Samsung - back to school tablet

Well, what's with everything going digital, it is no wonder Samsung is advertising its tablet for the back to school and it comes with a free backpack. I mean at 139 USD the backpack is hopefully worth it. But again, it seems digital items are now part of the back to school items that students should pack with them. Interestingly, Sweden one of the pioneers of digital transformations at school, is now going back to pen and paper, because you guessed it, it turns out that having the answer without knowing how one got to it destroys your analytical thinking.

If all ads have moved digital. Where are they?

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

All right, my sample could be flawed so statistically not reliable. But, what's with all ads having "moved digital" - where may I ask are they? Normally my instagram should be an indicator: Whenever I open it, and as I scroll through stories, ads should be appearing there. Are they? Well, there Massimo Dutti (oddly I am offered the women's section of the sale, go figure!), then a couple of local shoe brands, one major discount outlet in Kaslik, and ultimately when I go and see images Rectangle Jaune seems to be on sale.

Well, truth be told either it is me and my feed or there are barely any ads to speak of digitally. Wait, maybe like all the cool kids they have migrated to Tiktok (where I am not truth be told). Seriously though, what's with everyone assuming that all ads are digital, where are those ads? I still see accounts selling their items online - outlet this and discounted brand that. We all know that this what shopping has been like since the pandemic. Sure, footfall does exist in actual stores but shopping online has been the norm for many. 

I am not saying there are no ads online in Lebanon, but there seems to be an over-projection as to how many. Perhaps the Gulf is in better shape than the Lebanese market - after all they have more disposable income (I hear that in Kuwait you have a 2-hour queue in front of Cartier - and that's the upscale jeweler in case you are confused!). But again, something seems fishy on the local scene. I guess it all goes back to how much people are willing to spend. That the crisis is ongoing in Lebanon is a fact. Say you are shopping for a turtleneck, you will most likely see items from China (if you dress Large you ask for the XXL to compensate for the size difference). Will you see ads for them? Unlikely, but there are shops online that specialize in such items (said turtleneck cost 10 USD at this point).

Once more, I feel there is a confusing element here. Maybe there is enough customers without attracting more ads. Maybe "outlet" stores have enough people dropping by without having to display their wares - I do see ads for such stores, but these are mainly in the line of "new kids outfits have dropped" (and you see a selection on hangers being displayed in a 5-7 interval). Or it could be the Shein effect - people are ordering direct from shein (but considering this requires a credit card not sure how this works - although there are sites that could order on your behalf and you "pay on delivery"). 

Maybe what am asking is - there are ads here and here. Mostly homegrown (meaning shot by the client itself) probably by some skeletal team that does everything from shooting to editing to posting to the caption to the tags and the whole shebang. So where do "agencies" fall in this? Remember, the companies that used to spend like nobody's business - banks and car agencies are no longer in the market. No one wants to hear of banks that robbed people blind and no one has enough cash for new models of cars. So the main actors of the field have pseudo-vanished.

So I am not sure where agencies stand on this particularly that online ads need no booking or price negotiating and that most companies seem to do them in-house. It all feels like a paradox.

Cyberia has a new ADSL offer.

Lately I have been asked why I am featuring ads which - at best - are ho-hum. Because, to quote George Hillary when asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, "because it's there!". What does that mean? The amount of ads in Lebanon has reached such a critical low, that any ad done - no matter its quality - is worth mentioning. A campaign can linger on billboards for months on end, or it can be exhibited on a dismal number and still be visible (just as a comparison stick, in 2005 if you wanted your campaign to be "seen" - meaning simply to appear among the fray - they required number of billboards to be booked was no less than 500). 

Of course, you might say - yes that's because there's the advent of digital Tarek, wake up and smell the Facebook. Really? How  many ads have you seen as of late? And by that I mean something other than a corny (mostly stolen or uncredited) image with a logo on top? Little. Incredibly little.

On all accounts, this brings us to Cyberia and its efforts on Instagram in a neatly done, very minimal ad, which involves a nice opening shot with a proverb that goes "he who changes his habits, has his happiness diminished" only to be followed by a second frame which says "only not so with Cyberia" (creatively, to be honest, I would have went with the other proverb that went "any change brings relief" (el na2le fiha el faraj)).  The ad goes on to then detail what Cyberia (an internet provider) is giving as an ADSL offer and its numerous perks.

See the full ad here.

Should brands advertise in today's crisis-ridden Lebanon?

Portemilio ad from my collection

Sometime in the mid-aughts, a campaign in Lebanon (mostly Beirut) would only be visible if it had 600 billboards, otherwise it would be drowning in the sea of competitors. Today, you can literally pick around 5 billboards and you will be seen. This, to begin with, comes from the lack of ads (though the situation is very slightly improving - very very slightly), so suddenly, you are "seen". 

