In your opinion, how relevant/irrelevant is AdAsia to Pakistan’s marketing and communications industry?

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?

Mahmood Parekh
CE, MCM Advertising

1 Relevant. The gurus will share their views and knowledge on emerging trends, latest technologies and products. The event will help boost Pakistan’s soft image.

2 i) Economic slowdown, shortage of HR and imposition of undue taxes by the government. This is time for the government to instil motivation in advertisers by announcing subsidies and tax exemptions so that advertisers invest in advertising and boost Pakistan’s economy.

ii) Keeping relevancy alive is the trait of any trade and bringing appropriate changes at the right time. We reflect on emerging trends in the present hi-tech era and will build and groom a winning team.

Zohare Ali Shariff
CEo, Asiatic Public Relations Network

1 Relevant. It is a huge platform bringing the best in the global industry to engage and debate great ideas.

2 i) Information overload. Fake News. Audience Fragmentation. Our adaptation includes micro-profiling audiences to develop communication that audiences can relate to and using a strategic mix of channels for effective messaging delivery.

ii) Building rock-solid trust with our audiences so that they become our active advocates out of deep conviction.

Sabiha Wahedna
CEO, Wahedna D’Arcy

1 Relevant. AdAsia is an opportunity to interact with professionals locally and internationally.

2 i) The rapid growth of digital has changed media consumption and buying, completely altering agency remuneration and team structures. It has forced agencies to become nimble and build digital capabilities and look at campaigns in an integrated and holistic ways.

ii) Strong relevant ideas and content are critical. To achieve this, deep analytics and data driven consumer insights is essential.

Raheel Pasha
CEO, Woot Co

1 Relevant. In the ‘connected’ world of today, communication resonates better when designed for psychographic preference instead of socioeconomic or demographic segments. For Pakistan, celebrating excellence across countries is perhaps more important than it was 30 years ago.

2 i) The model of fragmenting marketing into TV, digital, OOH and print has been smashed by digital and has permeated across touchpoints. Cost of disseminating content has dropped to a lower level than the cost of creating good content. Global communication and content has a bigger share of consumer mind space than before. The only solution is to stay nimble. Facebook is already not the choice of Millennials, Snapchat is perhaps fading away, TikTok, once sneered upon by serious marketing gurus, is the most downloaded app. What we know today will soon be remembered as a past trend.

ii) AI to leverage the massive amounts of data which consumers are throwing out by the second. Disruption at the core of the company structure, embracing the gig economy and global workforce availability. Adapting to new skills as part of the company plan as opposed to an afterthought.