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ARAB SPRING: “CLIENTS KEPT SAYING: THE CONSUMERS ARE STUPID”
Giuseppe Mazza and Sonia Rocchi

Interview with Ali Ali (Egypt)

Q: Today Elephant Cairo is one of the most renowned agencies in North Africa. But what was your studying and working experience before you came to Elephant Cairo?

AA: I studied at Miami Ad School, for one year and a half. My first job in advertising was in Romania, at Bucharest D’Arcy, where I stayed for eight months. Then in Hamburg in Leagas Delaney, where I worked for two and a half years. Then I went to Cairo.

Q: A pretty varied experience.

AA: Different cultures, very different clients… Sometimes even clashing with each other. And now I\’m in Cairo, where everything is way more crazy, more creative! I was lucky to work in so many different places. In Germany we worked on a concept for months, while here in Cairo we get a new project every week…

Q: That’s an intense pace.

AA: Yes, indeed! This is the same here with medicine… Egyptian doctors serve a thousand patients every week, so doctors from around the world – even the most famous ones – come here to practice. It’s the best place to do some training. It’s the same in advertising. There’s so much work to do, so many brands willing to communicate, that you find yourself doing a lot of practice.

Q: You said that revolution could open up new possibilities for the language of advertising. How did Egyptian regime bridle your tongue?

AA: Here in Cairo, as in the rest of the world, clients kept saying that consumers were stupid. Especially when we presented to them a good idea, the reaction was always the same: “Consumers are too stupid, they won’t understand”. But the revolution has proven to clients that consumers are neither stupid nor passive. They have got the power. And now in meetings nobody says “the consumers are stupid”. We say “the consumers are smarter than us”. It is now fully accepted that people are smart and should be respected; you can not insult people with stupid commercials.

Q: What has changed after the revolution?

AA: Straight afterwards, many brands tried to capitalize on the revolution. They wanted to put their flag over it. But I think that if you make chocolate bars, the best thing you can do for your country is keep making excellent chocolate bars. You can’t write on your packaging things such as “We were there too”. Anyone who tried to do things like this is a horrible person. After the revolution we rejected all these requests. Every brand – from cheese to soft drinks – asked for this kind of advertising. But we did not want to take part in it. So we stopped working for six months.

Q: Actually some brands have been publicly accused of “exploiting” the revolution. For example, Vodafone Egypt. What do you think about the Vodafone case?

AA: It was just a coincidence. Their commercial was already out before the revolution. The claim was “More Power to You” but it referred to the potential of human beings in general. After the revolution, both the client and the agency spread a press release saying that they had inspired revolution. And people got angry. So they had to apologize and withdraw all they said. That’s exactly what I said before: everyone was trying to capitalize on the revolution, but revolution does not belong to anyone.

Q: Which changes do you notice now?

AA: Now things have calmed down, we do not receive this kind of requests anymore. The good news is clients are becoming increasingly interested in new media – Facebook, Twitter, and all social media. We are increasingly focusing on advertising on social networks. Today everyone is aware that the web is here to stay. In Egypt 20 million people are connected. We could say that the revolution has given birth to digital media.

Q: Speaking of social networks in Egypt, have they really been the instruments of change or – as someone argues – their crucial role is just a myth?

AA: They were really important, but I don’t like it when journalists refer to our revolution as the “Facebook Revolution”. Thousands of people who have made the revolution weren’t connected and maybe had never been on the Internet. Speaking of a “Social Network Revolution” is an insult to all these people. The time had come, revolution would have taken place even without the Internet. Of course, it gave a great help, it made everything faster. It helped to spread the message, but the message was already there.

Q: What do you think about advertising in North Africa? It seems to us that it is growing.

AA: From a qualitative point of view there is no doubt: it’s growing fast. Of course we need to tell quality from quantity. From a quantitative point of view, the revolution still affects our economy, we have to face the crisis. Let’s say that the revolution has made room for a better advertising.

Q: Let’s take a closer look on the Egyptian market. Which are the most popular brands?

AA: Telecom brands are ever-present. But there are many brands that are making great efforts to stand out. For example, some TV channels are pushing up the language level, sometimes adding a provocative tone… Just think of Coca-Cola, which runs beautiful commercials here. Egyptian advertising market is cutting-edge in the Middle East, in Cairo you can do things you can only dream of in other countries. Maybe because we have a real media industry in Egypt. Our film industry releases one hundred and fifty movies a year. You speak to people who know what you are doing, then it is easier to sell an idea. Much easier than in the Emirates, for example.

Q: That’s true, Egyptian entertainment industry exports its products throughout the Arab world. I’m thinking for example, of Mosalsalat, the sitcoms created for Ramadan.

AA: They’re a gold mine, but I would never recommend my friends to watch them! They are poorly made, with very cheap production and always the same stories, but they are very profitable, and that’s why the phenomenon has been going on for years. Mosalsalat sitcoms are the dark side of the business: nobody talks about them, but everybody makes money from them. Some of these sitcoms have been running on TV for over forty years… just like soap operas. A couple of them are fairly good. They are all thought and made for Ramadan, with few exceptions. Thirty episodes, one per day.

Q: By the way, could you tell us something about your Ramadan production?

AA: We also work on “Ramadan Briefs”, commercials where you always have to show people gathered around a table, at seven p.m., eating and drinking together. For example, we made one for Coca-Cola. In our field Ramadan is much awaited and is very expensive. Air time placement is ten times more costly than the usual. In a nutshell, it’s like Superbowl in the US.

Q: Is there something as a “typically Egyptian sense of humour”? Do you think that your “Never Say No to Panda” ad – that was really funny! – could be an example?

AA: Sure! Our sense of humour is a bit “dry”, it’s more similar to the British one. We don’t make jokes, our humour is more related to specific situations… It seems that this ad had more success abroad than here, where it was on air only for four weeks. A friend of mine from China sent me a T-shirt with “Never say no to Panda” print in Chinese. People laughed in Canada, in Russia, and in many other countries… I don’t know if its success was due to a universal sense of humor or because it was a particularly well-done example of Egyptian humour.

Q: You are living a very exciting time. Would you suggest European creatives to move to your area to experience this climate of change?

AA: If they can move, a year in Egypt would be a great experience for their portfolio. On the other hand, when I got my job in Romania I was happy because I wanted to try something different. I even rejected a job in London because I wanted to do something new. Our job is all about looking for inspiration. So I wouldn’t tell anyone to move here and stay for ever, but a year would do, it could be a rich experience.

 

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