Telecom Egypt Ramadan 2014 Ad Review

Telecom Egypt come back this year after last year’s disaster copy (Dawwar Gowa Zatak) with a pretty emotional copy..

Reminding us that Telecom Egypt has been a key participant in the important events throughout Egypt’s history; using real insights and real situations.. They have always been there indeed, from the Suez Canal nationalization, through the grey phone with the round keypad that every home in Egypt had, the internet dial up modem, to the day where mobiles were launched in Egypt (with Nokia Banana and Ericsson 788); when it actually cost you like 3 pounds per minute (w ne2fel el telephone b mofta7 el zero w keda)….lots of good memories with landline J

These aside, I really love how they played on the revolution situation; the telecom blackout between Jan 28^th-30^th when we all went back to basics and started dialing landlines all over again, great manifestation of it in the ad, where the protestor literally throws his mobile phone away and picks up the landline phone..

One fallout here, the overkill of Amir Eid and his Cairokee crew is becoming a bit too much.. I said it once in the Masr El Kheir ad and I’m saying it again.. The point about celebrity endorsement is novelty and enjoyment.. I don’t think getting them to sing in your ad is new, nor does it add any joy to it, as I’ve already heard them a million times before.. If I were them, I would stop taking ad contracts for a while, if this drags longer I think it will actually hurt their career where people will be bored of hearing them already, they’re all over the place. Again, don’t get me wrong, I love the Cairokee crew and really admire their talent, but hearing them in one ad is great, hearing them in 50 ads is exhausting your talent.

One last thing worth mentioning, while Telecom Egypt has indeed been part of the Egyptian culture, they’re fading away.. with mobile phones reaching 100%+ on penetration, the decline on landline subscriptions and the high reliance on wireless connectivity in everything.. Telecom Egypt should definitely find a way to get back in the game (be it by introducing the 4^th Telecom Operator or other solutions)… I would steal a quote from their friends in Etisalat.. (إللي ماجددش, إختفي – Those who don’t renovate… disappear)..

Hope they learn the lesson and action it… before it’s too late.