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.

Hey De Beers, why not collaborate on a wedding gown collection?

 Well, I already told you how De Beers started the engagement ring craze and how - via advertising no less - they toyed with the most basic economics rule (the scarcer the good the more expensive - read it all here). But today, as I browsed via the many websites I browse daily - and yes, these include women's magazines, I have no shame in that because I need to keep abreast with all kinds of news - a story stopped me dead in my tracks. Love and The City.

I know what you are thinking - the title is not exceptionally creative (a riff on Sex and The City) and the content is about the many different styles a bride could wear - something most magazines (male and female) are doing lately, by that I mean editorial content which get them percentages of sales where redirected to websites selling the mentioned goods. See the story here.

What really spiked my attention was that the story was "presented by De Beers"... So as De Beers (and other major diamond-providing companies) face the specter of the many problems they face (GenZ not interested in traditional wedding rings, lab-grown diamonds etc....) here they are. As I always tell my students doing a project or research "ma fik tfout min el beb fout min el chebek" (you can't go through the door, go through the window). If you look closely at the different brides, each styled differently, to suit different tastes and what not, the only thing in common is that their jewelry is provided exclusively by De Beers.

But blink and you'll miss it. The magazine only specifies that the story is "presented by De Beers" in a small typography, you'll be lost in an eloquent text by Tara Gonzales, and you'll be looking at what brand this groom wore and which is the supplier or the dress of that bride etc.... Oh, and the rings, bangles, brooches, are by....

Which got me thinking - why doesn't De Beers actually collaborate with one of those very trendy wedding dress designers (Anyone from Vera Wang - who specializes in that segment - to the much-awaited Elie Saab iterations). I mean now that the door is open (or is it the window?) why not go full throttle and make a once in a century collaboration for the ages?

Lacoste x Polaroid, the collab we did not know we needed

Lacoste x Polaroid, the collab we did not know we needed! The campaign (you can see the film here) was shot by photographer Simon Schmitt in the French Southern city of Marseille, with plenty of natural light and in an industrial background, the campaign features teams of dancers and skaters in a dazzling stop motion jigsaw puzzle that follows their non-stop movement. Lacoste (and agency BETC) selected performers of jooking, a type of dance using jerky moves that perfectly fits the energy of the film, shot frame-by-frame (well, considering this is a collaboration with Polaroid, why not shot by shot via Polaroid camera? or better call on the queen of Polaroid, Maripol herself!).

But still, with 70s fashion raging everywhere (even flares are back in style!), Lacoste already rode the wave with a collection by Bruno Mars and his alter ego Ricky Regal (see the full retro line here), and now it is doubling down with the Polaroid collab and its logo's dreamy colors which were featured on the clothing items.

Well, I am all for retro indeed.