Tora Bika - underwhelming in two languages

I saw this ad in two languages, and neither are interesting, both forgettable. The above is the Arabic, the English is just as bad, the ad goes "all the coffee... at your house". Thing is, they did book ad space for this, and well, I guess this whole "at your house" thingy is some coordinated campaign judging by their Macchiato instagram effort (here). 

Well, I am exactly this kind of product's target audience, and feel myself totally unmoved. So yes, we do instant coffee - make that several cups - but what's the addition is this bringing? Emotionally? Or on the "daily slice of life" level? Or even on the price-point level which is crucial to the Lebanese at this point? Considering the above, this leaves me underwhelmed, 

Najjar Raqwa q2 - paint coffee by numbers

At the beginning of my career in advertising a major coffee brand was the client of the agency I was working with. I presented my creative idea so seductively, the owner of the company said when I finished "now I feel like I want a cup of coffee!" - if I say this it is because, well, there are ways to make the coffee (or in this case the coffee machine) desirable. The one used in the ad is not it.

Thankfully the two end lines remain from the previous agency - "coffee as it should be" (el ahwe 3a oussola) and "wherever there is coffee, there's Najjar" (wayn ma fi ahwe, fi Najjar). Still, honestly, the sight of the man and the woman in the ad "pretending" to enjoy their coffee is - truly - a sight not to behold. Watch the ad here.

McCafe goes shutterstock royalty free

All right - here's the source. And it's royalty-free. On Shutterstock.

I am not saying the ad is without merit, but well it is taken as is from somewhere else. It does say coffee love. As in literally. Not sure how this came about - did they scour the internet to look for two beans to make a heart sign once they found "coffee love" or more realistically they found the image and came up with the line? Anyhow if one did not know the origin, this would be a respectable ad.

Maxim's - instant coffee

Well if Najjar can do it (here), why not Maxim's. Maxim's is indeed plunging head first in the instant coffee segment - in the hope of capturing some of the market of Nescafe (and its various subrands and tastes) now that the Nestle brand is no longer in forceful traction in the Lebanese market. Again, Najjar adapted to the times after years of trying to convince new generations of the merit of ground coffee, so Maxim's simply followed suit and introduced its own as well. Maxim's is known for a hoard of other food products mind you (check here) so delving into the instant coffee is not too far off of a jump.

Small side note: For a brand that has, for so long, signed with "3ndo yeke bil dene" (thinks the world of you) the introduction of "awaken your senses" is interesting. Perhaps they are targeting a totally different segment of those they are usually focusing on?

Najjar Raqwa goes double

I spoke about Najjar Raqwa long ago (here), and well, whereas the ad here is a bit old (because the ad on that OOH gets changes very very infrequently), it is still interesting that Raqwa went double.

So basically, the idea is that the machine produces two cups of coffee instead of one. In a stressful country like Lebanon, I will have both thank you. Joking aside, I always thought Najjar Raqwa (Najjar being known for their ground coffee brand, a ubiquitous product in the Middle East) would be a hit actually. Now of course, with all companies downsizing on expenses, offering free coffee is a thing of the past at this point (yes, all perks are now being taken off from many work places mind you, understandable, when you see how much companies want to really save on all fronts with remote working of course, also changing this idea of gossiping around the coffee machine).

The ad markets the coffee - or double coffee - as a "sobhiye" which is the morning meeting time between friends, family members and - sometimes - colleagues. 

Still, it Raqwa went double it means the single coffee-making  machine was indeed a hit. Which is a good news. As I said, the previous iterations of the machine which included cappuccino and what not produced excellent Arabic coffee. So no doubt Najjar Raqwa does too.

Tchibo - hopefully now with a better distibution

OK here's a small admission, Tchibo is my favorite coffee brand. The reason why I end up not buying it all the time? Because its distribution in Lebanon was, for a long time, very touch and go. The kind of touch and go where my sister in law would call me because she found one such item in a store and wanted to know if she would get it (yes, please!). Which is why having a Tchibo campaign on billboards is a bit of an "anomaly". I said it before, previously - that would be circa 2004-5 - you'd have needed 600 billboards just make your ad be "seen" (here) but these days a smaller presence would get you noticed. So having such a (relatively) very large campaign for Tchibo on the streets, is - hopefully - a sign that they have managed to smooth their distribution issues.

Cafe Najjar does cold brew

Ah right in time for summer - Cafe Najjar has a cold brew.

Apparently it is very easy to prepare thankfully. It is a four step recipe: Soak it - Brew it - Mix it - Drink it.

Seems such an easy thing to prepare indeed.

All this gave me a recollection of Nescafe Frappe but not sure how close the two drinks are. Still, I also hope the price is reasonable considering how everything is uber expensive these days in Lebanon. Also it seems the target audience are hip Gen Z people from what the ads seem to portray. Which is probably logical I suppose considering they are vying for alternatives for people who drink instant coffee. 

Still, for any brand "made in Lebanon" to launch a new product within these very harsh economic conditions, it something very laudable. So congratulations for Najjar on this bold step.