Did Roadster rebrand, redesign, repackage or what?

I think I said that before, I was actually one of the first customers of Roadster when it opened its first branch next to Sagesse school in Achrafieh and the owner sat at my table and took an honest feedback. Roadster has changed its logo - whether this is a rebrand, a redesign or a repackage is... still up in the air. What are they changing to change their logo is a mystery: a new menu? a new target audience? a new concept altogether? Judging by their instagram page (here) none of the above.

Which brings us to... Why?

The reason for the move is unconvincing. What it means to people is just... borderline "meh". Because as stated above none of them make sense, especially that they emphasize that their classics are here to stay and honestly if I was a regular customer would it make any difference if there's a new typeface or whatever? I doubt.

But hey, remember - a new logo means insane expenditure on everything: the shops, the delivery items, the napkins, the uniforms, etc, etc... (funnily I was once working with a company that changed its logos, before I left they gave me some items to consider and assess in a bag with the old logo! When I asked why on earth they'd still use the old bag? The answer "we printed too much of those"). 

Roadster is - at this point - way past its heyday for sure (not sure who goes there and with what frequency but as a halo it's certainly an issue when you let a make up brand take over your branch - here). To me all of this is confusing. I believe the whole brand has gone astray and changing the logo is putting lipstick on a pig.

Roadster - either a prelude or a campaign

Roadster is on it, again.  The campaign goes - in many iterations - "We're either geniuses or unemployed", "Are we seriously approving this?! Bold", "The biggest mistake of the year"... And on it went, the bigger question is, are they doing a campaign, or is this a prelude for a campaign? If this is the campaign good for them, there's something unhinged here and daring, not sure if enough to make us forget the head-scratching and totally illogic NYE collab (here). So here we are, not sure what it is but it draws the eyeballs. A redeem for a disastrous collab if there ever one. And apparently all this because they changed colors but even this is very sketchy as an excuse.

NYX x Roadster, how come no one "nyx"ed the idea?

OK let me start with the words of Aya Haitham, senior brand manager at NYX. "We brought together two worlds no one expected to see collide, NYX Professional Makeup x Roadsters Diner. For our "If You NYX, You Know” campaign, we decided to do what NYX PMU does best: dare to go big, bold, and completely unexpected. Inspired by our iconic lip combos, we created a limited-edition menu that transforms some of our most-loved NYX Professional Makeup shades and products into a full dining experience, available throughout the entire month of September. A collaboration that challenged the usual, broke category boundaries, and proved that when you dare to think differently, you can create something people don’t just see, they remember." First and foremost you can watch the video here.

Now, as soon as I read this my mind started reeling. In the brand wheel in my mind, Roadster is certainly not a feminine brand (I double checked with other friends of mine involved in communication and marketing and they seconded my opinion). Which is why I found it very strange to pair it with NYX, a make up brand with all the accoutrements that went with it (a new menu, the chairs being branded, a pink Mercedes with stickers on it, etc...). So all of this in mind, the pairing has indeed "broke(n) category boundaries", in a positive way however, remains to be seen.

I personally don't get it. Maybe I am not the target audience, which is why. But if I am to go to Roadster again, I might be requestioning my gender identity.

Roadster x Doritos - great partnership for an underwhelming ad

Roadster, the Lebanese diner which has expanded to the UAE is so mighty it has partnered with Doritos - I have seen two ads (the burger one above and the chicken fingers here). Here are some not-so-good earlier iterations of Roadster - here and here, there were some better attempts here and here, but there are times where one feels... They're not even trying. And the Doritos match up seems to fall in that vein. I mean, "Doritos, the loudest taste on earth", yes, that Doritos. And all they came up with is some unappetizing visuals, which don't exactly scream "huge collab between local and international brand". So if I wasn't so focused on the advertising scene all this could have fell through the cracks.

Let Meryl Streep go to Prada hell, or Zeit Boulos hell, or Roadster hell

 

In 2001 Rachid Daif wrote a novel "Tostofel Meryl Streep" which was translated as "Let Meryl Streep go to hell". So today I was made aware of an AI of Meryl Streep advertising Zeit Boulos which came back hot on the heels of Roadster using her image with the line from movie The Devil Wears Prada "Don't be ridiculous Andrea, everyone wants this" as she holds a Roadster meal inside a VIP seat in a cinema.

Need I go futher? Roadster and Zeit Boulos are small fish, no one cares about suing them. But this is beyond idiotic. Remember - Microsoft sued a teenage Canadian for establishing a company called Mike Roe Soft which is actually his name. Chasing name and likeness is truly a risky game and no, Meryl Streep would never license her image to some food chain in Lebanon or a company that does Lebanese "moune" (as Boulos oil is trying to rebrand itself - here). So where do we go from here? We go to what happened to the viral gender reveal where the "grandma" looked incredibly young and fresh.

Images below are for brands that used her likeness in ads without authorization:

The woman got plastered on ads for everything and anything. ArabAd asked in their post on Linkedin (here) "where do we draw the line?" my answer was "at decency". Naji Boulos, the current editor in chief at ArabAd replied to me with "The item you requested is currently not available online."

Surely "Teta" (grandma) can sue. But truly we are in an age where advertisers and brands should remember "just because you can, it doesn't mean you should".

