Daniel Georr revealed that all types advertising mediums are important in Lebanon, “but I prefer TV because it is more personal. Press and outdoor (billboards…) are great but outdoor advertising is very weak in Lebanon because it’s too cluttered and the layouts are more like press ads (with too much information on them). When you have too many billboards in succession, nothing stands out and it just looks like clutter…thus this medium is very bad due to it being used in the wrong way.” When asked what makes the Lebanese market unique in comparison to the rest of the region, Georr responded: “It’s unique for many reasons. There’s more freedom (even though we are not taking advantage of this), more culture, more advanced advertising and we are open to new ideas. But unfortunately, we aren’t capitalizing on all this. Advertising people and clients impose barriers that don’t really exist…they dismiss things as being too shocking or too intelligent for the public. We’re living on Gulf advertising so we’re adopting its style and approach. The Lebanese who are doing ads for other markets are doing local ads in the same style as the ads for other markets.”
The situation in Lebanon has been substantially shaky lately and needless to say, it has taken its toll on the ad industry. As Georr puts it: “It has had a drastic, enormous effect. The best ads and trials during the past 2 or 3 years have been done for the situation…but it ended here. Many have immigrated and this has created a severe brain drain. Creative people are no longer in the country or they are working from Lebanon for abroad. The only positive thing is that the situation has acted as an inspiration, but the negative outweighs the positive. We are not seeing advertising in Lebanon…no ads in the sense of campaigns, very few pitches, few films. The Lebanese are doing good ads, but not in Lebanon. When the situation becomes better and the creatives come back, then things will pick up. The problem is that those who come back from the Gulf have become ingrained with Gulf style and this drastically affects creativity. Gulf style advertising can be described as nice stock photography and pictures (from websites like Getty Images) with recurring nice English words like ‘big’, ‘lifestyle’, ‘number 1’, ‘future’…” Armand Homsi sees the Lebanese ad scene in a different light. He thinks that: “here we have creative and good elements because people are aware and well-exposed to advertising and know that they must be good. Creatives come from good schools and have a good foundation and base. There are fewer restrictions compared to the rest of the region. You feel that there are no existing limits, except bad taste, which gives you the eagerness to do something creative. Throughout the region, the caliber of the Lebanese with regards to creativity is well known. The downside is that many creatives are leaving for the Gulf, hence we are losing these talents (but they are making money so you can’t blame them). The most creative are the first to leave because the doors are more open to them. Advertising is unique in Lebanon because we have more space to work with due to the freedom. Even the Lebanese market and consumers have another way of seeing advertising…they have a certain level and can understand what you’re saying.”
When asked about the use of different mediums and the impact of the current situation on the ad industry, Homsi replied: “TV and some outdoor is preferred. TV gets to everyone and outdoor are also seen by many. Now people are reading more newspapers to follow politics and the latest developments and hence might be reading fewer magazines. Big clients have to be on TV to be seen and to sell. Since production costs are a bit high, the creative challenge here is to try to do much with small budgets. The classical problem with clients is that they want to say everything in 20 seconds which may affect the creative part! Because of the current situation, the ad industry is experiencing two responses. The first is ‘let’s not do any advertising now and risk losing money’. The second takes what’s happening as a springboard for patriotic campaigns (a trend seen in banks etc.) and some major players even did some ads as a form of ‘resistance’ in 2006. Many projects have been postponed this year but it is not as bad as 2006 (less losses in general). Major players are still actively making ads. Another aspect of the situation is that fresh graduates are going abroad which gives them good exposure, but the offers aren’t ‘equal’. But it’s their experience and they are giving Lebanese creatives a good name.”
So the good old methods of advertising still play a pivotal role in Lebanon and the Lebanese have established themselves as leaders in the field all over the region but the times are changing. And not just due to the situation but also because of global technological advances. The Internet has become a popular forum for advertising (e-Advertising) in the West and other parts of the world. With a limited budget, e-Advertising allows a company to reach out and specifically target certain individuals more efficiently by utilizing a mixture of web banners, sponsorships, pop-ups and pop-downs, interstitials, push technology, websites, interactive games, free downloads, emails, Facebook and MySpace groups or profiles, and hyperlinks. For instance, if a company wishes to target the Lebanese living locally and abroad, then a website like iLoubnan would be a good place to invest in a web banner or the sponsorship of a section. Just as with all types of advertising, selecting the right place and right form of e-Advertising communication is key to being effective.
But to what extent is the e-Advertising trend alive and kicking in Lebanon? Despite Lebanon always being a pioneer in many respects, e-Advertising has still not caught on. Daniel Georr and Armand Homsi both give different reasons for this lack of popularity. Georr attributes it to the Internet connection available in Lebanon: “e-Advertising is on the rise in the MENA region but not in Lebanon because of the bad connection and slow speed which definitely influences this. The Lebanese are familiar with and love the Internet but it takes time to download and even to surf. But I think e-Advertising will increase with the coming of better Internet.” Homsi makes another connection: “it’s not popular because we are bombarded with pop-ups, spam etc. and since you can control these you can easily avoid them! You can ignore a banner for instance and the Lebanese don’t go hunting for ads and checking out the sites the ads are linked to. When we are watching TV, we don’t have such full control. e-Advertising works more on a corporate level (internal advertising). People are more Internet driven and some newspapers etc. have actually stopped printing and are only online now. Thus many sites are popular and get many hits, so it might be interesting to advertise something…but how many would actually double click? e-Advertising is works in the US and UK because it provides a portal for ads that can’t be run on TV due to their content or length (a 4 or 5 minute mini-movie that can’t be aired on TV). Since you covet everything that is forbidden, the public will want to check out the ads that are ‘banned’ from TV on the net.” Whatever the case is, on an international level e-Advertising is here to stay, and whether Lebanon decides to fully surf the trend or not is just a few clicks away.
