Created by JWT Kuwait and released in the UAE; I was asked to post the following description:
"The taste of a Kit Kat Dark during your break is the taste of deliciously dark humour.
The ad is in itself a break, a chance to laugh at the 'darker' side of life – a little bit of cynicism with a radically funny twist"
Now for my thoughts:
The idea of flirting with the dark side because it's dark chocolate isn't new, and I'm not a fan of the word "Enjoy" either... I also don't like the word "Style" or the word "Dream". They're so overused in Egypt they've lost meaning.
Anyway back to the ad; it's pretty funny. Death telling another Death to fasten the seatbelt, so Death doesn't die in an accident. Talk about a paradox! I was intrigued so I logged onto the JWT site and saw the others as well. Dracula in a bar ordering a Bloody Mary is pretty cool :)
Lamia Gouda, an up-and-coming Egyptian comedienne, was jobless. But instead of sulking, Lamia looked to some of her creative friends, and with a very small budget they managed to create something... different!
The 'Cono Mokhtalef' campaign by Leo Burnett Cairo, winner of the Film Grand Prix at the Mena Cristals 2012 and Gold Winner at the Dubai Lynx 2012.
Many people believe this should have won the Grand Prix at the Lynx as well. Of course Elephant's Kalbaz managed to steal that one. I gotta say I like this campaign. Everything really does feel different about it.
However I am a bit skeptical that the below ad ideas were actually thought of by regular Mohammeds. And after visiting the Cono Mokhtalef YouTube channel and seeing the ideas people had posted, my skepticism was confirmed.
Just got back from the MENACristal awards in Lebanon. I had a blast!!
4 nights of seminars, cocktails, food, awards, and partying. I stayed with my entourage in the Le Royal Hotel, a good 1.5 hours away from the peaks of Mount Lebanon where the festival was taking place.
HIGHLIGHTS
Day 1:Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, was there. He gave a great talk about failure and how you shouldn't give up, because with every failure you learn something. He's also a very down-to-earth guy and was partying and dancing with us all night.
I also rubbed shoulders with the CEO of Digital Republic Karim Khalifa who was on the Arabic Culture Jury. I had a very interesting discussion about the work on display and the future of digital in the region.
Day 2: The first seminar I attended was for Dan Funderburgh, international illustrator, artist and wallpaper designer, invited by Pernod Ricard to give a talk titled the "Grammer of Ornament". Yes a very strage yet intriguing title that obviously a lot of marketeers didn't understand, hence the half empty seminar room. It was their loss, as it was an eye-opening journey into the art of illustration with stunning examples in "Guerilla Wallpapering". The guy is a detail oriented perfectionist in decorative arts.
Fernanda Romano, former Global CD, Digital & Experiential for Euro RSCG, started her talk by saying how she hates advertising, the word digital, and departments. it led me to start up the #FRomanoHates on Twitter. As much as she hates certain things, she was trying to teach us all a lesson that as an industry, we all really do need to hear. I had a talk with her in the after-party at night, when I saw her preaching to 3 ad execs, their puppy like faces nodding in unison, I told her to stop preaching and start drinking, to which she laughed and we had an interesting discussion about creativity.
Next up was the digital discussion panel that featured the talkative spot-on Rayan Karaky from Starcom, Yousef Tuqan the CEO of of the newly Publicis-acquired Flip Media, Hussein Freijeh Commercial Director at Yahoo Middle East, Arielle Steinmann from BNP Paribas, and Gilles Babinet from the French National Council for Digital. In the middle, there seemed like there was going to be a fight between Fernanda Romano and an old geezer from Leo Burnett. Highly entertaining stuff, especially when the old guy told Romano that she had no clue what she's on about.
After some alcoholic networking, it was time for the the first Award Ceremony of the festival that included Cyber & Mobile, Promo & Direct, Media, Production, Young Director and Young Cristal Competition.
A tall blonde by the name of Jennie or something was presenting the awards. And her blondness radiated throughout the evening. Why they didn't get a hottie Lebanese chick to present is beyond me?
It was apparent from the beginning that Leo Burnett were going to win everything with 'No Women No Rights' and 'Fake it all'. At some point they should have just had chairs for them up onstage instead of going up and down all the time.
It was rather disappointing that there were no Gold, Silver or Bronze Cristals, but rather only a Cristal and a finalist certificate (and a special mention). To put things in perspective, the whole Cyber & Mobile category only had 4 Cristal winners.