Roadster vs Bellvie #compareandcontrast

Shhhhh... No wait, I heard that sound before. Exhibit A: Roadster 2025 Exhibit B: Bellvie April 2026. Same sound, same distinctive hiss, but as always, I am not saying they did, I am not saying they didn't, but compare and contrast and you be the judge.

Roadster goes for more protein (or perhaps less)

Roadster, the brand that reinvented itself and its branches to be less Americana and more mature, is now back with an add that screams "same burger more protein" which is good to know and not very interesting to see. The ad is bland leaves you wanting. I mean if I said it was without taste, you'd think I was talking about some moral issue not a culinary one. Do note, the ad is practically everywhere, which means at least Roadster did the effort to spread the idea (or lack of it) everywhere. Unfortunately, I don't see the tone of voice anywhere in the ad.

Roadster declares that we deserve summer

"We deserve summer" - we also deserve stability, peace of mind, calmness, and trauma healing. But let's not go into psychoanalysis, Roaster hits the correct notes with this chill, laid-back, not-trying-too-hard ad. And it works, really works. Beach ball, ice bucket, surfboard.... but also all done indoors under a lamp with one of those light reflectors to get a tan. Also apparently the person in question is Wael Arakji, basketball star extraordinaire with Al Riyadi team. I am not saying it has a hint of Magnum's "Find your summer" (here), but we do deserve summer, even indoors.

Roadster nabs a Tiktok Award via TBWA\RAAD

So it seems Roadster grabbed itself a Tiktok Award! The whole thing - a first for the region actually - happened in Dubai. You can catch the whole thing here. Roadster actually seems to have been a bronze medalist for its campaign "You Be The Judge" orchestrated by TBWA\RAAD, Lebanon - in case you wish to have a refresher at the wonderful self-depreciating campaign please look no further than here. So in a country where we just had a ceasefire, it seems our creative juices are always there. If I understood correctly from Linkedin this comes from the desk of Georges Kyrillos and his teams there (am thinking Jad Chidiac, Maya Nassif, Hiba Shmaysani and Mira El Fil) . Always a refresher to be validated by the industry I guess!

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.

This blog's top 5 ads of 2023 in Lebanon

So the committee for electing best ads of the year convened (OK, fine, that's just me), and the top 5 ads of the year were selected.  The main factor I relied on was honestly - not just creativity, but memorability. I literally closed my eyes and I thought - if I am to remember ads from this year, what would they be? Well, the answer lies below and please note this year, there is no clear favorite, the 5 ads are ex-aequo to me (meaning I have no preference between them):

Lux and women empowerment (here) - I really really loved how they changed the Arabic copy by tweaking a word (from "tamyiz" to "tamayoz").

Chateau Ksara keeps churning hit after hit, from this year's crop (har har) I selected the understated Valentine's Day. Not too obvious, very sleek, and indeed, quite intimate. See here. By the way since Ksara (and their agency Mink) was on such a winning streak a very honorable mention goes for their Christmas ad this year (here) - pity the end-of-year ad from 2023 cannot be included (here).

Roadster is suddenly back in the radar (here). One needs guts to self-depreciate, and I love what they've done. Really shows self-confidence without the braggadocio. 

Malak El Tawouk - what can I say? Cheeky and smart and really "in your face". A great outing for the brand which - even if opening in Paris - still hangs in to its roots. Check it here. 

A late entrant but one that completely blew me away. The layout sucks, the prices apparently expensive but the ad itself whereas "cheap" (hehe) and perhaps home-cooked was timely, smart and very very courageous. Indeed, Bayti Store is one of the best ads of the year. Here.

Roadster - fajita nachos self-depreciation is a winner

I have spoken about the subtle art of self-depreciation in advertising prior (here). Roadster has just added a gem to the annals. While talking about how good their fajita is, they managed to do a smart take on themselves, on the audience, and in extenso on the fajitas themselves.

"80% of people gave our fajita nachos a 10. But those are the same 80% who re-elected our politicans. You be the judge"

I mean seriously, is there any better dig on all fronts? 

Roadster too cliché to be called cliché....

Roadster Diner has a new ad.

Watch here.

Done throwing up?

Wow. Really. Not even cliche. All the pinch-me-to-cry-because-am-patriotic images are there.

The woman playing piano in her bombed apartment, the man cleaning up debris on his wheelchair, the flag, the blond and the veiled woman, and so on. Do note, Picasso used them with dignity and gracefulness engulfing them in a serene and proud ambiance. Here they appear cheap, silly and certainly out of context. Why is it some people do not learn when to stop? Especially when using other people's suffering for exhibitionist-voyeuristic purposes. The ad ends with #sharethelove because you know, the concept of the ad is "we share everything". 

Seriously, somewhere in the museum of cliché ads someone is laughing hysterically!

 

The bland Ramadan visual food offers

Well, food outlets stuck on delivery mode due to Coronavirus are not mixing well with the situation now that Ramadan's usual cash cow started. Still, they are dipping everything in a visual sauce that makes everything look bland and indistinguishable (yes, I know it is meant to look appetizing and welcoming). Deek Duke went as far as using chicken drumsticks as drumsticks (in reference to the Moussaharati character who invites people to wake up for the early pre-dawn souhour or breakfast while beating his drum) - other people enjoyed the pun, sadly I did not! So there, a blessed month and fast for those observing it.