A: Why did you choose the Chelsea College of Art and Design?
AZ: Design communication was one area I felt was lacking. When I had an idea, I didn’t know whether it would be executionally possible or not. Sometimes people say something is not possible because of the work involved. I wanted to learn. To grow, I knew I had to learn.

A: When did you come back to Karachi?
AZ: It was around 2006. By that time, I had had my son. I was lucky enough to be rehired by the agencies I had worked for before. I first joined Awan & Kapadia and later Adcom. Then I was headhunted by JWT and offered the post of Associate Creative Director and later promoted to Creative Director. Firebolt63 offered me the position of Group Creative Director and Partner and I joined them. It was a very interesting time because Firebolt63 were working with accounts in Afghanistan. In 2012, I received an offer from Ogilvy Pakistan to join them as Executive Creative Director (ECD). Then my husband was transferred to Islamabad and I moved there. Although senior positions don’t open up frequently in Islamabad, I was offered a position with Synergy to head all three of their offices. Then I re-joined JWT to work on the Ufone account. When my husband was transferred to Karachi, I moved back here.

A: When did you join BBDO?
AZ: In 2019 I was offered the position of ECD. In 2020 they offered me the position of MD and I have retained both roles since.

A: How has the industry evolved since 2006?
AZ: In 2006, the big thing was the full-page print ads, the TVCs, and the radio spots. In those days, you made the one TVC, and then the adaptations in print and OOH. There was no feedback; audiences had no way of telling us whether they liked or hated a commercial. We worked in the dark; if you were happy, then the job was done. There was a significant money aspect to the agencies then, in the sense that the majority of the big ones had their media wings – it was almost like making money while you slept. Today, agencies have to work harder to earn every buck. Previously, clients were not always aware of what was happening; today because of social media, incompetence is spotted immediately. This is a good thing because talented, ambitious and driven people will rise to the top. Having access to information is no longer an advantage; today, everyone has access to information. The question is what you do with it. The quantum of work has increased; something that works on Instagram may not on YouTube. You have to know how to differentiate between platforms. It is also extremely exciting because creativity is very important. Throwing money at the media does not mean that people will be influenced. Now you have to do the work; think about where your customers are and how they are interacting with the medium. It is fascinating that 85% of the videos on Facebook are watched with the sound off – does this mean that TV commercials are not working? How do you make sure people watch your TV commercial? This idea that within 10 seconds the brand and logo should be visible is no longer relevant. These formulas were made for another time. However, three basic principles have not changed, regardless of how you consume media. One, you need to grab my attention; two, you need to communicate your message; three, every piece of communication has to persuade, otherwise, it is not effective. If you don’t check these three boxes, you are not doing your job properly.

A: Are advertising agencies losing their glamour for young people?
AZ: You can say that agencies have lost their glamour, but do we need glamour? Agencies have to change their point of view. The thinking that people will join an agency and stay there for 20 years is unreal. The expectation that all they have to do is invest in someone and they will stay for the rest of their lives – not happening. Agencies need a reality check. Agencies will always be a bridge for people to go onto bigger things – and what is wrong with that? Initially, agencies used to invest in their talent but they stopped because of this mindset. Yet, that is the charm of an agency. The fact that you get to go on international shoots, rub shoulders with celebrities and meet big directors. Now the pettiness is such that when an international shoot comes up management will go. Young people today have a lot of options and they will not stand for this mindset. The world has changed and the mindset at the top has to change. At BBDO we attract more people than we can hire, and I end up writing more letters of regret than of acceptance.

A: Why do you think that is?
AZ: For the last 10 years, BBDO have been investing in awards and training. All the people from the agency who found jobs abroad did so because they made it to the top lists of the world; Top 50 Creative Directors and Top 50 Art Directors. BBDO sees advertising very differently from the way other agencies in Pakistan do. Our work is awards-driven and young people want that; everyone is looking for fame.

A: Pakistani advertising has gone in for a lot of “reverse stereotyping”, in the sense that brands seem to be constantly focusing on showing that cooking is not the sole responsibility of a woman. Are we in danger of overdoing this and isn’t it coming out as a bit too preachy?
AZ: I don’t think we are overdoing this. We have been exposed to and conditioned by such stereotypes for centuries. If it comes out as preachy, perhaps we are in a preachy phase and that is fine. The problem is that there is “brand speak” but hardly any “brand do”. This is what is missing and why it sounds like short-term advertising goals As an industry, we have to understand that we are a bothersome disturbance and not something aimed at changing behaviour over time. We recently did a commercial for Shan Foods in which we highlighted the fact that 77% of the women who become doctors in Pakistan do so to improve their matrimonial chances and do not even end up practising. This means the population has a shortage of doctors. This is a cultural problem and advertising is good at solving cultural problems. In the Shan case, the brand followed it up with a big “brand do.” They supported Sehat Kahani, which aims to encourage women doctors to rejoin the practice. This is how the change will come.

A: The focus seems to be mostly on cooking/kitchen situations. Aren’t there other situations advertising should be addressing?
AZ: Grocery and kitchen expenses exceed any other expense, and the majority of our brands sell cooking oil, wheat, salt and chillies, which is why it is all in the kitchen. In terms of other situations, take women like me. We are independent and have the backing of our families; why not show us taking a holiday alone? We have earned the money. Banks that target high net-worth individuals always show a man in a suit. Why is it always him and never her? Another thing is showing that women can be independent and that there is life without marriage and it is a happy life. Marriage doesn’t have to define a woman. Advertising needs to work on this. Not to discourage people from getting married, but showing that there is life without marriage or kids. What about parenting? Why is it just a mother’s responsibility to teach values? This mindset prevails even amongst the most progressive of households. We are not treating men right either. We raise sons like prized cattle and believe it is their responsibility to take care of their parents and their sisters. Don’t they have their own lives and their dreams? Why should men not know how to cook or do the laundry? They need to be functional human beings.

A: There was a time when the industry was criticised for its lack of storytelling capabilities. Now, we are getting this, but some of the commercials are so long that they are boring. Wasn’t the beauty of the 60-second commercial the fact that you had just one minute to tell the whole story?
AZ: I think the trend in Pakistan started because a lot of our communication was inspired by Indian ads. They are longer, but they are more successful at storytelling. They have better actors and scriptwriters. In Pakistan, we don’t have that kind of talent pool. Also, the advertising industry takes itself too seriously. Toddlers who are hardly able to talk properly, let alone read or write, know how to find the skip ad button. So who are we kidding? As an industry, we have to understand that we are a bothersome disturbance. The biggest problem is that we do not keep our audiences in mind. Good storytellers understand the audience they are addressing. What are they likely to be doing at that moment and their frame of mind at the moment? Also, advertising is a derivative form of a longer format and one of the reasons why our ads are longer is perhaps because every director here is an aspiring film director.

A: What makes a successful advertising creative in today’s world?
AZ: They need to constantly feed their minds and never rest on their laurels. I tell my team there are two kinds of people in advertising. Those who do the work and those who do the job; which one do they want to be? Advertising is not everyone’s cup of tea. If you don’t enjoy it, leave. If you think this is torture; that you have put in all this hard work and the client has rejected your idea… this is a business of opinion and rejection, and if rejection bothers you, do something else. Advertising needs people who take joy in it and who, in the face of rejection, are determined to try again and do it better.

A: What are your ambitions for BBDO?
AZ: I have lots of ambitions for BBDO. Most are about psychological safety; in fact, this is an ambition not only for BBDO but for the creative industry at large.

A: What do you mean by psychological safety?
AZ: Mistakes and failures are always frowned upon. You failed, so there will be repercussions. You cannot be creative unless your agency backs you up. Creatives need the psychological security that if they screw up in front of the client, they will not be fired, but encouraged to see this as a learning opportunity. Of course, hard decisions have to be taken. Given the economy, every industry will have to make decisions to keep or fire people. I am talking about the psychological safety of not being fired because you tried something different – and maybe failed. If you have creativity at the helm of the industry, it makes a difference. We have seen it with David Ogilvy; the legacy he left behind continues to inspire people. Creativity needs experimentation and experiments fail all the time. Our business is creativity; our product is creativity. This is what we sell. We do not sell strategy or finance. Clients come to us to buy a creative product. To my clients who come back to me and say an idea that is too good, I say, “You have come to KFC and you are accusing us of selling chicken?”

Atiya Zaidi was in conversation with Mariam Ali Baig. For feedback: aurora@dawn.com

Coca-Cola – Hum Aik Hain

Agency: Soho Square

Category: TV/Digital

Coca-Cola launched their official anthem to celebrate the Cricket World Cup 2019. This is the time when marketers gear up to wrap their brands in the Pakistani flag. This film makes you want to get up and dance, all while tugging at your heartstrings. It highlights the different musical instruments, monuments and traditions that distinguish Pakistan’s provinces. In a country where ethnic and sectarian differences exist, the brand is spot-on in rolling out positive vibes. The film was better than the Shaadi Aur Hum campaign which featured Sajal Aly and Ahad Raza Mir. I haven’t been able to understand what happened there.

Surf Excel – Eesar Ek Ibadat

Agency: MullenLowe Lintas Group/MullenLowe Rauf Group

Category: TV/Digital

A tear-jerker and a lot better than most of the Ramzan ads this year. A mother recites a dua for her son’s safety. Following this, his hands clasped together the boy runs to his friend’s house. His friend is unwell and he transfers his mother’s dua to the friend with the words: “Meri Salamati Ki Dua Tum Rakh Lo, Ameen.” Surf Excel always hits the right note when it comes to emotion, this time reminding audiences about the true meaning of Ramzan.

Saffolalife – Dil Ki Haalat, Pet Se Pakad (World Heart Day 2018)

Agency: McCann Mumbai

Category: Digital

This important message is communicated in the lightest way possible. It aims to build awareness and educate people on the effects abdominal fat can have on the heart and inspire people to begin their journey towards a healthier lifestyle. This film depicts humorous moments with families and friends holding in their abdominal fat. However, in reality, this is not funny given that abdominal fat puts one’s heart at risk.

Apple AirPods – Bounce

Agency: TBWA Media Arts Lab

Category: Digital

My favourite ad this year and one of the most satisfying ones I have watched in a long time. You know how music makes you move, dance and groove? Apple takes this to a cheerful extreme in their gravity-defying ad for AirPods. Watch the world become a trampoline. Rather than being burdened by bulky (read: ugly) headphones, wires and a jack, AirPods have a wireless charging feature, thus liberating the user to go wander off anywhere.

Peak Freans – Real Rishtay

Agency: Ogilvy India & Ogilvy Pakistan

Category: TV/Digital

Emotionally charged ads are not unusual, especially when brands remind us about the selflessness of a mother. Peak Freans does this by portraying the life of a working mother. The star is the child, who craves her company. Soon he realises she knows everything and is always there for him. Here are the lessons: you remain the constant in your child’s life; discipline is derived from ‘disciple’; be the child’s leader; teach your children empathy.

Nike – Dream Crazier

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy Portland

Category: TV/Digital

This film puts the spotlight on women athletes. Starring Serena Williams, it focuses on women who have broken barriers and inspired young athletes to never give up. It encourages women in sports to conquer gender bias and unfair stereotyping. Williams highlights her struggles as well those of women in different sports who

have been labelled all sorts of things. The ad is real and inspiring. No one else except Williams could have done justice to it as she has been a subject of racist and gender bias throughout her career. Her message: “If they call you crazy, show them what crazy can do.”

Krone Xtreme Series – The Quick Rescue

Agency: Arey Wah

Category: TV/Digital

The film captures a national summer problem – perspiration and body odour. I am not sure how effective the product is, but the ad was good. One fine morning, people are busy at work when a co-worker walks in. As he passes by, people begin to smell something. As he is about to take off his jacket, a co-worker begs him not to. The moment the jacket is off, the co-worker screams “run” and everyone begins to evacuate the building as they choke and the alarm system goes off. The emergency services arrive, with Fahad Mustafa in the lead. They find their target who is busy stretching his arms. They shoot him with gigantic guns loaded with bottles of Krone Xtreme and everything goes back to normal.

Kingtox – Dimagh Ka Keera

Agency: Arey Wah & iDcreations

Category: TV

This one was hilarious. It is about a tea-boy bringing in tea and biscuits to his boss. He is new at office and the boss decides to tell him exactly how he wants his tea and biscuits served. For a minute and 20 seconds, the boss goes on and on about how it should be done. Incredible how the agency managed to film this is in a way that they managed not to lose the interest of the audience within the first 30 seconds. It ends with “dimagh kay keerhay kay ilawa, har keerhay ko maaray”. This ad is a good example of how a message can be communicated with minimal dialogue.

Sheema Khan is Sr. Manager Communications & Strategy, Woot.

Zaidi has served as the Executive Creative Director for Coca-Cola brands at Ogilvy since 2014 and despite holding such a high profile position, her social media footprint is almost non-existent. This, in itself, is an anomaly in the advertising business where contacts, personal branding and online engagement are indicators of the relevance and importance of people in the profession. However, as her former colleague and close friend Atiya Zaidi (no relation) Executive Creative Director, JWT/GREY, explained, “It is tough to make Zehra talk about her achievements. She doesn’t network and showcasing her accomplishments is an alien concept to her.”

Atiya Zaidi’s remarks were on point because when I reached out to Zaidi to set up a meeting for the profile, her response was: “Are you sure you want to profile me? I mean I haven’t done enough to warrant an entire article.” After much convincing that if her sparse, yet striking LinkedIn profile and recommendations from her peers and the people she had mentored were anything to go by, she had achieved plenty.

As I waited in the dimly lit conference room of Ogilvy, given everything I had learnt so far about her, I was expecting to meet a shy, introverted person who may not want to say much. I could not have been more wrong. Zaidi was a vision in white as she breezed into the room and I found myself caught in a warm embrace followed by a barrage of questions: “Are you comfortable? Did you have trouble finding the office? Have you been waiting long? Is it too dark in here?” For a second, I was flustered because none of the people I had spoken to before meeting her had told me that I would find it difficult to get a word in once she starts talking. As she finally settled, I told her as much. The response? A nervous laugh, followed by the admission that although crowds make her nervous, “one-on-one conversations are so much fun and I tend to ramble!”

There was no looking back from that point on and the conversation flowed without my having to ask too many questions. She has an armed forces background and as a child did not spend too much time in the same city. It wasn’t until her father retired from the army that the family settled in Karachi and she was enrolled at the Convent of Jesus and Mary. A career in the creative arts was always on the cards because even as a child, billboards fascinated her and she recalls telling her mother on the way to school that she wanted to grow up and “put pictures and words together on the big boards on the road.” Perhaps the closest a child can come of dreaming of a career as a creative in advertising.

Given her inclinations, the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS) was an obvious choice even if her father had wanted her to become a doctor in the armed forces and continue the family tradition, but “medicine was not my cup of tea.”

Although her design degree at IVS proved extremely demanding (she even thought about dropping out every semester), it was during this phase that Zaidi became involved with commercial art and design projects. She credits her teachers (Shahid Abdulla, Noorjehan Bilgrami and Imran Mir to name a few) for spotting her potential and giving her freelance work so that by the time she graduated from IVS, she was set for a career in advertising.

Her first stint was as a creative manager at Lowe & Rauf (now MullenLowe Rauf) in 2000 where she spent three years. During this time, she married and smilingly told me that the story of how she met her husband was as clichéd as ever. “My husband was working for a telco brand which was a client of the agency and we met while doing a project together.” They moved to Canada soon after but returned after a year because they did not adjust to the life there.

“Well, I received a scholarship for a course at the Creative Leadership Programme at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership in 2018 and a few years ago, I was one of Pond’s Miracle Women. And I designed logos for Khaadi and OPTP too, although I am not sure if that is worth mentioning.”

After returning, she joined IAL Saatchi & Saatchi as an associate creative director for a year. It was there that Imtisal Abbasi advised her to develop her skill set beyond designing and start thinking conceptually about brand communications. The advice proved to be invaluable when she was hired at Adcom as an executive creative director. During the six years that she spent there, she was part of several major brand launches including Tarang. Despite the interesting portfolio of brands she was working on, the continuous late sittings began to take their toll as both her daughters were young and needed time and attention.

So she made the choice young mothers working in agencies often do: she resigned. At the time she was not considering working at another agency but admits that when she received a call to the effect that there was an opportunity at Ogilvy to work on Coca-Cola, it was an immediate yes because “Coca-Cola is a brand that every creative dreams of working on.”

She adds that not only did Coca-Cola prove to be a great client that allows creative freedom without budget constraints, Ogilvy proved to be an ideal employer.

“My timings here are flexible and because most of the agency team is in Lahore, all the presentations and brainstorming sessions are virtual.”

However, Zaidi believes that women working in advertising tend to put too much pressure on themselves by not learning to say no to the constant expectations of staying late and working weekends because they believe that a male colleague in the same situation would not do so. She adds that while she was representing Pakistan at the 30for30 Women In Leadership event in Bangkok in May, she learned the importance of speaking up for herself if work pressures become too intense.

“I realise now that you can still deliver quality work on time without staying late every day because creativity has nothing to do with being physically present at your desk. The good thing is that both clients and agencies are starting to accept that now.”

A quick glance at the recorder showed that our conversation had gone well beyond the one-hour mark and I knew it was time to wrap up. Remembering her self-effacing nature, I jokingly asked her if there were any other achievements she might have failed to mention. After a pause her sheepish response was: “Well, I received a scholarship for a course at the Creative Leadership Programme at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership in 2018 and a few years ago, I was one of Pond’s Miracle Women. And I designed logos for Khaadi and OPTP too, although I am not sure if that is worth mentioning.”

