Advertising in Pakistan

Sources: Aurora, Brand Wagon, Warc, Synergizer

Evolution of Advertising.!!!

Advertising Challenges

Never write an advertisement which you wouldn't want your family to read. You wouldn't tell lies to your own wife. Don't tell them to mine. ~David Ogilvy History will see advertising "as one of the real evil things of our time. It is stimulating people constantly to want things, want this, want that." ~Malcolm Muggeridge, quoted in Eric Clark, The Want Makers: Inside the World of Advertising, 1988 We want the consumers to say that is a hell of a product instead of that is an hell of an ad Leo Burnett

Welcome to the exciting world of Advertisingin Pakistan!! Advertising has definitely come a long way in our part of the world. From just two television channels (PTV/ STN) and one radio channel (Radio Pakistan) to myriads of television (satellite and cable) and radio channels, not to forget the numerous digital communication methods available. Welcome to the challenging fragmented media world. For advertisers/clients the evolution has certainly brought not only opportunities but a lot of challenges as well that need to be addressed in order to effectively communicate with the target audience, to have satisfactory P&Ls and also to make the presence felt in the international advertising/brand world. Let us quickly recap what is advertising: Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to take some action. It usually includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume that particular brand. Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Wikipedia) Changing face of advertising ..Has it really come a long way in Pakistan? The answer to this will be discussed by taking into consideration the following perspectives:

1. Changing consumers 2. Advertising Agencies 3. Advertising content-relevance, simplicity and unexpectedness? 4. Emerging vs. Traditional media

1. Changing Consumers:

1.a. Informed Consumers: Consumers have become smarter and more discerning. The notion that consumers are gullible no longer holds true. Thanks to the information revolution. They have numerous media/sources at their disposal to check and recheck what is being communicated to them. Especially at this time of downturn they have become more suspicious of what is being offered to them. In fact, because of the rising inflation they

have become more price/ value conscious. "It's more important than ever that you get closer to your consumers and how they are thinking at this moment in time, and, even more importantly, where you think they are heading." Brands must adapt to people's new consumer mantra of "stop, look, listen", in order to reconnect. (Cleft, 2010) Consumers have the knowledge, power and authority to challenge the present advertising. Consumers totally dominate how they want to see, relate, network,interact,sift and shiled themselves from the advertising bombarded at them. (Lucas, 2009). Well, its time now that you as future marketers understand this critical phenomenon in order to remain effective. 1.b. More choices:

Remember the time when there were only two or three options available for personal care/oral care/fabric care and so on. Compare it with the situation now; illimitable brands available with us and some of them even provided to us at our door steps. This situation has definitely put the marketers in quandary, making them muse over and over and come up with the right mix for their target market. If X is unable to cater to their needs they have plethora of other options available!!

1.c. Millennials/Alpha Teens:

The sharp, smart and techno savvy consumer which makes up more than fifty percent of our market obviously presents an enormous opportunity for the marketer. Without having any doubts in mind our marketers do realize this colossal market. They are using two methods of encashing this opportunity. 1. Marketing to Kids: Making brands catering especially to this kids/tweens segment. Example chocolates, candies, Biscuits etc. 2. Marketing through Kids: Considering the level of influence (Pester Power) they exert on the family decision making process from toothpastes/soaps to cars, youll see almost every category ad(from cooking oil to insurance) with kids singing/dancing/smiling in them. Apart from the pestering fact another major reason that marketers give for using kids in their ads is that the present influencers will be the future consumers and it is better to remain in their awareness set from the earliest part of their life.

For marketers the key to winning the hearts of these Millennials/alpha teens or any age group is experiential marketing. Making them experience your brand. Today, it's a twoway conversational world. Effective marketing means participation. There is no difference between your public and your private face. (Precourt, 2009) 1.d. Shopping smarter

The new consumer mantra is "look, stop and listen" before buying. People's habits have been modified in terms of both frequency and quantity of purchases (Warc). Because of the escalating inflation rates people have become more price conscious and value conscious than ever before. The challenge here for the advertisers is to create a fine balance between the emotional and rational elements that they use in advertising in order to get the right level of consumer response.

