Sitos from Master has good and bad news

Well, there's some good and bad news on the Sitos from Master front. The good news is that the bag design has been updated, making it sleek, efficient and working. So that's nice. The bad news? Not sure the line or positioning (don't know which) is up to the test. "Badda Sitos" (it needs a Sitos). What does? A hijacking? A suicide mission? A tough situation? An unsolvable advertising brief? (OK fine I invented the last one to poke fun). But my logic stands. Do note there are two ads, for two different flavors, visually as I said - since the bag is now neat - the ads work on that front. But with the perplexing line, I find myself unable to understand the whole thing. Could it be that "it needs a Sitos" for me to understand?

Master kettle cooked crunches differently and goes upscale.

The new Master kettle cooked potato chips went high end, as is very high end. A hidden villa? Check. A model in fancy clothing? Check. A very embellished copy in English? Check. Truly, one could mistake it for a perfume ad (if one adds an opera soundtrack), or a very chic clothing store (if there's a man somewhere in the shadows). 

Now, with the Master kettle cooked chips being really good - on par with their international counterparts - it seems the stress was to point people that they could still enjoy such high quality, yet at affordable prices. Which is sort of worrying because when the ad is so upscale, people might be afraid of the price and hence consumers might feel this might be too expensive for them to try and enjoy. But still, the ad is well done, the velvety ambiance very palpable, and the suggested quality does portray itself in the film setting the product in a different standard that any other local competitor. Then again, considering this is the Daher Food top selling product, the consumer already knows the price, so perhaps it was good to stroke their ego implying they belong to some exclusive club. See the ad here.

Master - now with gifts

I have problems believing Master has issues shifting its large size crisp bags. Sure like with everything there has been a case of shrinkflation (Gandour as a case model - here) but it does contain quite a bit of potato crisps for 1 USD that being said. Yet, as with Pepsi as of late (here) they felt compelled to include lottery items to encourage people to buy the bags. Children and parents I presume. Which is interesting - maybe Fantasia having had a campaign on the streets lately (here) was a compelling sign?

Snips goes for a natural extension with stix and knots

Snips, a local brand, started off with baked snacks, and variants of potato chips. A very popular category which was mainly the affair of 2-3 brands thus far, so it is a testament to their ingenuity that they carved their own path within more established brands in the market. Their site details their many subproducts, all "snacks", and interestingly was not updated to list the two which are covered in this post - namely salt sticks (stix) and pretzels (knots). The products are on sale on their website but not listed on the landing page, normal I guess. But once more, the jump between their "original" goods and the knots/stix is so minor it was I guess a bit anticipated (at this point the salted sticks and pretzels is basically dominated by a Turkish brand). Mind you Stix and Knots are actually addictive, so it is not unheard of to finish the bag in one go. So here we are, it only took a step!

Lay's - the ad that backfires

Strange, I had to see the ad too many times to make sure of my reaction and the more I saw it the more I thought the same: I am repulsed and not having a Lay's potato chips any time soon. I mean it is not the fault of the director but somehow something literally got lost in translation. I think on paper this made sense: a small packet of Lay's is replaced by a bigger one. But everything from the casting, to - why use the English in a GCC ad? - to the whole episodes (which are not real slices of life), to the whole "gimmicky" effect, to that 80s slapstick effect (without the 80s nostalgia to go along) just is... annoying beyond measure. Sorry am being too harsh but as I said, this ad backfires: I just don't feel like having a Lay's right now. Which sadly, is the reverse of everything advertising related I presume. And please don't let me start on that corny copy at the end (I thought these were done with in the early aughts!). See the film here.

Master capitalizes on being natural

Well, this is interesting - I mean Master (potato chips) has managed to insert itself right in the middle of the current events all while displaying their product, all without sounding too cheesy (yes, not a small effort). "In this unnatural situation, only Master remains natural" - so goes the major campaign that is practically everywhere (understandably considering that potato chips are a constant presence during family or friendly gatherings during the festive period. Of course visual wise, the brand went for some generic backgrounds indicating potato fields (hence the natural bit) with their product more visible.

Again, I think it was a smart coup for them to allude to the deep crisis Lebanon is experiencing but also being able to advertise itself without being "de trop".

Master - a little Arabic slang to enliven the gifts

Master potato chips managed to enliven their gifts - the one you can find in the chips bags.

OK the "lottery" in question is itself quite banal. But what is interesting is the end tag line.

"Hdiytak bi kissak" - well, the litteral interpretation is "your gift is in your bag" but metaphorically it means "your gift is all to your own". Kissak is a bit like "what belongs to you".

Here's my 2 cents. I think the original line was "hdiytak min kissak" - "min kissak" in Arabic means from your own pocket (you buy the bag of chips, so basically you bought your own gift duh!) but I sense they found it too much at the company so they changed it to "bi kissak". But then again, this is just my thought!

As I said not bad for enlivening an otherwise run-of-the-mill children's lottery.