[ad_1]
He was never politically blind nor did he support free-thinking campaigns
Some people impose their identities on professions, which only they know. Al-Najjar reduced the world of advertising and media for many years, becoming one of its few references in the Arab world … “And God loved advertisers”, says the manuscript that hung in his office full of colors and paintings … and the small collection of cars (especially the red one) that Picked up liked, “God help” whoever signs one of them. In addition, the carpenter owns one of the most important collections of pictorial stories, from which he used to select phrases and drawings from which to make a painting, “Historical Heidi”, he says.
The tall man, with a huge body and a melodious voice, rarely wore a black uniform and enjoyed smoking Cuban cigars, before two years ago he forced him to “clean up” his parents, Mazen and Ghassan, who feared for their health, to surrender. . In the figure, the opposite of the image of the traditional advertiser, with complex relationships. “It wasn’t long before I discovered that behind this image is an ethic that at the time was a rare coin in the advertising market,” says Hind Khaled, who deliberately worked at the woodworking company, “because he asked who was the most important person in the field of political advertising to get the answer. Always Ramzi al-Najjar. It was more important than humanizing the concept of political propaganda. “Journalist George Ghanem adds that al-Najjar” represents the truth of the Second Renaissance of Media and Advertising in the 1990s “.
Ibn Bashmezin – Koura District (1952), became the man who knew how to “sell snow to anyone living in the Arctic.” This phrase is used to describe the carpenter, to denote his “skill” in persuasion. His innate talent was not dispersed, so he loaded him up with his studies, earning a master’s degree in “mass communication” and a bachelor’s degree in “comparative literature and education” from the American University of Beirut.
“I’m on the ball, would you recommend anything?”, One of the callers asks the carpenter, who answers: “Shalah Zeitoun”. From the land of olives, “he gained his great hunger for knowledge,” says Elie Khoury, chairman of the board of directors of Quantum Communications. Ramzi was “an encyclopedia, especially in language, that in ten minutes he could write ten pages”, so it was natural for him to write three books. Prolific and “ingenious”. Once, “we invented the logo for a customer while we were in the elevator to meet him.” Ramzi al-Najjar is self-confident to the point that “he does not have to reread what he has written.” And its importance lies in its ability to “create a small advertisement for a gum brand, for example, and at the same time implement a project for the most important international institution. The land knows what it loves and what the elite admire. “Khoury adds that Ramzi was writing ads” in Arabic and I in English. He quits and I interrupt. His mind is short and he wants to complete the project quickly, and I am everything. On the contrary. After a while we learned to “handle” the difference in terms of points of view, I shake my head, while he turns his back on me. ” This shows one aspect of the carpenter’s personality. No matter how much you disagree or disagree with someone, it never breaks the relationship. A sensitive person who expects to be reciprocated by those who care about them with the same level of emotion. But at the same time it was “difficult”, stubborn. Among the “bad things” of the latter, he is said to have “crudely expressed his opinion, and this authoritarian side of his personality may alienate some.”
He focused on political advice, as he was convinced that the advertising career was over.
Ramzi Najjar and Elie Khoury formed an advertising company in 1989, which was the largest in Lebanon, as “I ate the market.” But before signing this association, Ramzy had started to build his kingdom since the 1970s, making announcements … like “Yes, three for one”, one of the most famous announcements that have been etched in the minds of the consumers in Lebanon for years. He then entered the world of television and chose journalist Giselle Khoury to host the show “The Distinguished” on the “LBC” screen in late 1987. Khoury told “Al-Akhbar” that the audience “got to know me thanks to Ramzi. He was a basic person in all aspects of my life, I don’t know how I will return to Beirut when he is not present. Al-Najjar made the “distinguished” in all its details: from the idea to the selection of paragraphs and guests, “We were the first to do the immediate calculation, and Souk Okaz, we generalized the cultural material among all popular groups.” Khoury laughs, recalling when the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize: “They thought that by being the presenter of distinguished people, I had a deep knowledge of literature, so they chose me with Walid, Ramzi’s brother, to deliver the award. I got to know Naguib Mahfouz, thanks to Ramzy ”. In all future stations, and during his work on the “political vision” of various countries, “he used to choose me for interviews. He helped and knew how to maintain a bond with the people who mattered to him.”
The woodworking company’s director of creativity and his brother-in-law, Raymond Tereb, blame their pain and tears, recalling the 1980s. “We started working together on Lead by Jack Al Sarraf, before Ramzi became, between 1984 and 1989, in partner of Trust Company with Alain Bernas and Nazih Musallam “. In 1989, Inter-Markets offered Al-Najjar and Elie Khoury to merge and join their companies. For Khoury, “It seemed like the perfect opportunity, especially after the liberation war broke out.” In January 1992, they launched Saatchi & Saatchi Corporation, and they like it. What remains of a customer is what we take away. Ramsey was a Buildzer at work. “Among the clients at that time, the Lebanon Electricity Company, in the time of the late minister Elie Hobeika,” designed it with the motto ‘Lebanese ON / Off’, before the Movement took it on. Free Patriotic. “Solidere” was a client of the carpenter, and he designed “Beirut is an ancient city of the future.” From this perspective, his relationship with the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri developed, making him a friend of the family, who was also the keeper of their simple secrets, who was present at their events, and until months ago remained an “unofficial adviser” to Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri.
In 2000, Carpenter and Khoury founded the Quantum group, and they worked on Rafik Hariri’s election campaign against President Emile Lahoud, so the motto was “We say and we do” with the Lebanese flag. There was the attack on September 11, 2001. “Ramzi’s greatest achievement was the slogan that was published in the American media: We the People. The amount of American thank you letters that Rafik Hariri’s office received was terrifying, ”says Khoury. The association with Quantum did not last more than two years, for reasons that Ramzy would prefer to retire with him. “We remain friends and cooperate on various projects, the last of which was the one we were preparing two weeks before he was admitted to the hospital,” says Khoury.
Raymond Moeb reports that Carpenter wanted to move away from advertising “and focus on political advice, so he established S2C.” Why? He responds that the carpenter was “convinced that the advertising profession is over.” He limited his work to implementing the “political vision” of Arab governments, institutions and politicians, the most prominent of which were his projects in Jordan, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Its engine was not “material”, and it introduced a new understanding that it “gives advice” and does not “sell an ad.” Whoever worked with him confirms that he was never “politically blind or passing campaigns without thinking, without taking into account the other opinion.”
Two years ago he participated in the founding of the group “Todos Somos Arada”, making consultations on political and media aspects, but soon he left the group, expressing in more than one meeting his deviation from the role for which it was constituted. As for last year, al-Najjar devoted himself to participate in the preparation of a study center and the establishment of the Balamand University – Beirut branch, and was supposed to be the dean of the Faculty of Mass Communication. As for the “S2C” company, having the “new generation” in it … trusts young people and their ability to innovate and encourages them to come up with ideas, even if they are among the “younger” employees. These were originally “partners” of the company and had interests in it.
The year 2020 was tough for Ramzi al-Najjar. More than once he complained about a lack of inspiration and a lack of an idea for his new book. “My symbol is positive, but it is possible that the situation was greater. He became a retired psychic and is considered what was left in Shi Mahrez, ”Elie Khoury recalls. He was afraid of the spread of “Corona”, so he took precautions, but caught him. The day before yesterday, his result was negative with “Corona”, but his body had weakened, so he could not resist. Ramzi died, who was “making a joke out of every phrase,” and loves life in all his food, Rahbani jazz and blues songs and plays Ziad Rahbani, and always counted on “the bag of blocks starting from a small cup of grout”.
Subscribe to «News» on YouTube here