What can the marketers do? 1.e. Research Insights The best way to come up with great advertising content and to stay relevant to the target audience is to conduct research. By research, I mean not only obtaining facts but identifying the truth behind those facts. These truth would be The Nuggets that would help you to connect with your target audience, will help you to strike an emotional chord with your audience. So keep on probing until you finally get the answer to your why and this will be something that will help you not just to grab consumer attention but make them respond as well. 1.f. Getting the audience to respond through advertising Certainly a difficult task for the marketers! The ways to make consumers respond to your offer is to connect with them emotionally. How do you do that? Firstly, pick the right insight from your research. Secondly, make the consumers experience your brand/interact with your brand. (Please also see Martin Linstroms Brand Sense and Brand Activation for creating the brand experience)

2. Advertising Agencies (Source: Aurora):

Some of the challenges that are faced by the advertising agencies are:

a. Lack of professional management:

Firstly ownership should be separated from the management. The Seths or the owners do not necessarily have that creative flair. It is imperative that people having the required credentials are given the task to manage these agencies. Secondly, we have more jacks and lesser specialists. Every Tom, Dick and Harry having a few years of agency experience in one department feels that he/she is capable enough to perform the other agency roles as-well. So we can have commercial directors playing the role of creative directors and so on and so forth.

b. Attracting and retaining the top talent: People are moving to greener pastures. It could be
because of the following reasons: Firstly, the advertising profession is not given the desired level of respect. Most of the talented people in the industry move to client side. Secondly, the right level of compensation is extremely important to retain the talent.

c. Training and development by holding seminars, workshops, discussion forums etc. All these
are required in order to come up with the world class campaigns and original work.

d. Greater flexibility and speed requirement: These are required in order to survive in this fast
paced environment. Clients have become more demanding and at the same time they want things to be completed in a very short time span.

e. Agencies need to change their mind sets. They need to think beyond the conventional forms of
advertising both in terms of content and media. f. Obdurate clients: Sometimes agencies have abundant ideas available but they are unable to convince the clients to adopt the idea either because of the heavy budget requirements, risk evasiveness of the clients or the clients dictating the concepts to the agencies!

3. Advertising Content

3.a. Creativity in Advertising: What is creativity?Ever wondered why Indian/ Foreign ads are better than the Pakistani ads? Well the answer to this is twofold. Client side tends to be very risk averse. They want to try the clichd, mundane formulae in order to ensure success for the brand. Sometimes the new ideas are not tried because the so called brand managers under estimate the target audience intelligence level.. They wont really understand this piece of communication!! On the advertisers side, it is because of the sheer dearth of creative talent. Either we see ads with the same banal appeal to them or the ones that we like are mostly inspired by the foreign versions. There are only a handful of advertisements that are original, creative and relevant at the same time. Creative ads can do wonders to attract and hold attention (we'll wager that everybody reading this has at least one favorite ad they can watch again and again), but the fact is that most ads simply aren't overly interesting (Beal,2007). So what elements in the ad would do wonders both for the client and the agency? According to Saadia Qutubuddin(head of ideas at AdCom), ads need to be simple, relevant and different. And a creative ad (by having these elements rightly put in place) could be ensured only by getting the right insight.

3.b. Dearth of BIG IDEA! As media and messaging fragment, which they must, then the requirement for some kind of campaign glue increases. The best modern campaigns have at their heart one simple big idea based on a truth about the brand, an idea that can be articulated in a whole host of different ways across media and geography, against different product needs, internally and externally (Carroll, 2005). Take the example of Surf Excel Dirt is good Brites Daagh to challa jai ga. Can you think of other such campaigns??

3.c. Breaking through the clutter:

According to Shohaib Qureishy, CEO Bulls Eye, in the year 2000 the Pakistani consumers used to be exposed to 2500 spots daily. In the year 2010 the number of spots the consumers is exposed to daily has gone up to 25,000. That is an awful lot! so I believe that More information (CLUTTER) =more confusion= lesser retention=lesser chances of getting into the consideration set= HARD times for the marketers!

This doesnt really mean that advertisers are developing ads because it is an easy and cheap option. The costs of production and airing have gone up dramatically. Millions of rupees are required in order to come up with a right piece of advert. My question is why waste so much money if it is next to impossible to get into consumers mind. Marketers can definitely overcome the clutter problem by:

1. Develop clutter cutting ads: novel and unconventional ideas required to break through the
clutter. 2. Branded contents: TV is still the primary medium of communication, so how can you develop TV content which is entertaining plus linked to the essence of your brand. Examples Hero bannay ki Tarang, Fair and lovely Kismet kay Sitaray, Rexona Date with Fate, LG Awaz Banai Star, Mountain Dew survivor campaign, Nesvita Woman of Strength , Ariel Maa and the list goes on.