And that is Zaidi for you. A woman of many accomplishments who does not toot her own horn and believes that doing good work is enough to make a name for yourself.

One accomplishment that she does speak about is her drumming skills. She has a drum set at home, although she says she has not played for a long time and was never very good at it.

However, by this time point in our conversation, I am well aware that Zaidi has a tendency to downplay her talents and achievements and so I will hold off on making a call on her drum playing ability until I can experience it for myself. This may happen sooner rather than later because now that her youngest daughter has learnt to play the guitar, they sometimes jam together and I have an invitation to drop by for the next session.

Agency: In-house

Category: TV

What an inspiring ad! It is so pleasing to see a Pakistani ad highlighting women’s empowerment and accomplishments in such a creative manner and breaking stereotypes. Based on the true story of the resilient Rabia Sultan, a well-known figure in Pakistan’s agriculture sector, this is one motivating ad. It not only highlights the bond between a father and daughter, it celebrates women empowerment beautifully. The narration is effective and no-nonsense.

A rare example of how a brilliant ad can be made with great creative writing and excellent execution.

Mezan Cooking Oil – Muhabbaton Ke Rishtay Nibhain Meezan Ke Saath

Agency: Adcom Leo Burnett

Category: TV

A star-studded cast, well-written concept and a playful background song make this Meezan cooking oil ad unique and worth a watch. The TVC is rooted in the theme of marriage but it is the execution of the concept which takes this commercial to the next level by capturing the bond between a brother and sister-in-law beautifully. The emotional connect keeps the audience hooked without bombarding them with the product. And thankfully, for once, the bhabi is not shown as the super queen of the kitchen, cooking everything herself.

Kingtox Spray – Choray Ga Nahi, Maray Ga Chun Chun ke

Agency: Arey Wah

Category: TV

A unique ad with a compelling storyline that keeps you hooked throughout. Brilliantly written, with good acting and direction, the TVC makes no big promises and resonates with the audience. Kudos to the creative team.

Khushhali Microfinance Bank – Khushhali Har Haal Main

Agency: Synergy Dentsu

Category: TV

A simple ad with a clear message. Made up of stories of our unsung heroes, it pays tribute to the hard-working common citizens of Pakistan. Shot brilliantly at various picturesque locations in Pakistan, the ad portrays the personality of the bank creatively and drives home the message well. Engaging storyline, emotional jingle and great execution.

Coca-Cola Pakistan – Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua

Agency: Ogilvy Pakistan

Category: TV

This Ramzan ad for Coca-Cola conveys a meaningful message in a unique and creative manner through a brilliant rendition of Allama Iqbal’s Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua in Pakistan’s different regional languages; an idea no one explored before. The ad touches your heart in a profound manner and creates an instant emotional high as it depicts the unity of a nation. Reflecting the true spirit of Ramzan, the ad inspires by evoking values such as kindness and generosity. For me, this ad has set a new benchmark for Ramzan ads.

Kotak Mahindra Bank – #IndiaInvited

Agency: Cartwheel Creative, India

Category: TV

This smartly scripted ad, with a strong social message, pushes for an inclusive society and talks about how our society often discriminates against people on the basis of caste, colour, religion, sexual orientation and abilities. The ad features people from all walks of life and creatively connects the similarities between Kotak’s 811 service and a bench at a railway station, which provides a service to everyone, irrespective of who they are. The quirky mood of the communication conveys the message of inclusiveness beautifully.

Amazon India – #DeliverTheLove

Agency: Ogilvy Bangalore (India)

Category: Digital

This beautiful ad captures the feelings of a brother and sister and their bond and love. Breaking the clutter, the ad connects with both the current generation and their elders. It tells the story of a young man who cannot understand why his grandmother doesn’t mind receiving the same gift for Raksha Bandhan every year. The ad reminds you of the importance of being there for your loved ones. The catchy jingle and dadi’s superb acting are the soul of this ad.

KFC UK – FCK, We’re Sorry

Agency: Mother, London

Category: Print

When KFC’s British operation faced a widespread backlash due to an unexpected chicken shortage, it created a nightmare for the brand’s image. KFC and their agency, Mother, turned the crisis into an opportunity. This tongue-in-cheek ad shows that if you find the right tone, even an apology can be lovable and appealing. The empty chicken bucket emblazoned with a rearrangement of the letters KFC to FCK caught immediate attention for its clever humour. This ad is a master class in the true sense.

Abdul Rahim Khan is Creative Manager, Blitz Advertising. abdul.rahim@blitz.pk

A wise man once asked when was the last time a piece of communication wowed him.

Or, to be precise, a slogan just wowed me. Then I wondered, “who wrote this?” Didn’t ring a bell honestly. I tried hard recalling a couple of examples that might pop up in my mind – nothing!

Maybe my standards suck so let me put you in the picture.

Imagine yourself on a Sunday evening, comfortably sitting on your couch enjoying your TV soap. A grumpy mother-in-law typically says: “Iss ghar ki bahu ban’nay ke khwab dekhna chor do.” You mumble to yourself that you have probably heard this before and you click another channel. At the top of her lungs, a newscaster announces: “Government officials ne iss incident ka notice le lia hai.” What does that even mean? You have heard this hundreds of times and it has lost all meaning. Meanwhile during a commercial break, you hear: “Now presenting... ab pesh hai... with a new and improved formula... better than other products...lasts longer... works better... for your healthy child... secure your family’s future... twice as strong... five times better and so on. Well, everyone in this business is guilty of writing plenty of such lines for one reason or another so I should stop right here. But I hope you got the picture.

When it comes to scripting, copywriting and any other form of communication that is based on words, we are entering an era of desensitisation. Be it the redundant statements of politicians (or the way they are delivered through the news anchors), TV or print ads or messages of public interest – almost nothing grabs our attention.

I could argue that this is because of the short attention spans we have developed because of social media. But the wise man now asks why is it that despite social media, we still like global ads? Why are more and more people signing up for Netflix, Amazon Prime and other sources of new content? We still like, share and comment on Indian ads or Super Bowl commercials while we remain oblivious to the local ad that is running right in front of us. I hate this wise man but his logic is sound. He speaks the truth. It is not about being desensitised to content; rather, it is because we are not at par with global norms in terms of scripting techniques and lyric writing. Ever heard about words doing the magic? The magic isn’t happening so often.

The same song-and-dance routines do not cut it. It is human nature to want change. Similarities and repetition lead to boredom. We are the only species that can come up with 500 different design ideas for a wooden chair. We make them, sell them and use them. On the other hand, honey bees are still creating hexagon designs on their beehives. Millions of years and still one design. I hope I did not offend honey bees but that is the beauty of being human and we ought to be true to our nature in whatever we do. And who understands this better than us who design communication and use words in order to be both effective and sensitive to the target audience.

"The art of copywriting is not about reinventing the wheel," the wise man said. "It is about rearranging words smartly and expressing them in the right tonality."

Every word has been spoken, every story has been told and there is hardly anything we can truly create from scratch. But what we can create is the newness every time, by simply rearranging them in an imperfect manner. Don’t make it too perfect and it will capture attention. Life is imperfect. It is like rearranging the furniture in your living room. The sofa goes to the right and the bed to the left and all of a sudden you feel great about them, despite the fact that you were living with them for years. You were only desensitised by their presence in the same spot.

When it comes to scripting, copywriting and any other form of communication that is based on words, we are entering an era of desensitisation. Be it the redundant statements of politicians (or the way they are delivered through the news anchors), TV or print ads or messages of public interest – almost nothing grabs our attention.

I asked the wise man for some advice on what to do to rectify these shortcomings and deal with this desensitisation. He gave me these five golden tips.

1 Tell them a story
Conversations make stories and stories connect with humans. Technical talk connects only with customers and you are only a customer when you are buying stuff. At home, we want stories.

2 Don’t love your words too much
Words lose their effectiveness when repeated too often. In your head, you love them but others may not, so don’t hold on to them; explore new ones. Urdu is so rich, yet still unexplored in advertising. Indians are not ashamed to use Hindi. We have managed to create a pool of limited words for advertising.

3 “Simple is creative”
So said Einstein. The wise man reinforced it. What else do you need? No one is going to think about the crystals and enzymes and the complexity and power of the double or triple agents of the washing powder you use – except in the minds of brand teams and agency boardrooms. Real people are comfortably numb to these things, so don’t bother.

4 Preaching is out of fashion
Nobody is stupid. We need to stop lecturing. Even if you have a good point, don’t rub it in. Nobody enjoys being slapped. There is always a better way to tell people that your product is more effective than what they are currently using. Wit, humour and entertainment are the best strategies to follow. The bandwagon of girl power is done to death and hence, has become desensitised.

5 Everyone wants to belong to something A sense of belonging is cool and rewarding at almost every level. When we sell identities, people love it. If you are going to show a mom, make her a super cool mom. Why do we love superheroes? We want to belong to their world. Familiar, prototypical and repeatedly used characters are not cool.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in the ocean of communication and I hope it made sense.

I did not tell you who the wise man was but I will tell you this. Whenever I want to give my ideas more weight, I present them as ancient wisdom in order to make them authentic and believable. If you can get the reference, you will know I did not create anything here. I just did some rearrangements.

Asrar Alam is Creative Director, Spectrum VMLY&R.
asrar@spectrumyr.com

Yet, there is no simple answer to what exactly falls under the realm of design. There are many facets that are left wildly untouched or clumped together as far as Pakistan’s market is concerned.

The essence of design is to be a visual storyteller. To take the colours, the shape, the choice of font and imagery in order to evoke a feeling and create an experience.

The graphic designer once limited to print design has now crossed over to the digital aspect of communication as well. However, within graphic design, there are many variations of specialisations, which in Pakistan, are generally lumped into one holistic ‘Swiss army knife’ design approach. So let me define each practice of design.

Brand development

The designer who essentially focuses on identity development, creating the logo for the entire realm of the brand and the guidelines which will stay with the brand for a specified period of time, if not forever. Brand development firms such as Future Brand and Interbrand specialise in customisation in order to create the brand’s foundation. Creating an identity is not a weekend job and it never should be done in a hurry because every choice of font and every iconic element has to mean something and must serve a purpose. Neither should colours be discarded because your client’s wife’s sister hates that colour.

Package design

They and companies such as Turner Duckworth develop consumer products and design how the product will live as an object. It could be a soft drink can, a bottle of oil or even a household product. It is about the shape and identity and how the packaging extends to other collateral.

Editorial and broadcast design

This entails newspapers, magazines and other visual aids needed in publishing. This kind of design tends to be detail-oriented and time-consuming. Broadcast design is an extension of editorial design into TV. This is about how you effectively design the TV screen between text and image. Design for broadcast does not only mean the text and visual divisions of a 1920 x 1080 pixel size screen (or in Pakistan’s case, the 720 x 576 pixel size screen). Broadcast design also has motion graphics, animators and real-time animators living within those golden arches of white noise.

Illustration

This is not design but an entity on its own and in most art institutes, it is a subject on its own. This is not to imply illustrators cannot be graphic designers or graphic designers cannot be illustrators, but the two are separate vernaculars and ought to be treated as such. Pakistani clients and art directors who want designers to use illustrations from Shutterstock and plonk them into layouts do a disservice to the discipline of illustration, which needs to be unique and bespoke.

The gap between programmers and designers is so wide in Pakistan that whenever designers try to fight it out with the superior sounding coders, it often gets lost in translation. Because of Envato and other free download themes, the role of the interaction designer is minimised – and when you can download CSS for free, why would you need to respect the space of the designer?

Industrial design

According to the National Association of Schools of Design Handbook: “Industrial designers create and develop concepts and specifications that optimise the function, value and aesthetics of products, environments, systems and services for the benefit of user, industry and society.” Industrial design involves combinations of the visual arts disciplines, sciences and technology and requires problem-solving and communication skills. One of the leading industrial design firms in the world, Frog Design, have made products like Lumen, which measures the metabolism with a single breath and helps keep users focused on their health goals in real time. Frog also designed Meizu, the world’s first phone with a display screen on the back. This particular form of design goes beyond the skill set of making logos and ties in with other disciplines and is entirely focused on user experience along with an understanding of material and form for industrial use. With more technology advancement in experimental products initiated by start-ups, the need of the day is to have specialised industrial designers who understand how to create a consumer to product relationship and make it aesthetically unique at the same time.

Interaction design

In Pakistan, this is taken over by programmers who believe coding is superior to actually knowing and having training in typography, colours and visual elements. The gap between programmers and designers is so wide in Pakistan that whenever designers try to fight it out with the superior sounding coders, it often gets lost in translation. Because of Envato and other free download themes, the role of the interaction designer is minimised – and when you can download CSS for free, why would you need to respect the space of the designer? Within this sphere, you can cover user interface design (UI) and user experience (UX). UI and UX often work hand-in-hand to develop websites, apps, social media assets and so forth. This particular aspect of design requires technical knowhow and an understanding of programming languages. Most graphic designers today need to know THE basics of the interactivity to service the wider market.

Design thinking

This involves the more critical thinking aspect of design. Design thinking is one of the more fashionable buzzwords today. In essence, it seeks to provide products with creative solutions. It is possibly one of the most broad spectrum aspects of design because there is no one particular industry that it is wed to. Because design thinking is about how the user interacts, you have to first empathise and understand what the user needs. As a designer, you are trained to find solutions within the strictest of constraints and intuitively. This results in a solution-oriented approach, which is a process that can be replicated to almost any problem that needs that process. To simplify, a designer’s intuition to find solutions to complex problems has a name and it is called design thinking and the process can be applied anywhere. Many major companies around the world such as IBM have design thinking as part of their infrastructure. The five elements of design thinking are:

1 Empathise. This is the foundation of the process. This is the ‘reconnaissance’ step of the process and insight gathering.

2 Define the problem. Question your insights and identify user issues.

3 Ideate. The quintessential creative step where possible solutions are looked at.

4 Prototype. The first steps to making the ideation come to life by exploring how it can work, be improved or redesigned.

5 Test. This will, more often than not, set you back a few steps because it may or may not work. Design thinking cannot be approached in a linear fashion. Your process may end up looking like Linus’ blanket but that is absolutely okay.

As a designer, you may be thinking: “What I do without realising every single day in my job has a name and big companies are paying big money to turn that process into a new field.” Yes. That’s fairly correct. Mostly. Most people who work in the creative industry overlap many of the different components of the golden arc of design. The need of the day is to take a multidisciplinary approach and at the same time, create a niche of specialisation. Advertising is not design, but design is a strong component of advertising. There is no reason why an editorial designer cannot design apps for matchmaking or cooking. It is about experimenting and trying out new things and creative directors and CEOs need to encourage creatives who have a design mind.

Try, mess up, start again, create again, mess up and perhaps once you get over the failure of messing up, a simple accident is what makes the next great brand. Or logo. Or dating app. Or book club website. Or art catalogue. Or anything.

Alia Chughtai is Senior Interactive Producer, Al Jazeera English.

Ideas can change fortunes. We all know that. But to do so, they must possess the good fortune to land in the hands and minds of those who have the agency to see them through. As Lee Iacocca said: “You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.” Or the clients paying for them, to boot. But, sadly, like the majority of products, dreams and start-ups, most ideas don’t see the light of day. This is not because they are not any good. They might be spectacularly remarkable. Merited with demonic economics to shift paradigms and cultivate new markets. And they might even have survived the most myopic boardrooms. But to get ideas through, we need a system – a set of logistics so to speak – that can transport your cargo of emotion, through the client, to the customer and in ways that can leave them aggressively intact, beautifully-packaged and ready to harness the change they have been made to unleash.

Dr Rodney Perkins, one of Silicon Valley’s great biotech visionaries, says that new ideas alone are no guarantee of success. He used to have them all day, by the dozen, often at the expense of someone else stealing and patenting them. But, he says, it is the implementation of these ideas that blazes trails. He points out the number of times any one of us is guilty of saying how ‘I could have come up with that,’ quite forgetting that possibly thousands of people are manufacturing ideas in their heads all day, but only a handful have the audacity and the stamina to see them through. Idealists, who didn’t stop at mere generation, but pursued their idealism to productisation. They made it happen – which happens to be Perkins’ motto. Let’s say they followed through with their own supply chain for ideas.

Sadly, most of us don’t know of such a supply chain. Which is okay – because it doesn’t exist – or is so uniquely personalised to the temperament of its creators, it can’t be scaled. So I looked around but ended up concluding that there is really no such thing as a set of logistics capabilities for the business of ideas. Which is why, we continue to invest time, energy and money in the conditions required to generate ideas, but we lay ignorance, apathy or a lacklustre imagination on those who just don’t ‘get’ it. So what do we do?

Shouldn’t there be a set of conditions, principles or processes dedicated to the implementation stage of ideas and where they can actually be delivered effectively? In supply chain terminology, shouldn’t ideas have some ‘process flow’ associated with them after they have been generated so that they stand the best chance of speed to market without human or technical error getting in the way?

Logistics gets a bad rap. It’s often seen as a tedious and humdrum back office faculty. Yet, without logistics, our interdependent and interconnected global economy would fall apart – which is precisely how we should think about logistics for ideas. While creating an idea is important, it is in keeping it current, in process and tied to significant milestones that will help it along to yield its wonder.

Charles Dickens was prescient in noticing “an idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.” Ironically, it is the leading logistics firms that have harnessed the power of systems, processes and supply chain methodologies to orchestrate the flow of goods and services. Ideas, too, need to be managed, moved along and presented at the right touchpoints to have real, lasting value. Value that can help them explain themselves at every intersection of their journey. Instead of an adhoc process, valuable ideas deserve their own supply chain to minimise waste and cycle times and maximise their potential and impact.

