Lemonade: The Movie

Lemonade is a movie about advertising professionals who lost their jobs in the economic crisis, and how they managed to turn their lives around and start over doing things they love. It was the idea of Erik Proulx, an ad copywriter who lost his job, and after coming across other  laid off ad professionals, decided to film Lemonade to tell of their stories after exiting the ad world.

Watch the trailer below:

Working in the advertising and creative communications industry for just over 2 years, I guess I can safely say that almost everyone working in the field hates their jobs to pieces but loves it just as much! Working in an ad agency is like riding a roller coaster every day of your life…a messy emotional roller coaster ride every single day. Working in an ad agency is a combination of a fun environment, urgent jobs, stress, craziness, impossible deadlines, laughter, multitasking 10 different things, dealing with sh*t from clients, dealing with creative drama queens, working 12-15 hour day and staying on top of it all – while managing to breathe, have an occasional bite and somehow staying sane.

That’s why when I saw the trailer for Lemonade I fell in love with it. I could really relate to the people in the film and to what they’re feeling. The trailer is inspiring enough to make me want to resign tomorrow! But that’s not only why I loved it; it shows how when you work in advertising, you become trained to always manage to find a way, a solution for a situation gone bad, to think of plan B,  and am glad that these people used this quality and their creativity to move on with their lives and be happy beyond life in an ad agency.

The movie is also a great case study on the power of Twitter as a medium, as it was through Twitter that Erik found his cast and crew for the film, and that is how he got a production house to produce the movie, free Airline tickets to get to some of the locations for the filming and of course used and still using Twitter to promote the movie. This article details Twitter’s contribution to the movie, and quoting its closing line:

“Lemonade the movie.  Conceived by Erik Proulx.  But brought to you by Twitter.”

Lemonade will air online sometime next month. Follow Erik @eproulx on Twitter for live updates.

Vimto Season

In about a week’s time, Ramadan – the Islamic holy month of fasting – will commence and with that another Vimto season will start! The drink we all forget about 11 months of the year, but drink religiously during the month of Ramadan is probably being stocked and restocked in huge quantities at all hypermarkets across the region, in preparation for Ramadan.

Vimto Cordial, a mixed berries drink, is mysteriously very popoular during Ramadan, and is almost considered a basic Ramadan staple by some. It is served in many households during Iftar (breaking of the fasting meal), and is favored by adults and children alike.

I’ve always wondered why Vimto’s popularity is linked with Ramadan. There is nothing seasonal about Vimto..it is available year round, and not linked to Ramadan in any way, or made out of ingredients which are often served in Ramadan. You’d expect it to compete  with other juices (fresh bottled or long-term syrups/powders) rather than compete with Ramadan seasonal drinks like Ammaridin (dried apricots/peaches), Jallab (not sure what goes in this one) and Tammer Hindi (dates drink)!

Vimto's Vintage Packaging

Maybe it’s due to Vimto’s marketing strategy over the years, which focuses on promoting it during Ramadan, that has turned it into a seasonal, Ramadan ritual. I really cannot remember seeing ads for Vimto at any other time of the year. But it could also be the other way round – somehow Vimto got popular every time during Ramadan that its producers saw an opportunity to promote it as seasonal drink.

The question remains unanswered, but that won’t stop me from enjoying drinking Vimto with my Iftar almost every day during Ramadan.

Vimto is a UK brand, that is produced in the Middle East by Aujan Industries. They’ve been responsible for bringing Vimto to the Middle East for 83 years now. It probably had the same vintage packaging back then as it has now

Happy Vimto Season and Ramadan Kareem everyone!

The Resume Shirt

Lost your job in the recession? Been emailing your resume to all recruitment agencies and all companies you want to work for and every other company you’ve come across, but feel that your emails go unread among the huge amounts of “Hire Me” emails going around?

The Resume Shirt

You need to wear your resume on your shirt to get noticed! Irina Blok has designed an awesome shirt that you can customize for $50 with your personal resume. I think it’s a fun, creative way to make a statement and get noticed…works great if you’re looking for a job in a field where all the companies are clustered together in one location (like Dubai Media City for example, where many media-related firms are located next to each other, with common rest areas and cafes). You can then walk around lunch hours networking and pitching yourself to potential employers! That would be really cool, especially for selling yourself in the creative communications & media field…makes me want to be unemployed to test it out!

Visit Irena’s website to order your shirt, or to order a cheeky unemployment badge.