“We Need To Future-Proof Our Brands”

AURORA: What prompted youto set up IG Square and whatmakes it different from theother media buying agenciesin Pakistan?
MUHAMMAD SARWARKHAN: IG Square is an acronymfor Imagine Growth Globally.We set up in September 2020,right in the middle of Covid-19when it was already clearthat the market was changingdrastically and it was becomingnecessary to re-evaluate theway we did things. Our mainpurpose is to change theconversation. I have been in theadvertising and media industryfor a long time, and we havebecome used to doing things ina certain way, a way that in myopinion, is no longer relevant ina post-Covid-19 world. We needto re-image and broaden ourcanvas. Specifically, at IG Squarewe focus on three pillars: Data,content and technology; threepillars that will redefine the future.It is no longer about the cheapestad spot; something we havebeen focused on for years andyears. The cheapest spot is notthe solution, because audiencesare now so fragmented. Thefocus has to be on data; on howwe collect and curate data andmake it meaningful. We live ina data-driven, agile world andeverything we do, especiallymedia marketing, must reflectthis. Creativity for the sake ofcreativity doesn’t mean anything.To achieve growth for brands weneed defined growth matrices. Itis not about sales jumping fromone point to another. It is aboutthe way consumers are evolvingand how the macroeconomicindicators are changing, notonly in Pakistan but globally.With the right growth matricesin place, we can look at all thefactors that affect a businessand set the direction for the rightcreative strategy and then lookat expansion. A big problemwith our businesses is theirfear of expanding. If a businessis doing well, they are contentwith that and we are trying toaddress this mindset. We want toeducate local businesses aboutthe importance of expanding –and even going global. We areabout reengineering the medialandscape.

A: How is the microeconomicscenario changing?
MSK: For most FMCG brands,the bullseye is typically a 20- or21-year-old; a person who todayis about 16 – and name meone 16- year-old who watchesTV today? (you don’t need datato tell you this). If 16-year-oldsare not watching TV today, howwill you force them to do so fiveyears from now? The journeyhas to start today because thereare so many different factorsat play. Internet penetrationis set to reach 75%, data anddevices are becoming cheaperand platforms are evolving (arecent example is Netflix startingto take advertising). What isclear is that audiences are nowexposed to the world, yet ourmedia and marketing plans aretoo TV-specific. I am not sayingthat TV is redundant, but TV hasbecome a connecting devicethrough which audiences canlog on and explore multipleplatforms. We need to keep pacewith audiences and this is whydata is important – how do wecollect and then curate data?Because in the next couple ofyears data will be hard to collectdue to privacy concerns. Weneed a data strategy to addressthis and most clients do nothave one. They are living in themoment and not planning for thefuture. Yet, they need to futureproof themselves against all thechanges that are happening.We are not doing enough toevolve ourselves as an industry;our consumers continue to beexposed to multiple platformsbut our media advertisingstrategies are lopsided.

A: How easy is it going to beto convince advertisers tochange strategy, especiallygiven the uncertainty of theeconomic environment?
MSK: We are a two-year-oldcompany and our numbers havedoubled every year. Brandsare not shying away frominvesting in advertising but thequestion is, are they makingthe right investments; are theyinvesting in the future? Thisis why we need to change theconversation. Fifteen or 20 years ago, aTVC was produced, advertisersgot the results they hoped for,job done. Today, we live in adifferent world and we haveto change the mix. The globaltech platforms are evolvingvery rapidly; this year theywill be spending close to $18billion on content – content thatour consumers have accessto through multiple devices.These platforms have bothmassive and aggressive plansfor this region – how will ourmedia industry compete withthem? Consumers have optionsand you cannot force them towatch something they do notwant to on local media. Yet, amajor chunk of the advertisingis going in that direction. Thechanges I am talking about maynot affect us today, but they willfive years from now, and fiveyears is nothing in a brand’s life.We need to start that journeytoday. We need to future-proofour brands. Why is it that thesolution to every brand problemis a TVC? When clients askfor a media strategy, their briefalways includes a 30-secondTVC and a list of channels theywant to run it on. So how canI give them a media strategywhen they are asking for a TVspot list? And then there is thiswhole discussion about whatdiscounts we can get – and thishas affected the TV networks.Their only source of revenuecomes from advertisementsbecause they don’t getsubscriptions. So when it isa question of the cheapestspot, the networks do not earnenough and the result is thatthey do not invest in eithercontent or people – and this is avicious cycle. When audiencesare not served the right content,they start exploring otherplatforms. We have to acceptthis reality and be bold enoughto change the conversation. Ifwe are to grow as an industry,we need to grow together andnot at the expense of each other– which was the case earlier;everyone trying to extractthe maximum from the otherparty. The result was a zerosum game. We need to moveforward and grow togetherand to make this happen, weneed to start to ask the rightquestions and start becomingrelevant to our audiences.

