14 June 2013

BEIRUT: In November 2011, a trio of left-leaning graphic design masters students had a random idea to start an anonymous blog about their opinions on advertising and design in Lebanon. They named it Brofessional Review, which was intended as both a declaration of their lack of professional experience and a subtle jibe at Lebanese-Arabic speakers tendency to mispronounce the letter P.

They were not expecting the Lebanese advertising industry to pay much attention, recalled one of Brofessionals co-founders who insisted on being quoted under his blogger pseudonym, Admin I (AI). We are amateurs. People keep missing that point. We are not professional. We are Brofessional. Its in our name. []We never claimed objectivity. It's a whole misunderstanding with the online community. They took us too seriously. We didn't do it.

Whether or not Brofessional Review is taken seriously by the advertising industry, the blog has had the attention of creatives at major international agencies and scrappy upstarts firms alike since the first week it went live. Based on the IP addresses of commenters, AI estimates that 70 percent of Brofessionals regular readers are employed at Lebanese advertising agencies and every so often, the creative teams behind campaigns that have been skewered on the blog feel compelled to defend themselves against negative reviews in comments.

The blog was nominated for a social media award this year--and was represented at the ceremony by a person in a Panda suit--and was even asked to pen an editorial on design for ArabAd. Rumors abound about the identities of the six, unpaid admins who contribute regularly to Brofessional Review, but AI refuses to offer many details beyond the fact two of the bloggers are women; two have worked in PR and marketing departments of major advertising agencies in Lebanon and abroad; and the others are freelance graphic designers and students.

Disgruntled Brofessional commenters commonly speculate that the authors are employed at the various agencies behind the campaigns they review, but AI insists that the sole purpose of being anonymous is not to escape professional consequences, but to avoid unethical self-promotion.

Though advertising posts are generally the most viewed on the sitethe recurring Inspired series that takes aim at plagiarization in mainstream advertisements draws the most readersillustration, typography, and any other topic related to communications is fair game.

Design-related posts provoke the most uproar in the blogosphere. The response from Brofessionals readers in the advertising industry is muted in comparison. They understand that criticism can serve the brand, AI said. They dont get as angry. They disagree. They argue. But theyve never asked us to remove a post or threatened lawsuits.

Recent blogs busting the Buzz energy drink campaign for copying and another spotlighting the advertising battle between Almaza and Lebanese Brew have been particularly popular. I think [plagiarism] happens everywhere, but its easier to point out here because there are only a couple of agencies doing good work, AI said.

AI is religious about protecting and promoting the authentic cultural identity of the Middle East in the advertising produced in Lebanon and regularly derides the agencies that betray it with overly westernized advertisements. It really pushes my buttons when things are too out of context, AI said. I am proud of the culture I come from. I think its visually and culturally insightful, so why not use it? Why should we make a Shawarma place look American? Maybe Im too religious about it sometimes, but I'm trying to push people to think a bit about why they did this design or advertising work the way they did.

Though Brofessional Review rarely sees tangible evidence of its influence, occasionally brands respond to their blogs on Twitter or they notice campaigns theyve skewered change course, but they are reluctant to take credit for such incidents.

The bulk of Brofessionals criticism is targeted at local campaigns, but they review international ads that offers a lesson every so often, such as the Oreo 100 Year Anniversary campaign they recently reviewed. It showed that even if the client has a small budget, that's no excuse for bad art direction.

Given the current state of advertising in Lebanon, lessons on how to continue innovating as brands of all kinds shrink marketing budgets is more relevant than ever. Last year, I would have said the biggest problem [in Lebanese advertising] was the absence of originality, but this year Id say its the lack of productivity, AI said. I dont know if its due to the economy, but weve noticed a lack of quality and quantity this year. Last year, we had to stop reviewing campaigns because there was too much on our plate. Now, its the start of the summer and we can't find a campaign to review.

The most common criticism leveled at Brofessional Review is that they dont have enough business experience to judge advertising standards and the negative reviews on the site far outweigh the positive ones. But Admin I claims that about 40 percent of Brofessionals reviews are positivethough readers bash these posts tooand he still believes in the unique imprint of Lebanese advertising agencies, especially when compared to the work coming out of the rival regional hub, Dubai. I can't see an advertising identity in the campaigns coming from Dubai or tell if [an ad] is coming from Dubai or Switzerland, he said. I can tell when an ad comes from Lebanon. It has something positive that shows a bit of insight or culture. [] We still have those ads that are silly, but maybe show a bit of identity.

That being said, risky, innovative strategies are becoming increasingly rare in Lebanon, AI argues because firms have become too focused on pleasing clients, rather than creating ground-breaking campaigns. When you start catering to the client and the market, it makes the work really bad. We have such a small market that any campaign can be good, he said. Good is not enough.

Such uncommercial opinions about the advertising business are easy to dismiss as the nave idealism, but AI counters such criticism by reminding readers that Brofessional Review has never claimed its judgements are anything but subjective. What makes a regular person a good judge of the food at a restaurant? We are regular people with a background in design, but we never claimed to be professionals."

Copyright The Daily Star 2013.