I first wrote for Aurora almost 25 years ago. Back then, both Aurora and I were the new kids on the marketing and advertising blocks. We had our own unique ambitions, but we both shared a passion for marketing and advertising. Aurora provided me with a consistent platform to express my thought leadership ideas, and helped me to occupy the high ground in our field. So when Aurora approached me to contribute to its 25th anniversary issue on what has changed in marketing, I asked them to pull out from their archives my two decades’ worth of writings to refresh what my thinking was back then and see what has changed.

At the outset, let me state the two things I strongly believed in 25 years ago. One, brands need to think beyond TV and print to step-change their marketing and advertising efforts. Two, brands need to be more creative and not believe that all it takes is a big budget or a strong media buying plan to win. I wrote several articles on these subjects, and by passionately following these beliefs, I built my own new breed agency at a time when the only kind of agency around was the traditional one.

It has been a great pleasure to drive the development of the industry in this direction. In these 25 years, activation, content, digital and PR started to take a new shape, carving a fresh space that went beyond a TV and print ad only mindset. However, today as I look at the overall position of these relatively new marketing spaces, I find that they still account for only 20 to 25% of the total marketing spend and that only one in five clients believe these to be more important than TV.

So, the point that I am going to make in this article is that nothing much has changed in 25 years and that 80% of marketers still believe that TVCs are the only thing they really need in their marketing mix and that they need big budgets to win. Activation, digital, PR or content – they are just nice boxes to tick – but never done with the same intensity and belief.

This is also true from a creative standpoint; Pakistani advertising is still predominantly where it was 25 years ago. The industry has not dramatically evolved or risen creatively and only a few ads stand out. The only awards show in Pakistan, the PAS Awards, repackaged as the Effie Awards, is run by clients. They are designed to please and make clients win and be happy – and in the process they are setting the wrong benchmark for what creativity and great work should be. Of course, there are worthy winners, who would do well at any global awards show but, to be brutally honest, they represent hardly 10% of the work that wins locally. As an industry, we need to do some soul-searching. We need independent third-party local award shows that fairly award great work. I recall that Aurora started awards a long time ago, but did not sustain it. However, it is good to see Dragons of Asia starting a Dragon of Pakistan award. This will be good for Pakistan’s ad industry.

Thus my conclusion on this subject is that although marketing may have changed dramatically over the years, in some aspects nothing has really changed in Pakistan. This said, I still have a lot more to say on this subject. For younger readers let me set the scene of how it was 25 years ago.

Yes, every household had a TV, but mobile phones were still a high-end luxury item used by top executives and the financially privileged. But for sure, they were not smart like they are today. We had to memorise phone numbers and there was no WiFi; only a dial-up internet connection for email and basic browsing. Online games and video content did not exist. There was no such thing as digital marketing or social media. So you could be forgiven for thinking that everything was totally different, and in some ways, you would be right. The internet, social media and a million different marketing technology solutions have revolutionised the way we do things now.

The old model of marketing was largely based on awareness. Get in front of the consumer with a brand or a benefit, so that when they make a purchase, your target consumer will hopefully remember your product favourably. This marketing model still exists in part, but the customer journey has changed dramatically. Our ability to track what we do, and use data to measure results and optimise performance is probably the biggest shift since I started out in advertising.

However, in terms of the fundamental principles of marketing, things don’t change, and I think that as marketers in a digital age, we sometimes need to be reminded of the basics. We are quick to jump on new and shiny things, but occasionally are just as quick to forget the fundamentals that are timeless.

1. Correct message, right audience and media: It’s not rocket science. Break down your audience into segments and understand what makes them tick. Identify the right message for each target group, and present it to them via a channel they actually use. In the days before digital, how did we put together a marketing strategy? Well, here is what we did not do: start with a list of popular magazines, newspapers, radio and TV stations, throw in some outdoor advertising near busy roads (and which our bosses pass through) and scatter the budget evenly between them. Please tell me this is not how you do it today.

2. Be real, not flowery: Consumers have come of age and they are no longer sitting ducks that every marketer can target. The tables have turned and they choose their brands wisely. Nothing fake will fool them and even if you manage to do it once, you are done and dusted forever after. Despite the fact that brands have more data than before, consumers are empowered with multiple comparison sites, online reviews, YouTube product demonstrations, live online help and chat and quicker access to decision-makers and influencers. In fact, today, marketers have never been under so much pressure to deliver numbers: sales, website traffic, likes, engagement and followers. There are so many tricks and techniques to get the numbers up, but numbers for numbers’ sake can do more harm than good.

3. Power of real life influencers: Recommendations, reviews and word of mouth testimonials have always been powerful marketing tools. Testimonials and proactively driving recommendations and referrals are some of the things I continue to try and introduce in my clients’ marketing material. In my P&G days in the mid-nineties, I was fortunate to witness the power of the ‘Real Lady Testimonial’ advertising campaign for Ariel. They were a breath of fresh air in the artificial crafted world of advertising which uses celebrities to communicate.

4. Your unique brand story grounded in the product: Great brands always have a great story to tell – it is a timeless principle of success. The trick is doing the hard work to find the nugget to build the story on; then craft it and consistently tell it to make it your equity. However, there is a catch. Ground your story in the product. Brand communication used to be well grounded in the product, but today I see it anchored irrelevantly somewhere else. Yes, emotions are good but they should be integral to the product. Today, I see more irrelevant verbal and visual acrobatics than ever before done in the name of emotional advertising, and which takes the brand story away from the product you are trying to sell. To add to this problem is marketers’ love for grandiose claims and finding a social or environmental purpose for their brand. Yet, this has turned out to be mostly irrelevant and an unwelcome distraction from the core of the brand. Do not chase wrong ideals.

To conclude, things change rapidly, which is why it is important to be steady and committed to your product quality and brand message while understanding overall consumer and media consumption trends. Even today I am approached by clients with the same 25-year-old marketing problem: help us improve our branding and communication strategy, in-store retail experience, consumer engagement and media strategies, content creation and brand experiential ideas. I don’t see this changing in the next 25 years. Marketers need to understand that unnecessarily changing the solutions they offer is what creates the problem. Some things need to change and some do not. We need to understand the difference.

Shoaib Qureshy is MD, Bullseye DDB. shoaib@be.com.pk