Where's the flavour?

Advertising styles:

British = witty; tongue-in-cheek
Indian = colourful; Bollywood inspired
French = seductive; sensual
American = funny; used car salesman
Thai = wacky

Arab world = ???

We're so busy playing catch-up with the rest of the world when it comes to advertising that we've somehow left out a basic ingredient - spice. Advertising from this region imitates other global styles, but has yet to figure out its own unique flavour. As a start, I'd like to suggest cumin - distinctly warm and earthy.

Bed sharing 'drains men's brains'

Finally, a study dedicated to my own personal battle with my wife for a good night's sleep.

Intriguing black raisins in Carrefour

Saudi tourism

"Saudi Arabia seems an unlikely destination for fun in the sun. Yet here was a Saudi prince at a tourism conference in neighboring Dubai, busily trying to sell his country as a vacation spot -- provided visitors don't expect alcohol, women come robed and everyone refrains from eating in public from dawn to dusk during the holy month of Ramadan."

via CNN.com

Because hands are sensitive...

(credit: TBWA Paris via Adsoftheworld.com)

Something so basic as protective gloves and yet here's a series of ads that just grab your attention, put a smile on your face and actually leave you wanting more. How many ads do you know that do all that AND are for a commodity product like protective gloves? Respect.

Intriguing solution to the paradox of choice

After a certain point, too many choices just leads to confusion...and a reduction in sales. The ingenious (?) solution at Burger King is to 'let the King decide' what you should order with a spin of the wheel. While it is kind of funny and interactive in a silly deprecating sort of way it does get me thinking just how convoluted a 'solution' this is to a potentially serious problem. When is too much just too much?

We hear it a lot, that adage of 'less is more'. Stick to what you're good at and don't confuse your patrons. When it comes to burgers, I've got to say that In-N-Out Burger (California, Arizona and Nevada) are probably the best at it. You've got 3 choices of burgers (double-double, cheeseburger and hamburger) that's it. The other thing they promise - everything's fresh. Here's a sample of their menu (almost unchanged since 1948):
You don't need to spin a wheel to guess where I'm headed if I'm ever back in California.

(MIT Advertising Lab, Wikipedia)