You know the old adage, that in times of crisis brands should advertise more. So that when the crisis ends their name would be top of mind for the consumer. In 1989 the father of a friend was working on a very upscale banquet area in a resort in Kaslik. Of course, everyone thought the owner of the resort was bananas. Why invest in such a luxurious thing when the war was raging? Fast forward to 1991 and the war ended, and guess where everyone who was anyone wanted to throw their wedding reception? 

But let us look at the equation from all angles. Take the case of Pepsi. One of Lebanon's most ubiquitous advertisers. Now that Coca-Cola left the Lebanese market (again), you can palpably feel the brand's advertising has decreased visibly (so much that it no longer advertises on the Guinness book trolley in Dbayeh opposite Spinney's which was usually its mainstay!). Now, the price of a 2,25 bottle of Pepsi has increased very very dramatically. And if our own house is an indicator, Pepsi which was in the 70s and 80s a drink more reserved to birthdays/celebrations or family lunches (here's an ad from the past to justify this positioning), has seen its consumption cut drastically. Now, do note, with no other alternatives, we still buy Pepsi (granted, diet Pepsi because am diabetic), but does Pepsi still need further ads and campaigns? Well, they did a slight one (the Chraba Redda thingy), but honestly, they were not really obliged to do it - they just did it because it allows people the flexibility to ask for it at shops. And because glass bottles became exorbitantly expensive (which was very well played from Jabaliyeh as they riffed on Pepsi!). 

Now, let us take the example of the HoReCa industry (hotels, restaurants and cafes). Have you tried eating out lately? Well, yesterday, a friend returned a favor I had given him in the past. But to be "correct" I invited him out for a dessert. The price was eye-wateringly expensive. And that was just dessert. Can you imagine what it would have been if that was a full-meal? Viewing the case, it is no wonder that such institutions are refraining from advertising. A certain hotel is to be honest, but it is doing so with the idea that if you rent a weekend you can get a night for free. And why would you want to rent a hotel if you are a Lebanese resident? Well, with travel restrictions and many people no longer being able to go to Turkey (why Turkey? I explained it here!) a hotel stay could make up for the "depaysement" that former middle-class could be yearning for.

However, this is an exception. The discrepancy between restaurant prices and the average Lebanese income has grown so high it is currently almost impossible for people to resume such a "lavish" spending. For a while things were going (and growing) digital, things have visibly cooled since the crisis deepened. 

Someone recently told me the story of how - four families agglomerated on a Sunday lunch of grilled meat, Arak and the proper accoutrements - and basically paid for it what amounted to what his father took as a retirement monthly salary from the army (though they did divvy the costs among the four families). Whereas the overall price was exorbitant, he spoke of the reunion with so much joy. Mind you he did add "honestly, there was almost nothing branded on the table save for the hummos which was from cans" - then he went crashing back to earth, "have you seen the prices of hummos cans lately?".

Perhaps one of the issues is that, if brands were to advertise in a time of crisis such as the case of Lebanon, the idea would be that the crisis has an end. Except that everyday is bringing its own problems further - which is making the end of the tunnel seem farther and farther. And honestly? If I were a brand today in Lebanon, to answer the question: Should I advertise?

My answer is a resounding "NO".

Let's get digital!

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

So, to misquote Olivia Newton John - let's get digital. I keep reading antagonistic data - book reading is on the up, but Amazon teamed up with American Vogue to sell designer clothes because traditional stores that would carry these designers are now closed. Apparently, the way we shop will forever change, then on the first day of lockdown easing in Paris there was a long queue in front of Zara. And so on and so forth. But, to me, going digital is something engrained in me (even if I am a bit of a Luddite who does not shop online and has no credit card).
But let us go back to the beginning.
I recently joined the PHNX tribute festival as a juror. Actually, the whole festival is digital and entry is free to replace all the shows that got cancelled this year. I am also, a part of a major international collective which was supposed to do events spanning from Montreal to Vienna to Amsterdam and Beirut. Realizing opportunities for travel are now quasi-non-existent, we now switched to discussing how to transport all the events to a digital realm. And the list continues.
I am sure we are not alone in this. As people now stand apart and minimize interaction, working from home has become a viable option when previously it was not. My own lockdwon started way before anyone else's in a bid to save money, but I am still incredibly productive, and still reach out to my limited number of friends via digital tools (something other people are learning to do now!).
Do I miss people? Rarely to be honest. I am not by the way, trying to extrapolate my modus operandi and apply it to everyone: I am totally aware that what works for me (introverted, driven, with a touch of OCD) does not work for more extroverted individuals with a more leisurely pace of work.
Still - with schools, universities and companies closed - either because of the Coronavirus, or due to the dire economic situation in Lebanon (or worldwide for that matter), perhaps the time has come to redefine how we work and live and spend our time and connect to one another as individuals.
Want it or not, it seems the digital realm is going to grow. And even Luddite credit cardless people like me need to take note.

