Every year, Ramadan Commercials, Programs, Series become the most talked about topics in Egypt. Brands compete to capture the hearts and minds of the audience whom are becoming ever harder to please with every passing year.
Here is my roundup (in alphabetical order) for the 2015 Ramadan commercials from a public audience perspective… this article is not intended as a professional industry analysis.
Update for Ramadan Week 2
The second week has a few additions, most of which are good compared to the initial opening week
Al Ahly Bank
The concept and execution are creative, overall nice… BUT one fact seems to be incorrect, Omar Al Atmas’ wikipedia page shows him being at best #289 in the world, not #2 as the commercial claims, this is not football, in Tennis and Squash winning a sliver medal in one championship does not make you #2… and I do wonder if the bank really had anything to do with these accomplishments?
Chevrolet Optra
Cool idea by mashing up all known concepts done in previous years into one commercial and mocking the ideas in a funny and amusing way, and the choice of Saqqa and Yasmine together is good. Overall pretty good commercial with a nontraditional execution… well done!
Chiclets
I honestly can’t find any words to describe this commercial, so I won’t… BUT what I will comment on is how they (as a brand) made fun of Al-Khalil on their Facebook page… simply unethical, even if it was in agreement with him… promoting such ethics and standards is just way below every thing else that is already low in this commercial… except maybe getting everybody to talk about it!
Credit Agricole
In my opinion, it is creative and funny for a bank… realistic and to the point
Fayrouz
BRILLIANT concept and very good execution… every male and female will relate instantly to this commercial making this one of the better commercials this year. I just love it. Thumbs up!
Hayat Alex
Well executed and funny commercial starring Edward, maybe the best real estate commercial this year
Housing and Development Bank
Creative idea providing bank information through George Kurdahi and his popular program Who wants to be a millionaire, I don’t know if this is a series or just one spot, but I hope they make at least another couple of spots within the same theme.
Pepsi
OK… this one is tough… technically it is well executed, good music, nice overall, especially the Ahmed Zaki part with his son which almost everybody agrees upon is the best part of this commercial… BUT… starting late and having a teaser campaign increases expectations, yet when it was finally release, it was just the same idea as last year and the year before… sure it was executed a bit differently, but I was really disappointed to find out even that innovative part that I like (mixing old footage characters with new) was copied almost cut and paste from the Capital Cities Clip which I consider shameful for someone as large as Pepsi whom should be worldwide leaders… enough with the nostalgia and let us look towards the future please.
Porto October
Do we really believe Amr Diab will go live in Porto October as he states in the commercial? I wish they stop promoting compounds and towns through celebrities and focus more on location, features, benefits…etc
Taj City
To classic for the town they are promoting, references to old palaces and Um Kalthoum seem unrelated to both the audience they should be targeting and what they are offering
Toshiba Android
Not a bad idea living through the android character’s life to promote the product, overall nice commercial but still traditional
End of Week 2 update
AAIB
Overall it is a traditional bank TVC, however I like how they were smart in summarizing the bank’s points of strength (fast growth, regional presence, history, awards, recognition, etc.) with nice visuals connecting the real world with the financial world.
Arousa Tea
This is maybe the best commercial this year, creative idea and good execution not dependent on the celebrity alone in promoting the product, but rather using him as an actor to deliver the message… They do have a point in that we always ask such meaningless questions and it was smart of them to capitalize on that in the commercial.
Banque Misr
Overall good commercial with a creative concept and the idea of removing the “old skin” is executed nicely with different scenarios that relate to the Egyptian community.
Crunch Egypt
One of the top commercials of this year, especially on social media. The first copy “Skenchizer” went viral perfectly. It encouraged other brands to hijack the several trending hashtags (#اسكنشايزر – #دحلابدحلاب – #نحلةببزوز).
Cottonil
Compared to last year’s Hany Ramzy commercial, No doubt it is a bit of an improvement, yet the sole use of a celebrity to promote a product without any concept or new idea is obsolete.
Degla Palms
Both ideas (the Barber & the Lawyer) are pretty cool and well executed… the concept is matching well to the community… although there is some controversy about promoting bosses in a negative way.
Embrator
Seriously guys!? Have you learnt nothing from last year’s fiasco with Hany Ramzy’s Cottonil Ad? it is hilarious is a bad way… there are better ways to promote underwear, when Cottonil decided to replace their Ad last year, they showed how a decent Ad could be done.
