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Lebanon has had very difficult years, following the Beirut port blast, the many lockdowns and an economic crisis that keeps worsening. ArabAd talks to Ghada Chehaibar, Managing and Creative Director , Purple advertising, to understand how the agency and team have managed to thrive throughout such a tumultuous time.
How would you describe in one word the year that past?
Shocking.
Were you able to find certainty despite all hardships and adversity crippling businesses in the country?
That would be from a miracle perspective and certainly not based on business rationale.
Did you feel at risk at some point of getting pulled out of the game? And what helped you reinforce your team’s belief in Lebanon and strong commitment and dedication to sustaining the business?
I guess that all sensible Lebanese have this feeling or thoughts haunting them every minute.
The greatest of the challenges I have as being an entrepreneur and business owner is retaining talents and motivating them to "resist" against all odds. Not an easy task believe me.
How have you managed to channel your energy into keeping up?
Survival instinct carries an unsuspected amount of energy. It helps me go forward until today.
I guess it is part of the miracle I was referring to. Sometimes, I wonder myself about how long I'll still be carried by survival power.
What has been the most important thing you’ve learned over the last 12 months?
Giving up is not a choice for me. I will either prevail or vanish while trying. I definitely wised up while confronting the beast threatening my country and my business. I learned to be more patient, and put all our resilience capacity in trying to adapt and transform our business model into a model able to deal with a deep financial crisis.
“Giving up is not a choice for me. I will either prevail or vanish while trying.”
Has your passion and energy remained intact in such a gloomy climate?
Evidently not! Especially Passion. Passion is the magic we all need but it needs to be kept alive by so many other factors that are fading away in Lebanon, such as visibility, stability, perspective.. As for the energy, I am running on adrenaline fuel.
The only passion we could talk about in a credible manner, is the one of "winning", which would mean, in those dire days, prevailing and staying alive as a business despite everything else.
The Lebanese crisis —and the global sanitary crisis —have challenged managers and marketers to rethink the way they do business and plan the future of their organizations. Where the biggest opportunities lay mostly for you? Where does “new business” typically come from today?
The pandemic was not the major challenge for our business or industry.
The meltdown of the purchase power was the crippling one. As for “new business”, they may come for example from the upcoming electoral campaign. Also new affordable foreign brands are penetrating the market replacing the ones that have become unaffordable, which is presenting itself as a new business opportunity that we are pursuing.
Locally, we were actively involved in launching some local product such as Agreen, a local bio product and local wine, Divine. We were also happily involved in a successful digital social responsibility project such as swimLebanon, an association addressing the cleansing of our shores. me-green, solar energy is another project we are happy to list as Purple clients.
What are the shifts that you foresee taking place in the year ahead? And what do you think will be your biggest challenge in 2022?
I hope that 2022 will not complete the dark sequel of 2020 and 2021. Until further notice, our duty of optimism is challenged by reality: no major reforms at the horizon, no road map while uncertainty is surrounding the forthcoming legislative elections.
In any case, 2022 will be an uphill battle. Setting a bigger step into digital transformation, that’s the direction we are venturing into. And we're here to stay.
INTERVIEW CONDUCTED IN NOVEMBER 2021 & FIRST PUBLISHED IN ARABAD DEC/JAN 2022 ISSUE