3. On ground activities not only create some level of entertainment for our entertainment
starved nation but also help to demonstrate and explain product attributes. It helps the consumers to come in direct contact with the brand and makes them experience the brand.

4. Product placement: placing your product in movies, dramas, soaps in a subtle manner.
You must have seen BMW , Nokia, Mc Donalds , Coke and other brands of this world,

either being used by the actors or in the background somewhere.directly hitting our subconscious! No zipping and zapping!

5. Other conventional marketing techniques: branded human skin, Graffiti, reverse graffiti,
branding trees, parking lots, stairs . There are numerous ways through which you can get your message across and in an unconventional manner. Imagination is the key and sky is the limit.

6. Use of PR: The PR industry in Pakistan is at a very nascent stage and unfortunately the
significance of PR has not been properly understood by our marketers. It is only related to the press releases, articles, stories or networking. However, PR has the ability to spearhead the entire brand communication platform based on its core strengths and the position it wants to carve inside the audiences minds. It has the capacity to create news that works towards achieving the brand objectives (Hashmi, 2006)

3.d. Endorsements:

Celebrities/Endorsers should be an essential component in the advertising campaigns as per the BBC Sigma 1 model. Endorsers create hype for the brand, their popularity and star appeal draws people to watch the commercial (and potentially buy the product) and they come with a certain level of credibility attached to them (Andrew, 2010). However, the biggest challenge for the Pakistani marketers is the dearth of celebrities. This is the reason because of which you see the same faces in dozens of ads and as a result they loose their credibility and make the consumers feel the commercial motive behind their endorsements.Another important thing that the marketers fail to realize is the link between the celebrity and the brand. The celebrity has to be the right fit for the brand; the brand and the celebrity should have the same personality , beliefs and basic values (Andrew, 2010). Another important challenge is the link between the brand and the celebrity itself, any negative news about the celebrity would also hurt the image of the brand. This is more relevant in the case of brand ambassadors. Celebrities can do wonders for the brand, however, a lot of attention to these details is required in order to avoid any kind of brand catastrophe.

3.e. Advertising Wear out:

No matter how much we love an ad we get sick and tired of watching the same ad over and over again. Advertising wear out is another major challenge for the marketers of today. What is the right number of spots? This is where a very important role of media planning and buying agencies comes in. There are a number of media buying houses in Pakistan such as Mind share, T- Media, Orientedge and many others which can help the marketers in overcoming this issue by picking the right channel, time and frequency for the ads. Another important factor through which marketers can overcome this problem is through cosmetic and substantive variation. Cosmetic variation is the use of different background,

print type, advertising spokespersons. Substantive variations are changes in the advertising content across different versions of an advertisement. Example stressing two different attributes of the same product ((Kanuk, 2004)

4. Ethics in Advertising

a. Advertising to kids:
Advertising to kids is considered to be very lucrative. The various reasons behinds it. Firstly in the Pakistan kids make up more than fifty percent of the market. Therefore, developing products specially catering to the needs and requirements of this segment would fare maximum revenue in terms of volume. Secondly, exposing kids to the brand at an early age would result in them using this later on their life also. But kids are very much gullible; they dont know what is right or wrong for them. So advertising to the kids poses a very big question mark.

b. Obesity
Fast food/ junk food with zero nutritional value have become a very important part of our lives. The obesity prevalence rates for adults aged 25 to 64 years, moving from low to middle to high socioeconomic status (and rounding to the nearest whole number): for rural areas, 9%, 15%, and 27%; for urban areas, 21%, 27%, and 42%. These figures are alarmingly high for rural and urban areas but especially for urban areas. This implies that the health burden from overweight and obesity in Pakistan is currently underestimated (google).

c. Emotional well being: Can you think of brands that affect your perceptions about
yourself, belittle you, and ridicule your looks /your personality? I am sure there numerous brands dancing inside your heads. From fairness creams to height enhancing medicines, to luxury brands, the list goes on

d. Financial self-control: Lease, credit cards and other such things make the consumers
want goods which they otherwise were not in a position to afford. And then finally, there comes a time where consumers are suppressed by a huge mountain of debt.

e. Impact on behavior: Does the advertising make the use of drugs/cigarettes, violence,
sex more glamorous. Should the children, adolescents, youngsters be exposed to such content? Do you think are our behavior, our values are gradually drifting because of this low level content?

f. Stealth marketing: undercover marketing whereby people dont realize that they are
being marketed to. A paid celebrity could be asked to use a certain brand visibly at a place where people congregate which results in the creation of BUZZ for the brand ( adapted from Wikipedia).

