Independence Day celebrations

Some scenes from around the city of Lahore on our Independence day. The Rotary Club of Lahore too marked the day with a special ceremony & pictures can be seen at the following link:

http://www.demotix.com/news/790557/pakistani-independence-day-celebrations-held-great-enthusiasm

Pepsi needs to move on!

We all have had our share of ‘kis ne kaha tha pepsi pe panch rupee kam kar do’. This campaign was launched during last year’s Ramzan. For me personally the TVC wasn’t that great an idea. However, the sms frenzy that followed I believe worked out for the campaign. As the Urdu saying goes ‘Badnam hongay per nam tu hoga’.

This phrase sums up what all that sms frenzy did for the last year’s Ramzan campaign. Like all things Pakistani, we stretched the use of this electronic media to the point that it became unbearable. While discussing the campaign in one of my marketing lectures as an undergrad student, my professor suggested that there might be a genius behind the campaign, who intended that the TVC initiates all the sms and other social media hype.

That could surly be the case. However, after seeing the Ramzan TVC for this year I don’t think there is anyone slightly genius behind the campaign. ‘Kis ne kaha tha pepsi 65 ki kar do?’ My guess is that the person or team behind this campaign though that it will generate the same kind of response, but why didn’t anyone point out that this was going to be a remote possibility. Anyone with the slightest common sense could have seen through this.

People get bored quite easily and this stand especially true for ad campaigns. There was no aspect of the last year’s campaign which made the customers nostalgic and surly this year’s campaign just showed that the people behind it had run out of ideas.

Trip to Islamabad - The Birds, The Rabbit, The Dog & The Landscape (July 2011)

Why be a copy cat?

After graduating this June, I have all the time at my disposal until my job starts and I get to watch all the movies that have been piling up in my room and same goes for my reading list.

As far as cinema is concerned I am more of an off-beat cinema enthusiast.  Therefore, when people, be it from our own industry or in general want our industry to mold on the format of Hollywood or Bollywood, the idea doesn’t attract me. After all we live in the age of globalization; one Hollywood & Bollywood is enough.

I have seen some of the work of our own independent film makers and it is amazing. There work has further strengthened my belief that instead of investing in projects that are a look alike of any of the ‘Woods’ the concerned people should invest in this talent.

In the current state of affairs of our country, this medium can be put to great use. First and foremost it can be used to tell our side of the story from our own perspective. Mostly, it is the other people telling our story from the view that they see it and analyze it. So why shouldn’t we be telling our own story. One of the screenings that I was invited to in National College of Arts in Lahore was of the film ‘Inam’.  A story of a Pakistani lawyer who goes to London looking for a better future for himself and his family back home in Pakistan, and ends up as a taxi driver.

Stories like these and a lot of other ones as well, which we are part and parcel of our society are never conveyed to the outside world.  Being a proud Punjabi I don’t have any issues with the use of the language in our industry. However, what currently dominates our industry is out right rubbish by all means.

As mentioned earlier I don’t see why we have to be the copy cats and limit our comparison to the already established norms. Coke studio is one example which proved that exploring our own creative talent is going to pay off and help establish a balanced image of our country. 

Creating Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki

This is a review of Guy Kawasaki's talk about his book Creating Enchantment at Stanford. The entire talk can be seen via the following link:


http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2669

This talk by Guy Kawasaki is based on his latest book titled Enchantment: The Art of changing hearts, minds, and actions. In his talk he explains the basic necessary factors that are a must have, in your product to be able to attract the customers and also in an individual which enable him or her to be able to enchant others.

At the end of his talk while pointing out the points of an enchanter, he said that he should be able to present well and one way of doing that is to customize one’s introduction. That is exactly what he did at the start of his talk. After giving a brief background of his professional career he told the audience that he uses the top ten format of speech, so that if he sucks they know for how long it is going to be; as being long and good is ok, to suck and be short is ok but to suck and be long is equal to being stupid and arrogant. Then he related his experience at Stanford and how he used to aim for being rich and buy an expensive car and when he was able to do that he wanted to be back at Stanford. He showed a practical example of his word, which he stated in the initial portion of his talk that the mark of a good speaker is that he never loses track but the mark of a great speaker is that he goes all over the place and comes back.

Coming back to the core focus of the talk, the step that he explained for a product to be able to enchant the customers and for an individual to do the same, likability is the core. From the stand point of a product, the more innovative a product the more enchantment it needs. From the perspective of an individual too it is a key element. For people the first step in this direction is to improve their smile. The smile has to be a natural one and not a fake one, making crow’s feet good sign instead of a worry alarm. Next comes the right kind of the handshake. These two elements make the first impression of an individual and the first impression does matter a lot everywhere.