Al Wadi Al Akhdar goes digital.

Remember when Al Wadi Al Akhdar went on a gigantic campaign outdoor in 2019? Well, what happens in 2019 stays in 2019, because it seems Al Wadi has now gone completely digital and who would blame them? More cost-efficient, targeted, easier to assess and manipulate. They came up with a catchy copy for each occasion. Indeed, when life gave them lemons.... They did advertising lemonade!

Pizanini the perfect example of how ads are morphing

Well, a nice, clean animation - not award winning, but should it be? - this is how Pizzanini is the perfect example of how ads are morphing. Ads with low budget, targeted online, towards people interested in them. No more OOH or fancy display budgets. See the ad here. It drives home the point, does it at a small budget and in a visual language accessible to most.

Dear agencies let's go digital!

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

The current crisis hitting the advertising market in Lebanon could - paradoxically - bring with it its own silver lining. All it takes is for agencies to be less stubborn and greedy. Yet asking that from such people who would rather cut their nose to spite their face, even when their own survival is at stake, seems to be nearly impossible. The blueprint I speak of is easy - instead of capitalizing on OOH (which is expensive and no longer effective as I argued here) or dying newspapers (as explained here) or magazines (rationale here) now is the time to go digital.
The problem? Digital brings much less money, does not offer the opportunity for kickbacks with production companies, goes against the logic of the large agencies as more nimble and agile ones are a better fit and - ooops - does not fit the calcified mentalities of dinosaurish ad people in Lebanon. As I said, they'd rather die than change models.
Sure I am a sucker for well-produced ads which cost an arm and a leg, but remember, most ads end up being seen on youtube! And today's phones have the capacities that old cinematographers only could dream of, without mentioning photoshop and all the programs which a single person can use to produce what before used to take a whole army to do (I go back to nimble agencies I spoke of).
It is in times of crisis like these that possible things can happen - new alternatives can be seen as viable. This is the jolt we all need in the industry in Lebanon right now - a new way to see things and implement them differently.
I truly believe we are now being handed the opportunity to focus on a new system, let us not waste it and hang on to the remnants of an old, archaic structure.

The dying magazines in Lebanon and how not to get them back!

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly based on the Femme Magazine logo

Count with me: Elle (Oriental), L'officiel, Noun, Snob (Al Hasnaa), Femme magazine and the list goes on. I previously did a post about newspapers and one about Future TV (ps - LDC which is part of the LBC group of TVs is also a casualty, but it does not count as this post focuses on magazines that closed down in 2019).
So there, the list continues to the surprise of no one. The head of communication at a major institution told me once that all the ads in the print dailies and magazines were "tenfi3at" - now that such institutions are eliminating all non-essential spending (including coffee machines in HQs!!) these publications no longer have a lifeline.
But truth be told, there was just no logic in their existence to begin with- say you are a woman who wants to see the latest fashion show: You go to instagram and see the brands you are following and basically get all images uploaded about 5 minutes after the show. You want styling tips? Infuencers are there to help you (while wearing clothes generously donated by brands - even if most still want you to believe they bought them with their hard earned money!). If I am giving these examples specifically it is because most magazines cited are oriented towads women and lifestyle.
But again, when major publishers and this includes Conde Nast - this would be Vogue owner! - is trying to keep its publications afloat through various formulas (be it subscription, paid content, firewall, video publishing and what not!) how can you blame struggling magazines in Lebanon past their expiry dates when it comes to their usefulness. Weekly there is caroussel of editors being laid off under the diplomatic terms of "seeking other opportunities" (and this is on the international scene).
We all want our information here and now - no one will wait for a weekly and much less monthly publication. Naturally, there are some who are trying but are doing so in altenative ways (The Face was reborn in 2019 but in a format different than its original iconic run).
Those who think I am against the press, or as someone accused me on Linkedin "would you want to see the newsstand empty?", remember: I run an incredibly successful blog since 2007 - yes January 2007. That's a long time people - do I earn money out of it?
Let me reprint my answer:
"This blog does not make money, I admit to it. I did not wish for my readership to be bought and sold or for my readers to think my opinion about an ad is skewed because I was paid to comment on it. Still, want it or not, it is a respectable publication, I went to Sweden because of it, was invited to lecture in Oslo, am a member of the Epica Awards (the only blogger there) due to its content, and the list continues. I could easily sell out in search for quick income, but I did not (and yes, it is "costly" in certain ways - I admit). But well, the golden age of money-making in print is long gone (as one publisher quipped when told a book was being published by a not-for-profit foundation "Oh, I thought the whole industry was!").
No, we cannot get these newspapers back - and sadly clickbait is being used by publications (not just in Lebanon but our local example is quite risible!) to attract readers online. Good, smart, meaningful content will always win, do not forget that."
So yes, the blog does not make money, but I still can't see a better image tool for myself!