How do you tackle a taboo in the Middle East?

October 5th, 2011 by Souppie - Thoughts

Catchy title huh?

I rarely do this (reviewing SM campaigns/FB activities) but I’ve been lurking around Durex Arabia’s Facebook page for quite some time now, reading their tids n bits about sex, love, funny facts…They have around 830 fans (+/- at the time of writing this) and I thought that people won’t explicitly show their support for a brand of condom being in the middle east and “hiding behind our own finger” kinda double standards.

Anywho! I am not that active, I am a lurker, but I got approached to check their “stealth” page, where it’s all happening (I shared some of their posts on my FB and Twitter…are they monitoring? :) )

Durex Arabia off, Digital Love on! (pun?)

Love takes a fundamental place in our lives. Digital Love Arabia aims at helping help people create conscious relationships based on love and acceptance rather than fear, jealousy, anger, and ownership. It’s time to move on from outdated ideas about love and intimacy.
Let’s start to have some ‘digital’ fun around here!

Few words struck me, “create conscious relationships based on love and acceptance rather than fear…” Finally someone spilling the beans and saying how it should be. “it’s time to move on from outdated ideas about love and intimacy”

If you think that sex is only meant to procreate, stop and don’t continue reading.

A brand is actually tackling some deep rooted issues in the society in the middle east, in a very subtle, fun, and “sexy” way (without being NSFW) I really am impressed. You get to see some pictures, referring to “intimate moments”, to things that you and your partner(s) can do together, without being pornographic, without being rude. Yes I can hear you, anyone can do that, but no one did except for Durex Arabia.

Albeit it’s too conservative for my taste – they are serving a very tough continent, the middle east – there is some sort of a “finesse“, tackling a “taboo” in the middle eastern society without breaking any boundaries, without shocking nor offending. It is smooth in providing advice and tips while posting images that “inspire” (no I am not referring to turning on, but really inspiring) during “passionate moments” like they refer to it.

They posted a video about “digital love” saying

“If someone told you that you could have sex with a real partner through your computer, would you believe it ?”

I am guessing that there will be some sort of a game, video series or whatnot to followup, but what I am really sure about (little birdie told me) that there will be some VERY nice surprises.

Smooth way from Durex to tackle the taboo in the middle east while marketing themselves, knowing that the use of condom is permissible in some religions (where religion plays a huge role) and knowing last but not least that there is a huge expat community in the region that uses condoms.

I’ll be keeping a close eye on this one. Till then, Love Sex Durex!

Update: It looks like the campaign is spreading fast and getting some nice reviews too! check out Gino’s take on it (and make sure to check his picture! priceless!)

What we should learn from Google

October 5th, 2011 by Souppie - Thoughts

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I’ve been wanting to write this down for well over a year now. I had a small incident today and cannot but write this.

This goes to every “professional” out there.

I had quite a few phone exchanges with Google well over a year, here is how it went every single time.

Email received asking for a good time to call.
Answer sent back with a good time to call.
Confirmation received for the given time and date
Phone rings at the exact time and date.
Everybody is happy.

This small “etiquette” saves time, missed calls, frustrations. When you have something important to discuss over the phone, and cannot do it face to face, shoot an email. You will look more professional and you will avoid the missed calls. Cuz here’s the thing, if you are impolite enough to leave your phone’s ringer loud during a meeting, and have no problem/manners to answer your phone during a meeting, others are still polite/respectable enough not do it.

I had a few phone calls with something “blue”, guess what? they call randomly and at random times. NOT good. NOT pro. You need me, have the decency/manners/professionalism to shoot out an email.

As for the HR, this goes back awhile ago. We were trying to recruit someone, so every time I asked the HR if he answered back, all I got was “I called him he didn’t answer”. Guess what? I sent an email, asking when is the best time to call and got an answer back apologizing for not answering because of XYZ and it was smooth all the way from there.

So next time you want to call someone who is not expecting your call, send out an email, be professional and avoid “can you call back later I am busy now…I am sorry”

*Deep breath*

15 Reasons (events) why you should attend Social Media Week Beirut

September 13th, 2011 by Souppie - Web

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As most of you know, Beirut is an official Social Media Week city this year thanks to 90:10 Group.

It was about time to finally put Beirut on the Social Media map of the world and it is about time to learn/share/exchange between different verticals, agencies, competitors.

Why one should attend?

