David Habchy and his klekeesh....

It seems rather strange for me to have come through Deborah's blog and David Habchy's the same day.... Both I believe incredible up and coming creative people! Check out David at: http://klekeesh.blogspot.com/

Abracadabeborah!

Just because she plays on words like few people I have seen, I am sharing with you the blogs of Deborah Phares - well worth a look and exploration..... She is a copywriter, but also a graphic designer, product designer, and many other creative things as well... She dubs herself "abracadébOrah- électron libre" - and an enchanting witch she is!

deborahphares.wordpress.com

troispointsentreparentheses.blogspot.com

Cannes winners 2009

And the winners of the Cannes Advertising festival for this year are:

Outdoor Lion grand prix winner: A campaign for the Zimbabwean, an exiled newspaper critical of the country's president, Robert Mugabe, using the country's almost worthless bank notes to make billboard adverts fromTBWA/Hunt/Lascaris Johannesburg.

Press Lion grand prix winner: Campaign for Wrangler jeans, created by French agency Fred & Farid that 'screams raw sex' according to judges.

Design grand prix winner: Nike Paper Battlefield ad, created by McCann Worldgroup.

Film Lion grand prix winner: Still from a Philips video ad, created by Tribal DDB Amsterdam.

The viral campaign was a tracking shot of a bank robbery frozen in time.

Winner of Cyber Lions best website and interactive campaign, PR Lion and direct marketing Lion grand prix: The Queensland Tourism campaign - orchestrated by Nitro - for 'The Best Job in the World' as caretaker of Hamilton Island.

Cyber Lions best viral campaign winner: 'Why So Serious?' campaign for Batman film The Dark Knight, created by 42 Entertainment.

Cyber Lions online advertising grand prix winner: Fiat Eco:Drive marketing, created by AKQA.

Titanium and Integrated grand prix winner: Multimedia campaign that helped Barack Obama win the 2008 US presidential election. Created by Obama for America.

General Purpose ambient brilliance

First, let me say what a relief it is to go back spotting ads which do not sell electoral promises or candidates!.... And it is a welcome change to see all those summer offers, trips, cruises, discounts and whatever have you. Top of the class in the post-elections ad goes for this ambient media for Jeep (Which originally meant General Purpose) with the slogan "Go anywhere, do anything" I first dismissed the ad as some passable shot at entertainment when I first saw it from afar - but as I passed next to it on perpandicular angle - there it was, a FULL car hanged on the wall of the mall!..... They've been there, they've done that, and they got the ad to prove it. I once read in a photographers' magazine that to explain the angle of a photo one needed to take a tree in it (As trees always grow upright), in today's urban environment, I took a street lamp (As street lamps - like trees - grow upright!) to indicate the fact that the car was hanging totally from the wall.... With the Gargour showroom right across the street from the mall, one must expect people flocking to me get them one of these (Only to use it to go back and forth to the mall, naturally!).

The Graduate - USEK - Lebanese Tourism in France - Samah Mahfoud

Samah Mahfoud, whose project was about promoting Lebanese tourism in France came up with the very seducing concept taken from Antoine De St. Exupery's The Little Prince "L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux" (The essential is invisible to the eyes) which is exactly the case in Lebanon. The layout is peaceful and serene and in the backdrop are photos of Lebanese landmarks, as to what is invisible to the eyes, it is for every viewer to decide what it is.

The Graduate - USEK - Kafalat - Nadim Zgheib

Last but not least for the graduates section at USEK Nadim Zgheib did a campaign for Kafalat a money loaning operation at 0% available hrough all banks. His approach was "El denye mech seye'etak"(Roughly: The world is not enough). In his visuals he tried to show ow the expansion of the businesses is already happening in the mind f the owner due to Kafalat even if in real life people still do not ee it.

