The Summer's Billboards for Lebanese Wine
The Summer's Billboards for Lebanese Wine
I have some thoughts, please don't hate me
This topic feels very, very silly given what we’re dealing with but I also feel like it’s a case study on how the industry presents itself within its own environment. I’m working on something that’s more serious which will be out soon (I hope). Shit’s changing everyday and I don’t know how to function lately thanks to Israeli terrorism but in the meantime, enjoy this light analysis of wine billboards.
After years of silence, I’m happy to see our wineries advertising to the local market again even if it’s only the larger ones who can afford to do so. However, the OOHs (Out of Home ads, usually in the form of billboards) I saw this summer are missing the mark in terms of how to communicate and sell in this format. I’m not going to blame anyone (agency, creative, or winery) in particular because 1) there’s no way I would know who made these decisions and 2) the approval process and budgeting between all involved is…complicated. I’m just going to share some thoughts and like I said in the subheading: please don’t hate me.
But before talking about the ads, let me go over the basics when it comes to creating an outdoor campaign. Then, I’ll go over some examples from this summer and some tips that’ll improve the approach.
THREE THINGS TO CONSIDER FOR OUTDOOR ADS
1. You’re competing with a lot. Details don’t matter.
A billboard campaign is a snapshot. It needs to convey a message in the simplest and clearest way possible. It also needs to compete with everything else on the road. That means all other billboards, signage, cranes, posters, graffiti, and even other cars. Any other loud media will distract your audience but that doesn’t mean you need to be louder. Details aren’t visible and will clutter your visual for nothing.
DO: Use large, legible typography (only a few words) and block colors.
DON’T: Use an intricate image that doesn’t fit your brand’s visual language.
2. Your visual has very little time to convey your message.
Billboards are big, imposing, and not talking to anyone specifically —their target is EVERYONE which is great when you’re new and you want everyone and their mother to know YOU HAVE ARRIVED. Billboards are the doormen who announce guests at the royal ball. They’re great for what’s called “awareness campaigns” when you’re launching a new product/brand, revamping/reintroducing an old one, or making an announcement (sales, a new location).
Billboards are not great when you’ve got a complicated idea or message. People are most likely on the move when seeing it. There’s not enough time for your viewer to see, understand, and retain it. OOHs have to be straightforward and memorable.
DO: Stick to simple ideas that are easily understood
DON’T: Dumb it down for the masses. People are smart.
3. Location, location, location.
Once you’ve got these first two points covered, there’s the issue with placement. The size and orientation matter but so does the route that drivers and pedestrians take. The best spots with the most traffic and visibility will have corresponding pricing so that’s when you have to reassess: is an OOH ad the best method for this message and budget? If you’re still set on it, visit your favorite locations frequently (and after installation) to see what new interference may have appeared. Is there a tree in the way? Is there a new bakery sign blocking your frame? Did my ad get pasted next to some awkward ones?
DO: Be strategic, don’t just flood the city with your visual.
DON’T: Choose locations in one neighborhood only. Spread the love.
WINE BILLBOARDS FROM THIS SUMMER
I’ve seen wine ads mostly in/around Ashrafieh or on highways in/out of Beirut, going north and south. First we have three billboards from three big wineries: Ksara, Kefraya, and Ixsir. All three used generic summer imagery of sunsets, sand, and coastlines. Ksara is the only one that looked like it could be a sunset in Lebanon.
“Summer = white or rose wine for the beach” is not a fresh idea. All three didn’t make me feel anything for any of these brands and none stood out. Do they remind possible customers of these brands? Sure. Do they catch them at the right moment before heading to the store or the beach? Maybe.
Do they make viewers connect to that brand or do they see it and just think, oh shit, I need to get some rose for tomorrow? These billboards serve the product category, not the brand of that product. They remind me to go get a bottle of something, not a bottle of Myst from Kefraya.
That’s not bad if we’re marketing wine in general but was that the goal here? They didn’t even narrow it down to drinking local. These visuals just say BEACH WINE.
Next up, we’ve got Chateau Marsyas. While the visual isn’t cluttered and is a standard pack shot on a plain background, the copy “Live the Good Life” doesn’t mean anything. Ixsir’s “Elevate the Moment” is marginally better because it hints at their wine of the mountains core theme or it makes people think their wines will elevate the moment because they’re just that good. But what does “Live the Good Life” tell me about Chateau Marsyas? That drinking it will make me live the good life? Or is it just wine that could make me live that way? This idea could backfire too. B-Qa is the more affordable label under Marsyas so what are we saying here? That I don’t need to bother drinking their higher end stuff since I can live the good life with B-Qa?