A: What is your solution?What alternatives are youproposing?
MSK: What I normallyrecommend to clients is thatthey do not have to abandonwhat they are doing now, butin parallel, they need to startto plan for the future. At thispoint, it is not about replacingone medium with another. It isabout having a five-year plan.There has to be a data strategy.Google has announced thatby the end of next year, theywill do away with cookies; weare essentially talking abouta cookie-less world and whenthis happens, digital advertiserswill no longer be able to tracktheir consumers’ journey. Thisis why a data strategy is soimportant. Gathering data is alengthy process and then oneneeds to curate it to make itmeaningful. This is why it is soimportant that clients should, inparallel with their conventionalplanning, formulate a datastrategy. Secondly, they needa content strategy. Because ofthe different available platforms,clients need to move from ageneric content approach toa personalised one, based onthe target audience’s interests.Thirdly, blockchain, AI and othertechnological innovations willplay a significant part in theway we market, and we needto figure out how to use thesetools to make our marketingmore efficient. All this requires astrategy because once you haveit, you have a clear pathway tofuture-proofing your brands. Alot of headwinds are comingfrom the big tech platforms andthey are aggressively trying toengage everybody.

A: Do we even have the HRexpertise to gather and curatedata into meaningful actionpoints?
MSK: So, the next step isto get our talent right and,unfortunately, as an industry,we have not invested enoughin our HR. Advertising and themedia are not the first choicesfor students coming out oftop-tier institutions. We need tomake our industry attractive totalented data scientists and wehave to pay them well becausewe can have the strategies but someone has to know how toexecute them. We also need tofigure out how to collaboratewith the start-ups out there;rather than reinventing thewheel, it is about finding theright partners. The same goesfor the content space. We needto find partners who know howto use technology and candevelop personalised content fordifferent audiences.

A: How much of the totalmedia spend does TVaccount for?
MSK: Seventy to 80%.

A: So still quite considerable?
MSK: It absolutely is. As oftoday, 65 to 70% of my agency’sinvestment goes to TV, but willthat be the case five years downthe line? I seriously doubt it.

A: What about digital?
MSK: About 15%, but growingrapidly. To reach the same numberof people we were reachingthrough TV five or 10 years ago,we have to invest almost doublethe amount. TV has an ageingpopulation, although people in theTV world will not agree. Peoplein the 35+ age bracket are stillrelevant to TV, but as for anyonein the 16-year-old bracket, in afew years, it will be very difficultto target them through TV. Wesay we need to catch themyoung, but the younger lot arenot watching TV.

A: What is the ratio betweenyour local and internationalclients?
MSK: Our clients arepredominantly local. However,through our affiliation withUniversal McCann we recentlylaunched Spotify in Pakistan andthey are a global client and wealso recently acquired Emirates.Both clients account for close toone third of our billings.

A: Isn’t there a new breed oflocal advertisers who tendto prefer digital because it ismore cost effective?
MSK: The preferred advertisingplatform for most newadvertisers is digital, althoughbecause we cannot track digitaladvertising in Pakistan, we don’tknow the true volumes. At themoment, we are talking to atleast four to five potential clientsand they are going to be digitalfirst, because given the kindof business they are in, digitalsuits them best. With TV, thereis always the chance that therewill be some wastage, especiallyif the product or service is notavailable nationwide, and someof the clients we are talking toare starting small. Having saidthis, they are ambitious youngentrepreneurs who believe inadvertising and marketing, anddigital gives them the advantageof being very specific andtargeted. So absolutely, the newbreed of advertisers out thereare very open to being digitalfirst. However, unfortunately,because we cannot track digital,we don’t know the total volumeof what is happening out there.

A: Isn’t digital supposed to bethe most measurable medium?
MSK: For TV we have thirdparty companies that trackspots. We subscribe to theirdata and this enables us tomake certain assumptions andcome up with a number in termsof a particular brand’s spend.With digital, although globallythere are third-party companiesthat track digital advertising,in Pakistan we don’t. So, if Iam working on a brand and Iwant to know how much thecompetition has spent on digital,I don’t have access to the data Ineed. Then there is the fact thatthe Googles and Metas of thisworld are talking to advertisersdirectly and the result is thatthere are now two streamsof business. One that goesthrough the agencies and theone that goes through the techcompanies, and I believe thattheir volume of advertising isas big or even bigger than whatis going through the agencies.Unless we have third-partytracking, we cannot really knowwhat the total volume of digitalspend is.

A: What does future-proofingmean in concrete terms?
MSK: It is about firstunderstanding that given thepace of change, something thatis relevant today may not betomorrow, so if your plans arebased on what is relevant today,the chances are that they willbe disrupted. To future-proofbrands, we have identifiedthree key areas of focus. Firstly,culture. How can a brandbecome part of the culture? Thisis about creating awarenessthrough the right mix of earnedmedia. Secondly, community.How do you win hearts?This means getting closer tothe community and creatingmemorable experiences, andwhere activations come in.Third, commercial. How do youwin wallets? To future-proofyour brand, you need to havea strategy for all three – andthere are different layers here.You need the data strategy, thecontent strategy and the techstrategy (identifying the platformyou want to engage with). Whenyou have all three pieces of thejigsaw coming together, youstart to see a plan that is muchmore than a mere TV spot plan.You have a plan that will helpget closer to your consumersand create meaningfulrelationships that will ultimatelyfuture-proof your brand. We maynot have all the answers rightnow, but the idea is to changethe conversation and start thatjourney. We know that change ishappening and unless we keepup with it, it will be too late.

Muhammad Sarwar Khan was inconversation with Mariam Ali Baig. For feedback: aurora@dawn.com