Or we will be heading back to the drawing board.

Faraz Maqsood Hamidi is CE & CD, The D’Hamidi Partnership.

The careers inbox in our agency’s email system is under sustained attack. Every week hundreds, if not thousands, of people send in their resumés. Strangely, the partners at our agency have entrusted me as the initial filter for this floodgate, a lone warrior against a sea of talent that can make or break our agency. I rationalise this by thinking that any company is only as good as its people and until we reach 150 employees, every new hire can be extremely detrimental to the culture of the agency because although some new hires do their jobs well, they can also be poisonous to the culture and bring down the productivity of others. Some people call them brilliant jerks. This is why hiring should not be delegated completely to the HR department, at least not in the initial stages.

So what do I do when faced with a torrent of aspirants knocking on our virtual door? I judge them on their entrepreneurial abilities. I skip past their qualifications and the cookie-cutter career objective statements and look for that golden nugget of information; what are they interested in and what have they done about it so far?

This is a polarising issue as far as hiring trends go. In the golden age of industrialisation, the economic model was based on the assembly line. A company was the sum of its parts, working in unison to create value. It moved in a sequential manner and each part was optimised for the best performance at the lowest cost. The system worked beautifully, as long as everybody did their job to the expected standards. It was stable. Growth was powered by specialisation and scalability and visionary leaders knew that they were the only ways to increase output. A part that performed better helped speed up the process and more parts and processes, running in parallel could reliably increase operations. Hiring, therefore, was based on finding experts; people who could do a job better than anyone else – and then finding more people like that.

However, there was a caveat. The model thrived on performance but sacrificed innovation at the altar of risk. Because of the sequential nature of the beast, experimentation posed the very real hazard of grinding the entire machinery to a halt. If one part or person attempted something new and failed, it would cause a cascade of failures throughout the entire process.

Agencies need to increase their tolerance for employee failure. With any new technique, the risk of meteoric success is counterbalanced by catastrophic blunders. Like a child trying out a swing for the first time, you need to let your entrepreneurial employees know that you expect great things from them but that you will stand by them if they make a mistake.

To succeed in such an organisation, you did what you were told, worked hard and reaped the benefits. Everyone coloured within the lines and was rewarded for increasing their output and decreasing the time it took them to do something... as long as you didn’t fail at the primary task altogether. Loyalty was heavily compensated, but the rewards of innovation were monopolised by the entrepreneurs themselves.

Come the services age, and the world has changed. Lower entry barriers and more flexible regulations translated into an exponential increase in businesses – and there are already people lined up to eat your lunch. In true evolutionary fashion, this means that there is greater variation in the way businesses are operated. Everybody is trying something different, everybody is hungry and everybody is willing to fail. This makes for interesting contenders to the established titans of the industry; the upstarts who will use whatever it takes to steal a piece of your pie. I know this because I am one of those upstarts. I try to position my business to out-innovate the old guard of the agency world – and even more interesting is that I am already challenged by newer upstarts. People with less experience and resources than I have; people who are hungrier, more experimental and nimbler than I am. I am both David and Goliath; the hero in my story, but the villain in someone else’s.

The only way to thrive in this dog-eat-dog advertising industry is to continuously challenge the status quo and never become the keeper of the status quo. If you can’t beat them, hire them. But while hiring entrepreneurs is straightforward, retaining them is a far more challenging affair. A company that actively chooses to have entrepreneurs in its ranks needs to be willing to make some fundamental changes to accommodate such people. They will have to throw out the rulebook because these guys do not work according to it.

Entrepreneurial agencies must also incorporate freedom. It is the essence of this class of people to try new things. Your job is to provide them with the path of least resistance. We do this by doing away with strict time and place constraints. You must be willing to ditch the nine-to-five within the office premises. Let them choose their hours and place of work. Experience has shown me that this is tricky. Some people may try to take advantage of this newfound freedom, although it is more likely that they will learn to appreciate the flexibility their always-on lifestyle demands. Eventually, they will realise the merit of coming to work on time and of leaving work behind at the office when they are home or elsewhere. The coffee shop productivity is not for everybody but they have to go through the process to come to this conclusion.

Even more important is the agency’s ability to motivate. Entrepreneurs are not in love with money but rather with the internal glow... the warm feeling that comes from creating something of their own. An entrepreneurial agency needs to align those goals with theirs. Link their appreciation and stature in the company to the success of their initiatives on business performance. Let them start a new division, let them initiate a new process, let them create more value; all on their own terms. Do not give an entrepreneurial hire explicit instructions; dispense inspiration and advice instead. And when the time comes, reward them not for their loyalty and job performance, but for the innovation they attempted.

Last, but not least, agencies need to increase their tolerance for employee failure. With any new technique, the risk of meteoric success is counterbalanced by catastrophic blunders. Like a child trying out a swing for the first time, you need to let your entrepreneurial employees know that you expect great things from them but that you will stand by them if they make a mistake. An internal tool we use to keep a check on our successes versus our failures is the concept of ‘net proud’. Some ambitious plans will fly and others will not. As long as the net result of the two makes you proud at the end of the day (or the year), in our book you are good.

Adopt these initiatives and your employees will innovate with and for you. But know that in this kind of agency, HR models come with a high rate of attrition. High-flyers can only buoy you so far, after which their rate of velocity may outpace your own. So learn to let them go. This month, our agency’s first hire left to start his own app start-up. It took him seven years to crystallise his entrepreneurial ambitions, absorb the lessons from the agency and take the plunge. Within our agency, we have people that are agency-folk in the day and content producers, fashion designers, fitness trainers, musicians and teachers at night. With bittersweet feelings, I look forward to the day when they will leave to fulfil their entrepreneurial dreams.

The scariest and most emotionally nerve-wracking aspect is that they are the people who will give me competition tomorrow. I know they have the potential to make a better agency than ours is today. But as they learn from the company, the company learns from them. I begrudgingly welcome them to the battlefield and wish them greater success than ours. May the best entrepreneur win.

Umair Kazi is Partner, Ishtehari.
umair@ishtehari.com

The caps here could mean either that I am emphasising a point or shouting with my hands flung up in the air and my head thrown back in anger. This illustrates the golden principle of the medium being the message. While you read the ink on these pages, the body language, tone of voice and voice variation are missing, and I rely on rudimentary typography to lend credibility to the seriousness of the situation.

While the mediums are evolving, the way the messaging is crafted is not evolving at an equal pace. Agencies are still digging for bigger spends, while the reality is something else; everyone wants things done cheaper and faster and agencies are losing their value. When you are not profitable you are not a business, and that is Business 101. Then what do you do? You get less people to do more work. By keeping employee costs down you stay afloat but the air in the life jacket is slowly escaping as more burnouts and frustration within the system are reported. Let’s look at this problem in the old-fashioned news writing manner of answering the four Ws and one H.

The what

Cheaper and faster work; clients are simply not willing to pay for something they can have either free or dirt cheap. Shutterstock and Canva are the go-to places, originality is sacrificed at the altar of economy, which directly translates into more cookie-cutters and similar, easy-to-forget stuff.

The why

Have a logo made for one dollar, shoot a video without a director (just a videographer), hire an in-house producer. Money is really making the advertising world go round in circles.

The where

All around us, media companies are touting that TV is the biggest medium delivering the ROI. Phrases like: “Pakistan is very far behind the rest of the world,” are heard across boardrooms. My question is: for how long? The average housewife is keener to spend more time on Soul Sisters or YouTube rather than fight over the remote. Netflix, iflix and 479,000 subscribers for Bulbulay alone. No need to say more.

The year 2018 can be equated with 1859 when two brilliant minds put their thought into print. Charles Dickens in The Tale of Two Cities and Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species. In their words (shamelessly plagiarised as my own), I announce that these are the best of times and the worst of times, when only the fittest will survive.

The how

Craftsmen are not affordable, creators are dispensable. I have heard of agencies that have no strategy or HR departments. Suits calling the creative shots. Clients going directly to production houses or well-known directors. Production houses moving accounts from one agency to another without pitches; that is how the business is being run.

So what are the ostriches to do? First of all, take that long neck out of the sand and face the dust storm travelling at a 100 km/min towards you.

(Disclaimer: I may be exaggerating some pain and discomfort here, but be assured none of these daggers are pointed at any single agency. They are generalisations and a bit of hyperbole by someone determined to survive the dinosaurs. Unlike them, I don’t want to see the advertising world becoming unhabitable).

Now, given that a problem is half-solved by the sheer fact of recognising it exists, let’s explore a few solutions.

1 The best and worst of times

The year 2018 can be equated with 1859 when two brilliant minds put their thought into print. Charles Dickens in The Tale of Two Cities and Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species. In their words (shamelessly plagiarised as my own), I announce that these are the best of times and the worst of times, when only the fittest will survive. The AI Creative Director already exists and last time I checked, they were doing very well. So what is a disgruntled human to do without a job? The answer: Evolve and become the fittest. Today, we all have the advantage of being new to the scene and saying “I don’t know how to do something” is not a crime yet. Don’t hate the machines; embrace them. The unknown is worrying indeed but then, out of the fear arises the hero.

2 Inspire rather than manage or scare

The carrot and the stick approach does not work anymore; in fact, it is the definition of a cliché. Work-life balance is not the whim of a Millennial; it is the need of the hour. The argument between the CEO and CFO on training staff goes something like this. CFO: What if we train our people and they leave?

CEO: What if we don’t and they stay?

We need analytical thinkers to beat machines; we don’t need humans to be treated like machines.

3 Create an environment conducive to failure

It is okay to fail provided we tried our best. Not trying is unacceptable. It’s a lazy manager who throws the team under the bus but in today’s world, word gets around quickly and that manager will have a shorter career span than the average housefly.

4 Guard the guard

There is a brilliant book by Dr Suess called Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? Every day, I say a prayer for the self-proclaimed Doctor for spreading his wisdom among children and adults. Let me share a small passage from this book, which will show you why I scandalise my children by saying I want to marry him (please read this as a joke designed to make the eyes of my kids pop out. I am grateful to be blessed with my husband every day, thank you very much).

“Oh, the jobs people work at! Out west near Hawtch-Hawtch there’s a Hawtch-Hawtcher bee watcher, his job is to watch. Is to keep both his eyes on the lazy town bee, a bee that is watched will work harder you see. So he watched and he watched, but in spite of his watch, that bee didn’t work any harder not mawtch. So then somebody said, Our old bee-watching man just isn’t bee watching as hard as he can, he ought to be watched by another Hawtch-Hawtcher! The thing that we need is a bee-watcher-watcher! Well, the bee-watcher-watcher watched the bee watcher. He didn’t watch well so another Hawtch-Hawtcher had to come in as a watch-watcher-watcher! And now all the Hawtchers who live in Hawtch-Hawtch are watching on watch watcher watchering watch, watch watching the watcher who’s watching that bee. You’re not a Hawtch-Watcher you’re lucky you see!”

Oh Suess, my love! You have eloquently illustrated that Bee Watcher Watchers should only live in your fantastical world and not in the creative industry. Observe the agencies around you; you may find more bee watchers than the bees.

Atiya Zaidi is ECD (North), Synergy Dentsu.
atiya.zaidi@synergydentsu.com

An influence that says subscribe to this, fit in, smooth out those edges and belong. Sit in the glorious chair of ideas, think (from nine to five with a two-hour lunch break), but think what sells, think the formula, churn it out like good little cows and we will reward you with a pay cheque that will ensure you won’t feel the pinch of those chains around your feet.

Don’t get me wrong (actually please do) because I have been a part of the system for 17 years. Of course I did not fit in, labelled a rebel and an outcast – too stubborn, opinionated and arrogant. I think I survived because I was an oddity, someone they could handle in small doses but not someone they would want to emulate. Why I would ask? Their reply: because you can get away with it and we cannot.

The truth is, I got away with it because I refused to toe the corporate line (and paid the price by becoming known as a “difficult person to work with”) with myriad small rebellions; not clocking in, not filling in timesheets, not taking lunch hour, saying no profusely, not signing up for the official email and not giving two hoots about whether I was liked or not.

Given this background, here are my own very subjective (and proudly so) learnings on what it would take for new ideas, new entities and new light-bearers to flourish in today’s agency world. However, to get there, you need someone at the top who has the same vision. With this caveat, here goes:

1 Are you someone who does not give a rat’s behind about fitting in? Do you believe you are too cool to be boxed into preconceived notions of what a creative, an idea or a strategy should look like? Great, you are hired. Do your own thing. Bring you to work every day, not a title or a label or a textbook definition, but you, with your beliefs and ideologies.

2 Do you have a degree in biology rather than advertising? Great, you are hired. And, if you don’t have a degree, if you are a stay-at-home mom, a philosopher who spends most of your time looking at bees or a guitar player really into collecting old records – they are all great achievements and you too are hired. Idea people today are either too jaded or too indifferent to believe in something. It pays to not have any experience.

Can we start with a mega reshuffling of this deck we call advertising? To begin with, why are the numbers people running an ideas business? How can people, whose sole purpose is to make an extra buck from a production by saying “yes sir, no sir, two bags full sir” make a call on ideation?

3 Do you have opinions? Big, loud ones? Do you feel too much about stuff? Are you prone to emotional breakdowns when listening to a random piece of music or looking at the sky on Wednesdays? Great, you are hired. We have spent too long training people to be ‘professional’ (which roughly translates into: don’t get invested in what you do, you have your hobbies for that). Robots cannot create; people do. Messy, crazy misfits do. Step aside pipe-blockage! Let it flow!

Changing roles? Yes please. Can we start with a mega reshuffling of this deck we call advertising? To begin with, why are the numbers people running an ideas business? How can people, whose sole purpose is to make an extra buck from a production by saying “yes sir, no sir, two bags full sir” make a call on ideation? The current role of account managers and business directors is to evaluate what makes for a productive idea; forget creativity.

I recently had the opportunity to work as Resident Director at a well-established advertising agency. I found it exciting that a creative and a strategist had been given the chance to run the business. It lasted for a very brief period of time because in spite of the numbers proving that a creative can lead, the higher-ups were not invested in letting this new-age experimentation take off without calling for serious restructuring. This seven-month stint revealed a basic fact – account management is redundant and people who are in the business of selling creative should be led by creative and supported by business development/strategy. Not the other way around.

Which brings us to evolving roles in contemporary idea houses. What works? I will tell you what does not; pigeonholing creatives into cubicles and restricting their personal and creative growth by forcing them to hand over their babies to the ‘money people’ and get busy conceiving another one.

Creatives have to lead and be at the helm. They have to be trained to see their work through to the end; this is the only way real ownership is achieved. A creative who takes ownership of her or his work is a powerhouse to be reckoned with. Empower creatives and they will empower businesses. With this in mind, let us take a peep into how current creatives are perceived by the suits and positioned to clients.

1 Lazy overpaid minions who need to be whipped into shape. If we allow them to roam freely, they will drink all our coffee and invade the office with their laughter, music and smoke. They will waste time and energy talking (which they call brainstorming), and then who will do all the work?

2 What do creatives know about the painstaking work advertising involves? They have all the fun, while we have to take whatever the client dishes out at us and then take the same thing from the creatives. Sigh, the hard work that goes into writing an email and sitting with clients trying to understand the brief.

3 If we let the creatives interact with clients, they will become their best friend and then who will play with us? Creatives are best kept apart in their gilded cages, while account management keeps control on how things should be done.

Parting words: For goodness sake, bring in new blood in terms of ideas, roles and structures. When agencies are run by people who spend their days reminiscing about the way things used to be, we will never experience how things can be.

Madeeha Noor is a Creative Strategy Consultant and Owner of The Idealist.

Category: Print/TV

What hit home is the fact that we all have that person in our lives who is willing to go above and beyond for us and much like the people in the ad, we tend to get a little too comfortable with that thought and take advantage of them. I enjoyed how relatable the scenarios in the ad felt and how quickly the storyline was established. It also felt like redemption that the ad pays tribute to the good people in our lives we often overlook.

Agency: Spectrum Y&R

Zellbury

Category: Digital

I am usually not a fan of fashion. The idea of being dictated to about what I should and should not wear escapes me. This feeling trickles down to ads related to the same industry. Most seem forced and others, downright strange. Which is why when I heard the words “be real with me” in this ad, they immediately grabbed my attention. The pace and the quirky storyline not only kept me hooked, it ensured that I watched the video at least five times.

Agency: String Media, Pakistan

Sprite – Pehle Bharkaye Phir Bujhaye

Category: TV

As someone who has exactly the same reaction as the ‘burger’ lady when biting on an unexpected chilli, I could relate to and really enjoy the TVC. Apart from the risk of using (and/or hinting at) bad language and upsetting the censor board, this ad was hilarious. Sometimes that is all it takes for an ad to be brilliant. And I am not going to lie; it was quite refreshing hearing an ‘oh bh@!ns’ on our TV screens.

Agency: Soho Square, Pakistan

Dietz Nuts

Category: TV

Advertisers in Pakistan need to understand that comedy works, but only if it’s done right and the people at RTO+P nailed it. Using a play on words, they were able to introduce a new product line for their client on one of America’s most prestigious advertisement time slots. Plus, the hilarious word play earned my respect.

Agency: Red Tettemer O’Connell + Partners (RTO+P), USA

Vatika Oil – Oil First Then Shampoo

Category: TV

I will be the first to admit it. I am going bald. It’s like my hair just got up one day and said “you’re on your own buddy.” But why did I decide to add the Vatika Oil – Oil First Then Shampoo to my list of favourites? Maybe it was the amazing use of colour or the super catchy jingle or maybe it was a nostalgic flashback to a time when my hair would have made the talent in the video jealous... I just can’t seem to put my finger on it.