It’s a free event that allows everyone to learn something
It targets different verticals
E-commerce, Challenging the Lebanese Economy
Planning, Building Integrated Online Presence for Banks: The role of Social Media in customer care
When content becomes Mobile
Nokia “Thinking Global, Acting Local”
Mr William Kanaan “Google +” Presentation
Crowd sourcing, Social collaboration, citizen journalism and the future of traditional Journalism (Our own Gigalb is on the panel)
Mr. Samer Ragheb from Facebook presents, “Word of Mouth at Scale”
“When Nokia Engages with the Audience” Success Stories
Zaatar W Zeit, a rebranding strategy using Social Media to make the Buzz
Silkor, merging Beauty, Luxury and Engagement
Antoine online, the Lebanese Amazon.com that embraced engagement strategy
“Cheyef 7alak?” The Viral Effect Inititative in Lebanon
How did Social Networks change the relationship between Artists and Fans

You can follow their twitter account @SMWBeirut, Facebook Page and the official site.

Power Balance admits no scientific evidence, Lebanese dealer says opposite.

August 27th, 2011 by Souppie - Random

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A friend of mine “liked” a page on FB, it’s Power Balance Lebanon, I couldn’t help it but like the page after watching a documentary on M6 about Power Balance and how it’s all hocus pocus, and its effects are nothing but placebo and MOST OF ALL, they had to publish a press release admitting that the whole thing has no scientific evidence at all that it works.

Well my loyal readers, Power Balance Lebanon believes the opposite, everybody is selling fake (hence they are losing money) and they tested them, and have “scientific” proof that it works. Yes, we za lebanese beoble are smart, we wrote alphabet we ski swim same day 30 minutes mountain from sea.

Power Balance’s statement:

In our advertising we stated that Power Balance wristbands improved your strength, balance and flexibility.

We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct in breach of s52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

If you feel you have been misled by our promotions, we wish to unreservedly apologise and offer a full refund.

Now, the Lebanese dealer’s scientific evidence

And here’s the original statement by Power Balance

The company is being sued in Europe, but “unfourtionatly” no law, no consumer protection, no nothing around here. Note the “misleading conduct” in the statement.

Power Balance is “Extra Borojo 2.0″.

Nokia Ads inside Cydia (as well as Samsung too)

August 25th, 2011 by Souppie - Thoughts

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I couldn’t help it but laugh, really laugh when I was reading a certain conversation on Twitter the other day that sums up – roughly – to this:

Nokia are so desperate, they are putting ads inside Cydia. iPhone does not need ads, it’s a titan.

In my efforts to fight ignorance, let me help you out.

If you switch your TV on and zap through CNN/BBC/M6/TF1, you will see them flooding with ads for iPhone (and Blackberry AND Samsung…AND Nokia)
The reason you are not seeing iPhone/Mac ads online/ATL/BTL in Beirut in particular and Middle East in general is because: They don’t know you exist to send that message to you. They don’t even have business plan for the middle east yet.
Apple doesn’t have a presence in the Middle East except through “Arab Business Machine“
Nokia is not actually paying Cydia to have their ads in there. Agencies use “networks” (such as Google Content Network, or the FAILED iAD of Apple) and since you are being too cheap to pay for apps on Cydia, they need to rely on ads from Google Adsense and the rest of the gang.
Is more of a question, do you even know how Cydia works?
For your own sake, your own reputation, and for a good cause “The Fight Against Ignorance” Google (or Bing, whatever tickles your fancy) before you tweet.
I understand that you (we?) are all frustrated from the the fact that every time Apple sells an iPhone Nokia actually earns money (google it) but what about the rest that look like a 30 something stereotypical Lebanese woman who wants to get married desperately?

Not liking a brand doesn’t automatically make it a bad brand. I don’t like BMW and Mercedes, does it make them bad cars? Objectiveness will get you to a lot of places you only dream of. “Tjarrad w jarredneh ma3ak” (Film Ameriki Tawil)

Yours truly,

An Apple fan boy who woke up in the middle of the night because his iPhone 4′s screen lit up cuz it pushed the news about Jobs resigning and couldn’t sleep for 30 minutes after that

Review, honestly, and get the chance to win a Kindle from Memonic

August 2nd, 2011 by Souppie - Web

Memonic - The Collaborative Online Notebook

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Remember my review about Memonic? Not really yeah? anyways, the good folks from Memonic are throwing a competition, open to everyone, pretty fair rules and you might win a brand new Kindle.

Details:

All you need to do is review Memonic, honestly, not a praise, not some worshiping voodoo stuff, just an honest to god/shiva/whatever you hold dear review of the app and you will enter a “hat draw” automatically and if you are lucky you will win a brand new Kindle.

Plain, simple, straight to the point. for more details you can check their blog or just jump to the links and go and review! Good luck!

iTunes (Please Review on iTunes itself)

Amazon

Android Market