8.12 USD and timeless art.

Artworks by: Abdel Hamid Baalbaki, Aref Rayess, Fouad El Khoury, Jamil Molaeb, Laure Ghorayeb, Mohammad Rawas, Samir Khaddage-Marc Mourani Today, I have checked my adsense account - you know, the google ads thing I added to my blog - maybe it ought ot be called Ad none-sense. As it transpired for the period of May, when my blog was packing 108 people a day for 2 mimutes 53 seconds, I earned a grand total of.... 8,12 USD. Now mind you, I had never pinned financial hopes on adsense, but everyone kept bugging me to add it to the blog to make it financially viable, so I ended up doing it. For a long time, people would be asking me how I was to make money - not just out of my blog - but out of the multitude of my creative projects (Be they art, writing, etc....). My second book, "Getting the news from poems" was distributed for free in ebook format, my artworks whereas quite popular during the exhibition did not sell due a strategic decision I have taken which aims at preserving the body of the works rather than scattering them all over.... So basically, there has been little of no money from my creative endeavours. Now, before anyone jumps into conclusions and starts with the donation box, I live quite well from my various financial entries and my different jobs. But if pressed on an business plan about my artworks or other creative venues, I admit to practically not having one. So maybe, the 8,12 USD was some sort of a wake up call of some sort. On all accounts, having misread the invitation card, I went to the Beirut Art Center tonight thinking it was the opening night of the new show "The road to peace" which showcases 20 Lebanese artists who painted the topic of war in a sustained way. The show was so emotionally overwhelming - not just for the quality of the art that curator Saleh Barakat managed to gather - for also for personal reasons as a lot of these artowrks reminded me of my uncle's collection and many childhood memories associated with the war (Not all of them bad I have to admit). Little by little, another topic starting invading my thoughts - did any of these artists managed to sell these artworks during the war? Has anyone of them made a fortune from his works?.... I remember reading an interview with Jamil Molaeb during the war and he struck me as someone tired, lonely and even depressed. His most stricking statement during the interview was "If I met a woman during the day, I wouldn't mind stripping down." Other artists I have also seen on television did not inspire jollyness, or financial riches.... And Hassan Jouni, who was opening his exhibition at the Agial gallery (Which belongs to Saleh Barakat) proposed to me to exchange any of his newer works (Which were selling by the thousands of Dollars by the mid-nineties) in exhanged to have that one artwork of his we have at home (His graduation project which allowed him to go to Spain and continue his studies). Naturally, it would be a lie for anyone to say that he or she does not wish to be another Damien Hirst with Sothebey auction bringing him millions upon millions. But seeing those works, produced in the folly of the war, when market - or accessibility to market - was non-existent just reminds one about the fact that the best artworks exist on their own merit. Speaking of the Beatles, rock critic Paul DuNoyer said "Real art exists in the present tense." And all these staggering works in the show also exist in the present tense, not having aged one single day. However, I am also sure that had these people not have produced the artworks in question, all their creative energy would have lead to an implosion, a self-destruction mechanism that would have been triggered had the creative energy not burst out. As thoughts of money, immortality, and about why people do anything creative at all.... I asked the assistant for a press kit to which she replied: "Of course, but with which media?" "Beirut/NTSC" I barely replied still a bit too sad and lost in my thoughts. "So you must be Tarek Chemaly," She said matter of factly..... Her answer somehow made sense of it all: The hours spent roaming the city for new ads, the frenzy of posting them and commenting on them on the blog, the effort done to make everything fit, the 8,12 USD, and the creative endeavours.

The Graduate - USEK - 961 Beer - Tamara Azar

Tamara Azar, also earning top marks for her project for local beer 961 (Which is our country code for international calls) signed her project with "Let's beer in touch." Few things in life break the ice between people like beer does, and when the name of that beer also stems from a communication innuendo then the whole topic revolved around the connection between people. For her tacticals, Azar chose to associate every kind of beer available with the kind of food it is consumed with. A fresh project for a brand that needed it.

The Graduate - USEK - Lebanese Loto - Bassem Khalil

Bassem Khalil, who earned top marks for his Lebanese Loto project came from a simple truth: People who are lucky, are the people who believe they are lucky. And so his line what simple "since you're lucky...." (Grab a Loto ticket). In the visuals Khalil tried to show one's luck as a deboubling of his own character. A deboubling that is saving him from nasty situations. In addition, Khalil also played "Zeed" - a new addition to the Loto where additional arbitrary numbers are added to the game - and a new mobile phone gaming device with the witty line "Right number" (As opposed to "sorry, wrong number.")

The Graduate - USEK - Mozart Chahine - Hala Adaime

Another top notch USEK graduate of this year is Hala Adaime who did her project on music instrument-seller Mozart Chahine and his Modern School of Music. Her tagline: Front row ticket to your dreams. As for the school: Muse to your music. By using the cut out method, Adaime invited anyone to picture themselves filling the void through the use of the instrument or simply by acquiring musical skills from the school - sometimes the simplest methods are the most creative and enticing!