Agency: Red Communication Arts, Pakistan

Bud Light/Game of Thrones Superbowl Commercial

Category: TV

Two birds with one stone. Bud Light and HBO got together and produced a single ad. After all, what better way to relax after destroying your enemy’s entire lineage than to sip on a nice cold beverage? This ad made it to my list because it contains two of my favourite things: Firstly, I love funny beer ads and secondly, it had dragons flying around.

Agency: Wieden & Kennedy, US

NDURE – Try Karo Kuch Different

Category: TV

I am a sucker for ads that have a good message behind them. The fact that this TVC promotes the attitude that we should not be afraid of trying something different is one I would like future generations to take to heart. If we think about it, a lot of what we enjoy today would not have been possible, were it not for the people who decided to try something different. This ad is a win in my books.

Agency: Adcom Leo Burnett

1JBR – It’s Not For Everyone, But It Could Be For You

Category: TV

In a market dominated by UAE property giants Damac and EMAAR, it was a challenge to create something that would change the way people think about property in Pakistan. By positioning 1JBR as a project that will not appeal to ‘posers’ and ‘try-hards’, the ad targets people who don’t need flashy stuff to show off their wealth.

Agency: FP7, UAE

Rao Arslan Shahid is Creative Manager, IAL Saatchi & Saatchi. raoarslanshahid@gmail.com

Imagine two clients walk into an agency and ask to meet the creative director, expecting a man with unruly hair, worn out jeans and a T-shirt with a rebellious slogan. What if they meet a well-dressed, tidy looking man in formal attire? Will they be confused because it is the ‘wrong’ stamp? In my experience, I have seen extraordinarily creative people dressed exceptionally well and I have seen employees desperately trying to pull off the ‘creative’ look but failing both in their work and their looks.

What is worse is the fact that creative people are inclined to leave the industry. There comes a point in their careers when they look for another level of satisfaction and regardless of the soundness of their decision, they make mid-career switches to different industries. Their urge to explore, experiment and display their talent by other means turns them into wanderers. Most of the time, we find them lost, shooting low-budget ad films before even hitting the point where they could be the next industry guru.

Today, if you go to any ad agency in Pakistan, you are likely to come across many creative people. But how do you know for sure if they really are creative? Do they have a stamp that says so? If you ask me, I would say that most of them are not really creative, at least not in the true sense of the word. There is nothing wrong with them, except that they are not right for the job because they don’t fit the bill. So why are the people working in the industry not as interesting as they should be? What is stopping them?

The theory that makes the most sense to me suggests that the ‘Mad Men charm’ that once existed in advertising is fading with the advent of the digital age. Gone are the days when the idea of advertising and the money that came with it was enough to pull in young people. The charm faded because reality is hardly ever what we want it to be. Advertising is a gruelling job with working weekends, long hours and sleepless nights, and where only a few get to travel and the rest are stuck to their workstations. Could this be a reason why most full-service ad agencies in Pakistan have a small number of really creative resources – people who can actually crack a brief and solve problems? Is the reality that only a few are working to create an impact while the rest are pushing boxes like factory workers?

Another theory that may explain why the attraction of advertising is fading is the fact that the profession is no longer the only highway. For talented individuals, there are now multiple avenues to explore. Today, businesses are growing like mushrooms; small and medium-sized digital agencies, TV channels, production houses, design houses, media houses, start-ups and BTL agencies. All offer the same remuneration and perks and all work with serious clients. So, the competition keeps getting tougher and the lines that once differentiated these business models continue to blur. A BTL agency can easily develop a digitally-led campaign and a film production house is fully equipped to pitch a concept for a TV commercial. All these shifts and role reversals have created a different kind of chaos.

Moreover, what is worse is the fact that creative people are inclined to leave the industry. There comes a point in their careers when they look for another level of satisfaction and regardless of the soundness of their decision, they make mid-career switches to different industries. Their urge to explore, experiment and display their talent by other means turns them into wanderers. Most of the time, we find them lost, shooting low-budget ad films before even hitting the point where they could be the next industry guru. So, next time someone asks you why there is no Piyush Pandey in Pakistan, you probably have the answer.

However, a good outcome has sprung from all this chaos. Do you ever wonder how all these video bloggers and stand-up comedians come up with such great ideas? The answer is they are the real creative people (and to answer the question regarding the stamp, well there isn’t one).

Creativity is considered magic and people from this business are deemed to be blue-blooded while the rest are like the Muggles in a Harry Potter story. Yet, the truth is that an idea can come from anywhere – a tea maker at a dhaaba can inspire you with a cultural insight or an even better idea. What creative agencies need are people who can conceptualise ideas and turn them into great ideas; sadly, we are alarmingly falling short of such people lately.

No stamp is required to be termed a creative professional; their work speaks for them. This is validated by the fact that nowadays, brand teams seek the help of vloggers and bloggers in developing customised ideas. However, the end product we see is not just one person’s job; these modern-day artists have their own creative and content teams working in the background. Slowly and gradually, this modern creative industry has created a self-sustaining ecosystem, which is proving successful both for the creative teams and the brand. However, as much as I appreciate the brand teams for engaging with multiple creative people with diverse skill sets, the one thing they must not forget is that they must always have a lead agency with brand custodianship capabilities, because it is not everyone’s cup of tea to look into the future and help the brand build sustainable ideas.

Creativity is considered magic and people from this business are deemed to be blue-blooded while the rest are like the Muggles in a Harry Potter story. Yet, the truth is that an idea can come from anywhere – a tea maker at a dhaaba can inspire you with a cultural insight or an even better idea. What creative agencies need are people who can conceptualise ideas and turn them into great ideas; sadly, we are alarmingly falling short of such people lately. No kid ever said to their mommy that they want to be a creative director when they grow up, yet here they are in the profession. Nobody knows where they come from. They might come from other creative fields or perhaps not. Who knows? They might be sitting next to you on a bus or giving you a fancy haircut at the barber’s or even selling you an insurance policy that you don’t need over the phone. But you will never know who they are because there is no stamp. Think about the analogy. It’s simple, amazing and relatable.

Asrar Alam is Creative Director, Spectrum Y&R. asrar@spectrumyr.com

Whenever there is a discussion about creativity, be it film, music, art, literature or advertising, an overwhelming majority seems to be of the opinion that it is on the decline. But then, ever since the beginning of time, the general consensus seems to be that everything is on the decline. You understand that’s impossible, right? You are pining for your youth which makes you nostalgic for the stuff you watched on TV when you were a kid, even if most of that stuff was pretty forgettable. Rose-tinted nostalgia doesn’t make the ads we watched more memorable; it is more the fact that in those days, there were only three channels and we were all watching the same thing.

This question of creativity and stagnation rears its ugly head from time to time. We can’t seem to quash it; moreover, we shouldn’t be quashing it (silencing the voice of dissent would make us a police state, and we have been shouting until we go blue in the face that we aren’t one), because creative people thrive on adversity and do some of their best work when they want to prove the naysayers wrong.

In fact, one can argue that the advent of a plethora of media channels and digital platforms inherently ensures innovation and creativity that is capable of holding the attention of a flaky audience with the attention span of a goldfish. An audience who is thoroughly spoilt for choice will make you work for every second they deign to spend engaging with your communication.  

Until about a decade ago, advertising was largely limited to conventional media and even those platforms were not used to their full potential. However, today with the explosion of new platforms, we are forced to think differently when trying to engage with consumers. In this scenario, some companies which don’t have a lot of moolah to throw at the major channels, opt to work smart, spend less and let the public do the work of promoting their ads for them. There is only one catch – the ad has to be brilliant.

Most ads tell a story, but the problem is that with diminishing attention spans and rampant FOMO, you don’t have a captive audience and chances are that your ad story will be lost in translation. This has given birth to the atrocity known as ‘the five second video ad’. Everyone hates them; they show up at a crucial point in every video you watch, whether on Facebook or YouTube. For me they have the opposite of the intended effect.They make me vow never to buy the product even if it’s an anti-venom and I was just bitten by a snake; I would rather take my chances on the snake not being poisonous.  

I can sense you still are not convinced, so I am going to have to bring out the big guns and give you some examples. As this article can’t cover all the examples of ingenuity there have been over the years, I am going to cherry pick some great creative work that has stood out in a sea of mediocrity. I have chosen these ads based on ingenious functionality, filling a gap and social responsibility.

A great example is the ICI Dulux paint app. Painting a room a new colour is a pretty huge not to mention expensive undertaking. You have to be very sure about the colour you decide on. Here comes the ICI Dulux app to the rescue. Not only can you take a picture of the room you want to do over and try different colours, you can use the app to identify colour swatches and share your freshly ‘painted’ room on social media to get the opinion of your friends and family before actually making an investment.

Shan had a short lived recipe app which was eventually pulled from the app store, but it was great while it lasted. Simple recipes for even the most culinary challenged among us. You put in the ingredients you have at home and it creates a recipe for you; what could be more convenient?

Kinetic launched an on-ground campaign for the launch of Nokia 1 which had a lot of glitz and glamour, with creative backlit floats, an appealing fleet of trikes, hard to miss Nokia 1 Beetle convoys and, last but not least, easily noticeable LED hydraulic floats. These were unleashed in the eight biggest cities in Pakistan, a hard task to accomplish and even harder to miss.

Wrollit is an initiative by two wide-eyed kids from the Lahore School of Economics who dream big and believe in cutting out the middleman. Through their initiative, you can have vinyls printed for your car with advertisements on them and make money while you drive around and run errands.

Then there is meta creativity, where brands sponsor content and the branded content takes on a life of its own and becomes a behemoth in its own right. Two great examples are Coke Studio and Nescafé Basement.

However, closest to my heart are the social causes. MoltyFoam put mattresses in various areas of the city as part of their campaign ‘The World’s First Billbed’; these ‘ads’ could be used as beds for homeless people. What a wonderful initiative! Not to be outdone, Diamond Supreme Foam followed suit with the #SupremeCleanUpInitiative. This initiative was spearheaded by Abrar-ul-Haque (their brand ambassador) and included picking up garbage and disposing of it properly, replacing wall chalkings with wall art, repairing roads and street corners, cementing footpaths, planting flowers and placing benches for the convenience of passersby.

Haier set up air conditioned bus stops and provided cold drinking water inside. As global warming takes its toll and every year summers become more brutal, this was a great initiative for people travelling in the heat to have a little respite before going on their way.

Generation did a wonderful inclusive campaign using unknown faces and people that are unconventionally beautiful. The write-up along with the campaign was eloquent and sweet. This is how you do it people! Sana Safinaz could stand to learn a few things from Generation.

To conclude, there will always be campaigns that are a ‘swing and a miss’; sometimes so when brands use a tragedy for cheap laughs or a ‘witty’ line that is in very poor taste or when brands take the easy way out by using a celebrity and creating derivative, sub-par advertising. But on the whole, the industry is on the up.

Nyda Ahmad is a freelance writer. nydaahmad@gmail.com

Category: TV, Digital
Let’s face it! We are accustomed to seeing lots of image-building campaigns by government institutions, political parties and so-called welfare societies. These communications sometimes highlight issues, break taboos and provide a jolt of realisation. Yet, most of the time, these voices are lost in the clutter of our media space. For a change, the National Police Bureau launched an initiative to create bottom-up pressure, i.e. civil society and the police authorities, joining together and pressurising the legislative bodies to amend the ‘centuries old’ police law. The first phase was to humanise the police and to achieve this goal, it was necessary to convince the public and break stereotypes that linger in their minds. The second step then was to highlight the actual problem that needs amending.
Agency: Morango Films

Pampers Pants – #DadsCanChange

Category: TV, Digital
The stereotype in our society is that a mother must always cater to the needs of her children while the father only looks after the financial needs and plays the decision-maker’s role. In this touching and linear story, Pampers Pants nudge us towards the notion that happy and healthy baby development needs a balanced involvement of both parents.
Agency: Adcom Leo Burnett

PEL Coloron – Rang Jama Ke Dekh

Category: TV
The Rang Jama Ke Dekh idea for PEL’s Coloron is a beautiful bouquet of sights and sounds from our culture. The use of vibrant colours in breathtaking locations, blended with iconic cultural elements and layered with a very memorable tune from Pakistan is definitely something worth watching on a TV screen.
Agency: Red Communication Arts

Careem – Akele Na Jana Extra Kamayi Chor Kar

Category: TV
Hats off to the Careem marketing team. They successfully enabled thousands of middle-class Pakistanis and defied the stereotypes that prevent ordinary people from adopting convenient and honourable earning solutions.
Agency: Adcom Leo Burnett

UBL Digital App – The New You

Category: TV
The TVC has a feel of newness to it, transcending the corporate image into the digital era. It highlights the functionality of the product and connects with the Millennial market.
Agency: Bulls Eye DDB

Unilever India – The Shower

Category: TV
It takes us 15 minutes to have a shower, five minutes to brush our teeth, one minute to wash our hands and 30 seconds to flush our stuff down the toilet. Can you imagine how many gallons of filtered drinkable water we waste every day in just 21 minutes and 30 seconds? This is precisely what this effective communication instantly makes you think, albeit regrettably in less than a breathless minute. It smartly highlights the water scarcity crisis and the dilemma of the rural/urban divide in South Asia.
Agency: Ogilvy India

Ufone – Network Quality

Category: TV
From humour to genuine emotion, Ufone transcends into a new territory. From their iconic Teri Meharbani to ‘Naram Saa Tu Hay who would have thought the same brand could execute a graceful turn in creative direction and adopt a thoughtful, caring and simpler approach? Yet, they achieve it with flying colours. The stories they have crafted are filled with heart-striking moments and weaved around believable characters. The social nuances are insightful and relatable to their local audiences.
Agency: JWT Pakistan

IKEA Italy – The Room: Violence Against Women Campaign

Category: OOH
Ambient advertising created by DDB Italy for IKEA, within their house, garden and retail services spaces. They strategically placed a composed wall within the home improvement section of stores and played real domestic violence stories. A direct message aimed at their customers says: “Domestic violence is closer than you think; sometimes there is just a wall between you and it.” This was supported by theatrical performances at scheduled times reinforcing those stories. The key takeout of this robust campaign was summed up in a direct message from the iconic brand: at IKEA you can find room for everything but there is no room for violence.
Agency: DDB Italy

Shakeeb Faruqui is Creative Director, Blitz Advertising.
shakeeb.faruqui@blitz.pk

Client: Bank Al-Habib

Brand Bank Al-Habib

Brief Pay tribute to Pakistan’s Armed Forces on September 6th.

Creative/Media Agency Bond Advertising

Creative Team Asif Hussain, Samreen Sarwar

Account Team Jibran Ausaf, Reem Ehteram

Media TV, Radio, Digital

Client: Bank of Punjab

Brand Bank of Punjab

Brief Highlight BOP’s success story.

Creative Agency Synergy Dentsu

Media Agency Synchronize Carat

Creative Team Hajra Bilal, Asif Javed, Naeem Raza

Account Team Musab Ahmed, Salman Haider

Media Print, Digital

Client: Blade Technologies

Brand Xcell Mobile

Brief Brand launch and highlight the brand’s dedication to making excellent products.

Creative Agency Manghi Communications Solutions (MCS)

Media Agency 4 Square Communications

Creative Team Ved Roy, Jan Stoop

Account Team Salman Mukaddam

Media TV, Digital, POS

Client: Coca-Cola

Brand Coke

Brief Create relevance and engagement with our core youth audience.

Creative Agency Ogilvy Pakistan

Media Agency Starcom

Creative Team Sheheryar Ali, Asad Hasan, Zehra Zaidi

Account Team Ahmad Azim, Hassan Bangash, Hassan Jalil

Media TV, Radio, Digital

Client: Colgate Palmolive

Brand Lemon Max Long Bar

Brief Promote Lemon Max Long Bar as the hero in the kitchen.

Creative Agency Spectrum Y&R

Media Agency GroupM

Creative Team Asrar Alam, Syed Mahmood

Account Team Uzma Akhtar, Syed Saim 

Media Radio, Print, TVC

Client: Dairyland

Brand Dayfresh Lactose-Free Milk

Brief Launch Day Fresh Lactose-Free Milk in Pakistan and create awareness about lactose intolerance.

Creative Agency Firebolt63

Media Agency Spark Pakistan

Creative Team Keatan Kumar, Owais Piracha, Shahrukh Raza, Muhammad Suhail

Account Team Ahmed Ali, Zain Kazmi

Media Print, Digital, POS

Client: Dairyland

Brand Mann Chai Tea whitener

Brief Launch Mann Chai Tea Whitener through the theme of ‘love for tea’ across Pakistan.

Creative Agency Firebolt63

Media Agency Viral Edge

Creative Team Ammad Ali, Xivraiz Ayaz, Keatan Kumar, Owais Piracha, Shahrukh Raza, Muhammad Suhail

Account Team Ahmed Ali, Zain Kazmi

Media Digital, POS

Client: Engro Corporation

Brand Engro Corporation

Brief Engro builds a stronger Pakistan by developing education and livelihoods.

Creative Agency Bond Advertising

Media Agency Starcom

Creative Team Arshad Ali, Lalarukh Ali, Asif Hussain, Samreen Sarwar

Account Team Reem Ehteram

Media Print, Radio, Digital

Client: Haier Pakistan

Brand Haier DC Inverter AC

Brief Launch the first DC inverter with automatic one-touch cleaning.