'No Rights No Women' by Leo Burnett Beirut for themselves :)
This won the Grand Cristal.
'Fake it all' by Leo Burnett Beirut for the Brand Protection Group
'Digital Love' by French agency Buzzman for Durex
'Cheyef Halak' by Impact BBDO Lebanon for LBCi
Stay tuned for a roundup of the last day at the MENACristal awards
and the big winners of the night :)
JWT Beirut set up a huge unlit Heineken bottle outdoor made up of 400 neon bars, and encouraged people to log on to www.coloryourchristmas.com to help light up the bottle before Christmas.
Project: Color Your Christmas
Client: Heineken
Agency: JWT Beirut
Executive Creative Director: Iyad Zahlan
Creative Team: Carol Chehayeb / Lea Khlat
Leo Burnett Amman, wanted to show the awards people that Sipes has a wide range of paint colours that cover everything. So they created real life swatches and placed them on 2 buildings, a swimming pool, a tennis court, and a bus.
I have to say, the idea is pretty cool. The case study... not so cool. Slow VO, late and repeating imagery in the end. It's almost like they ONLY covered 2 buildings, a swimming pool, a tennis court, and a bus.
It's good to see Digital Republic making it's way into the awards. They were recently shortlisted in the Cyber & Mobile Category in the MENA Cristal Awards 2012, for their work for Axe and Birell.
In case you don't know them, Digital Republic is an Egyptian born digitally inspired ad agency. In only 2 years, they have managed to grow their team to 55 people cleverly head-hunting talent from the likes of JWT, Leo Burnett and FP7.
Today, Digital Republic interacts with over 2 million fans in the Middle East, fully managing the digital and social assets of huge brands including Mobinil, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Axe, Birell and Cadbury.
Below are the shortlisted entries in this year's MENA Cristal Awards:
This year, I'm planning to visit Lebanon and the MENA Cristals for the first time. Although I am looking forward to the festival, I am also looking forward to some serious partying, and visiting my mates. I'm not going to mention Lebanese women, coz that's a given.
The MENA Cristal Festival is going to take place at the snowy slopes of Mzaar from the 21-23 February 2012. I have always had the impression that the Dubai Lynx was like the Cannes of the region, so where does that leave the Cristals? Or maybe it's like the Champions League and the Europa Cup..
Either way, am definitely looking forward to the whole thing. Some shortlists were recently released, click on the link to download:
Yes it's that time of year again when you have to sit and decide which halloween party to go to, and what the hell you're gonna wear?
I went to the Nassimi Beach party in Dubai last Friday. Insane! One of the highlights was going into the men's bathroom and finding a nun, caveman, and a whoopee cushion lined up next to each other pissing away. I hope I see that again.
Anyway because it's halloween, I thought I'd post some inspiration from around the world, since I don't see any halloween ads coming out of this region anytime soon, unless they involve Gadafi whipping the devil.
Advertising executives have come a long way in just the last 50 years. As our culture evolves, so do ad execs. They’ve got to stay on top of the latest trends, technologies, and taglines to remain relevant. We take a look at how ad execs have evolved over the last few decades in the infographic below.
The latest 'Tired Shoe' ad courtesy of Euro RSCG Casablanca. #FAIL
In case you weren't aware, here are two other tired shoe ads straight out of the Cannes Archives. The first is a commercial titled 'TONGUE' that was done by McCann for Stick Up Shoe Deodorant in Brazil in 1998.
The second was created by Leo Burnett Zurich in 2003 for AlpenArena.
Seeing all this doesn't only make the shoe sick, but me also. I have to agree with Euro RSCG's line in the first ad 'Enough Walking'....
So I just received a message from the PR manager of LG in Egypt. Although I was hoping for a massage, it actually turned out to be only a message.
Christine, the PR manager, informed me that the ads created by Mohamed Gaber and Media Marquee were not commissioned by LG, and she believes they are hurting LG's image. She also said that LG will be taking serious actions with Mohamed Gaber. Oh and she requested that I remove them from AdBasha.
Yeah... So Christine... Baby.... Let me first thank you for your email. I am happy that you have exposed these set of ads for what they are. Believe me it was pretty obvious they were scam.
Now about hurting your image..... what image? These are probably the nicest looking ads I have ever seen for LG in Egypt. Sure there's no real idea here, and there's a funny typo, and off course the fact you didn't ask for them. But to be honest, these ads made me and everyone notice you. I mean I had never heard of the GW300 before these ads.
