Saturday, January 11, 2014

Exotica - my take on their horrible Dubai ad.

 Exotica got itself a horrible ad to announce its opening in Dubai. Flowers seem to pop from the clouds (yeah I know, a reference to the skyscrapers there but who on earth - or in the clouds - can make such a connection?)... Not even the copy saves it! They are not "blooming" in Dubai or "blossoming" in Dubai... No, they "opening" in Dubai. Lame!

So I decided to do the ad as it ought to be done. The silhouette of Burj el Arab is completed with half a leaf and a line that says "Fatta7 bi Dubai" which doubles as "opens in Dubai" but also "blossoms in Dubai". See? It wasn't that difficult. I miss the days when Exotica used to know who it is... Not some mash up of visuals made up as we go along.

2 comments:

Mustapha said...

With all due respect Tarek... I'm a fan of pop art and Rana Salam was once my teacher, but your version would be sneered at by Exotica's target audience: Frenchies and people who otherwise equate sophistication with western canons of design and beauty...

I call yours a futile exercise of narcissism (ie pleasing your own aesthetics rather than those of intended audience)

Tarek Chemaly said...

Well, come to think about it Rana Salam - who relies on Arabic pop - has the same clients as exotica (affluent retro-oriented crowd).
When Exotica first started it used to sign IN ARABIC "tazra3 al sa3ada" (plants happiness).
As for narcissism, who knows? I am too narcissistic to self-analyze and compared to other bloggers, my ego is still in check.