Don Draper’s Channel

There is no doubt that the real Godfather of modern advertising in Egypt is Tarek Nour and there is no doubt too that if Don Draper decided to open a TV station , it would not be different be than Cairo Centric.

Cairo Centric should be called Tarek Nour Centric after Tarek Nour ; after all I do not find anything related to Cairo or its people in the channel , I only find Tarek Nour’s agencies’ ads and his ads memories clip “I admit that these ads are real part of our television memory in Egypt since 1970s up to 1990s” . In fact the logo of the channel does not represent Cairo at it represents Tarek Nour himself !! Check yourself below !! He should have called it Tarek Nour Channel.


Now Cairo Centric for sure managed to create buzz whether nationally or internationally starting with its promo ads , a real marketing master for sure  Nour is !! I will not speak about his provoking public services ads as it is something normal from someone proud of being NDP member , I will not speak about his channel’s programs which I hinted before in my Ramadan’s first 15 days review but I will speak about Cairo Centric promo ads scandal , it is never too late especially it deals with issues like copyrights and freedom of expression , the issues as a blogger I understand so much.


Nour aired promo ads which were stolen from foreign ads. This won’t be the first time he would do something like, he stole before ads and jingles from abroad.There was no internet nor satellites in the past , it was so easy to get away but now it is not. A group in Facebook was formed to expose Nour’s ads as follows :

• The football player : Original and CC*
• Elevator : Original and  CC
• Wishing Well : Original and CC
• The Library : Original and CC
• The Cafe : Original and CC
• The Swimming pool : Original and CC
• The Passport : Original  and  CC “ This promo made a buzz and I think if you watch it you will know why”
• The Car : Original and CC
• The Coast guard : Original and CC “Many found it offensive to our coast guard”
• The Bus stop : Original and CC
• The Horse : Original and CC
• The couple fight : Original and CC
• The Wall : Original and CC
• The translator : Original and CC

Honestly when I saw those ads I did not find them so funny , may be they are funny abroad but not in Egypt. The newspapers covered this scandal , which is scandal by all measures, the Godfather of creative advertising in Egypt boldly steals from abroad most of his new channel promo ads !!
Well what happened was worse : Cairo Centric published a bold ad admitting that these ads were copied and that they were difference between the originals and the copies and who will discover these differences will be awarded !!! “A typical Don Draper act !!”

Tarek Nour sent a court warning notice to Tamer Azab who uncovered this scandal in a strange reaction , I do not know how Azab would  defame his channel and Nour himself copied those ads without permission from the original agencies and production companies.
Anyhow you know what is said about Karma as Fathy Salama, the famous international Egyptian composer is going to sue Tarek Nour for using his music without permission in the provoking Railways public services ads.  Not that only but  the Norwegian advertising agency which produced the Berlitz ad has denied that it granted Nour’s agency  the permission to rip off its ad which means he could be sued for copyrights and this is just the start. “The facebook members of Azab’s group reached to it”  I do not have doubt that ITV , which owns the rights of Benny Hill show now will sue for stealing the late British comedian sketches.
Tarek Nour insulted his creative writers whom I know that they could produce even much better promos than those , Tarek Nour insulted us with his ad in Akhbar Al Youm and he insulted himself when he sent that warning to Azab insisting that he did nothing wrong.
Of course as a marketer he managed to create a buzz but it is just like the buzz of an ad , it will remain few moments and fade away after all this channel will be open only in Ramadan
* Cairo Centric

Technorati Tags: Citizen Journalism,Egypt,Media,Advertising,Ads,Promos,Cairo centric,Tarek Nour,video,national,Europe,culture,arts,Middle East,Mideast