Creative Agency Synergy Dentsu

Media Agency Blitz Advertising

Creative Team Sana Ahmed, Shehroz Anjum, Asif Javed

Account Team Uswa Naeem

Media Print, Digital, OOH, POS

Client: Haier Pakistan

Brand Haier Deep Freezer

Brief Energy-efficiency which results in 50% electricity saving.

Creative Agency Synergy Dentsu

Media Agency Blitz Advertising

Creative Team Sana Ahmed, Shehroz Anjum, Asif Javed

Account Team Uswa Naeem

Media POSM, OOH, Digital

Client: Haier Pakistan

Brand Haier One-Touch Washing Machine

Brief Promote superior one-touch technology.

Creative Agency Synergy Dentsu

Media Agency Blitz Advertising

Creative Team Sana Ahmed, Muneeb Akram, Shehroz Anjum, Asif Javed, Sharjeel Zafar

Account Team Uswa Naeem

Media Print, Digital, OOH

Client: Haier Pakistan

Brand Haier One-Touch Washing Machine

Brief Promote how easy it is to do the laundry with one-touch washing.

Creative Agency Synergy Dentsu

Media Agency Blitz Advertising

Creative Team Sana Ahmed, Muneeb Akram, Asif Javed, Sharjeel Zafar

Account Team Uswa Naeem

Media OOH, Digital

Client: Hardee’s International

Brand Hardee’s

Brief Promote Hardee’s premium chicken range.

Creative Agency Firebolt63

Media Agency Firebolt63

Creative Team Ali Khan, Asad Khan, Hunana Masroor, Zoya Malik

Account Team Umair Waseem

Media Print, Digital, OOH

Client: Indus Motor Company

Brand Rush

Brief Launch Toyota Rush 7-seater SUV as an all terrain, all-purpose vehicle.

Creative/Media Agency Manhattan International

Creative Team Younus Ansari, Faraz Manzoor, Saleha Mir, Shahzad Sharif, Taimur Tajik

Account Team Mustafa Ahmed, Sadaf Zaidi

Media Print, Digital, BTL

Client: Khaadi

Brand Khaadi Pret

Brief Promote Khaadi as trendy.

Creative Agency JWT Pakistan

Media Agency GroupM

Creative Team Saria Iqbal

Account Team Sara Koraishy, Sameer Malik, Mahnoor Nadee

Media OOH, Digital, Catalogue

Client: Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO)

Brand LESCO

Brief Over-billing awareness campaign.

Creative/Media Agency Message Communications

Creative Team Adnan Mazhar, Ali Qadri

Account Team Faisal Choudhry, Faheem Ghauri

Media Print, Digital

Client: LU Contintental Biscuits

Brand Bakeri Nankhatai

Brief Launch the new bigger sized variant.

Creative Agency Spectrum Y&R

Media Agency GroupM

Creative Team Asrar Alam, Muhammad Irfan

Account Team Faisal Alavi, Ameer Hamza

Media TVC, POS, Packaging

Client: Mobile Sales and Distribution Limited

Brand Motorola

Brief Launch Motorola E and G series in Pakistan.

Creative Agency Firebolt63

Media Agency The Brand Crew

Creative Team Ejaz Asi, Usman Karim, Ammad Ali Khan, Hunana Masroor, Zoya Malik, Zain-ul-Abedin

Account Team Umair Waseem

Media Digital, OOH, Retail

Client: Nestlé Pakistan

Brand Nestlé NIDO 1+

Brief Promote the superiority of Nestlé NIDO 1+ by owning the protection territory and encouraging mothers to let their toddlers experience the fun of being a toddler.

Creative Agency Ogilvy Pakistan

Media Agency Maxus Pakistan

Creative Team Arshad Aslam, Maryam Babar, Asad Qureshi, Farwa Sayyed

Account Team Saira Ansari, Abdul Saboor

Media TV, Digital, POS

Client: Nikon

Brand Nikon

Brief Launch Nikon Z series in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Creative Agency Firebolt63

Media Agency The Brand Crew

Creative Team Ejaz Asi, Zoya Malik, Zain-ul-Abedin, Adeel Zahid

Account Team Zuhair Ahmed

Media Digital

Client: Professional Accountancy of Commerce

Brand PAC Peshawar

Brief New admissions.

Ceative/Media Agency Message Communications

Creative Team Adnan Mazhar, Usman Mirza, Ali Qadri

Account Team Waqas Gill, Kashif Khan

Media Print, OOH

Client: Seasons Canola

Brand Seasons Canola

Brief Create a campaign related to the FIFA World Cup to reach a younger target audience.

Creative Agency Synergy Dentsu

Media Agency Time and Space Media

Creative Team Sana Fatima, Muhammad Rasheed, Naeem Raza

Account Team Musab Ahmed, Salman Haider, Sana Rabbi

Media Print, Digital

Client: Shan Foods

Brand Shan Spices

Brief Shan goes an extra mile to ensure that consumers have khalis masalay every time.

Creative Agency Ogilvy Pakistan

Media Agency GroupM

Creative Team Faraz Ali, Waleed Ansari, Rabiya Hamid, Saqib Zaidi

Account Team Haniya Hasan, Jansher Hassan, Naved Qureshi

Media TV, Digital, Trade

Client: Star Mughal Developers

Brand Civic Centre

Brief Phase II launch.

Creative/Media Agency Message Communications

Creative Team Arslan Idrees, Adnan Mazhar, Usman Mirza, Ali Qadri

Account Team Muhammad Sabir

Media Print, Digital, OOH

Client: Super Asia

Brand Super Asia Water Heater

Brief Winter campaign.

Creative Agency Synergy Dentsu

Media Agency Synchronize Carat

Creative Team Shehroz Anjum, Muhammad Rasheed, Naeem Raza

Account Team Salman Haider, Sana Rabbi

Media Print, Digital, OOH

Client: Telenor

Brand Telenor 4G

Brief Promote Telenor as the data champion for uninterrupted speed.

Creative Agency Ogilvy Pakistan

Media Agency Manhattan International

Creative Team Hamza Amjad, Imran Lashari, Mohammad Ali Malik, Bissmah Mehmud, Laila Noor, Ayeza Raza, Smeeha Razvi, Shiza Sheikh

Account Team Waqar Afzal, Aitezaz Hasan, Ali Khan, Syed Imran Qaisar

Media Radio, Digital, OOH

Client: Yamaha Motor Pakistan

Brand Yamaha

Brief Launch the new colour of Yamaha YBR125G.

Creative Agency Spectrum Y&R

Media Agency Spectrum Y&R & Synchronize Carat

Creative Team Amna Dadi, Ali Khan, Sumaira Mirza, Mohib Qazi, M Saqib, Rabbia Sualeh

Account Team Muhammad Ishaq, Asif Manzoor

Media OOH, Digital, POS

Client Bank Alfalah

Brand: Bank Alfalah Current Account

Brief: Communicate the promise of a world-class banking experience.

Creative Agency: Ogilvy Pakistan

Media Agency: Media Pulse

Creative Team: Faraz Ali, Waleed Ansari, Ali Askari:

Account Team: Haniya Hasan, Jansher Hassan, Naved Qureshi

Media: Print, TV, Digital

Client Haier Pakistan

Brand: Corporate campaign

Brief: Promote Haier during Pakistan’s biggest sale at Daraz 11/11.

Creative Agency: Synergy Dentsu

Media Agency: Blitz Advertising

Creative Team: Sana Ahmed, Sana Fatima, Naeem Raza

Account Team: Uswa Naeem

Media: Print, Digital, OOH

Client English Biscuit Manufacturers

Brand: Gluco

Brief: Relaunch Gluco with differentiated energy credentials; the perfect energy brand for kids.

Creative Agency: Soho Square

Media Agency: m/Six

Creative Team: Waleed Ansari, Munischa Asif, Ali Askari, Abdul Azeem, Muneeba Qureshi

Account Team: Sumair Jokhio, Zain Khan, Naved Qureshi

Media: TV, Radio, Digital, OOH

Client Haier Pakistan

Brand: Haier DC Inverter

Brief: Explain why Haier DC Inverters are safer than gas heaters.

Creative Agency: Synergy Dentsu

Media Agency: Blitz Advertising

Creative Team: Sana Ahmed, Bilal Ali, Naeem Raza

Account Team: Uswa Naeem

Media: Print, Digital, OOH

Client Greenstar

Brand: Touch Condoms

Brief: Awareness campaign on AIDS testing in Pakistan on World AIDS Day.

Creative/Digital Agency: Spectrum Y&R

Creative Team: Osman Ahmed, Batool Habib, Mohib Mirza, Ammar Zafar

Account Team: Omar Ahmed, Kashif Anwar, Ehtesham Khan

Media: Digital, OOH, POS

Client Hilal Foods

Brand: Khopra Candy

Brief: Promote it as the only candy that has khopra in it.

Creative Agency: Manghi Communications Solutions

Media Agency: In-house

Creative Team: Ved Roy

Account Team: Salman Mukaddam

Media: TV, Digital, POS

Client Indus Motor Company

Brand: Revo

Brief: Toyota REVO is now available via bank financing.

Creative/Media Agency: Manhattan International

Creative Team: M. Faheen, Saleha Mir, Taimur Tajik

Account Team: Mustafa Ahmed, M. Atif, Sadaf Zaidi

Media: Print, Digital

Client Seasons Canola

Brand: Seasons Corn Oil

Brief: Promote the benefits of Seasons de-waxed oil.

Creative Agency: Synergy Dentsu

Media Agency: Time & Space Media

Creative Team: Sana Fatima, Naeem Raza, Muhammad Rasheed

Account Team: Salman Haider, Sanna-e-Rabbi

Media: Print, Digital, OOH

Client LuckyOne Mall

Brand: LuckyOne Mall

Brief: Promote the Winter Shopping Festival.

Creative/Media Agency: Spectrum Y&R

Creative Team: Muhammed Irfan, Imran Khan, Ayesha Malik

Account Team: Faisal Alavi

Media: Print, Digital

Client Telenor Pakistan

Brand: Telenor 4G

Brief: Promote the superior data experience of 4G and the ease of the conversion process.

Creative Agency: Ogilvy Pakistan

Media Agency: Manhattan International

Creative Team: Hamza Amjad, Shan Haque, Ali Malik, Laila Noor, Menahil Qureshi, Sadia Qutubuddin, Shiza Sheikh, Hassan Zulnoon

Account Team: Gohar Abbas, Waqar Afzal, Syed Imran Qaiser

Media: Print, TV, Radio, Digital, OOH

Client Regional Blood Centre Sukkur

Brand: Regional Blood Centre Sukkur

Brief: Celebrate Sindh Day and encourage blood donations.

Creative/Media Agency: Spectrum Y&R

Creative Team: Muhammad Hanif, Hasan Iftikhar, Ehtesham Khan, Aqleem Ullah Khan, Rabbia Sualeh, Ammar Zafar

Account Team: Amna Dadi, Omar Ahmed

Media: Digital, on-ground

Client Yamaha Motor Pakistan

Brand: Yamaha YB125Z bike

Brief: Promote the YB125Z model and the new colour.

Creative Agency: Spectrum Y&R

Media Agency: Spectrum Y&R and Synchronize Carat

Creative Team: Muhammad Abbas, Amna Dadi, Ali Khan, Babar Naveed, Neha Riaz, Rabbia Sualeh, Mohib Qazi

Account Team: Muhammad Ishaq, Asif Manzoor

Media: Digital, OOH, POS

Even as the advertising business has fragmented with many services taken over by newly emerging specialists (such as media planners and production houses), creative agencies have not lost their relevance. Clients still turn to them for ideas that will give their company’s products or services a distinctive identity and share of mind. So while the ad business has evolved – or rather transformed dramatically – creativity is an area that so far has remained the backbone of advertising agencies. However, while relevance remains, the challenges confronting creative teams often seem overpowering.

These challenges are directly related to the way the media in all its manifestations is transforming – and not just in terms of technology. For a start, we have so rapidly entered the age of low attention spans that creative people in agencies sometimes seem to be left behind. In the early years of advertising in Pakistan, undivided attention of consumers was a given. Newspapers were relied on for all kinds of information including information on products. Then came Radio Pakistan and over a decade later, Pakistan Television. Single channels with no competition.

Creative people had to learn to work not just in the frenzy of change the media was bringing about, but also in the rapidly competitive market environment. With the rise of consumerism – also a by-product of the media glut – brands began to compete more vigorously for share of mind. The demands and pressures on creative teams increased manifold. If there was pressure from clients to deliver, the fragmentation of the advertising business also led to competitiveness in the creative sphere. Small, independent creative workshops set up primarily by fresh graduates from art schools – or those disillusioned by ad agencies – began to compete for business. Those who had not adapted to the challenging times quickly burnt out.

The level of professionalism expected today from people in creative is a far cry from the time when that ‘aha!’ moment was enough to lead to groundbreaking ideas and their acceptance by clients. I still recall Javed Jabbar selling concepts – including the Peek Freans Pied Piper – over the phone and going out to film a commercial saying “the idea is in my head!” But times have changed and it can be debated whether spontaneity or well-rationalised strategies lead to greater creativity or effectiveness.

The evolution of the ad agency business coupled with higher expectations of professionalism from clients, has also necessitated the learning of new skills and use of tools. For a start, the creative brief has acquired a significance that is still not fully understood by the people writing them. Both clients and creative people in agencies go through the motions of filling out a form. A key requirement of an effective brief is that it must inspire creativity; this aspect is sadly missing from what emerges as a laundry wishlist. A bigger challenge is to create something unique within the confines dictated by a brief.

And then there’s research. While companies (particularly those in the highly-competitive FMCG business) have begun to invest in consumer research, agencies – including the creative teams – have yet to learn to sift research for consumer insights that may propel the idea towards an effective piece of communication. Today, the ability to analyse Brand Health Trackers (BHTs) and dig into consumer insights through face-to-face encounters are not the responsibility of marketing teams alone. They are more than buzzwords and crucial to the creation of concepts that strike a chord with the consumer. BHTs and consumer insights can, ultimately, become a strong backbone for the brand or its weakest link.

The level of professionalism expected today from people in creative is a far cry from the time when that ‘aha!’ moment was enough to lead to groundbreaking ideas and their acceptance by clients. I still recall Javed Jabbar selling concepts – including the Peek Freans Pied Piper – over the phone and going out to film a commercial saying “the idea is in my head!” But times have changed and it can be debated whether spontaneity or well-rationalised strategies lead to greater creativity or effectiveness.

Some ideas have proved to be timeless regardless of the communication revolution. The association of Dalda with mothers’ love with the tagline Jahan Mamta Wahan Dalda and that of film stars with Lux are among the evergreen examples. Among iconic visual symbols, the Peek Freans Pied Piper has stood the test of time, moving from a theme in TV commercials to an integral part of the brand identity on the biscuit range packs. These products have demonstrated the power of longevity and adapted seamlessly to changing times, whether in attitudes or the media environment.

However, not all approaches to creativity can be eternal. The transformations (evolutionary in Pakistan’s case) that are taking place in society have an impact on the kind of communication put out on the mass media. Over the years for example, we have witnessed a gradual change in the depiction of women. With more women entering the workforce and making conscious career choices, ads have begun to move from showing them primarily as props to support product messages to making them the centre of the communication. This recognition of women’s changing role has benefited many brands and causes. Dalda’s recent MeriAwaz campaign questions the stereotyping responsible for setting beauty standards or relegating women to certain accepted roles. National and Shan successfully put men in the kitchen, breaking another gender-based stereotype.

So among the skills needed in creative talent is heightened awareness of the changing perceptions of what is right and what is not. In a world where instant accessibility to the media is evoking instant responses, people in ad agencies have to be extra careful in not offending sensibilities. Or, on the positive side, promoting the right values. The recent campaigns for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan focusing on issues voters should think about, the UN Women ‘Beat Me’ and ‘Change the Clap’ (by the Asia Pacific Transgender Network) to create support for the transgender community are examples of advertising that has kept pace with the demands of the time. It’s more than a question of being ‘politically correct’.

Have people who entered the advertising profession in the more carefree days adapted to changing times and challenges? I believe most have, as do those who enter the profession right after college. By its very nature, a career in advertising trains one for adaptability. People in creative are working on a new ice-cream flavour one day and then the next day, confront the challenge of a campaign to make polio drops acceptable to suspecting Pakistan

Have people who entered the advertising profession in the more carefree days adapted to changing times and challenges? I believe most have, as do those who enter the profession right after college. By its very nature, a career in advertising trains one for adaptability. People in creative are working on a new ice-cream flavour one day and then the next day, confront the challenge of a campaign to make polio drops acceptable to suspecting Pakistanis. These disparate demands require people who are extremely quick at learning. And the expertise to absorb and apply new learning is among the keys to being a successful advertising professional.

However, creativity cannot be taught. It’s something inherent, which exposure to new ideas and experiences can enhance to bring it in line with the requirements of the profession. Those with an open mind and the ability to soak in and benefit from new developments in the profession can expect to get ahead. And progress in the advertising business is now taking place at a mind-boggling pace. The challenge is to learn from the new while holding fast to the intrinsic worth of creativity.

Zohra Yusuf is Chief Creative Officer, Spectrum Y&R.

Things have changed. Consumers have access to hundreds of channels and other options such as Netflix, internet radio, social media and mobile news services. Media consumption behaviour patterns have changed as have the fortunes of traditional advertising agencies. Revenue streams from media buying have dried up, thanks to the emergence of specialised media buying houses. Creative fees are under pressure as freelancers and production houses offer services very similar to those that were once the sole domain of established advertising agencies.

