sunday bazaaaaar

Until a couple of years ago, Pakistani advertising was at a crossroads, waiting to make a right turn towards pushing the creative envelope to the next level; creating communication that was not only relevant but entertaining. Telecoms, FMCGs and other sectors had a good mix of campaigns catering to brand building and consumer promotion, and all the while there was a tussle to outdo each other’s communication. Then something snapped and the entire commotion came to a screeching halt. A cloud of stagnation settled on the advertising scene.
Now brands are either airing international versions of ads or we hear a constant stream of messages about low prices: Bachat bachat! Mujh say faida uthao! Apna hai bachat kay saath! 67 paisa’s for one minute! Creatively there are numerous ways to communicate affordability while maintaining brand appeal and image and giving a sense to the customer that his brand loyalty is justified; there is no reason to act like the brand is cheap.

I believe the lack of creative thinking is the father of this electronic Sunday bazaar where everyone seems to think that whoever shouts the loudest will sell his wares. Yet, even in this environment there are brands who are delivering creative campaigns that excite consumers and show the brand’s progression. All good campaigns follow similar principles. They don’t over complicate or look down on the consumer; they are based on brand insights and are relevant. After a lot of searching the following ads have inspired me.

behind the f.b

The Facebook is an instant success, causing the Terrible Three much angst, believing as they do that Zuckerberg has stolen their idea and eventually end up suing Zuckerberg.

Meanwhile, Saverin and Zuckerberg’s relationship deteriorates. And after his shares in Facebook are mysteriously reduced to nearly nil, thanks to the intrusion of Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster (who earlier advised them to lose the word ‘The’ in ‘The Facebook’) Saverin sues Zuckerberg. Ironically, it is Facebook, a social network created to bring people together, that succeeds in tearing apart two best friends. The Social Network is filmed via a series of flashbacks that stem from the two lawsuits that Zuckerberg faces. It is this mode of direction, perhaps, that ensures that the film remains gripping.
However, while the film is well acted and directed, it does have a major flaw, which is its misogynist bent. Most of the women (with the exception of a few lawyers and Albright) are portrayed as dippy and easy; they either want to party all the time and have men snort coke off their navels, or are borderline sociopaths prone to starting fires when angry. It is ironic that a movie about how technology has changed and perhaps even helped human beings evolve, depicts women in a way that sets them back centuries.

Perhaps the fact that this argument is not resolved in the movie is what Pakistani advertising professionals will like most about the film, given how many of them have ripped off ideas from overseas, only to save face by saying that “two people living at two ends of the world can think of the same idea at the same time!”

Pakistani cooking shows – there are so many of them (!) – are moving in that direction but they are not quite there yet. Still, there is no denying the fact that they have come a very long way from the mid-90s when the culinary challenged (yes, that is a real phrase) Marina Khan hosted Marina’s Kitchen. When tested in a real, home kitchen, many of her recipes flopped big time. Dalda Ka Dastarkhwan with Zubeida Tariq added some spice and zing to the cooking show mix. Here was a real cooking expert; a veritable Delia Smith of Pakistani cooking. The perfectly creased sari, the sparse but immaculate makeup and the treasure trove of tips for every possible domestic disaster made Tariq a household name. The show was so popular that it spawned that widely recognised green cookbook of the same name, which became a must-have for every Pakistani housewife.

Many cooking shows came and went after that; the majority making their appearance during Ramazan to furnish the faithful with recipes to aid their sehr and iftar cooking. None of them had a huge impact on the public psyche.
Cooking shows would also benefit from better photography and crisper editing. And it would help a great deal if advertisers would come up with less awkward ways of promoting their products rather than filling kitchen counters with bottles of oil, packages of tin foil and boxes of margarine. There is no benefit in this kind of advertising and cooking channels need to work with advertisers to employ slicker endorsement techniques.

The SMS (short messaging service) has died; not as a conduit for communication but as an effective marketing tool. It had a very short life as far as marketing mediums go, coming along as it did in early 2000 and becoming a staple with the cell phone using public as late as 2002. Then, we marketers came along and murdered what could have been an extremely successful platform for customer interaction and communication.
The above conversation underscores why SMS as an effective marketing medium has died the death it has in Pakistan – we marketers have turned it into a mass irritant. SMS is peddled on the basis of the number of customers that can be reached rather than on the number of relevant customers likely to respond to the product proposition.
Today SMS has died as a relevant marketing medium and has very little potential to generate customer response or attention. At best it is now used as a core communication platform by service brands. For this to change, marketers need to understand that to make this medium tick, customer permission must be solicited before sending out text messages. Customers, for their part, must also know that just because there is an option to receive free SMS alerts, they do not have sign on for everything. You might love a particular brand but receiving a daily text about it may, in the long run, hold as much charm as spending a holiday working on your tax returns.

