TALKING HEADS – Part Eleven

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?

Sara Koraishy
CEO, JWT|Grey

1 Irrelevant. In this absence of 30 years most current advertising professionals have no real recall of what AdAsia stands for and how it can help the industry.

2 i) As agencies adapt to the evolving and flexible commercial nature of clients, teams need to embrace agility while ensuring top quality creative output. We have redefined the organisation’s chart, eliminating layers that led to a top heavy structure, in order to inject younger creative talent with experience and interests in non-traditional mediums.

ii) Keep alive an agile and young culture; attract and retain those that bring more to the table than a traditional understanding of media and mediums. We brought Mirum to Pakistan, and will be driving that platform for data mining and social listening, which has immense scope in Pakistan.

Ali Mandviwalla
Managing Partner, Synergy Group/ Dentsu Aegis Network Pakistan

1 Relevant. AdAsia will bring together domestic and international speakers of global repute from the marketing fraternity and beyond. It will provide a chance for exposure to learnings and sharing of experiences. Such events are valuable for the industry and help build a softer image of Pakistan.

2 i) Convergence to digital; Performance driven approach. Our business on the digital side is increasing year-on-year as our focus remains on improving our talent and performance driven approach.

ii) Investing in data insights and increasing skill sets. Providing solutions to our domestic clients through global network learnings. As a parallel universe explodes on digital, so must our abilities, to harness the change.

Muzaffar Manghi
CEO, Manghi Communication Solutions

1 Relevant. Amidst the rapidly changing nature of the economy, consumer behaviour and the advertising and media model, Pakistan represents a prime example of the changing scenario globally.

2 i) How consumers interact with media. While TV may still offer the most reach, it has lost its monopolistic power to influence opinions. Clients are more informed than ever; they are a part of the communication process. The agency model has changed, mammoth institutions are struggling to survive, agility and speed is everything.

ii) Collaboration is the way forward. How we work now includes the client’s intellectual output in everything – devising the communication strategy, discovering insights and developing objectives.

Ahmed Jamal Mir
MD & CEO, Prestige Communications

1 Relevant. AdAsia is a welcome opportunity to showcase work done in Pakistan and highlight some of the advertising leaps taken by the industry. International forums have a positive effect of spurring confidence. The real criteria for the forum’s relevance is whether the content packs a punch in terms of informing and widening our knowledge base – and that remains to be seen.

2 i) The quality of people, commitment and experience is not as robust as one would like it to be: We are committed to attracting people with the right mindset and the ability to contribute meaningfully. There is more focus on execution and ‘getting things out’ rather than thinking or insight; we have stayed true to our creative and strategic philosophy, evident from our success in building local brands. The effectiveness of traditional marketing has shifted to digital; we have equipped ourselves with people who can read the trends and implement digital strategies effectively.

ii) Through fine-tuning our digital pipeline, remaining in step with rapid changes and trends; having a clear understanding of new technologies and influencers; ensuring we deliver content that stands out from the clutter.