Dinosaurs and advertising

Dinosaurs were large and ferocious creatures that ruled the world of yore. They were the cold-blooded kings (and queens) of their time. They were gifted with strength and size, but less gifted in intelligence and adaptability. Smaller mammals began to emerge during the age of the dinosaurs; they were smarter and more adaptable. Then came a catastrophic event that brought the age of dinosaurs to an end, an event the smaller mammals survived as a result of their superior adaptability. As a parallel, the advertising agencies of yore used to be large and ferocious. Then came a catastrophic event known as globalisation, which turned into the mother of all change. It is this phenomenon that caused many leading brands to eschew locally-made advertisements in favour of regional advertisements. Globalisation and the resulting competitiveness have pushed traditional advertising agencies down the path of dwindling profit margins. This increasingly fluid market provided room for smaller, nimbler agencies and non-agency outfits (freelancers and production houses) to compete with traditional agencies for their creative product and with unprecedented success.

Any brand that fails to differentiate becomes a commodity. Commodities cannot hold brand value as they can easily be substituted. The issue is that differentiation is a moving target. What was highly differentiated in the past is generic today. Agencies that churn out formulaic advertising are headed towards rapid commoditisation.

Evolution

Evolution is about adapting to change. Some things have been changing for the worse including the devaluation of our currency, rising inflation, regional instability and decreasing tolerance. All realities. Other things have been changing for the better including a growing economy and hence, a growing advertising industry. So we end up with an increasingly complex environment for advertising agencies. An environment which presents numerous threats for agencies stuck in the old ways, but opportunities as well for agencies willing to embrace change. Traditional revenue streams have become strained. Other revenue streams such as consulting, digital marketing and rural marketing have seen rapid growth. Agencies that carry large overheads (large offices and top-heavy workforces) are under pressure. Leaner, meaner outfits have seen unprecedented profitability. Differentiation is the lifeblood of ad agencies and brands. Any brand that fails to differentiate becomes a commodity. Commodities cannot hold brand value as they can easily be substituted. The issue is that differentiation is a moving target. What was highly differentiated in the past is generic today. Agencies that churn out formulaic advertising are headed towards rapid commoditisation. I have written about the phenomenon of formulaic advertising before; senseless jingles, emotional melodrama, slapstick and other generic advertising approaches. We must remember that the process of commoditisation is accelerated by globalisation. It is no longer good enough to rest on the glory of the past; agencies that differentiate are the ones that will find a future ahead of them.

Although I don’t have a crystal ball, there are a number of things I am certain of.

1 The agency of the future will be strategic

Clients face intensifying competition in most categories; they need to achieve results, which is not always the same as running a big media campaign. Clients seek strategic partners who can adopt a media-agnostic approach to drive their media strategies. Being strategic is about understanding client needs and then moving forward with a media-agnostic approach. Agencies have started working on models that mandate a high level of accountability for results and this trend is set to strengthen. Being strong on strategy is a key differentiator as clients increasingly look for fewer, rather than more, strategic partners in achieving their objectives. Big TVC campaigns are not the solution to every marketing problem. That is not how B2B marketing works. Being ahead of the curve on strategic thinking is the edge clients require from their agencies.

2 The agency of the future will be about subject matter expertise

Brands and businesses seek out subject matter experts to guide them on a variety of topics such as behaviour change, digital, media, research, CRM and experiential marketing. The solution lies in nurturing a team of subject matter experts who work together to solve complex marketing problems. This is the architecture of strong, future-facing agencies. The alternative would be multiple agencies working for single brands, a less desirable solution for clients.

3 The future is about insight and knowledge

He (or she) who has knowledge has power. It is impossible to be strategic without consumer insights. Clients expect agencies to be increasingly sophisticated in gaining insights and knowledge. They expect their agencies to be well-versed in the analysis of big data and in new ways of gathering insights on behaviour change journeys.

4 The agency of the future will be technology savvy

This is no longer a nice-to-have; it is a mandatory requirement. Technology needs to be integrated into the agency offering. Technology has changed consumer media consumption habits and behaviours. Clients expect their agencies to guide them through the process of adopting new technologies rather than being behind the curve.

The future is still being defined. Prey or predator, it’s your choice.

Afzal Hussain is GM, M&C Saatchi World Services Pakistan.

To be effective, today’s creatives need to be superheroes with super-creative powers, simultaneously playing the roles of technologist, strategist, designer, entrepreneur, business developer, sales person and more. They often need to deploy this entire arsenal over the course of a few hours and with a very limited budget. Not only is it near impossible to find these super creatives, but it is even harder to keep them happy and healthy in such a hectic environment.

The exodus of talent that we have been hearing so much about at executive and director levels is now filtering down to smart, young, digital creatives, planners and account managers. Young creatives who were once inspired by the lifestyle of ad campaigns and cocktails depicted in Mad Men, now believe that a combination of technological change and the short-term drive for profit is killing creativity.

Over the past few years, it seems like we have been hearing the same conversation over and over again with friends in dozens of agencies around the country and it usually starts like this:

“Who do you think is the best agency at the moment? Is anyone doing good work?”

And ends with them explaining why they are thinking of moving on. The reasons why are always the same:

“I want to work on an actual product people want to use.”

“I want to do my own thing.”

“I want to explore more.”

“We never do any interesting work.”

“We only care about hitting targets.”

“I don’t feel like I’m learning.”

“We never push back and tell the client their ideas are s*#@.”

The respect, fun and profitability of working in what was once one of the most fulfilling and glamorous of industries now has become a grim sweatshop for the people who do the work. Not a day passes when you can’t go through your feed without avoiding a tweet, an article or a keynote speech telling us how we work in a dying industry and how we are all getting it wrong.

Despite the emergence of new paradigms, ad agencies are still approaching work as they did in the sixties when the creative revolution, led by Bill Bernbach, gave the creative department its now legendary binary structure of copywriter and art director.

We need fresher thinking, they say. Digital natives, they say. Googlers and Facebookers and Applers and people who are creative and ambitious and multitalented enough to shake things up. Seems like a sound argument until one realises the tragic truth: the talent we are looking for already works with us.

What is broken is not our people. It’s our process.

It’s a process that has been endlessly debated but not reinvented and it has not adapted to the changing world around us. All of this in an industry that prides itself on challenging the status quo. Agencies have become exceptionally good at wasting talent through antiquated structures that stifle fresh thinking and trivialise the true value of young talent who are uniquely positioned to dream up new ways to reinvent how agencies work. For many who do make the leap, the appeal lies in the opportunity to do work that requires a different level of thinking or can even change the world.

Despite the emergence of new paradigms, ad agencies are still approaching work as they did in the sixties when the creative revolution, led by Bill Bernbach, gave the creative department its now legendary binary structure of copywriter and art director. This binary model may still be optimal for the creation of traditional advertising, but when it comes to solving bigger and more complex business problems and when the desired output is not just creative advertising but creativity or innovation at large, the current approach is all too often limiting and archaic.

The people who generate the ideas and work are realising that they themselves could be reaping the rewards rather than the agency. Agencies on the other hand, are happy to keep trying to live in a world which is ceasing to exist. Clinging onto the same ideas, tools and ways of working with CEOs who are either oblivious to the current mindset or too frightened to instigate change. It’s the perfect combination of increasing entrepreneurialism, decreasing loyalty and an industry revelling in mediocrity.

Isolated from clients and account services, the average creative spends the majority of his/her day hiding out in the creative department, exchanging only the most promising ideas with their partner, ally and confidante. Those promising ideas are then shared with the creative director who makes his or her own selection. Next, the narrowed down and polished concepts make it to the account team for a quick sanity check. Finally, the selected ideas (two or three at most) are pitched to the client who has been left completely in the dark during the entire process. The centralised model puts immense pressure on creatives. Every day, we are the go-to people tasked with solving just about every problem in the agency – RUSH, ASAP or EOD with a big, red exclamation mark! This is a task that is not only exhausting but also overwhelming at times. In an ever-changing, ever-faster world where everything needs to be continuously reworked, it no longer seems sane or sustainable to grant creatives full authority over ideas. Not when the scope of our work has become so vast. Our product is no longer just creative advertising; it is big data, product design, innovation, business strategy, organisational design and more.

What bothers the young is that a bizarre paradox plagues our industry. The fear of the unknown resides in the hearts of the agencies. They want to be brave, have inventive thinking that will help clients stand for something and stand out in the world, but the young talent in advertising, which is full of a glorious mix of impatience, irreverence and speed, is held back. We tell them that it doesn’t work like that; we tell them to stop wasting time doing it differently; the work has to get out the door! The processes we have in place for working are smothering our people’s ability to dream and execute ideas that truly change the model. Advertising is so afraid to take risks. We are scared of the world we haven’t met yet and we are clinging to an antiquated model because it’s safe. And it’s crippling our capacity to innovate.

In a time-based compensation model, the generating of creative work moves along a familiar conveyor belt towards the end. Conference calls, check-ins, status updates. Click, click, click. We have meetings about meetings, the baton is passed and everyone hopes the moment of genius will strike the person to whom they are passing the baton.

The word ‘groupthink’ borders on blasphemy in an advertising industry that prides itself on independent, original thought. Outsiders imagine a creative process that must be as unique to each agency as the ideas they put out into the world. But insiders know better; the same cookie-cutter approach to making ads exist in every agency.

There is no denying it. We all operate under a set of unwritten rules. We use antiquated job titles to divide people into silos: account managers, strategists, creatives, production and so on. We strive to hire the most creatively-minded talent at every level but when people arrive on the job, we tacitly tell them to stick to what they know.

Then there is the unchallenged assembly line along which work is generated. In a time-based compensation model, the generating of creative work moves along a familiar conveyor belt towards the end. Conference calls, check-ins, status updates. Click, click, click. We have meetings about meetings, the baton is passed and everyone hopes the moment of genius will strike the person to whom they are passing the baton.

The pressure falls unfairly on the creatives and we have unwittingly disenfranchised all our talented people from having a voice in the creative part of the process. And today, they hate this. The creative minds whom we took great pains to find and hire, feel trapped, frustrated and unfulfilled. The unwritten rules are not necessarily taught by management, but they exist nonetheless. Unspoken, gently reinforced and subtly encouraged.

In all creative organisations, there is an unseen hand guiding the way of the creative work and all collaboration occurs inside the agency. Fear becomes the driving force; the fear of missing a deadline, disappointing a client or wasting time trying to find inspiration. It so happens that the work keeps churning out, but the creatives forget the reason why they wanted to be a creative in the first place.

The talent is there as is the desire, but agencies and the clients must strive to create places where talented people want to use their skills to build great things for clients and users; otherwise, they will take their passion and curiosity somewhere else, leaving only the deadwood behind.

Agencies and clients have become exceptionally good at wasting talent through antiquated structures that stifle innovation and trivialise the true value of young talent.

Sumaira Mirza is Creative Director, Spectrum Y&R Pakistan.
sumaira@spectrumyr.com

Back in the day, there used to be a few directors and a handful of production houses for TV commercials and the ad agencies were the producers. Today, more often than not, the role of the ad agency is limited to creative concepts and independent producers and production houses are producing the films and dealing directly with the brand teams, albeit through the proverbial ‘procurement’ department.

A couple of days ago, I had the privilege to lunch with the owner of one of the largest ad agencies in Pakistan. During the conversation, the topic drifted towards the cost of TVC production, something that has bothered me a lot ever since I came back. The owner was of the opinion that the process of TVC production involves three steps. The first is choosing the location, which is the purview of the brand team. Thailand is dated; everyone has been there. Poland is the new Dubai. Turkey and South Africa are emerging. The second is the product, which must fit with the location. The third is the concept, which is the outcome of the location and product.

This may sound like one man’s opinion. However, if you look at most of the ads produced last year, they seem to have followed the same three steps, plus or minus a celebrity. In the overall scheme of things, creativity, insights and consumer needs have been compromised. Like Pakistan’s population, the economic divide is widening in advertising. The directors and production houses are becoming richer, the content and creativity is becoming poorer.

In Pakistan, an average TVC with a tier-A director can cost up to Rs 20 million; with tier-B directors, it varies between Rs 13 and 17 million and even tier-C directors charge between eight and 10 million rupees for a 30-to-40-second TVC.

If you are a director with a feature film to your name, you are likely to be tier-A. There are also brand managers who propose the name of the director (usually Indian) they want to work with and the agencies or independent producers oblige. Pakistani brands have recently worked with Imtiaz Ali (Jab We Met), Anurag Kashyap (Gangs of Wasseypur) and Manish Sharma (Band Baaja Baraat), producing commercials that could easily have been bettered by any Pakistani director. At the same time, many brand managers want to include a certain celebrity in the commercial. All this makes the production houses very happy because it gives them room to make more money, their negotiation power increases and eventually, the average ad production cost will go up every three months.

On one hand, there is the big name fascination; on the other there is the high-tech name-dropping gambit. A decade ago everyone wanted to shoot on Phantom because high speed was the name of the game. Today, every brand manager wants to shoot on Bolt because they want shots just like ‘that ad’. Once again, production houses oblige and add Bolt as a cost to the production and the brand teams gleefully approve.

In the overall scheme of things, creativity, insights and consumer needs have been compromised. Like Pakistan’s population, the economic divide is widening in advertising. The directors and production houses are becoming richer, the content and creativity is becoming poorer.

The question is: What is the actual cost of using Bolt and how much should a TVC directed by Imtiaz Ali cost? Let us not forget that these are less than one-minute TVCs. Until last year, Rs 20 million was one-fourth of the cost of a decent Pakistani feature film. Local celebrities are charging the same amount to star in a feature film as they are charging for a two-day TVC shoot. Clearly, someone, somewhere, is making a lot of money.

I am not against anyone making money; that is why we are in the business. I also believe that there may be some films that do cost Rs 20 million, or even more. However, I have a problem with paying Rs 15 million for a film that can be produced for 10 million. The assessment of these costs is subjective and can be brought down if the industry stands up and decides to do it. Unfortunately, the likelihood of this happening is minimal. The sad part is that the production crew and the studio staff still earn the same minimum wage they did before. It is the upper echelon of the TVC production industry that is making hay while the sun shines.

One thing that can be done is to train the brand teams on the processes that go into film production. There is no rocket science to it and it is basically research based. Currently, brand teams do not have the exposure required to negotiate TVC production costs and neither does that ‘procurement’ guy who will eventually raise the purchase order. If brands decide to invest in this type of learning, they will end up saving significant amounts of money. The directors and production houses will learn to respect the knowledge on the other side of the table and the mere mention of Bolt will not add four million rupees to the cost of production.

Another suggestion is that associations such as the Pakistan Advertisers’ Society (PAS) or the Marketing Association of Pakistan (MAP) start to benchmark production costs within the industry. There are still many brand teams who have their high-quality TVCs produced at a much lower cost. Another option is that TVC producers form their own society and work with brand teams to create industry benchmarks. Again, difficult to implement, but worth a shot. We still have not reached that level of trust in the industry. Until then, expect the cost of a two-day shoot without a celebrity and with a tier-B director to go beyond Rs 20 million very soon.

Sami Qahar is a marketing professional based in the Middle East. sami.qahar@gmail.com

The theme of moving forward and being different is demonstrated through four different storylines; a cyclist on a journey, a bun kebab specialist experimenting with western cuisine, a band persisting in making music and a father-daughter duo challenging social norms. Each story gives a visual interpretation to the famous Junaid Jamshed song, Hum kyun chalein, uss rah per, jis rah per sab hi chalein, which is the background score for this ad.

It seems that the storylines are inspired by real characters and/or places – the clues are found in the chef story (reminiscent of the bun kebab stand called Street kitchen in Sindhi Muslim Society in Karachi) and the band which is performing the actual background score of the ad (and an acknowledgement that making music is a collaborative journey with its own challenges). However, this link to real life is not as clear for the remaining two stories.

Now, this being an ad for a big brand, there had to be the crucial ‘product shots’, hence cue in the somewhat lost and misplaced shots of a Bank Alfalah employee walking in, then the interior shots of a customer service centre and the open/closed sign being flipped. The app featuring a service called Alfa (which I had to Google) also makes an appearance towards the end, making me wonder if the whole commercial was leading up to this moment.

The storylines are simplistic and don’t create emotional moments. The ad feels generic and if you remove the token Bank Alfalah shots, it could have been about anything under the bright blue sky. There was nothing connecting the narrative to the bank, except a forced hashtag.

As beautiful as the ad looks, it is chaotic and fuzzy on messaging, which raises the question – what was it about in the first place? What is this #Nayarasta that the bank is promoting? Is it the Alfa app or a new way of doing things? Is #Nayesoch a social message for the greater good? And are these themes linked to the services offered by the bank? The copy that appears with the ad on social media doesn’t do anything to clarify the objective of the campaign either. It remains as elusive and abstract as the ad itself.

‘As Bank Alfalah reveals its new path towards change, a road less travelled by, it hails out to its employees and customers to embark on this journey as well. The Way Forward means being different, calling out for change when needed and being persistent. And so, we move Forward.’

The execution is a very literal decoding of the themes #Nayarasta and #Nayesoch and the storylines become mere examples to illustrate the same point in four different ways. It’s as if the creative team imagined all these possible scenarios in which people could demonstrate #Nayesoch and #Nayarasta, and in trying to keep everyone happy, compiled all the ideas together into one ad. The #Nayarasta is visualised through an actual route that the cyclists take, and the #Nayesoch is depicted by the daughter-father duo.

The storylines are simplistic and don’t create emotional moments. The ad feels generic and if you remove the token Bank Alfalah shots, it could have been about anything under the bright blue sky. There was nothing connecting the narrative to the bank, except a forced hashtag.

