Brandasy - A Branded World

‘I went to Alvi dental hospital along with a colleague. We went there because we heard Dr. Arif Alvi was one of the best dentists in the city. As such I was expecting a pleasant experience but I was definitely disappointed on that count’, narrates a senior research executive at one of the leading research firms of Pakistan. Continue Reading…

Telenor’s new branded service easypaisa appears to be a novel concept, intended to remove the hassle in the payment of utility bills. What’s more, you don’t have to be a Telenor customer to avail this service.

Now only if the service worked as it was communicated to the entire nation by a very expensive branding campaign. Continue Reading…

Entpreneurship ’09: Winning Strategies for Business Growth was a conference organized by the Memon Professional Forum in conjunction with TerraBiz at the Sheraton Hotel on the 12th of August 2009. Here’s what transpired at the conference briefly:-

THE HIGHLIGHTS

Continue Reading…

Did you watch the T20 Final between Pakistan and Sri Lanka on Geo SUper? Did you hear what the commentators said after the winning runs? I couldn’t.  Why? Because the abominable Geo animated character was dancing to the equally repressible jingle ‘Geo to aisey’.  Either a child was at the controls hitting the animation button gleefully, or a mentally retarded employee had gone berserk. What else could it be? Continue Reading…

It was supposed to be graced by Chief Minister of Sindh Qaim Ali Shah, instead came Shazia Marri the Minister of Information. It was supposed to start at 9.00 am, it started well after  10.30 am. And it had a few hiccups along the way. It was supposed to be jampacked and yet only 60% of the hall was filled.

This was the Tipping Point Conference organized by the Young Social Reformers at the Marriot Karachi on 6^th June.

 Social media has become the new buzzword, and this conference was supposed to deal in depth with this topic. On that count, it failed to do justice. Apart from Badar Khushnood, the Google representative in Pakistan, no other speaker tried to address it properly save for a few perfunctory remarks.

But by and large it was a successful event. Why? Continue Reading…

Pepsi’s Lays has finally decided to counter the pig fat controversy. Their response was three-pronged.  First they came out with a print campaign which included a a strip ad right on the front page of Dawn which says that Lays comply with the Shariat Council requirements and are therefore 100% Halal.

But the print campaign didn’t’ address the root cause of the controversy- the E631 chemical found in the Masala flavor which is supposed to be made from animal fat. The ad is pretty vague as far as this point is concerned. The print ad should definitely have mentioned this, and then the online version would have delved into the intricacies of this compound and why it isn’t Haram in detail. Many people, including  want to believe that these chips they have come to relish are really Halal, they just need the official assurance that they are. But just saying that they are after all the hue and cry isn’t going to solve the problem. Get to the core of the problem. Continue Reading…

 It’s 5.45pm. The gates are open. There’s no mob this time around, but a crowd is still there outside the gate, trying to get registered. Those who are coming in their cars are able to bypass this stop, however, their happiness is short-lived. Continue Reading…

Go through the following email that just landed in my inbox with the subject -

FW: Pig Fats found in LAYS Products…

Dear All,

After I sent a mail that there is no such writing on Lays as claimed in                             

the below mail, some one indicated that the matter is related to Lays

Masala as per original mail. I followed up and tried to track this. I

found that this Lays Masala indicates the prohibited E631 on it. I wrote

a letter to GE Pepsi Cola International, manufacturer of this Lays

product. Attached is the copy of my letter but he never replied. Continue Reading…

Have you tried Unilever’s new Anti-Dandruff Shampoo Clear? The brand has been out in the market accompanied by a full-fledged brand campaign for quite some time now, but I tried the Men’s version of Clear (for oily hair) only a few weeks ago.

Being in the branding business, I was most curious as to what enticed me to go for this brand. Was it Amina Haq or Atif Aslam (the celebrities endorsing it)? Or some other factor? Continue Reading…

  What’s the correlation between the new Toyota Corolla Cruistronic and the upcoming ColdPLay concert in Abu Dhabi? None whatsoever. And I’m not trying to create one either. It’s just that on my way back from office as I flick through the handful FM channels we have here( Their number currently stands at 9) looking for interesting brand campaigns, I came across this contest on the Rush Hour Show on CityFM89 hosted by Munizeh Sanai.

It was one of those outrageously simple contests where you had to name the debut album of Cold Play. Of course in these type of contests almost everyone answers correctly so it essentially becomes a draw where you randomly pick out a winner. The prize in this case was a pair of tickets for the upcoming Cold Play concert in Abu Dhabi,UAE.

Anyway, that wasn’t the interesting part. The interesting part was, one; the contest was sponsored by Indus Motors, the makers of Toyota Corolla in Pakistan; two, the winner was a university student. How did I know he was a university student? From his statement after winning the contest that he got the winning call while he was taking a marketing class. Unless things have dramatically changed in our education system since I was in it, a marketing course isn’t taught in a college or school in Pakistan.

Here it is worth noting that CityFM89 did well to broadcast his reaction after winning the prize. I know it’s standard marketing gimmick, but it still needs to be done. CityFM89 also deserves credit for airing the winner name and his reaction to winning it frequently throughout the day. This sort of thing resonates well with the consumer.

So why were these two points interesting? Because Indus Motors sponsored a contest for their brand Corolla whose winner was invariably going to be a young fella, hardly target market material for a brand whose cheapest model XLi costs well above the million rupees mark!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m always for creating memorable experiences for a select few instead of churning out millions for ATL activities, because that’s how you create brand evangelists who’re going to root for your brand in sickness and in health till death do them apart i.e. the brand and its evangelist. Having as many evangelists as possible although a costly business, ensures that the brand will have consumers with high CLVs (Customer Lifetime Value), as well as a word-of-mouth advertising for life. And without these evangelists, a brand has little chance of attaining the brand pinnacle.

There’s also no denying the fact that this winner is going to have a tremendous time at the concert and he’s going to subconsciously associate this experience with Toyota. But then what? Is he going to buy a Corolla after coming back from the concert? Hardly.  Maybe ten years down the line when he can afford one.

In consumer behavior course, one of the basic things you’re taught is that there are two classes of people in love with your brand – one who want to but can’t afford it, second, those who can and who will.

Toyota did well to sponsor something on CityFM89 because this is the channel that caters to the A class, the class with the motivation and the wallet to go for a Corolla, but they chose the wrong tactic. The brand manager of Corolla ought to know that the target audience of ColdPlay is predominantly the youth. There may be SFIs (six-figure income) as well who like ColdPlay and can easily afford a Toyota Corolla, but then they’re hardly going to call in such a contest, now will they? There’s a possibility they may have, but we don’t know that, and it seems highly unlikely, especially when you look at the winner.

So Indus Motor’s strategy was absolutely right, create brand evangelists by immersing them in ‘out-of-this-world’ experience, but the tactic wasn’t. Unless Corolla brand manager is looking at the long-term, creating brand evangelists who’re going to serve the brand after ten years. But that line of thinking, although much needed, hardly exists in the Pakistani branding fraternity. 

Dear Mr. Brand Manager,

Congratulations on getting hired as the brand manager of Tapal Ice Tea. It’s a truly exciting opportunity. However, it’s daunting at the same time, considering the fact that Ice Tea hasn’t quite caught on like the epidemic of Sheesha and now Coffee Houses. You definitely have your work cut out. Continue Reading…