottle, use your pen", "we haven't invented Santa Claus, just a max of taste".

On paper they work, in real life they come from a position of uncertainty. Here's a small comparison with a Smirnoff ad from the 90s: "Vodka from the time the vodka mattered not the bottle". See the difference in tone? The Smirnoff is not apologetic, or riding from behind, it is going all aggressive and for a reason. Ok now the mistake of the campaign was that the tone was a bit off, though on the whole one can understand why they chose it. 

Burger King Belgium and that smart McDonald's dig

So Burger King Belgium is reopening its stores. Good for them after jumping, like the rest of us, from one lockdown to another and from one difficult situation to another. So they're launching this cute campaign where they show forgotten things in their locales and invite people to get them back (a cell phone, a birthday balloon, a backpack).... thrown in the melee is a McDonald's employee cap. Had the McDonald's cap been a stand alone, it would have been too "badly seen" but being part of a bigger campaign not only reinforces its wit and charm but also dilutes the acrimony. To be honest though, very well played from Burger King.

All this reminds us of the uber funny The Onion which published (back in 1997!) a satirical article about how Cola industry veterans are getting their own memorial following the lovely Coca-Cola/Pepsi war.

Jabaliyeh and the art of saving - just bring your empty bottles!

With the returnable Pepsi bottle now back in vogue, and in a funny and witty move, Jabaliyeh - which specializes in traditional mouneh (such as rose water, honey, thyme etc....) has launched an epic campaign. Instead of "Chraba w redda" (drink it and return it) Jabaliyeh winks "Chraba w ma tredda" (drink it and don't return it). Underneath the explanation is that the customer saves money when he precents the empty recipient which Jabaliyeh will fill for him - and hence he will save the price of the bottle. In case you do not know, the prices of such ingredients have jumped so exponentially, that empty bottles are causing the whole prices to go up. Naturally, all this is eco-conscious too! A smart and lovely move. I spoke to Jabaliyeh and the told me "we are launching this "label free" campaign because now is the time to stick together, to help one another. And when customers will visit us with their empty containers, they will receive a discount equal to the price of the container. This is the least we can do in the current circumstances".

Pepsi - 1 Liter returnable

Believe it or not, at one point the 1 Liter Pepsi bottle was reserved for Sunday lunches,  birthdays and special occasions. Of course, Pepsi is now ubiquitous in any meal, but still, in a 50s ad, Pepsi was supposed to be a post-Iftar digestive drink (see here). Which brings us to - the 1 Liter Pepsi "chraba redda" (returnable glass bottle) is now back in the markets (side precision: I have not seen it anywhere but this does not negate it might be present). Does this signal a shift in consumption especially with the plastic 2,25 Liter Pepsi bottle skyrocketing in price (by the latest count it is 7500 Liras up from 2250). Is this an eco-friendly move? I am assuming such bottles are more the turf of small shops rather than large supermarkets however. Still, all of these are assumptions considering I still have to see it in shops. But hey, if Pepsi trucks have such an ad on their back, who am I to argue?

I watched all the SuperBowl ads so you don't have to (and only one is worth watching)

So no one asked for Dolly Parton to rework her "9to 5" lyrics for SquareSpace (into 5 to 9), or for Leslie Grace and Meek Mill to spoil Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine's "Conga" for Baccardi (note to Baccardi, why not run of your old "Be what you wanna be" ads from the 90s?), or for Lil' Nas to - hey, I cannot ever remember what ad he was on! Or for McDoland's to continue the "let's-wreck-every-track-people-loved" saga this year with a mashup by DJ Earworm of songs including 24kGldn's "Mood," J. Balvin's "Mi Gente," Celine Dion's "All Coming Back To Me Now," (which originally is by Meatloaf) Alicia Keys' "Girl on Fire" and The Proclaimers' "500 Miles", which sort of ruined them all. Sketchers decided to include an NFL player and their budget did not got as high as Tom Brady and Gisele so they ended up with Tony Romo. 

While Amazon picked Michael B. Jordan as the "body of Alexa" - which considering how bad the other ads are made this one seem genuinely good (even if, on a decent year it would be average). Will Farrell in a silly slapstick for GM along with Awkwafina does not invite you to join the ride. Lenny Kravitz jumps in for Stella Artois in a decent effort which is half shot and half animated. The weeknd predictably stars in the - what else? - but the Pepsi commercial (he is after all this year's star of the half time!). Bud Light recreates that frog raining scene from Magnolia but with lemons (to promote their own flavored lemon-tasting drink) because "when life gives you lemons" (you know all the wrong things that happened last year). Michelob Ultra asks the daft question:"Are you happy because you win? Or do you win because you're happy?" using Serena Williams, Peyton Manning, Anthony Davis, Brooks Koepka, Jimmy Butler and Alex Morgan.

Mountain Due certified that John Cena knows how to count (to 3) (Note to Mountain Due, you really should have bought Daniel Johnston's lovely tune!), Tide played along with Jason Alexander - supposedly it was funny, not sure how though. And Uber Eats revived Wayne's World. Mind you as I am writing this I am still scrolling though "just insert a celebrity and pretend it is funny" ads. 

Now there is however a lovely ad worth watching. The superb Anheuser-Busch: "Let's Grab a Beer". Because, "It's never just about the beer. It's about being together." After 2020, would anyone dare argue?

Pepsi, a Lebanon tribute goes horribly wrong

Wow, now that's.... Archaic? Old? Out of tune? Ugly, but not ugly enough to be kitsch?....