The current execution would have worked better as a series, where each storyline was developed as a separate spot, thereby making more of the journey to a new path and getting to the emotions underpinning this journey and ultimately creating the link between the bank and the journey. For now, I am no better informed about the bank, their ethos and their services than I was before I watched the ad.

Sheherzad Kaleem is a documentary filmmaker based in Dubai. sheherzadk@gmail.com.

There were big names like Jessica Walsh, Valentina D’Efilippo, Miroslav Jaya Azis, Ali Rez, Laraib Atta and there were muses like Alia Chugtai, Omar Gilani, Hassan Habib, Salma Naved Jafri and Hira Mohibullah.

Amidst awe inspiring stories from Sana Nasir and Uzair Zaheer Khan about how they did the impossible and produced stunning work even when they were set up to fail. Uzair’s story of making the first animated feature film using Pakistani national animals as protagonists and conquering the logistical challenges of using a game engine to make animation, truly deserved the standing ovation he received from many.

There were many old faces and many first timers. One designer decided to pay the extra on the having the flight back to Karachi changed in order to attend each and every talk and workshop. A positive sign for old timers like me who are quick to complain about the millennial mind set.

The workshops were the hidden gems of the conference. With generous lessons and fun exercises, everyone felt like a winner. Do visit the website and get all the details. The virtual journey will however not give you the experience of being in the presence of people who truly want to make things. As opposed to the critical mindset of most people, it felt like a safe space where everyone shared an agenda of improving themselves and the industry.

It was no small feat for the two amazing women to pull this conference a second time. Although many things were changed in the format compared to last year, including adding more networking time, removing discussion panels and decreasing the numbers of talks, Nida Salman (co-organizer of ND2C) explained that all the changes were a result of the stringent feedback process they followed. All last year’s attendees were sent feedback forms and those learnings became lessons and points of action for ND2C 2018.

As a speaker in the last year conference I had an amazing opportunity to learn from Soness Stevens, a public speaking coach who has coached hundreds of TED and TEDx speakers. It is not common knowledge that ND2C made these arrangements and like last year, Soness coached the selected speakers for months before the date of the conference. You not only acquire knowledge and inspiration, you have access to an amazing course specifically designed to make you shine as a speaker. It is truly a privilege to be chosen as a speaker at ND2C.

The world around us is changing at a maddening pace; there are so many innovations that it truly is a blink-and-you-miss-it world. With machines out to get our jobs and a bleaker economic situation, communities and networks will help us reinvent.

Above all seeing role models who have walked the road less travelled and explored new territory, conferences like ND2C become even more critical for the creative community. It was a delight to see new players like Granna.com step up as the main sponsor of the event. There would have been no Michelangelo without Pope Julius and these two days of inspiration would have been like any other weekend without sponsors such as Granna.com, Jang Group, Khaddi, Pasha, Turkish Airlines, Serene Air and many more. Yet, there could have been more. The brands who talk the talk of empowerment and creativity should have walked the walk too. Especially considering that more and more organisations are moving towards models of in house creative set ups. A definite opportunity lost for such organisations and creative agencies to spot and hire talent.

Once again we all felt grateful to the organisers for conquering this herculean task of making ND2C a reality for Pakistani creatives.

Atiya Zaidi is Executive Creative Director, Synergy Dentsu. atiya.zaidi@synergydentsu.com

It was a great party! I know, because my daughter hummed the lyrics of Baby Shark all the way home, giddy from the euphoric dancing and plentiful chocolate cake.

Baby Shark features two young children – a boy and a girl, singing simple lyrics about a shark family going on a hunt. Set against basic animations of an underwater scene, this catchy tune has had 3.3 billion views to date and the trend is just catching on.

The song first gained popularity in Indonesia, in 2017 and later spread to other South East Asian countries. Fast forward to 2018 and a dance version of the song, which was uploaded to YouTube in June 2016, has become the 34th most viewed video on YouTube. Baby Shark is now played at parties and weddings and is fast becoming the Gangnam Style of 2018.

James Cordon, a British comedian and the host for The Late Late Show with James Cordon, humorously called Baby Shark a “modern classic” and a song that “defines this generation”.

If this wasn’t enough, the ‘Baby Shark Challenge’ was launched on the internet and people are now posting videos of themselves with shark masks, doing the signature moves with the song in the background. Some are taking it on in the same style as the the ‘Kiki Challenge’, where they step out of moving vehicles to dance to the song, while others have taken it more in the spirit of ‘flash mob’ style dancing, though with fewer people and less exotic locations. Regardless, the song is getting hot, and the possibilities are seemingly endless.

Not one to ignore such trends, James Cordon, a British comedian and the host for The Late Late Show with James Cordon, humorously called Baby Shark a “modern classic” and a song that “defines this generation”. He recreated an adult version of the song on his show. Singing along with Sophie Turner, who performs the voice of ‘Mommy Shark’ and Josh Groban who plays the voice of ‘Daddy Shark’, the trio give the song a jazzy rendition, complete with a choir and dancers wearing…? You guessed it! Shark masks! The performance received a standing ovation, and I have to say it made me look at the song in a completely new light. At least, until the next kiddie birthday party I go to.

For those of you who haven’t heard Baby Shark and think you will escape unscathed, there is no point in resisting; it will slowly but surely creep through your social media pages and become lodged in your head and turn into the annoying tune that you find yourself humming in the shower or in moments of deep reflection. Just do yourself a favour and learn the darned lyrics, so you don’t get told off by the kids around you for getting the words wrong.

Sheherzad Kaleem is a documentary filmmaker based in Dubai. sheherzadk@gmail.com

I was surprised that Coca-Cola would allow such an outdated and uninspiring concept to ever be turned into an ad. The ad centres on Mustehsan walking with a bottle of coke in one hand, and some sheets of music in the other. The wind blows said sheets of paper away and she sets her coke down on what turns out to be a moving platform that a construction worker/billboard installer (Tony Kakkar – without any safety gear in place) is using to be hoisted up. She tries to call out to him, but he can’t hear her because of his headphones (another safety hazard).

A traditional music band, standing idly near the scene of action, starts to beat their dhols as soon as Mustehsan is done shouting out. The noise of the drums causes the bottle to teeter, and Mustehsan realises that she could use the power of sound to tip the bottle over from the rising platform — and defying logic and science, she would then be able to catch it and drink it.

I could expect a concept like this, with a low budget execution, to come from Waseem Hassan (Of ‘Axcuse me – Aap bhi’ ads), but certainly not from a brand of Coca-Cola’s stature. The storyline was an insult to my intelligence and the execution let me down further. The ad felt contrived, inauthentic and pointless – the sub-par acting did not help either.

Her master plan of an idea spreads through the crowd, perhaps through telepathy, and suddenly dozens of people, all miraculously dressed in yellow and red appear out of nowhere and join in the singing and clapping. Mustehsan sings to the bottle, which is about to fall when the construction worker/billboard installer picks up the bottle and takes a giant swig. More nonsense follows (I’ve typed enough already), and eventually a Coca Cola truck appears and everyone gets a drink. Meanwhile, I am inches away from banging my head on the wall.

I could expect a concept like this, with a low budget execution, to come from Waseem Hassan (Of ‘Axcuse me – Aap bhi’ ads), but certainly not from a brand of Coca-Cola’s stature. The storyline was an insult to my intelligence and the execution let me down further. The ad felt contrived, inauthentic and pointless – the sub-par acting did not help either.

I accept that advertising is about pushing creative boundaries and feeding the imagination, but I do not want to waste my time putting sense into something in the name of creative thinking. There are certain brands whose reputation sets an expectation from them. Coca-Cola is that brand for me. When I see a Coca-Cola ad, I want to see an interesting narrative. I want to see something clever, punchy, entertaining and memorable. I want to feel goose bumps and be inspired. I want to believe that anything is possible.

Unfortunately, this ad left me with nothing stimulating.

As I always look for something positive in a creative body of work, so for this ad, I think the saving grace could perhaps be the song. Personally, I am not a fan, but I can understand why Coca-Cola selected it as their anthem – it has rhythm, beat and sing-along-ability. Also, having Mustehsan as the main character in the ad guarantees that her fans will follow the ad and appreciate it – a clever choice and one that seems to be working, as evidenced by the enthusiastic comments people are leaving on the Facebook page for Coca-Cola.

Sheherzad Kaleem is a documentary filmmaker based in Dubai. sheherzadk@gmail.com

Food packaging has its own intricacies. Food grade material has to be used, shelf life and ingredient preservation is a major concern and often design space is limited due to regulatory requirements of food associations with regards to labelling and packaging. Having said this, globally and even locally, many brands have played it smart and created brilliant package designs.

Here, I will focus on three major agri-food categories and their packaging.

Rice

Many people do not believe in packaging when it comes to rice. The problem with most agri-based categories is their commoditised nature (khulla chaawal, khulli patti and so forth). As a result, the emphasis on packaging is reduced. Considering that rice is packaged for export, the need to print in multiple languages clutters the packaging. Most brands have not put much effort in their designs, opting for a more generic formula. For example, Guard, Falak, Royal and Ideal have kept their design basic. Falak has a farm visual on the pack, making it slightly different from the others and Ideal has a transparent side panel which is a new trend in the international market. Jazaa, however, (a relatively new entrant) has worked on both the design and the packaging material. Their self-standing re-sealable pouches with their premium look have helped position the brand as a high-end one. In terms of colour, Jazaa have moved away from the traditional red and green and included black in their range.

The good thing about Pakistan’s milk category is that brands have owned their colours and made them a differentiating factor. Green for Milkpak, red for Olper’s and blue for Haleeb. New entrants too opted for different colours; grey for Nurpur, white for good milk and black for Day Fresh.

Milk

Given that Pakistan is among the top five largest dairy producers of the world, we should be defining packaging standards for milk. Yet, perhaps due to the need to control pricing, the milk industry has had to rely on alternatives.

The fact that UHT milk cannot be packaged in pet bottles further limits the options available to manufactures. As a result, packaging is dominated by TetraPak, although recently some players have moved to formats such as EcoLean or cheaper packaging sourced from China. EcoLean, with its self-standing pouches, is a good alternative and is used by Olper’s, Dostea and Nurpur. To compete with these new formats, TetraPak has introduced new package formats such as Tetra Edge (Olper’s and Dairy Fresh) and Prisma (good milk and Haleeb packs). This in itself is a major departure from the brick pack still in use by Nestlé Milkpak and Asli Milk and some tea whiteners. Experimentation in design is rare, especially with TetraPak packaging. Most brands, even internationally, opt for a splash of milk, grass or glass/jug elements. The good thing about Pakistan’s milk category is that brands have owned their colours and made them a differentiating factor. Green for Milkpak, red for Olper’s and blue for Haleeb. New entrants too opted for different colours; grey for Nurpur, white for good milk and black for Day Fresh.

Flour

What Jazaa did for rice packaging, Onaaj tried to do for flour. At 25 million tons and valued at Rs 900 billion, flour is mostly sold as a commodity even by brands. Fine, Ashrafi and, to some extent, Bake Parlour position their flour as a commodity at retail level, rather than engage consumers with a marketing proposition. Onaaj, with its distinct packaging, took a leaf from Indian brands Rasoi Bhog Aata and Hathi Brand. Unfortunately, Onaaj went out of business. Sunridge, another new entry, launched their flour with a design that is a cross between Bake Parlour and Onaaj. How the brand will do has yet to be seen.

Fruit is another commoditised agri-based product that requires branding. However, like milk it has maintaining freshness issues and regulatory challenges and unlike milk, fruit cannot rely on TetraPak; hence it remains a largely unbranded category, even globally.

Sami Qahar is a Dubai-based Pakistani looking for excuses to write. Aurora gives him a few.
sami.qahar@gmail.com

Flashback time: I had recently started working at Pakistan’s ‘only MNC ad agency’ (it’s rather inevitable for those in the business of brands and selling to claim all manner of exaggerated singular achievements for themselves) when they landed a huge account. One of the first items on the agenda was the launch of a high-calcium, low-fat milk brand.

Cue hours (weeks) of brainstorming, fortified by ever-stronger cups of coffee and progressively louder arguments. Eventually, the brand was launched with innovative packaging and a sleek campaign featuring skinny, beautiful people grunting in a gym before parading about dressed in high fashion – in other words, a depiction that barely 0.00001% of the target audience could even decipher, let alone relate to. After a brief struggle, the brand tanked and was pulled from the market. Conclusions ranged from ‘people are not interested in low-fat milk in this market’ (perhaps pre-launch research would have helped determine this assertion) to ‘product issues’ (dubious, given the amount of testing done) to ‘price!’ (the evergreen scapegoat) to ‘too aspirational’ (and we have a winner!).

In Pakistani advertising, ‘aspirational’ usually equals outrageously luxurious lifestyles, enacted by impossibly beautiful people. The brand that must not be named did exactly this and failed spectacularly. Do fitness freaks even drink milk? How many women in Pakistan go to the gym when men are around? Nesvita showed us how to do it right years later, with a platform relevant to women and an approach that verged on inspirational (not the same!), while still having both feet firmly on the ground.

I have bored you with this ancient history for a reason: Nurpur low-fat milk. The campaign received a fair amount of attention, but how does it compare to Nesvita and the extinct brand mentioned earlier?

I would say it falls somewhere between the two. The tagline is memorable and relevant, a welcome occurrence in a country where too often, nonsensical taglines and copy are used because apparently they sound ‘catchy’ – yes, I’m looking at you, Pakistani confectionery brands and lends itself well to social media. The packaging fits with the range, although I still find black an odd choice (it stands out, sure, but it just doesn’t go with dairy and if that means I’m old-fashioned, so be it!).

The TVC is likely the most unique aspect of the campaign and it scores well in some areas. It’s nicely made and I like the black and white (B&W) treatment as that is generally deployed to evoke nostalgia, which is obviously not the case here. It’s sleek and modern and it doesn’t feel fake – there is a certain grittiness to it, reinforced by the setting and especially the female model, who seems extremely comfortable with the strenuous workout she is doing, while also managing to look well put together. Frankly, anything that shows women in a role outside the standard wife-mum-equal- martyr portrayal has my vote, even if hardcore gym workouts are not a prominent feature in the lives of the majority of the target audience. In this case, I think there is a genuine element of aspiration, beyond the generic perfect life stuff we see so much of – everyone wants to be fit these days, after all. I also like the lack of voice-over throughout, as it helps keep the focus on the action.

And yet... it doesn’t make the sort of impact I thought it would have. It feels like a montage of different exercises rather than an advert. It doesn’t have a proper peak, somehow staying at the same level from start to finish. The juxtaposition between the man and woman is unclear – they start off almost like rivals, then look as though they are working together, and by the time the woman chugs the milk (while sneering at the man), it seems like they are rivals again.

And that brings me to my biggest peeve: chugging milk. In the gym. During a vigorous workout. That just ruins the entire ad for me because it’s jarring and fake: anyone who has ever worked out knows how detrimental it would be to drink anything as heavy as milk (even low-fat milk) while your heart is racing and you are sweating a bucket a minute. And it’s unnecessary in an ad that is remarkably restrained in some aspects. Wouldn’t it be enough to show the brand at the end, and trust your audiences to make the connection between low-fat milk and fitness? Why must there ALWAYS be a consumption shot?

End score. Stands out, largely relevant, refreshing representation of a woman, but could have been better.

Now for something wholly different! Bank campaigns are uniformly stodgy, and with good reason; when it’s about money, seriousness is key! Some banks have attempted to ‘capture’ younger audiences with rather dismal results. Apparently it isn’t enough to launch a credit card that is exactly the same as any other card, but in a brighter colour and expect it to succeed with young people. Shocking!

Which brings us neatly to ‘HBL ID’. Not brilliantly innovative by any means, but relevant, which is far more important than being creative in my view. The offer fits the audience and the attempt to portray five distinct personalities (IDs) isn’t bad, although clichés abound within (dreamer/genius/ insert-other-generic). Using social media is the right strategy, though a lot more can be done via active audience engagement and user-generated content. In fact, the activation done in August, while simple, was effective in the way that it synced with the target audience: selfies are, of course, user-generated content and also obviously, the new everything. In a category that churns out dull, uniform campaigns with monotonous regularity, ‘HBL ID’ is at least different and employs an approach that is meaningful to its demographic. We live in a world of pithy labels, positive and negative, so one must commend the brand for spotting and using this insight. Coupled with HBL’s League Internship Programme, it appears the bank is focusing on younger audiences quite a bit, which is a sound strategy in a country with such a sizeable youth population.

End score. Sound strategy, relevant execution, not brilliant, but workmanlike.

To wrap up, I will touch upon Whistlez Biscuits: big budgets, expensive-looking TVCs, hip young people. Unfortunately, the brand name and positioning don’t work for me. The name? Self-explanatory. The positioning? I’m not a fan of shaky links between insights and product/category. Having a biscuit, no matter how utterly delicious, does not give you courage (we have heard of liquid courage but this isn’t the same, unless there are secret ingredients we don’t know about!). It probably gives you a hint of happiness, maybe a sliver of contentment if you are in a great mood and/or easily pleased. But it won’t magically help you conquer your fears. This is the sort of thing we see a lot in Indian commercials; someone happens upon a likely genuine insight and desperately tries to make it fit the brand in question through the most tenuous of links. The result is haphazard and one is usually left with a vague memory of the story, but absolutely no recollection of the brand – a massive fail in my opinion.

End score. Flash sans substance, unconnected and most unforgivably, slice-of-life!

Sara Qureshi is a marketing professional.

A bookish silence floated about; a reverence for the ideals this sort of place invokes hung in the air.