Etisalat Value Ad
Etisalat social media plan, building upon the selfie craze and how everyone at anytime is focused on taking a selfie nowadays. The ad is delivering the message clearly, plus gained positive feedback on social media. Well done!
Etisalat Brand TVC
This year’s controversial brand TVC. It’s a fast reaction from Etisalat and they were smart in the way they used the same character used by both Mobinil and Vodafone, taking into considering that it’s not the real character, which may backfire somehow offline or online. One thing is for sure, they got us all talking about it, although I must say their point of view about spending money is weird, as if we have forgotten their celebrity packed commercial a couple of years back.
more on that here: Etisalat Mocks Vodafone’s Ramadan TVC
Fox
Pretty weak idea and average execution, I’m usually against commercials that promote negative ideas like the father slapping his son (update: apparently it has now been banned by CPA), or the doctor ignoring his duties… very lame in my opinion
Italian Square
It is actually one of the better ads for this year. The ad concept is delivering the message clearly although a bit too comic of course, but this is what makes it nice.
Lamar
Overall, I think it is a good yet typical traditional commercial, the series of 500 facts is pretty cool although I wonder if they really have 500 facts to show. The campaign can be stronger and more effective with social media integration, asking people to go on social media and find all 500 facts, that is if they really have 500 facts to provide.
Lion
Pretty creative in the way they reference to Fox, Tiger and Tatess brands in a smart brand attack that is very obvious yet not lame as in the Telecom’s choice of colors when they do the same, it is surprisingly one of the better commercials this year in reinforcing the brand position… yet the execution is average from a technical perspective.
Mega Ice Cream
The idea might seem original, but if you’ve seen the new Disney movie “Tomorrow Land” you’ll see it’s just a copy and paste, and still it is too “international” in taste.
Mobinil
BRILLIANT! the best one yet… The idea of launching the hashtag #فاعل_خير before Ramadan and creating a hype was very creative, the music is nice as in every Ramadan and creating a hype was very creative. Thumbs up! I wish all brands would at least try and be proactive in delivering messages like that.
Mountain View
Building upon the same idea from last year, which was brilliant then… this year’s Ad is exactly the same idea, which although it is cool, yet they had nothing new to add this time… they should have at the very least tweaked it in some way rather than reuse the exact same idea as is.
Mousa Coast
Again, hiring a celebrity to talk about a brand without any actual concept or message is very lame and old school, very typical commercial without any new concept or idea.
Nescafe
Catchy “Nescafe” tune through the use of Wust El-Balad band, yet an average “international” commercial that is not customized for our region.
Telecom Egypt
Promoting Fiber Optics as a new technology in an average way that seems to mash up a few ideas from previous years. Overall the commercial is very average without a real message.
Om Hassan
Regardless of the fact that they actually do as promoted in the commercial or not, but prompting it as unique selling point rather than the norm is pretty sad… every point mentioned in their commercials should be the norm and enforced by the law… should be an eye opener for consumers and similar brands.
Unionaire
Yet another weak branding commercial.
Universal
Claiming that they have become one of the top appliance manufactures in the world is an abuse of the audience intelligence, people have easy access to information, and one quick search on Google or a visit to Wikipedia shows that they are not even present in the list of top 100 companies.
Vodafone
It’s what you would expect as in each year from one of the big three telecom companies, a huge budget with lots of celebrities… I personally like the message and the tune is nice… but what I don’t like is that they got a double to act in place of Hans van Breukelen, Netherlands’ goal keeper – if you’re doing a star-packed Ad, then finish the job correctly! and the use of Magdy Abd El-Ghany with Breukelen as a concept does not match the theme of “Family”. One last concern, very few realized that there is a value offer in the end of the ad, it was better to release another commercial to focus on that.
More on Vodafone’s Ad here: Vodafone Kicks off Ramadan 2015 Media Race
The Donations Collection: 57357 Cancer Institute, 500500 Cancer Institute, Magdy Yacoub Institute, Ma3an Institute, Masr Al Kheir Institute, Orman Hospital for Cancer, Baheya Hospital, etc.
It’s pretty ironic knowing the huge amount of money spent on TV Commercials and series each year in Ramadan, yet the amount of commercials asking for donations is increasing… it would be better if all brands or TV stations just agree to donate part of their money to such institutes and reduce the commercial air time to simply educate the audience on donation options.
In my opinion, after one week, the top 3 are:
Mobinil – Fayrouz – Chevrolet Optra
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this year’s TV commercials in the comments below… which ones do you like?
