OK, someone needs to say it and I am volunteering to do it: Almaza has no strategy.
In their latest instalment - which is very lame - Almaza beer went for a silly concept. But that's after posting ads in French for "le mois de la francophonie" (with a typo mistake mind you because "fraîcheur" needs a "circonflexe"on the i- here) and after wining Picasso d'Or for what is honestly a baffling campaign (if it can be called so!). And they did some nice Fairouz gimmicks for winter (here), but not before remixing old ads (here), their ads for summer were OK (nothing to write home about - here), in the meantime they blundered through a photoshop fail (here), they did show a glimpse of how glorious they once were (here and here). So where does this lead us?
As they gallop between Arabic and French (with a side of English), as they ride between different linguistic gimmicks and odd visuals (the ones they did for the francophonie were a mile away from the one they did for the basketball win and a different mile from the winter campaign). There is just inconsistency everywhere - in visuals, in language, in executions. In short this is what I call the "spaghetti theory" - throw a bowl of spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks.
Pity, Almaza was - by far - at least in its Intermarkets days - the most consistent brand in terms of communication (I am discounting the bit when they moved to Leo Burnett). It stuck through a very clear white typography on a red background with a very witty copywriting linguistic trick. And it worked, it really worked. Now they are all over the place. Obviously no one bothered with any strategy - neither client nor agency. They are just going on day to day basis changing as they go along. Which is a pity. Yes, they won the Picasso d'Or - for what however, I know not.
A bit of strategy and organization never hurt anyone. And if in doubt about ethical or intellectual property issues (meaning with Intermarkets) the client owns the old ads simply by virtue of paying for them.