An elderly Teutonic uncle sat near me placidly, his favourites indulgently spread out around him. Uncle and I continued to ignore one another – as polite people do – enthralled in our private intellectual pursuits.

Suddenly the reverent silence is unceremoniously sky bombed by the nasal-loud-gossipy-chatter of young women. Uncle sitting on the floor fidgets in annoyance; I throw a mildly disapproving look at the girls and turn back to the books and that is when the unthinkable happens...

Girl 1 discovers Churchill’s biography: “Oh hey! It’s Churchill!”

Girl 2 replies: “I know that guy! He’s like that psychologist right?”

Uncle’s face swings in my direction... I stare back at uncle. My brown face finds its horrified expression mirrored in his white-wrinkled one; an expression that says “What the f$@* has this world come to?! Lift me God –

I want to die. She called Churchill a psychologist.”

This is a true story.

But... what if I added an end slide to this story that said... “Don’t be that girl; read a damn book!” It would work splendidly as an ad for a bookstore (or maybe a PSA at the very least!).

Churchill’s story as narrated above is an example (albeit a mediocre one) of how crucial storytelling is to advertising. Without the storytelling elements Churchill’s story would be dull as dirt. Instead, through the deliberate and diligent integration of plot, structure, scene, aesthetics, characterisation and contextualisation (all elements of the storytelling skill set), the Churchill story leads the audience along a memorable and enjoyable road that ends with a strong take-home message.

Storytelling secret #1:
Story isn’t a synonym for storytelling!
Newsflash! Story and storytelling are two different (though symbiotically linked) things.

I cringe every time I hear creative veterans make this mistake (which is depressingly often). Our industry uses these words interchangeably. Because our industry doesn’t do its research. Because our industry is lazy. Bad industry.

Story is your creative idea. Storytelling is how you knit your idea, so that the idea makes its point as uniquely, enjoyably and memorably as possible. Story is the soul looking for a body to inhabit; storytelling is that body. Story is always idea, storytelling is always execution. And don’t let anybody tell you otherwise!

To forever internalise the difference between the two concepts, read The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell (it will change your life; and you are welcome).

Storytelling secret #2: Get your head out of your a$$
Stop thinking about yourself. Stop it. Having your head up your own behind neither helps you, your creativity nor your client’s brand. Instead, spend your time thinking about the audience (and while we are ending bad habits, let’s also please stop insulting the audience by labelling them ‘consumers’, a word which means nothing creatively or practically). Think about what makes people tick, across economic realities.

Creatives are lucky to get paid to craft stories that will reach millions of people, so understand the weight of that opportunity! Give it the respect it deserves and empower yourself with your own research. This has nothing to do with the planning department and everything to do with being a good storyteller. Be genuinely interested in all the individuals you meet – they will endow you with the truth and inspiration you need to craft an idea and then tell its story.

You cannot convince anyone of anything unless you understand how he or she perceives the world. And you can’t see how they look at the world unless you stop looking at the world from your own myopic perspective. If you want to hone this skill (which you should want to do!) the book to read is The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell.

If Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Plato and Socrates have taught us anything, it is that a great mentor invests so much in you that you become inspired to start investing in yourself. If you can help it, try and find yourself a boss that you are both impressed and terrified by. In the absence of such good fortune, visit your local bookstore and just read a damn book.

Storytelling secret #3: Become a brainiac
As a creative, you need to major in storytelling and minor in cognitive psychology. Storytelling is so important to advertising because stories are so important to the human mind. We dream in stories. We empathise through stories. We record our species’ history in the form of stories. Stories are not only the nectar of human experience; they are the brain’s favourite food. Neurologically speaking, the brain reacts in a physical way to stories. This is not airy-fairy stuff; humans are neurologically hardwired to understand and remember the world through stories. Good storytelling lights up the pleasure centres in our brains. And I don’t need to tell you that as humans we remember the things that give us pleasure. As a creative, your job is to try and get your brand to do that for the audience.

Cognitively speaking, great storytelling manipulates people into buying the moral of the story. We are more likely to listen to a message we don’t like if it is fed to us in the form of a well-told story. Most importantly, our attitudes, opinions, and beliefs change when confronted with a story told convincingly.

For a crash course on the inner workings of the mind read Self & Others by R. D. Laing, or Psychology of the Unconscious by Jung, or Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (ideally, read all three together and in consecutive doses).

Storytelling secret #4: Storytelling is about 360
The good storyteller’s job doesn’t end at the TVC. The lazy creative’s thinking does. Storytelling is media-sensitive. It worries about every single manifestation of the brand story across each medium. Storytelling is about telling the story in the best way possible, keeping in mind the capability of every medium, ensuring the story is told as potently in OOH, or POS, or digital, or radio as it was in the TVC.

I am sure industry veterans are rolling their eyes at this point because it’s sooo obvious. But if it is so obvious, how come no one is doing it right? (I’m looking at you, Sooper. Your OOH is harder to understand than Nietzsche. And like Nietzsche, the meaning seems to change every time I look at it.)

Storytelling secret #5: Learn from the masters
The biggest secret of all is: stand on the shoulders of giants. I have been blessed to be able to learn storytelling from the best minds our industry has to offer. My current boss refuses to listen to my idea unless I can articulate it in less than 10 words. He chastises me for what he calls “wasting my words” – and rightly so, because for a storyteller words are the most precious, most essential currency; we have to use that currency to its best impact.

If Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Plato and Socrates have taught us anything, it is that a great mentor invests so much in you that you become inspired to start investing in yourself. If you can help it, try and find yourself a boss that you are both impressed and terrified by. In the absence of such good fortune, visit your local bookstore and just read a damn book.

Ella Hussain is Creative Director/ Creative Producer at Slingshot. ella@slingshotpk.com

• Winning people’s hearts is a slow process that may not immediately turn into cash; yet, it has been consistently proven that winning ‘share of heart’ leads to solid brand loyalty and it is this loyalty that will eventually convert to bottom-line numbers.

When companies first started branding their products, it was merely to show proprietorship. Soon, consumers evolved and understood that products that were known for consistent quality were dependable and hence they started buying more of these ‘brands’. Companies took note of this and advertising was born. In its most basic sense, advertising made people aware of products that were good or unique and tied that goodwill to a name. As time moved on, consumers evolved again. They were no longer satisfied with mere quality, as at any given point, they had a number of quality options in their consideration set. Companies and their marketing departments also learned that physical product attributes could easily be replicated by their competitors.

Eventually, advertising evolved to communicate an emotional aspect about a brand; for example, Coke standing for ‘Happiness’ or Pepsi as the ‘Choice of the New Generation’. These are ideas rather than physical features, yet they were far more powerful words than merely saying ‘more fizz’ or ‘sweeter’.

Today, emotional equity, like physical product attributes, is no longer enough to build brand loyalty. Millennials are very aware of their surroundings; they live in a world filled with problems and a media that constantly amplifies these problems. Political turmoil, pollution, crime, war, lack of basic necessities and minimum wages are among the many issues that bother them. They look to established entities to work towards solving these issues and contribution from businesses and industry are also part of that expectation.

Pepsi for example, did well in Pakistan with their ‘Litre of Light’ campaign. For every bottle of Pepsi sold, the company contributed a small amount to a fund that would then provide electricity to those villages that until then had not been electrified. Social media talked about the initiative and the campaign went viral. People appreciate it when a commercial entity gives back to the community and it creates a soft spot for the brand doing this.

Now, there will be marketers who will ask: “How many rupees did that translate into directly?”

While there is no measure to calculate this, I think they are fundamentally off in their approach about such campaigns. There is ‘share of market’ and then there is ‘share of heart’. The first can be directly translated into monetary numbers, but the other is a soft KPI. Winning people’s hearts is a slow process that may not immediately turn into cash; yet, it has been consistently proven that winning ‘share of heart’ leads to solid brand loyalty and it is this loyalty that will eventually convert to bottom-line numbers.

For this generation, a brand advertising ‘happiness’ for example, is seen as a fake claim made by a manufacturer desperately trying to sell a product. Advertising is no longer trusted the way it was in the old days, when the much more naïve Baby Boomers believed the content that flashed on their TV tubes. Everything that was shared was believed because you know – TV doesn’t lie. For the new generation, TV is nothing but lies. However, some of these brands genuinely believe in their causes. For the people working in marketing and on the factory floors, what Coke stood for was a powerful idea; it was not just a marketing gimmick. The brand captured an entire era of American culture, heritage, good times and of course happiness. However, Coke did not just pay lip service to happiness; instead, they demonstrated how the brand is contributing to spreading happiness in several campaigns that went viral.

A good example of this evolution comes from Dove. When Dove launched in 1957, the soap had a very strong USP in the fact that it was a quarter moisturising cream. In 1960, however, Dove stopped talking about the soap’s attributes; instead, they started talking to women in emotional terms. They did this because they saw that their consumers were evolving. From soft and smooth skin, Dove slowly started talking about being a feminine product and one that beautiful women deserved to pamper themselves with. Finally, Dove launched their ‘Real Beauty’ campaign, which talked about inner beauty and challenged the unnecessarily high standards women had to meet in order to be considered beautiful. The brand challenged the basic definition of beauty in society. The impact of the Dove campaign was undisputable. It re-energised the brand by giving it a greater purpose. Dove was no longer a shampoo or a soap; the brand became a superstar for women and an advocate of their issues. Dove won the largest ‘share of heart’ of any brand in its category and in the process, this translated into bottom-line results.

Winning people’s hearts is a slow process that may not immediately turn into cash; yet, it has been consistently proven that winning ‘share of heart’ leads to solid brand loyalty and it is this loyalty that will eventually convert to bottom-line numbers.

This brings us to the kind of activism a brand should adopt.

I have had the unique experience of taking up this task first-hand with a global team when I was working with Ogilvy on the Mondelēz account. At that point, Tang had taken up activism in the Latin American market. The brand stood up for sustainability and worked with children to create awareness on issues such as deforestation and conservation.

When the time came to adapt the campaign globally, it became clear that the same kind of activism would not work in every market; the cause had to be locally-relevant. Deforestation was something that Latin American children could relate to because of the crisis in Brazil and other South American countries. To a child in Saudi Arabia, deforestation and conservation meant nothing. Research showed that Saudi children are privileged and a campaign to help the less-privileged by donating their old toys immediately grabbed their imagination. This campaign set a Guinness world record when it was implemented in the GCC countries.

Tang was not only doing a CSR activity. If it was, it could just as easily have done something like donating books to schools. The difference between CSR and activism is that the latter is tied to the essence of a brand. Dove did not just go to African villages and donate food. That would have been a CSR activity. They stood for beauty and they found a way to advocate this within the brand’s essence. Similarly, Tang locked into something it stood for which was ‘advocating for children all over the world’ and it started to build communication around it.

Brand activism is a long-term game. It is not a tactical campaign. When treated as such it comes across as fake, which is why many such campaigns fail. Brand activism can be either passive or active. It is the latter that gives the most benefit. Passive activism is what the brand consciously chooses not to do. It does not necessarily communicate values; it just abides by them. A brand that chooses not to employ child labour in the manufacturing process is doing passive activism. Being active means going one step further and launching a campaign to create awareness about the issues arising from child labour and perhaps take positive steps, such as providing financial assistance to families so that they can send their children to school.

To conclude, in the beginning having a quality product was enough; next, people started responding to emotional benefits and today’s generation wants to see brands giving back to their communities. Smart marketing teams will understand this trend and start putting a plan in place to embark on brand activism. They will understand that this is more about building brand loyalty by winning ‘share of heart’, which eventually translates into long-term financial gains and will not think of it as a gimmick that can quickly help them reach this quarter’s sales targets.

Syed Amir Haleem is CEO, Kueball Digital. syedamirhaleem@gmail.com

When I first saw the 'Bata Womaniser' ad photo via social media, I thought it was a practical joke. I sat on it for a few minutes then posted it on social media for comment. It struck a sensitive nerve with my contacts. Within minutes, angry comments started pouring in and then the sharing began. I followed it for a couple of hours, then went to bed. This morning I read Bata’s apology. Misogyny is rampant in Pakistan, and for a brand that sells product to women, men and children, the picture of a man with the message “Womaniser, and comfortable with it” boldly printed was definitely many steps too far. It is sexist and in poor taste. Women are up in arms, and I am sure many men must have been offended too.

I am not sure how advertising agencies are selected by their clients, but I sense a gap in the market for someone whose head is screwed on right.

It’s not just the nuances of a language that matter, and I will be the first to admit English is not our primary language – a fact that explains the frequent mix up of genders in the English daily newspapers. Just last week we had Mr Jinnah (no less) referred to as a 'her' in The News!

But I digress. There are other worrying issues that keep popping up with frightening regularity. Yes, we are a patriarchal society, but why must we continue to push the stern mother-in-law stereotype. Young couple sneak biryani from the market, eat it after the in laws are asleep, only to realise the frying pan is now burnt and carries tell tale marks of the rice. Worried girl, (memories of an inquisitive mother-in-law) and then husband to the rescue! He hands her a bar of soap! I ask you! Wouldn't it have been better to leave the old lady out of the story and have the husband wash the pan? But NO, ram gender stereotypes down our throat, mothers-in-law are tough old crows, and a woman's place is in the kitchen. Sad and no marks for originality. Then we have the Mawra Hocane/Azfar Rehman Brooke Bond Supreme tea adverts that condone/hint at first cousin relationships.

In a country where the majority of citizens marry first cousins, and pay the medical price of inheriting genes that carry a host of medical issues, would it not make sense to steer clear of this practise? The mind boggles. TV ads convey strong messages, some overt and some not so. Responsible ads carrying socially-relevant messages go a long way in influencing audience mindsets; about the product and frequently about social norms portrayed in the clip.

Let’s look at the 'coolness' factor, real or imagined. In a country where the majority of motorcycle riders have no qualms riding sans helmet, we see TV ads pushing products like motorcycles, tyres and shampoos, all showing dashing boys and girls – invariably minus helmet! Check out the Servis tyres ad. The fact that Shaan shows us how to evade capture from the bad guys on a super bike, minus head protection, reinforces the irresponsible attitude of ad agencies. If you look closely, the bikers chasing him are ALL wearing helmets. What is the message here?

There is more. I cannot remember the brand, but some of you may recall the recent ad showing a couple of broken walnuts, with the copy, we can (or let us) crack your nuts, or words to that effect. Am I seeing double and thinking half? Or is there something seriously wrong with our copywriters and the marketing heads they report to?

Romano Karim is a former copywriter.

Johnnie Walker – The Man Who Walked Around the World

Category: TVC
For the past 150 years, Johnnie Walker has stuck to the single and sustainable mantra of ‘keep walking’. This TVC, featuring Scottish actor Robert Carlyle, is my favourite in the series. Set in Scotland, where it all began in the 18th century, Carlyle’s effortless one-take monologue is a masterpiece of storytelling that keeps you glued to the screen. A great example of a brand walking like it’s talking!
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty, London

Beats by Dr Dre – The Game Before the Game
Category: TVC
Athletes go through a lot of inner wars and mental pressure prior to big games. Dr Dre picked up this particular moment and urged them to keep calm, block the voices and focus on the game. The best part is the product insertion, which plays the biggest role in allowing you to focus on something big… a great pair of headphones.
Agency: R/GA London and R/GA Los Angeles

Standard Chartered Bank – The Coolest Movie You’ll Never See
Category: TVC
Mobile banking commercials are often predictable and boring, so it’s nice to see a message that is not only captivating, but puts a smile on your face. Imagine being in a movie theatre and just before the movie starts, you are confronted by a fake movie trailer that slips in all the info about the product before you even realise what you are watching.
Agency: Manhattan International, Pakistan

Blue Band – #AchayiBarhnayDo
Category: TVC, Digital
Although the message is not unique, it certainly took on a new life when it came from Blue Band. I particularly like the simplicity and emotion in the execution. The hashtag is seamlessly linked to the protagonist as well as to the product. It’s refreshing when brands take a step forward to show special individuals as normal and productive members of society – even if it is just a single step.
Agency: MullenLowe India and MullenLowe Rauf, Pakistan

Zameen.com – Har Pata Humain Pata Hai
Category: TVC In Pakistan, Fawad Khan sells; there is no doubt about it. However, the idea behind the ad should be strong enough to stand on its own. This is one instance where both come together to produce an insightful communication with a healthy dose of emotion. I am sure this ad will resonate with Pakistanis who dream of owning their own home.
Agency: Starcrest Communications, Pakistan

Ufone – Super Minutes
Category: TVC
After a long and successful stint with humour, this was a good flavour for the brand to add to its personality. The insight they picked is widely relatable and well-realised in the execution. Enough of the flowery scripts and random slow motion shots. This is a great example of how brands should talk to their consumers – real messages for real people.
Agency: JWT, Pakistan

UN Women – The Autocomplete Truth
Category: TVC, Print, Digital, OOH This is probably one of the most powerful and relevant print campaigns for women’s rights I have ever seen. An idea like this really hits home in places like the Middle East, where basic women’s rights are overlooked on a daily basis. I loved the simplicity along with the unlimited possibilities to campaign it further. Hats off to the creative team for creating such a simple and impactful concept.
Agency: Memac Ogilvy & Mather, UAE

Ariel – #WashTheLabel
Category: TVC, Digital
The two things I liked the most about this idea was the way the concept was weaved into the category and how they used a different tone to speak to the women. Although I am not a big fan of the execution, I would argue that these films are good enough to break the mould of hard-selling and comparison-based communications.
Agency: Adcom Leo Burnett, Pakistan

Asrar Alam is Associate Creative Director, Manhattan International. asrar@manhattan.com.pk