Johnnie Walker - coming back for end of year festivities.

Now that has been a long absence.

Johnnie Walker is back, right bang at the end of the year festivities in... a ad that riffs on national identity? Color me a little confused. "Unfolding flavor" and underneath "keep the sparkle alive". All while the "Johnnie" effigy hold a Lebanese flag. Am still trying to grapple with this truth be told.

This is not Independence Day mind you and - not too sure - but I think the idea is to encourage the Lebanese to face another year of obstacles I presume all while keeping "the sparkle alive".

Naturally, with alcohol being a staple at end of year festivities, Johnnie Walker had to dip its toe. Even if am still trying to make sense of it all. What can I say. Keep Walking people I guess.

Glenbey 12 - a good ad for a horribly named whisky

Well apart from the fact that I still think they name is horrible, and that their facebook ad for the 12 years has a mistake ("Expertly refined for 12 years, Glenbey 12 marches to the beat of its own dram, so raise your glass high and savour the journey." - drum people, not dram!) - the ad actually hits the right notes.

The art direction is very good, the colors suave, the typography flawless, enough to make one understand that this is most likely higher priced than the usual bottle (which in itself is a lot of money in today's Lebanon). But again, a good ad - despite the naming.

Blak - a new whisky in town

Well what is better than a festive month to introduce a new whisky brand in town? Meet Blak (more info here) - yes sans "c" - which apparently is the new black according to the ad. Actually the ad is well done, very distinguished in tone and I am not sure if this reflects on the price of the alcohol in question (Just to be clear however, I am not sure if the ad contains racist intonations or not, because these days it is all walking on thin ice). Interestingly this is not the first year where new alcohol brands get introduced right before the festivities. Usually the brands use very generic images, often include English mistakes in the headlines and tend to vanish right after new year (here is an example). Blak seems however to be a cut above judging from the effort that was inserted in the ad. 

By the way, Blak has several ads on facebook (here) which remind me a lot of the tone of voice used by Aishti way back in the day - meaning dark-ish colors, upscale surroundings, velvety ambiance, etc....

Revel Scotch Whisky, or is it Scotsh?

Hmmm, well, usually December is the date where established alcohol brands go with new ads (or reminder ads), but this year - considering that most scotch whisky brands are imported and ergo have stratospherically risen in terms of price, which is why seeing new brands (and untested in the market) pop up at this time is sort of interesting. But here we are, one of these brands is revel - with the very expected line that is "the new scotch revelation" (which makes the ad expected for me, but perhaps makes the public at large feel smart figuring it out). 

Now, the issue is, why on earth is rendering of the bottle so incredibly two-dimensional and with such odd colors! Below is an image taken directly from their website showing  a better image where the bottle seems at least rounded, but trust me in the ad above it seems flaccid. The other issue, the website writes it as "Scotsh" not Scotch Whisky which makes me doubt how languishingly proficient the company is.