Ramadan is here and we are heating up! The annual Ad Superbowl event is here and several major brands have already released their ads for the holy month. The battle is on for who will win this year’s Ramadan, let’s recap Ramadan 2019’s first week’s most important and interesting releases.
Want to check our exclusive Telecom summary? > Ramadan 2019: Telecom Slays Ramadan… again!
Banking, Independence and Opportunities
Following last year’s breakout banking ad by Banque Misr, it looks like this year’s ads by the banking industry will be leaning more on independence and opportunities.
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Banque Misr comes back once more with last year’s signature graphics and a new inspirational song on independence, but starts off with a little bit of history.
Although the start of the video is slow compared to the rest of the ad, it resonates strongly with the brand’s historical focus and push for national pride.
Want to listen to last year’s ad again? Check it out here > Talaat Harb Is Back Again To Spread Positivity Through Ramadan Campaign
Alex Bank grabs everybody’s modern hero Mohamed Salah for this motivational ad on working hard and grabbing the opportunities in front of you.
NBE’s launched their ad this weekend to some controversy, but was otherwise well received. The bank’s ad was released 5 weeks after ecommerce platform Lightspeed’s newest ad, whose ad was extremely similar to NBE’s.
This led to quite the opinionated weekend, where to finally quiet the crowds, several members of the project released emails and date stamps to prove that the ad was already in motion since February.
As of the moment of writing, Banque du Caire’s official social channels and website are down and we were unable to gather data on their ad.
Banque Misr leads the pack with 18M views all around and 259K interactions, Alex Bank leans back with 3.4M views and 112K interactions, while NBE currently has 547K views and 19.7K interactions.
Singing White Goods
So far, only two out of the big White Goods six have released their Ramadan ads, but both are the fun and catchy songs we have come to expect from the industry.
Tornado got ahead of itself as one of the very first Ramadan ads to launch this year, releasing, according to Facebook, at 12:29AM on the first day of Ramadan.
It’s a relatable story, for a young couple to please in-laws to be, they need to finish their home with appliances and fast. Tornado whips up a storm with this fun and head-bouncing musical ad with 7.8M views on Facebook and YouTube.
Fresh follows Tornado and the industry with another musical ad, this time “it’s fresh or nothing.”
While less extravagant than last year’s ad, this year’s Fresh Ramadan ad is catchier, easier to remember and aligns better with the brand’s aesthetic. The new slogan from the ad will aid in the brand’s push forward as well, easy to say and easy to keep on mind while shopping at the store.
Tornado spins into the top spot for white goods so far with 3.8M views and 23K interactions while Fresh comes in with only 142K views and 3.6K interactions.
Fashion Gets Funky
Ramadan is the season for musical ads, and that goes for the fashion industry as well as we take a look at the more interesting fashion-forward ads of this year’s ad superbowl.
Magrabi, ironically, is the one of two non-musicals on this list but is also the most captivating ad. The post-apocalyptic or Mad-max styled ad is beautiful, interesting and puts an emphasis on both the local culture and their modern fashionable eyewear.
The ad keeps up at 2.2M views and 54K+ interactions across Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Something to take from the ad is its focus on capturing the local identity, beautiful visuals and product visuals.
Cottonil’s newest ad has an interesting question waiting to be asked. Why was this year’s Ramadan ad published only on a community page and not their official page?
The new ad was released on a page listed as “community,” and with only 20K followers while there is another unverified page for Cottonil but has over 200K followers that is linked on their official website. The new ad is the only video published by the community page as well.
It begs the question, if Cottonil had the budget for Medhat Shalaby, couldn’t they have hired someone to ensure they are publishing on the right page?
Did you know that Cottonil holds a Guinness World Record? Find out more > How Cottonil’s “Be Sure” campaign is literally an award winning campaign?
Dice Underwear launches another bright and loud musical ad this year, similar to last year’s maghranat ad, but like Fresh’s newest ad, this year’s version is easier to remember and comes with a catchy new tune.
AMS Shoes seems to be a new comer to the Ramadan ad superbowl, with what looks to be their 2nd ever Ramadan ad. The Alexandrian clothing and shoe brand grabbed Bayoumi Fouad for this funky ad.
While the ad is interesting and captivating, it fails to point out what the brand actually does. The ad shows off clothing as its main element, but the brand’s namesake, shoes, aren’t mentioned at all.
We do applaud their choice of ending the same ad with differently dressed Bayoumis, assuming it is to share the message that they have various clothing styles and options, but their brand name continues to make the ad seem strange and off-message.
The ad does seem to resonate with people, with over 563K views on all platforms so far and a large majority of interactions and comments were positive.
NGOs
Non-profit Organizations continue to reign during Ramadan, as they take their opportunity on the biggest charitable season of the year to spread their message far and wide during the holy month.
Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation broke hearts last year with their Ramadan ad and do so again with this heart-warming ad. The ad has received over 2.38M views since being launched on the first day of Ramadan, and has been well-received with almost all of its interactions and sentiments leaning towards positive.
The 500/500 National Cancer Institute started this year’s Ramadan with a progress video on their new project, but just yesterday released a new ad with the spirit of the holy month.
And last but not least, Mohamed Salah appears again on this list as he comes out of the shadows to remind us to live a better life without smoking or drugs.
This is not the first time that Mohamed Salah has worked with the Egyptian Anti-Addiction Treatment Fund (also known as the national fund for the prevention and treatment of drug addiction and abuse).
Related > Mo Salah continues to inspire more Egyptians via anti-drugs campaign
The new ad goes back to its roots for its “You’re Stronger” campaign, although last year’s musical ad was very different. Although only published on Thursday, the ad has already reached 4.3M views and was published both on the official page of the fund and on Mohamed Salah’s personal fan page.
What were your favorite ads? Let us know if we missed any!