I'm just thinking out loud here but...

Something that really irks me is a well established idiom I hear from a lot of people in advertising - I call it the "Verbal Safety Net". The Verbal Safety Net comes in many forms but most common is: "I'm just thinking out loud here but..." Said statement usually precedes an idea or suggestion the person would like to share with the group while ensuring he has a soft landing should everyone find the idea crap. In my experience, that idea usually is crap because if you had a good thought to begin with, then why worry about setting up your verbal safety net at all? Actually, similar with trapeze artists and high wire acts with safety nets, the fun is actually in seeing them fall.

"Uber Premium" in the Arabian Gulf

"UBER PREMIUM is all about status-craving consumers hunting down the next wave in uber-exclusive goods, services and experiences that are truly out of reach for 99.9% of the MASS CLASS…So UBER PREMIUM is everything that is truly out of reach of the vast majority of consumers. Not just financially, but also by not being invited, or by being too late.

"Abu Dhabi's Al Reem Island is 300 metres offshore and will be linked to Abu Dhabi by two bridges. First property project on the island is the USD 7 billion Shams Abu Dhabi development, which will be comprised of a series of themed, exclusive neighbourhoods linked by waterways and the latest ideas in urban transportation networks. The entire development is scheduled for completion by 2011."

"The USD 2.5 billion Pearl-Qatar offshore residential island, chock-a-block with UBER PREMIUM dwellings, is slated for completion in 2009."

(Source: Trendwatching.com)

Barbie's Arab cousin

"Meet Fulla, the Arab Barbie girl. She's covered from head to foot in black and has no boyfriends, let alone one named Ken. In some parts of the world, Fulla might gather dust, but across the Middle East and North Africa she is the top selling doll." (credit Gulf News, Dubai)

Reaching addicts in Bahrain

Folded "heroin bags" were planted in toilets, bus stations, petrol stations and public parks, frequently visited by addicts to "jack up". The heroin bags contained different sets of handwritten messages from ex-patients/recovered addicts encouraging the readers in an empathizing way to call the helpline.

(credit JWT Bahrain)

the Axe Effect

Axe's positioning is all about masculine sexual attractiveness. How do you portray that in the Middle East without offending anyone? I wonder.

(credit to Lowe Dubai)

Homegrown comics

"Now is the new era of the homegrown Arab superhero, four of them in fact - and they look likely to give their made-in-America counterparts a run for their money.
That, at least, is the ambition of a young Egyptian company that is producing, for the first time, comic books whose main characters aren't denizens of New York or Gotham City but instead Cairo and other - sometimes imaginary - regional capitals like the "City of All Faiths." (Dailystar, Beirut - Lebanon)

When teamwork goes wrong

Definition 1
"Teamwork": Cooperative effort by the members of a group or team to achieve a common goal.

Definition 2
Teamwork: stubborn effort by the members of a group or team to achieve their own agenda.

To the X's in the equation, I'd like to say hang in there. To the Y's I'd kindly ask to sell their shite elsewhere - anywhere but in the advertising industry. There's enough crap around here as it is.