1. In your opinion, how relevant/irrelevant is AdAsia to Pakistan’s marketing and communications industry?
2. As Pakistan’s marketing and communications industry moves into 2020: i) What are the three biggest changes to have impacted your agency/brand communication efforts in the last decade and what concrete steps have you implemented to adapt to them? ii) What further changes will you implement in order to ensure your agency/brand stays relevant?

Muhammad Shahid
Group GM Marketing, Waves/Singer Pakistan

1 Relevant. AdAsia is a tremendous opportunity for all associated with advertising and communication industries to learn from the world’s best. It will let us showcase our best work and talent. It will be the biggest event for our advertising industry for my generation of marketers.

2 i) Hyper competition, digital evolution and learning from global gurus are the main challenges we faced. Brand communication involves changes at every step. Learning and development in our industry has lagged behind global trends. Competition has increased and digital has taken advertising by storm. We try to give our customers all the information they need through all media, using appropriate communication media. We are trying to become digitally powerful and experiment with new techniques.

ii) A digital presence is indispensable to business and brand; it has become the backbone of marketing.

Farooq Soomro
Head of DMI, FrieslandCampina Engro Pakistan

1 Relevant. A big opportunity for the advertising industry to showcase their work to a global audience. It will provide young professionals with the opportunity to learn and be inspired by experts in their respective fields.

2 i) Media: Providing more touchpoints and meaningful content to stand out from the clutter. Inflation: With increasing costs and competition, different new media platforms are used in conjunction with traditional to reduce costs. Insights: Digital communication is not one way; we have engaged with a plethora of customer touchpoints to connect with consumers and generate insights.

ii) With more and more information to process, it will be difficult for consumers to engage with branded content meaningfully. We require more engaging content on new platforms to reach consumers.

Syed Shahzad Shah
EVP, Marketing & Communications, PTCL

1 Relevant. A great learning experience for the marketing industry. This initiative puts Pakistan on the global marketing map.

2 i) Digital has evolved and we are investing more on digital to connect with young people. The internet is more effective in quickly disseminating information; we are engaging bloggers and online platforms for timely communication of our initiatives. On-ground activation is picking up; we are investing more on this channel for a one-to-one consumer connect.

ii) As per a UN report, 64% of Pakistani audiences are below 30 years old. Our focus is youth centric campaigns, in addition to improving the customer experience.

Sikandar Tiwana
CEO, Shan Foods

1 Relevant. AdAsia will bring exposure and forward ways of thinking and implementing communications in Pakistan.

2 i) Technology has led to the migration of advertising from ATL to digital. We have seen the digression of attention spans. The digital ecosystem is saturated and requires tailor made content that is engaging and relevant. Collaborations with food fusion and key opinion leaders are solutions. The Shan Kitchen platform aims to counter the problem of clutter in digital. Convenience and comfort is the way of the time. Development of e-commerce platforms linked to activities on digital is the rule of thumb for Gen Zs and Millennials.

ii) AI technology requires platforms to analyse and assess data. Data mining and acting on consumer wants is key. Strengthening IT structures and specialised teams are essential.