Tripoli - from Figaro magazine....

This is when elections are "larger than life" (Just compare the photos to the size of the sheets hanging to dry!

Fortunoff: The source, dries up

A few months back I got hold of some old architectural magazines, in one of them there was the brilliant ad posted above the for the Fortunoff stores... So I promised myself I'd visit a Fortunoff store once I'd get back to the US. However, the economic crisis hitting hard, the who chain is being liquidated. Pity, any store that come up with a wonderful ad should never close!

The future isn't what we imagined it to be....

And so here they are... Some more pre-election installements of the saga... First, the ubiquitous 14th of March coalition - now too heterogeneous to be seriously taken as coalition - with three ads (Only one of which appears): Lebanon first (One finger shows), we both win (two fingers showing), "Liberty, sovereignty, independence" (three fingers show). Above is a photo of the third installment but without the fingers. The comes the first outing of the future movement (Al Mustaqbal), a whole derivative of products courtesy of the Hariri family. In the two ads above, one says "In order to know the future, you have to make it," and the second "The future is where you spend the rest of your life." There is one last item missing "the future is promissing, for sure" which does not appear above. However, we are far - too far - from the smartness of the ad of Al Mustaqbal newspaper which said "No one stands in the way of the future" (La Ahada yakifou fi wajh al mustaqbal) - however, in Arabic "One" means "person" but also "Sunday" - so it read "No Sunday is going to stand in the way of the future.... And no Monday or Tuesday...." (Which was an ad to promote the Sunday edition of the newspaper). The wrap up comes from the Lebanese Forces, who sould spend some money to hire some good creatives. "Your voice changes all the photo" - with a photo of riots attributed perviously to Hizbullah. The concept in itself a recycling of an earlier small ad which was plastered in poster form in Christian areas.

Diane Chehab on the new trends of marketing

Photo credit: F. Candelaria (New York City Transit) Diane Chehab has studied at the City University of New York/Zicklin School of Business, at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in France, and at the Lebanese University. She is a multilingual professional with experience in a large range of areas (architecture, marketing, social media, retail and wholesale, transportation, technology management and strategy) and in several regions (US, Europe, Africa, Middle East). She has managed business development (architectural projects, marketing partnerships), Internet marketing, and social media projects. Diane Chehab is bilingual French-English, fluent in German, knows spoken Arabic, and basic Duala (an African language). She is currently a marketing manager at New York City Transit, and she spoke about the new trends in marketing. How come social media has taken up so much space in marketing and how does one emerge from the competition and the clutter found on the net? "Social Media" is an old concept, pre-Internet: it was called networking and socializing. With the new applications on the Web, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Flickr, Twitter, etc., these activities are brought into the Internet age. For marketing goals, social media is invaluable, because it engages marketers and consumers in conversations: consumers can have more influence on products, and marketers often obtain immediate feedback. In my opinion, social media needs to be used judiciously, and in conjunction with “traditional” media, like print ads, websites, TV and radio, and direct marketing. You need to know your consumers and decide the best ways to reach them. The language in social media is different than traditional marketing: marketing is not a one-way street anymore. There is no easy answer as to how to emerge from the clutter. It is important to remain honest and provide the public with information or products that meet their needs. Another issue is synergy: in order for your website or blog to show up in searches, there need to be other sites linking to it, and vice-versa, you want to link to other sites, too. Social media is about generousity and sharing. How does the marketing of a government institution differ from the marketing of any other product or private company? Government institutions are at least partially beholden to taxpayer funds, so they are much more under media scrutiny. Also, even though they often have large budgets, these budgets are for operating expenses rather than marketing, so they have to be creative and financially prudent in their marketing campaigns. You are part of the board of LOMA, the Lower Manhattan Marketing Association, which was founded in 1987 and whose mission is to focus > attention to the features, attractions and cultural components that make up this key New York City community. What special programs did the Association undertake in the wake of the event? Right after September11, 2001, many streets were closed, and information was not being circulated at first. The Lower Manhattan Marketing Association helped in conveying information about the streets being gradually re-opened to the public, and also made efforts to bring people from other neighborhoods or even from outside the city back to Lower Manhattan, with special discount programs in retail stores and restaurants. As a Lebanese expat, how do you feel about being away, and marketing-wise, what is the current image Lebanon is projecting of itself abroad? As a member of the Lebanese diaspora, I am continually torn between wishing I was in Lebanon and the realization that it just didn’t happen. I was born in the United States, but I lived in Lebanon for 8 years; I thought I’d spend the rest of my life there. As noted above, I even attended the Lebanese University’s Institut National des Beaux Arts (and I am very proud of it!). Unfortunately, the war changed those plans and my life went in a very different direction. Lebanon has a very mixed image in the United States. The image here cannot be compared to the image in France, for example. France has historical ties to Lebanon; they have been accustomed to Lebanese food and culture since a very long time. In the United States, the original Lebanese immigration wave (around 1900) integrated into American society, and they do not have a strong public identity. Nowadays Lebanon is often identified with war, bombs, militias, and other such mayhem. We who are of Lebanese descent know there is so much more, and try to convey it: the incredibly accomplished people of Lebanese descent (A Japanese friend told me recently that Carlos Ghosn was a national hero in Japan; how many non-Japanese can this be said of?); the food, the wine, the beauty of the land, the incredible bounty of fruits and vegetables, and most important, the indomitable spirit of the Lebanese people.

The carrot and the stick - but which one sticks?

.... Any civic campaign is always a problem - should we use a funny, upbeat message (i.e. the carrot) or should we go directly with the fear and punishment element (i.e. the stick)? In the case of these ads by the Ministry of Interior it was the former that was used. The first says "It is not allowed to throw liability under garbage" which is the reverse of the usual warning in Arabic, the second says "not a tasty treat" which is a double-entendre in Arabic for something that is not tasty but also for a situation that might not be too funny. There is high speculation that the second came as a retaliation for Nando's "Ma tekol zabet, kol Nando's" (Do not eat/get a parking ticket, eat/get a Nando's) which was previously commented upon in Beirut/NTSC all while noting that Nando's did some creative media of parking tickets which were actually invites to go eat there. The third says "Our hand is in your belt" which is a local expression used when someone is expressing trust in someone else, naturally the "belt" in question is the seat belt. So, if the campaign is so witty and funny, why am I expressing some reservations? Because, in the words of a taxi driver who was not wearing a seat belt and a I casually mentioned the billboard with the ad sitting right on top of his head: "This is cute. But this won't entice me to wear it! Where's the threat?"... Yes, where's the threat in a funny, but foregetable campaign (Which did win the Pikasso d'Or of this year - and rightfully, if judged solely on its creative campaign).

Abed Tahan: By popular demand

OK, so when three people ask me to review the Abed Tahan Mother's day ad, it means that there is something hot going on there... And when it comes to hot - well, this is straight out of the oven!.... The ad is so simply but truly effective... It says "now it is your time to "carry"" which is also read "now is your time to be pregnant"... The visual shows a man holding a present for his mother but who actually looks as if expecting... Simple, clean and effective... What could a mother ask more for!

For snowman roll over ad (Twice!)

So first there was the Tapirama ad: You roll over the carpet you sell, you roll over another one (but smaller) dress it up as a snowman and it is a cute trick to announce your winter collection. Now Persil does the same thing but this time with a towel (and a smaller towel)to say "laundry as clean as snow"... But it was already done before - plargiarism? Yes, I do think so!