As Pakistanis we are averse to anything related to permission look at the roads and the way we run (ruin) our lives! I’m sure SMS will make a comeback and in a more responsible form.
All media and marketing in Pakistan will get better if two things happen marketers ask for proper data on media metrics. The consumer gets off his behind and starts putting his money (lack of) into sending a message about what he permits!

blogging

A great blog has many things going for it. It helps build a community around the brand, showcases the company’s personality, develops rapport with customers, answers comments and clarifies issues, encourages interaction, shares important company information, gives insider tips, shares industry news and builds trust by talking in a sincere believable ‘voice’. At worst, a blog can be robotic, formal, maintained by one person and spew nothing but hard-sell advertising and ultimately become a complete turn-off. However, possibly worse than a bad blog, is no blog or an inactive blog, as that shows disinterest and misuse of a communication tool.

Blogs can positively impact your bottom line

The advantages of blogging are not necessarily measured in currency terms. Yet blogs can significantly help with communication, goodwill, PR, brand building, search rankings, media attention (and more), thereby eventually contributing to your company’s bottom line, financially and otherwise.
Furthermore, the time needed to set up and maintain a blog is measured in hours, not days or weeks. Blogs can be created virtually free of cost, updated quickly, maintained dynamically, and have the potential to draw in tonnes of traffic. Not a bad time and cost investment. But I already have a Facebook page for community interaction, so why would I need a blog?
Right, and when tomorrow Facebook changes it policies, or our government decides to ban social sites altogether, the community that you have painstakingly developed will vanish faster than you can say Mark Zuckerburg. A blog is your own turf, just like your own website or your physical store for that matter. It is not owned by a third party; no one but you decides how you manage your interaction. Why would you entrust your long term reputation to anyone else?

Shockingly, during the course of research for this article, I could not find a single mainstream example of a Pakistani corporate blog. Small businesses, news media outlets, individual bloggers and a handful of musicians definitely rule this arena. Perhaps after reading this, the bigger, progressive company (is) out there will trail blaze the blogging path, reap its many rewards and show their contemporaries how it is done!

how to survive in 2011

2009 was tough, 2010 was supposed to be the year of recovery, 2011 is looking like another stormier. It would not be unreasonable to make some pretty scary predictions. A double dip recession? Currency devaluation? More political instability? More war on terror? More match fixing?
Nobody wants uncertainty, but the reality is that it is here to stay, for a while. However, I always prefer looking for opportunities during difficult times. My analysis is simple. People who have interests in Pakistan fall into two categories. The first is made up of those people who can survive, even thrive, on what they have established outside Pakistan. They can be as worried as they like and it might actually make sense for them to disinvest from the land of the pure. This is the group with an option. For people who don’t belong to the first category, for people whose present and future is linked to Pakistan, all I can say is that they are in for quite a journey. For them, to stop investing is tantamount to shooting themselves in the foot as their future is cemented to the future of the country.

The last recession has taught us that consumers don’t stop spending in difficult times. It is the way they spend that changes.
Let us avoid the trap of accepting things because we are in Pakistan. Let us do things better than people do anywhere else. Let us win creative awards through speculative work. Let us create marketing case studies through original thinking. Let us make the best of twenty eleven. Being depressed is no fun. Let us treat the conditions around us as a challenge. If you can’t find inspiration around you, become the inspiration.

marketing

Everything – from the definition of marketing through to its application – has changed. Branded goods have increased exponentially creating massive marketing clutter, digital media vehicles are forcing brands to radically rethink their business models, consumers are unwilling to silently accept marketing spiel, and most importantly, the marketer is no longer in control.
The art and science of marketing has changed:

Principles of Marketing textbook taught me that marketing was about selling products and services. That definition has been properly trashed in the last decade. Marketing is about creating long lasting and meaningful relationships with consumers. As with people, relationships with brands are not created by peddling their attributes and USPs, rather they start with a spark or a connection
The consumer’s perception of value has changed:

Consumers in 2010 are a vastly different species from those in 1999. Three factors have contributed to this change: increased access to technology, the expansion of the media and the devaluation of the rupee. Together these elements have created a more aware, sophisticated and frugal consumer. Couple these qualities with a lack of time and abundance of choice in terms of brands and entertainment options, and you have a consumer who is a) no longer brand loyal; and b) not sitting at home watching TV, but out and about in restaurants and malls.
The balance of power has shifted:

If you are a high on yourself brand manager who thinks of the world as your oyster, repeatedly say to yourself, “I am not in control” and keep reminding yourself of that undeniable fact, every day. Access to technology and more media choices have empowered consumers to the extent that not only are they smarter and more with-it than the average brand manager, they also control how goods and services are marketed to them.

In conclusion, Pakistani marketers need to radically rethink their strategies if they are to go forward in the next decade. Consumers are real people and these real people want conversations with brands that mean something to them. The new decade will be all about what people (consumers) want. Brands which are best placed to deliver on these wants will be the ones who win the race and take the prize.