RamaScoops 2015: Amr Diab Overdose

By Ahmed Emad On Jul 1, 2015

There isn’t really much of a genre for this ad analysis, the star is the genre – well, the superstar, actually: Amr Diab.

Amr Diab has always been quite shy of the media – never on talk shows, rarely seen in public and quite selective in terms of advertising.

When we look at his history with brand associations, they have always been quite prominent, from P&G shampoo in the early 90s (when none of the other stars had gotten an offer to do even Katakito biscuits) to a near decade-long contract with Pepsi that had him sing and perform next to the world’s biggest stars, be it in the Colosseum or in karaoke clubs with Beyonce and JLo. Plus, these commercials were synonymous with album releases. Whenever you saw a Pepsi ad with Amr Diab’s song in it, his album was usually released in a week or two. Check the full list of Pepsi ads here.

After he terminated his contract with Pepsi and was replaced by Tamer Hosni in 2011 (before that, too, crashed to the ground) and after a very controversial ad for Hayat Water that raised many eyebrows, Amr Diab has stayed away from the ad scene – until this year.

Vodafone

Western Union

Porto October

While these are not all Ramadan ads, the timing of release has been very recent and frequent. After seeing Amr Diab appear in an ad once a year, we’re now seeing three Amr Diab ads running simultaneously.

Which makes us wonder why? With little media appearances, no ambition for TV or cinema, declining sales in the music industry in general and a not-so-busy concert schedule, one has to diversify sources of income.

After terminating his contract with the biggest and richest brand in the region (with no option of their red rivals taking him on as the face of Coke after being milked by Pepsi for 10 years or more), Amr Diab had to go to tier two and even tier three brands.

We know living expenses in Dubai are quite high, bas mesh keda ya 3ammoor. Give us some time to miss you!

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