Finally, we come to Chateau Musar. It hurts me to type this but the visual above hurt me more. In case you don’t know, the bottles making the shape of a sun are from Musar’s Korai line, the white and rose wines they’ve tried to market as their summer bottlings for a few years now. I don’t think they’re that popular and they could use a redesign and relaunch. But back to the billboard as a whole: Hello SunWine is meaningless and the typeface they went with was a weird choice unrelated to the brand’s corporate style. The composition reminds me of the Teletubbies’ sun baby in the sky. Squishing the logo into that white space is a graphic crime and you can’t read the winery name because the logotype is fine script. Of course, that might be a good thing because people won’t remember who did this.
Below is another example from May of this year. There’s so much text in this visual, a lot of which is an eyesore. “Ranked 13th in 2024” in gold gradient WordArt that I can’t read, with a tag on the bottle that I also can’t read. The ranking is according to who? in 2024 even though we were only 5 months into the year? If it’s not in the top 10, why are we talking about this and why so many words only to remain so vague? But ultimately, why should this external ranking matter? Don’t we know how good we are regardless? And once again, the viewer doesn’t know who this billboard is for because you can barely read the logotype.
Chateau Musar’s local comms have been very poor and dated which is such a shame given the potential and historical material that the brand has. There is so much that they could tap into. We can’t have this if they’re trying to make more of an effort on the homefront.
THREE WAYS TO IMPROVE THE OUTDOOR STRATEGY
Value your creative team: Just because it’s an old medium doesn’t mean you can’t be innovative with it. You’re going to experts for their expertise. Don’t expect them to just do what you say. Trust them and empower them to take risks. Don’t undervalue your copywriters. Also, good work requires good pay.
Use Arabic: When I used to work in advertising, lots of brands denigrated Arabic as a language despite being in LEBANON. That’s changing now as more agencies service the GCC and Arabic now dominates their decks. If you want to be a brand that people relate to - especially a brand that is marketing a national agricultural product - then do it in the spoken language they speak everyday.
Connect with the right now: Billboards run week-to-week meaning they’re very fleeting. This can be a good thing if you use it to relate to an emotion that’s being felt by everyone at a particular moment. However, do not use TikTok trends (or anything that short-lived) for this because those will be dead before you have the ad approved, printed, and pasted.
Even though some want to pretend otherwise, Israel has been launching murderous attacks across the country for almost a year creating a thick cloud of anxiety, despair, and instability. If you’re going to advertise now, the state of your audience’s consciousness should be part of the picture.
Almaza’s billboards are good examples of effective outdoor advertising. They know their product’s strength as a symbol and they use it. As you can see above, their iconic green bottle on the bright red backdrop makes the visual pop so much that I could see the Zalka highway billboards from a window in Ain Saade (for those who don’t know, that’s quite the distance).
It’s simple but in this case, the copy is what turns a pack shot into a campaign idea.
The thick, white Arabic typeface is rounded and playful yet still legible. Its spirit matches that of the historic beer brand. The copy is clever yet not complicated. The line in Arabic says, “despite everything, Lebanon’s a diamond,” making a pun with the brand’s name (almaza means diamond). It’s timely (AND timeless) as it hints at the current situation which makes viewers feel like the brand exists in the same reality as them.
ARE BILLBOARDS THE RIGHT MEDIUM?
Even though they’re a way of communicating that goes way back, billboards still get the job they’re made for done. Nowadays, depending on the goal of the campaign, there are other mediums that could be a more fruitful use of those marketing dollars, ones that come with more concrete tools to assess their impact.
Kefraya, Ksara, and Karam Wines had radio ads this summer which is a good start but local wineries can talk to locals using unconventional methods like being integrated into a cultural event (not just being a sponsor that pours free wine), hosting a webseries, or cooking up something more guerrilla. Ideally, the aim of our wineries would be to be part of action that moves beyond fluff and superficial outreach. Honestly, I’d just love for our wineries to act like they live in the same country as the rest of us.
Those are just some quick thought-starters, I can’t give away everything for free. What do you think wineries should do?
Excellent advice, clearly stated. More people should use your talents.
Musar's Hello SunWine is truly an abomination that nobody should ever have to see.