2011 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

The challenge for the Dekkaneh brand was to create a ‘Convenience Superhero‘. A brand that combines two very different shopping experiences and provides the best of each to its customers. The brand needed to reflect at once warmth and intimacy with the customer, typical of a small neighborhood store, and to guarantee professionalism and quality control typical of a larger chain of supermarkets, while by-passing the pre-conceived notions of both. The objective was to create a brand close to the customer, competitive with its market and with a huge potential for growth.

The Brief

Dekkaneh was first born as a concept, with a need that was identified in Beirut, Lebanon. The need was for a store that was neither a small limited corner shop nor a large and impersonal megastore, but rather a store that combined the best of both worlds. The client wanted a brand that expressed their vision of becoming one of the leading chain of convenience stores in the MENA region, providing customers with a unique shopping experience that combines the best product assortment, product quality and customer service at highly competitive prices.

How the final design was conceived

The brand is named after a well known Arabic word for a small and cozy next door convenience store. The fact that the name is distinctly Arabic, and in order to maintain the local sensitivity of this, it was decided that the Arabic lettering was to be the main heading. The logotype was inspired by Arabic hand lettering, giving it a clean-cut, characteristic look that is both bold and friendly, modern yet warm and quirky, like the brand itself. This is further exemplified by use of the locally iconic 'hanging basket', an early method of getting groceries delivered to homes.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

Dekkaneh has opened three stores in the heart of Beirut in the past two years, with each of them becoming landmarks in their respective areas. The chain of stores is predicted to continue growing in Lebanon and the MENA region in the next few years. The growth of the brand has seen it rise towards the need for a recently completed franchise manual comprising of sections such as branding guidelines, personnel, health and safety, pre-operational and operational procedures. The manual aims to achieve a well-rounded consistent brand worldwide.