5. Deceptive Advertising:

Following are the examples related to the deception in advertising:

upto

75% percent off?

Photo manipulation: Big size, scrumptious burgers/food and what do you get in actual? Pay only Rs. 50,000 down payment for the plot!!! No hidden charges disclosed False labeling and illustrations: Rooh Afza had to change its packaging for the Saudi market because the picture on the bottle claimed that it was made up of different fruits. However the lab test revealed no such ingredients. Fillers and oversized packaging: big packet of crisps with few chips inside False claims: Zedol hair oil failed because of the false claims that it had made regarding hair growth

6.

Beyond the 30 second spot.A question of which medium should be used?:

The 30-second spot is in decline for four primary reasons: there's too much clutter; creativity sucks; consumers are a lot smarter than we give them credit for, and they're able to find what they're looking for without our help; and finally, it represents unacceptable levels of wastage, resulting in a lack of ROI and overall accountability. The 30-second spot no longer tells people things they don't know about, but rather things that marketers think they need to know about. It's all quite twisted and certainly not consumer-centric. (Feld, 2006)

Have the Pakistani marketers understood this changing phenomenon? The answer is both yes and no. The leading local companies are trying to follow their MNC counterparts by focusing on Marketers need to change their mind sets when it comes to the digital media, activation, product placements etc. However, the majority of the Seth organizations need to come out of the orthodox mind set.

Although in our part of the world TV will remain the major medium of communication, however, the importance of emerging media cannot be overlooked. Use such of social

networking media as facebook, skype, linkedin and other online promotional methods are fast gaining popularity. In 2006 there were 12,000,000 internet users in Pakistan. (http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/pk.htm). In order to reach right the consumers especially it is important not to overlook these important touch points. Radio and outdoor are other very important media available. According to Muizeh Senai of City FM 89 (Aurora), radio is far more affordable and accessible (thanks to the widespread usage of cell phones). It is even considered to be the most intimate of advertising mediums(Other unconventional media have been discussed previously also). The question is that are Pakistani marketers effectively utilizing these media or are they using these media at all?

References: Andrew, M. (2010, jan-feb). Pied pipers or pretty faces. aurora . Beal, B. R. (2007). We'll be right back. Honest: how Seriously Short Breaks keep viewers around to watch the ads. ESOMAR . Carroll, J. (2005, february). 10 Principles For Marketing In The Age Of Engagement. Ad Map Magazine . Cleft, J. (2010, February). The UK Consumer Outlook for 2010 - Insights from The Futures Company. WARC Exclusive . Feld, J. (2006). Resuscitating The 30-Second Spot. The Advertiser . hashmi, s. f. (2006, nov-dec). the fall of PR . Synergizer . Kanuk, L. G. (2004). Consumer Behavior. Lucas, O. (2009, November-December). The Butterfly Effect. Aurora . Precourt, G. (2009, November). Method Cleaning Products: The New "Method" Marketing Model. WARC Exclusive .

Beal, B. R. (2007). We'll be right back. Honest: how Seriously Short Breaks keep viewers around to watch the ads. ESOMAR . Carroll, J. (2005, february). 10 Principles For Marketing In The Age Of Engagement. Ad Map Magazine . Cleft, J. (2010, February). The UK Consumer Outlook for 2010 - Insights from The Futures Company. WARC Exclusive . Feld, J. (2006). Resuscitating The 30-Second Spot. The Advertiser . Lucas, O. (2009, November-December). The Butterfly Effect. Aurora .

Precourt, G. (2009, November). Method Cleaning Products: The New "Method" Marketing Model. WARC Exclusive .

Beal, B. R. (2007). We'll be right back. Honest: how Seriously Short Breaks keep viewers around to watch the ads. ESOMAR . Feld, J. (2006). Resuscitating The 30-Second Spot. The Advertiser . .