Tag: advertising

  • Exotica… The Comeback! Moukarzel… The Fall Down!

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    And if I might ad, the execution of the C&F ad is terrible, as it is clearly a cushion inserted into the woman’s clothes, and not a baby.

    Again, I’d like to thank Exotica and their creative team for responding positively to the criticism of their campaign [I knew from trusted sources that the reason they updated the campaign is because of the reaction they saw through social media]. If that’s the case, then they are pioneers 🙂 What do you guys think about the other campaigns I just shared?

    Exotica is now all over the Lebanese blogosphere: Raafat Hamze analyzes the campaign change here, and there is Plus961‘s, Liliane‘s & Joe‘s take on this.

    On another note, I got back from Zahleh [as you might have noticed :P] and will update you tomorrow! Have a beautiful day with this smooth song from Spirited Away soundtrack by Joe Hisaishi!

    21 Always With Me

  • For better & for worse

    Last week on my way to work, I bumped into the latest exotica campaign for mother's day. It showed a mother and daughter with huge ear, and the slogan was "For the good and the bar, thank you Mom". Oh my! Where have their chic visuals gone?

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    Then few meters later, another, except this time mother and daughter have oversized noses. "Hmm.. Are they seriously profiling certain physical traits as BAD?"

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    Class Setting. Lebanese Society 101. "In the look-obsessed country we live in, we often see scenarios as follows".

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    This campaign reinforces the complexes a lot of young girls have about how they look. Now, they might start blaming their mothers for genetic inheritance, instead of them understanding that a big nose -ear is actually, NOT, bad.

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    .If I want to associate their slogan with a visual, it would not be as funny. Billboard showing mother beating child.

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    Or... HIV positive mother and daughter

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    As you can see, there are far worse things a mother could give to her children than a big nose - ear. Things they, in fact, could never possibly thank her for. In all cases, I have one thing to say: Thank you Exotica for the good and the bad! ;) In the hope the next campaign will catch up!

    You might say I am overreacting. However, the reason I am, is because I believe huge billboards have great influence on the large amount of people who cross them daily. Big corporations should thus think twice before shouting such messages at us. And I do know that “it got people talking about it”, but wouldn’t it be better if it also, on the way, got through a more responsible message?

    Anyway, I just had to say what I think about this campaign, it’s been bothering me everyday when I pass by it. Now, back to music, here’s Sarah Vaughn’s Broken Hearted Melody. Have a wonderful day 🙂

  • Illustrations + feature in ArabAd

    I was fortunate to meet Ghada Azzi, managing editor of ArabAd magazine at the book signing. We have since worked on illustrations for the ‘Advertising in Lebanon’ special report of October issue, along an extremely kind feature that Ghada wrote. Thank you so much Ghada for your invaluable support! I won’t keep you waiting too long, you’ll find below the illustrations for the special report along with the article and illustrated Q&A’s (you should get the magazine now for the extremely interesting content and report about Leb ad industry!). Have a wonderful day! 🙂

    1-confessions-of-a-CEO


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    2-confessions-of-a-CD

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    3-success

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    4-IAA

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    5-creativity-is

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    5-smartass-mug

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    7-lebanese-ad-industry

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    Illustrated Q&A’S

    • What do you hope to achieve through design?

    1-design-superwoman

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    • What prompted you to publish the book?

    2-urgency

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    • How do you perceive the lack of opportunities in the design field in Lebanon?

    3-lack-of-opportunities

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    • Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

    4-no-planning

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    And finally, the article! 🙂 (Click to enlarge)

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    ArabAd_Maya-Zankoul_Interview1

    ArabAd_Maya-Zankoul_Interview2

    ArabAd_Maya-Zankoul_Interview3

  • Street P•rn

    1-izo-elissar

     

     

     

    2-billboard

     

     

     

     

     

    3-dt-jeans

     

     

     

     

     

     

    4-change

     

     

     

     

    picture-6

     

     

     

    7-lebanon-map

     

     

    What’s with all the porn-oriented ads? Is that all we have to offer? Are belly-dancers and nude (or semi-nude) women the only thing that catches our attention? I wonder if the Lebanese people are as sexually-frustrated as the marketing intended for them lets us think. There are millions of possibilities to explore for beautiful attractive visuals that do not necessarily deal with the  ‘femme-objet’ approach. I recall an art director once explaining -her- approach for a poster promoting an electrical item that had a semi-nude female on it: ‘both men and women will look if they see a female nude, even if not for the same reasons, so whenever we integrate a female body presence in our ad, no matter what the ad is, we can guarantee that the audience will be interested’. 

    Well… I’m sure there are MANY other visuals that would attract both men and women and that would be a little bit more mentally-challenging and less basic in their approach. Please advertising people try to make an effort.