From Spooky to Ludicrous: 5 of the Quirkiest Advertisements to Come out of Egypt
Egypt’s advertising industry is renowned for having produced some of the most absurd campaigns using humour to sell a product or a service. This is not news. Marketers have found humour to be an effective tactic for connecting with consumers.
Whether by using talking animals or ridiculous scenarios, the sky is the limit when it comes to the creative minds being churned out of the country’s advertising industry.
One of humour’s various advantages is increasing the chances for a video or advertisement to go viral. Not to mention that funny advertisements tend to encourage consumers to trust a brand more.
Everyone needs a good laugh every now and again. To that end, here are five of the quirkiest advertisements to come out of Egypt over the years.
Schweppes’ Secret (Serr Schweppes)
Released in the 1980s, the “Schweppes’ Secret” campaign (Serr Schweppes) — aiming to promote the soft drink — featured actor Hassan Abdin in an array of ludicrous scenarios that one would not likely find themselves in in real life.
One of the scenarios for the campaign saw the Egyptian actor attempt to make a sentry from the Queen’s Guard crack a smile by offering him a schweppes. When that did not work, Abdin whispered a joke in the guard’s ear only for the two men to collapse onto the floor in fits of laughter.
Created by Tarek Nour, who is considered a pioneer of Egypt’s advertising landscape, the Schweppes campaign propelled Nour and his advertising agency, Tarek Nour Communications (TNC) to fame.
“This was one of the first times that a celebrity did an advertising campaign, and in fact it made him even more of a celebrity,” said Nour of the campaign, in an article published by Medium in 2017.
PicPac’s Egypt Featuring the Ring’s Samara Morgan
Featuring Samara Morgan, the antagonist from the 2003 Horror film, the Ring, PicPac’s advertisement sees an Egyptian woman scolding Morgan as she does what she does best: climb out of the television.
The Egyptian woman then proceeds to beat Samara and put her to work mopping the floor as she nibbles on the delicious peanut snack that is PicPac’s. The advertisement, which was released in 2015, is completely nonsensical, which makes it all the more funny.
La Vache Qui Rit
La Vache Qui Rit is a French name which translates to ‘the laughing cow’.’ Creative agency Kairo gave the audience exactly that with its 2018 La Vache Qui Rit commercial, promoting the brand’s new white cheese product.
The advertisement saw a number of different cows just laughing it up in several locations. It sounds simple, but it was effective.
Freska Featuring A Group of Monkeys
Humour has been found to leave consumers with a memorable experience linked to the brand, and Egyptian wafer company Freska has picked up on the effectiveness of inducing laughter to promote their products.
Brought to life by creative agency Kairo in 2013, Freska’s “Be Wowed” campaign features a series of skits with characters either being wowed or attempting to wow.
One of the skits shows a group of monkeys embodying different characters in an attempt to intimidate a man they have kidnapped, but to no avail. After bringing out their secret weapon, Zoozoo the monkey belly dancer, they realise there is only one way to impress him. Finally, one of the monkeys pops out a Freska bar, after which their prisoner is finally wowed.
Mo’Men Featuring Mariachi band
Egyptian restaurant chain Mo’men went all out for the release of their ‘Burrito Mo’men’ using a mariachi band to promote the sandwich.
In the campaign, released in 2012, two men strolling down the street realise that one of the members — if not all — in the Mariachi band is actually Egyptian, and not Mexican. This enrages them, causing them to chase him down and attempt to catch him.
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