There was a time when a Sahel billboard brought you to a halt. Either a headline that slapped you awake on your morning drive to work or some surreal, high-sheen visual, outdoor ads used to fight for your attention; aggressively, almost desperately. The tone, though, has shifted. This summer, and particularly in July, what we're seeing across Egypt's North Coast ad space is a softer, quieter approach. Pretty? Sure. Strategic? Perhaps. But also, let's get real, almost interchangeable. While 2024's Sahel campaigns depended heavily on the extended summer factor, which we explored in Experts Talk last year, this year's campaigns are starting off visually formulaic; with slight aesthetic differences, but the same underlying formula. The Lifestyle by the Sea Copy-Paste Effect Five of the largest campaigns this season (Wanas, Zahra, MarBay, D.O.S.E, and Il Cazar) all hit the same notes. It's all blue color schemes, pool and ocean shots, elegant serif fonts, and the kind of emotionally-stunted one-liners that feels algorithmically designed to create aspirational yearning. Seasons change, Sahel remains, reads one. Where you find peace, reads another. The message is the same: this isn't property, this is a lifestyle, and that's the issue; they're all more or less saying the same thing. Mountain View Started the Trend, Now Everyone's Following It Take Mountain View’s campaign, for example. The campaign is styled immaculately. The photos look like they're stills from an upscale perfume commercial. There is a subdued blue color palette, a symmetric shot of a boat in the middle of the sea, and sparse copy that spoke poetically of seasonal transition and generational identity. It's fashionable to a fault, and if you weren't paying attention, you might confuse it with a tourism board advertisement, or even a rival compound. Their 'Crysta' campaign subsequently persisted in that very same predictable formula: cursive script, blue hue, and lush imagery. Mountain View has assisted in paving the way for setting this tone for Sahel OOH ads, but now others are adopting it word-for-word, which dulls the effect. Dana, on the other hand, goes even further into the visual poetry trend. Their cinematic photography is more abstract: a gradient of green and blue paint swatches. Copy is minimal, even indirect, and simply branding. It's attempting to make you feel something before you get any idea what's being advertised. This style is all vibe, and while it does feel luxe, it doesn't create a specific identity. Swap out the logo, and the ad could be for any of a dozen other gated compounds. Salt by Tatweer Misr offers a visual difference, but it's playing in the same stylistic sandbox. The campaign is differentiated by bolder, pop-art swagger; deep yellows, dramatic typography, and playful language such as Forever emblazoned over the word Salt. There's a lighthearted attitude here that deviates a bit from the overly emotional tone of nearby billboards. Yet even though the color palette and headline may command more instant attention, the underlying formula is still present: coastal scenery, crisp typeface, and emotion-leading messaging. It flirts with irreverence, but stays squarely within the Sahel-approved playbook; glossy, referential, but not game-altering. Different Fonts, Same Formula But even campaigns that try to be different, like LYV Ras El Hekma, June by SODIC, Safia by IL Cazar, and Al Ahly Sabbour, are still circling the same North Coast formula. Each offers a twist, a minor detour, a shift in tone, but ultimately, it is still otherworldly light, inspirational living, and fewer words over lifestyle shots. Al Ahly Sabbour opts for a fashion-adjacent aesthetic: a hot pink checkerboard background with a single word, SUMMER, in block letters. Another billboard presents a muted pool scene in soft focus. It's a visual diptych, one graphic, one cinematic, but both stripped of anything too specific. No development shots, no architectural detail. Just atmosphere. Additionally, June by SODIC, meanwhile, threads emotion through its tone. Where it's always home, where it's always summer attempts to instill a sense of belongingness, but the campaign resorts to the same old casting cliches: soft lighting, flowy dresses, and girl-next-door feels. It feels younger, more approachable; less glossy, perhaps, but still squarely within what a North Coast campaign is meant to look like. On the other hand, The C by IL Cazar tries something quieter. One billboard goes full fashion close-up: a woman in a red swimsuit lays down in the sun, the brand name sitting delicately above her head. On the Arabic version, the copy “water and a breeze attempts something almost lyrical. There’s less to see, but maybe more to feel; though again, it’s a feeling we’ve felt before. Then there's LYV, getting meta. A golden hour shot of a woman wearing statement earrings that say LYV, a branding moment disguised as a style choice. It's smart, niche-coded, and Instagram-compatible. The tagline, For fashion lovers. Made in LYV, carves a smaller tribe out of the broader Sahel clientele. But for all its e-girl aesthetic, it's still the same summer fantasy. They all lay their own claim to the coast, but visually, they're still rolling out beach towels on the same aesthetic shoreline. And when everyone's selling serenity and ocean air, even the most daring and bold cuts start to run together. There's more human presence in these ads — more warmth, a little more personality — but it never quite overflows into risk-taking territory. The lettering, the timing, the emotional vocabulary all remain firmly within the Sahel template: elegant, retro, and ultimately, standardized. If you were to interchange the logos and brand names, would anyone notice? Would you notice which billboard was whose? Is it a question: have these campaigns bled into one another to the extent that branding has taken a backseat and become incidental? June's Early Birds & August's Unknowns The fact that June is generally a quiet month on the OOH front in terms of coastal campaigns is also noteworthy. Brands normally wait until July or August to flood the highways with sun-drenched renders and project teasers. However, there are always a few early birds, like Mountain View, D.O.S.E, LYV Has El Hekma, and Al Ahly Sabbour, who take the plunge early, either to gain visibility prior to when the clutter kicks in or to start building momentum when there is less media congestion. Whether August will bring something actually new or simply more of the same visual vocabulary remains to be seen, but it does raise the question: in how many different ways can you really sell the same beach? For advertisers who want to make noise, real, impactful, brand-defining noise, the path forward may be to zig while everyone else zags. We know what serenity and the Mediterranean sea look like. Maybe it's time to show us something else and utilize the power of OOH to the fullest.