Am at loss of words in front of the new, useless, not called for, new Pepsi packaging. I presume, this is supposed to be a hollow Beirut tribute, no one is interested in, and whose practical implications on the ground are pointless. Is any money going to those who lost their homes in the Beirut explosion? Is anything being distributed for free? Will there be any pro bono kiosks? Will they decrease their price which has more than doubled? No, no, no and no. So what is the point? Apart from looking totally altruistic yet not offering anything in that altruism? Nothing much. 

On the plus side, these figures are close to the Gandour Dabke rebrand they can almost dance together and no one would be the the wiser....

In Lebanon, when in doubt, go retro or go home.

When in doubt, pretend the 80s and 90s never happened. Well, at least this is what the advertising scene in Lebanon does it seems. Case in point, the two ads above. 

Pepsi capsule offer? Is there anything more 90s? Those offers were all the rage back then... Actually, at the time the prize was a Jaguar E type (spoiler: the person who won the car was a Syrian worker on a gas station. The man owed some debt to his employer, the employer forgave the debt in exchange for the winning capsule).

Now the other ad is for SMS that recently did the electronic money counter campaign (here) and now it is advertising an iPad and phone holder for the car with slapstick that was super popular in the 80s with a side order of women objectification, because why not?

So there, go retro or go home.

PepsiCo Arabia, low/no budget "relief" ad

Well, Pepsi justifiably increased the price of its products. Apparently it offered a certain relief, but am not sure what kind it was or how much it is worth and to whom it went. Neither the ad (see here), nor its caption mention anything other than solidarity. Now, the ad is a low/no budget  affair. With people supposedly working at Pepsico (Worldwide?) recording incredibly badly pronounced messages in disastrous audio, with - home? - backgrounds. To be clear all my work is done without budget, so the lack of money is not my gripe. My problem is that the whole thing ended a shambles of talking heads with disastrous audio.

And what if Pepsi is the answer? Pop culture as a bridge to peace

And what if Pepsi is the answer?

It seems someone tried to imitate the now infamous Kendal Jenner Pepsi ad  by actually offering the soda drink to the police (or law enforcement officers) to diffuse the tense situation. Now on the face of  it, the original ad was a total misread of the situation so much that Pepsi pulled it, and what this person did seems a little too tacky to be believed.
But think about it - when you think of the US, one of the first things that come to your mind are McDonald's, Coke, Cadillac, Levi's, Madonna, Beyonce. Basically pop culture elements!
Actually this is what my project "The history of Lebanon: Simulacra and simulation." is all about.
Read the creative rationale below:
"Based on the philosophical treatise by Jean Baudrillard. This art project is an attempt to retrace the history of Lebanon through signs and signifiers.
Simulacra are defined as copies that depict things that either had no original, or that no longer have an original, whereas simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time.
Lebanon has not had a common official history book since before the war, students still study in archaic books that end somewhere around 1972. The reason for that is simple, since history is not the real version of the events but simply the narrative dictated by the winner, and since there was no clear winner of the Lebanese war at the abrupt end of it, then the saying by Bill Farrell - the late New York Times reporter in Lebanon - "there's no truth in Beirut, only versions" still holds.
To make things worse, the same political families which ruled Lebanon during the war, are still there and refusing to look at their past and be able to understand what they did wrong or assess their legacies in the bloody events. Still, all is not lost, for - no matter in which shelter one was in the Lebanese war - we were all listening to the same ads, jingles, watching the same soap operas, using the same products, going to (different) cinemas which were showing the same movies, enjoying the same heartthrobs - be they in roman photo (translated Italian photoromanze) or singing sensations, and the list goes on.
Only the signs and signals of pop culture of Lebanon will be able to join us when "politics" divides us. Politics stems from the two Greek words, "polis" and "ethos" - polis or the "heart of the fortress" and ethos which means ethics. So the original meaning of the word meant "the ethics of living in a community" and if that had to go through advertising jingles, then so be it.
The project aims to use pop culture, in terms of symbols, names, catchphrases as a way to unify the Lebanese around the same concepts and ideas, and using the said elements as emotional triggers to help preserve memories both personal and collective.
Baudrillard has said about the iconoclasts: "One can live with the idea of distorted truth. But their metaphysical despair came from the idea that the image didn't conceal anything at all". Should this be true then the images of this project do not conceal anything either.
The project is composed of "episodes" each being a video art 13,5 seconds long, with each video containing 9 high resolution related images (thematically, geographically or time wise) with a total time of 90 minutes. Along with a two-hour long soundtrack which explores the Lebanese collective memory in terms of audio rarities and songs (specifically related to the war era)."

London Dairy, is today what Pepsi was in the past

London Dairy is positioning itself as an after iftar treat... What is interesting is this was exactly the positioning of Pepsi in the past (50s/60s) see below.

Pepsi was supposed to be an after-iftar digestive drink! What happened is that, with time, it moved up the food chain (no pun!) to become part of the meal itself hence becoming part ot of the menu. Also here is a fun fact, the large size referred to in the ad is actually 1 liter which is smaller than today's "standard" large 1,25 liter.
One wonders if ice cream will become part of dinner too....

Coca-Cola exits the Lebanese market (Again!)

Did you know that between 1968 to 1990 Coca-Cola was boycotted in the Arab world by order of the League of Arab Nations since it provided "financial help for Israel" in the 1967 six day war? Well, it seems Coca-Cola is about to close its Lebanese bottling company as of tomorrow. "Is Pepsi OK?" - you are about to hear that one way more often than before! So here we are - another one bites the dust. This time a big one!