Archive for August, 2006
Terror Has No Religion is a campaign that’s causing some controversy and discussion, as you can see in detail on HoutLust.
The campaign includes a TV commercial, which you must see. We had mentioned it here when it was being made in June.
There are also a variety of print designs for newspapers and outdoor, a couple of which are shown above.
The debate centers around ‘How Effective Is This Campaign’, which is primarily targeting Iraq and is already running on several Arab Satellite TV channels.
Will it influence would-be suicide bombers, by highlighting the innocent human losses of such actions?
Check out the campaign website.
August 26th, 2006
While many in the Arab world were pirating the satellite signal of Swiss channels during the last World Cup, it seems that some Arab channels are becoming popular in Europe. The New York times reports on how Al Jazeera sports and other Arabic satellite channels are making their way into British pubs.
Pub owners are ditching Sky for the cheaper rates of Al Jazeera. Arabic commentary on the games.. never mind!
Al Jazeera on Television Is Causing Trouble for British Pubs, but It’s Not Political - New York Times:
Al Jazeera Sports Plus, a fast-growing satellite sports channel, has become popular with viewers who want Formula One races and British soccer matches. The commentary is strictly Arabic, but the cut-rate service, along with other foreign satellite channels, is gaining a broad following in British pubs, where customers are getting accustomed to toasting their favorite soccer teams while watching the occasional ad for a Greek supermarket or a Czech car dealer.
“We’ve had whole games where we don’t have any English commentary,” said Derek Hopper, owner of the Royal Exchange, a pub in Portsmouth, England. “We just turn the volume down. We tried doing the radio,” where the commentary is in English with a time delay, “but we found it was a little distorted. I tell customers, ‘Just watch with your eyes like you do at a real game.’ ”
August 25th, 2006
Donate to unleash their Talents
This is an advertisement for a charity fund in Jordan established in the memory of the deceased Queen Alia (Um Ali).
To truly appreciate the copy writing of this ad, you need to read Arabic….. it uses a pun on words, as the words ‘donate’ and ‘talent’ in Arabic are very similar with the difference of one letter.
Basically, the ad says ‘donate to unleash their talents’, then suggests that you donate a humble amount of 350 Fils (50 cents) per meal to feed one poor child. A touching message indeed!
I suggest the agency translates it into English as follows: “Donate & Let Them Create”.
Client: Tikeyet Um Ali
Agency: INSIGHT Design & Solutions
August 23rd, 2006
Look at the pictures again. Are you really seeing the actual statue? And is there a new Skoda Roomster parked in the middle of this historic Prague plaza?
AdBlogArabia was in Prague this summer and found this amazing outdoor advertising concept. The actual statue was covered from all sides by large billboards depicting.. well.. the statue, with the car added in.
When you stand at certain angles the add blends in almost perfectly with the surrounding scene.
Before you scream ‘overt commercialization’ you might want to know that the money being made is contributing to the renovation of this important Prague landmark. Everyone wins.
August 23rd, 2006
YouTube is now, undoubtedly, the top video sharing site on the Internet, reportedly delivering over 100 million videos a day.
It’s also costing a fortune to run it, which explains why YouTube management is trying to find ways to generate more revenue. So far, it’s only carried text-link advertising and some banners, but now it’s moving into TV ads.
YouTube co-founder and CEO Chad Hurley said the first TV ad is a promo for current movie release ‘Pulse.’
The ad also appears as a video commercial on the YouTube home page that users could rate, share and comment on — in other words, do whatever they do with the usual videos on the site.
So, ads will earn ‘most viewed,’ ‘most discussed’ and ‘top favorite’ status just as regular YouTube content does.
The ‘Pulse’ ad was viewed 900,000 times in four days.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings, YouTube is the No. 1 video/movie destination on the Internet, with11 million unique visitors for the week ending August 6. That is more than twice as much of the No. 2 such site IMDb.com and more than four times that of Netflix.com, which is No. 3 on the list.
As the Washington Post says, this is the best ‘real estate online’ for brands targeting young Internet users. Read more here.
YouTube is blocked in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and some other Arab countries.
Why? You’ll have to ask the Internet authorities.
August 23rd, 2006
To begin with, I typically never blog about alcohol advertising.
Our blog is, after all, called Ad Blog Arabia
However, I will make one or two exceptions a year, and this is one of them.
Just look at this Kronenbourg Beer advertisement. If you were living on the face of this earth on 9 July, then you will have witnessed the now famous ‘Zidane Heabutt on Materazzi’ in the World Cup 2006 Final.
Well, Kronenbourg show you what Zidane did in the dressing room afterwards to cool-down.
Next question: Does Zidane drink? Should Kronenbourg have sought his permission for this ad?
Via Advertising/Design Goodness.
August 23rd, 2006
For men, everything in life is a race…… but this is ridiculous.
This is the men’s room at the horse racing track in Alberta, Canada.
When horses race, they do so in numbered lanes. So, someone at Ogilvy Calgary decided to number the urinals too as a promotion for the horse track!
And this is what the poster looks like up close.
Have marketers really run out of every other possible method of reach!
It seems so. Other bathroom media we’ve covered includes Branded Toilet Paper and Toilet Towel Boxes.
Via [AdArena].
August 22nd, 2006
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