It’s the season of ads and analyzing every little detail.聽We’ll now take the turn into analyzing an ad that made quite a buzz this year;聽Banque Misr.

People started talking about the ad, mostly about the song, which is great, but we feel like there’s more to discuss. Before we start analyzing the ad, let us take a look at the history of Banque Misr, and their recent campaigns which play a role in analyzing their latest ad.

About Banque Misr and Previous Campaigns:

Banque Misr was established in 1920 as the聽first聽Egyptian owned bank聽by the pioneer economist and financial expert Mohamed Talaat Harb Pasha.

With it being the first 100% Egyptian bank for Egyptians, they managed to translate that ideology throughout their brand and campaigns.

One thing that is worth noting, is the fact that their logo features Cleopatra, Egypt’s last Queen, and pharaoh. The reason behind the choice of Cleopatra is because she represents聽tradition, wisdom and cultural heritage.

During the last three years, we’ve been seeing Banque Misr every Ramadan with an inspiring ad that attempts to reflect Egyptians. This year, however, the multi-layered ad might have been more on point than previous ads.

Now to the original point of the article; dissecting the ad. We’ll start with the first thing people noticed…

The song and choice of singers:

The song is called “I am the son of Egypt” (Ana Ebn Masr), which is quite a literal translation of the bank itself; the first Egyptian bank. The lyrics continue to show the similarities between the bank and the Egyptians.

Whether you liked the song or not, the play on words, as well as the reflection of how the bank is a part of the Egyptian culture is quite clever.

As for the choice of singers, Banque Misr chose three absolutely different singers, Medhat Saleh, Mahmoud el-Essily, and Mostafa Hagag. The choice of singers reflects that no matter how diverse you are, you can still find harmony in working and living together.

Again, clever.

The ad continues to show different types of people, and empower them through the scenes.

Challenge:

Throughout the ad, they show several scenes聽and situations from all across Egypt. One of which is a scene that shows a man of quite an old age practicing rowing in the Nile with a group of younger men.

That, in turn, reflects聽quite a strong, and -again- clever message. Which is that no matter how old you are, if you’re determined enough, you conquer any obstacle in your way, including your age.

Feminism:

The ad makes sure to shed quite a strong light on women’s role in society and empowering females in several ways.

This shows in the series of scenes in which they show women in quite unconventional settings. Starting from the ballet dancer who was dancing right in Talaat Harb Square to the female microbus driver and motorcyclist.

All in an attempt to prove and demonstrate聽that women are strong to do聽whatever they choose.

Which doesn’t come as that big of a surprise聽seeing how the bank’s聽decades-old logo is a picture of one of the strongest women in Egypt’s History, Cleopatra!

Bullying:

 

The series of hidden messages didn’t stop there though. The ad continues to shed a light on bigger issues in our society, such as bullying and how to deal with.

In another scene, we see a kid in his school being bullied and by his school mates. As聽one of the said mates closes the door of the car they are all going home in the face of that child leaving him alone and stranded.

We later see an animated hand cuddling the boy, which is nothing but cuteness overload. Then we witness a store owner looking over at聽the child聽through the glass of the door smiling and changing the door’s sign from “closed” to “open”, beautifully yet subtly demonstrating that ‘when聽one door closes, another one always opens’.

Usually, a single commercial ad is either purposed to be entertaining, inspiring, or promoting to the brand image. However, in retrospect, one can say this particular ad managed to ad a dash of all of the above in one 3-minute video.聽

Proving our original point which is that it is incredibly CLEVER!