Next comes trusting others, as one might be able to like people but not trust them. The rule here is that you have to trust others and then they will reciprocate. Companies like ebay have shown it in practice that it is doable. They trust the people and have shown it by letting them buy a kindle version of a book which they are allowed to return in five days, some people might just read the entire book in five days and return it; still the company trusted people and is running a successful business. By doing this they have proved that generally people are reasonable and trustworthy and those few who are unreasonable, they are the ones who should not be the target for being enchanted. Similar situation is for people. According to Kawasaki, there are two types of people in the world eaters and bakers. People who are always thinking about their own share are the eaters while the bakers are always thinking of how to increase the share for everyone. People who show confidence in trusting are bakers.

Keeping in line of thinking about others, one has to be constantly thinking as to how he or she can help others. In the related scenario when you do something for another individual, a reasonable person is going to thank you back. Instead of replying with a welcome, the better idea is to say ‘I know you would to the same for me’. This way you are relieving the person of the burden and also telling him that he or she owes you and thus will come in need when you are at the other end of the situation. This formula is the key to success for networking.

When launching a product it should be tested on the rule of D deep I intelligent C complete E empowering E elegant. These are the components that the product and its associated features should be giving to the customer on the whole. This will make the product likable to the customers and be able to enchant them.

From the stand point of the message that you convey to your customer, it should be short, sweet and swallowable; based on the mantra and not the mission statement. Followed by this the better idea is to conduct a pre-mortem instead of a post-mortem as post-mortems are too late especially in a business scenario. Pre-mortem lets you see the loop holes in advance and save you from getting to the post-mortem situation. Other important considerations include that one needs to be able to tell a story as people are more interested in listening to it compared to just direct facts.

As the world has been inverted the rule of classic marketing of plant a few seeds and nurture them needs to be shunned and the rule of planting many seeds needs to be taken up. One has to enchant all the possible potential influences, as these days you never know who would be the individual who would make your product a success. The social media is all about word of mouth and no traditional medium was able to predict the success of this new order of connectivity.

Using salient points and highlighting them is another thing on the to do list here. Another important thing here is to create a social proof telling others that as majority of the people are doing it, it means that it is ok to follow suit.

One of the major ‘don’t’ here is the use of money. Even ever money gets into the equation things get complicated and not everything revolves around it. Youtube does not give money to its users but they use it as the need that is being fulfilled is different. Also the trust level differs as believing people who are being paid to enchant will somehow show that it is not entirely genuine.   

Surf Excel - Tools for School (Corporate Social Responsibility)

Kids are a big consumer segment and marketers are known for targeting them from a very early age. There is even a counter movement against this as this is considered as crossing the ethical lines. The documentary ‘Consuming Kids’ presents the case on this topic in great detail. However, in my opinion it is the way someone uses a medium that determines the ethical aspect of it.

With time the consumer is gaining more awareness and is demanding sustainable solutions for their needs. The rise in the corporate social responsibility units of most of the companies shows how the system can be used for a positive purpose.

One such example is the recent campaign of the Surf Excel, Tools for School. It is promoting the rebuilding of the schools in the flood areas. The TVCs are well executed and most of all, the concept is a really good one. There is a point of view that will state that no company is out there on a philanthropic mission. True that, after all the base line behind every business is to make sure that the ROIs are progressing as intended. But should that be the point of focus as long as the deserving get their due share and contribution towards a sustainable system is being made?

Descending into a state of chaos

Holding on to optimism is getting tough by the day. The absence of justice is the major factor that we are descending into a state of chaos. The combination of lack of justice & the blunt abuse of power by the institutions that are supposed to protect the citizens is deepening the rift between the state & its people. The most recent incident in the long list of similar events is the extrajudicial murder of a 19 year old boy at the hands of the Karachi Rangers. The video footage showing the unarmed boy begging for mercy & then dying of bleeding is heart wrenching.

The bitter reality is that this is not the first time that such an incident has taken place; and the worst part is that like all the previous cases the culprits of this horrifying incident will go free. This way the cycle will continue. There will be an incident, followed by some noise where people will express their horror, fruitless inquiry committees will be formed and then there will be silence.

Nothing can heal the wounds of those who have lost their loved ones to this violence. My personal view on those stating that time heals is that they haven’t been there themselves, & analysing situations from a distance is just too easy. What hurts more is that you know that the culprits will go free & yet more innocent people will undergo similar sufferings.

The absence of a justice system is surly the main culprit here, but we as a society need to share some of the blame as well. Our attention span is short lived, & after that limit expires we get bored of that issue. We need to get rid of our short term memory system because keeping this form of memory only aids this vicious cycle & the perpetrators of injustice.