Scandalous! Late blog on Beirut

I've simply been enjoying my holiday instead of updating my blog. Alas for you!

Got back two days ago. Beirut was a great experience (as was Istanbul) but the contrasts were clearer in Beirut. In comparison to Istanbul, Beirut is far less Europe-like and the sense of being in The Middle East is there - with a twist though, because it still is the Monaco of the region and it IS a highly developped place!

In Libanon you are indeed dealing with a multicultural market (or call it a multi-religious market), eventhough there are only about 6 mill. people in the whole country. You find a handfull of different kinds of muslims, a dozen of different kinds of cristians plus a number of other minor religions. Neighbourhoods are beginning to mix more, but previously each religion's followers would live in very well bordered areas to clearly segregate the numerous faiths from each other.

The former civil war clearly influenced consumption patterns (parents would consume in ways that would encourage their children to stay at home and indoors to protect them from guns and bombs), but as I see the Libanese people today, they want access to everything that the world has to offer. I saw the newest and most expensive cars there, as well as what I'd call beat up and sorry excuses for cars. That the latter exist is no surprise judging by their way of driving. There seems to be no rules for traffic there - it is all Jungle Law!

I met a lot of interesting peole there, and I hope to get one of them to write a little post for the blog. He works as an English copywriter for the advertising agency "Leo Burnett", and hopefully we will share some marketing insight with us on the region.