Throwback

Just recently, Lebanese food and beverages company Ghandour, launched a revival campaign for one of their most iconic products in recent Lebanese history: Unica

The ad produced by Y&R and directed by André Chammas, relies heavily on nostalgia and aims to create a sense of "throwback" to the audience. The setting of the ad is very reminiscent of the golden era of our country, while keeping the storyboard simple and reliable until today. The short clip also targets a wide target-audience, since it includes different characters that each one of use could relate to, at a certain point in time. Whilst keeping the nostalgia flowing, the ad also created this sense of "always there" to this chocolate bar; sharing most of our times in happy in sad moments through out history. It also features heavy use of highly popular locations such as the Piccadilly Theatre that is the symbol of Beirut in the late 70s. The art direction also relies deeply on vintage wardrobe, cars and even old Unica packages, to create this sense of history and involvement. The slogan "Unica living your stories, even the smallest of them" shows how much Ghandour wants to deeply integrate this product into our collective memory, making almost a historical landmark.

This theme has been widely used by advertisers to to promote an idea or a product. In 2012, Bank Audi in the purpose of promoting it's new "Lebanese Only" credit card played on the audience's emotions and hope of going back to Lebanon's golden age. The ad also contains a heavy use of symbols such as the old Lira bill next to the a Lebanese ID in a wallet, to stress that the era and the underlying message behind the ad. In this case, the commercials is composed of archive clips or old Beirut, aiming to drown the audience in a kind of nostalgia of this city that was ravaged with war. It also features iconic locations such as the "Télephérique station" in Jounieh and the Carlton Hotel to name a few. 

Both ads have one big idea in common, which is to create a unique and wide identity for Lebanese people, that includes all parts of society. It's what groups all parts of this deeply fragmented Lebanon. Maybe in creating a new identity that regroups all of the audience, those products can win their place in the products Hall of Fame and can be remembered as situation changing items for the rest of our long history. However, Unica's campaign is far more accessible and believable since it markets a product that is easy to acquire. Moreover, the way the Bank Audi ad is executed (pasting archive clips together) makes us loose the spirit of the idea while the Ghandour ads, while re-creating the spirit of the era, is more representative of this period.