Celebrating Digital Innovation

On June 24, 2023, theseventh edition of thePakistan Digital Awards(PDAs) was held, withnotable winners, includingAdamjee Life (Best Websiteof the Year), BankIslami (BestBioTechnology), Jubilee LifeInsurance (Best Social MediaCampaign), Walee (Best DigitalInnovation & User and Entity BigData Analytics), Zindagi poweredby JS Bank (Best Start-up ofthe Year) and TPL Insurance(Best Mobile App). Synite Digitalreceived the most prestigiousaward, Best Digital Agency ofthe Year.

It was Ashifa Paracha whofounded the PDAs, leveraging her25 years’ worth of experience indigital marketing and advertisingto shine a light on a fastincreasing and significant sectorof the marketing industry. A yearlater, she was joined by SamiQahar; the awards were launchedin 2017, with the goal of rewardingadvertising performance andeffectiveness in the digital realm.

The Awards’ motto is ‘Webelieve in Pakistan’s digitalindustry and encourage thebest digital innovation,’ andthe PDA team see the eventas ‘a conversation starter’ inPakistan’s digital environment.

“The 2021 government and itspolicies brought a lot of foreignfunding to Pakistan and thisresulted in a lot of digital start-ups,” Qahar explains. “Whileeconomic setbacks and thesubsequent failure of many start-ups dented investor confidencein the years that followed, theyalso gave rise to tenacioussuccess stories like Bagalleryand Daraz, and we are here tomake these success stories apart of the conversation.”

Looking back, Qahar recallsthat the first PDAs were heldin 2017 with just two jurymembers. However, since then,the awards have grown in termsof categories, jury members,competitors, and sponsors, aswell as credibility.

The first PDAs comprised 25‘simpler’ categories, such asBest Digital Start-up, Best SocialMedia Campaigns, Best DigitalCampaign and Best DigitalInnovation. These categorieswere fine-tuned over the years torecognise the use of technologyin innovative ways to enhancemarketing, and have increased innumber to 40 with sub-categoriesthat include Best Digital PaymentProcessor, Best Digital PRCampaign, Best User and EntityBig Data Analytics, Best MemeMarketing, Best Influencer,Facebook Community of the Yearand TikToker of the Year.

Furthermore, the PDAsnot only recognise digitalcommunication efforts butinnovation and talent in thebroader digital sphere. Severalcategories are targeted atapps, technology-based startups, Enterprise ResourcePlanning (ERP) software andtechnological adaptations thathelp companies improve theircustomer services.

On another note, initially,jury members were fromKarachi only, but the evaluationprocedure now takes place inLahore as well.

“The speed with which thedigital sphere is evolving hascompelled us to open up newcategories,” says Qahar, addingthat while the Effie awards havebeen honouring advertisingeffectiveness, “digital marketingand innovation can no longer berestricted to a single category –the digital landscape needs to beidentified as a separate domainof marketing communications.”

For Qahar, the USP of thePDAs is merit-based selection.The jury performs detailedevaluations on all entriesand works according to theCompetition Rules establishedby PDA.

Participants have to ensurethat their entries meet the PDA’srequirements, which include thebudget of the campaign/project,target audience, implementationmechanisms, results, challenges,and the team’s reason forconsidering a campaign a worthycandidate. Based on these criteria,participants submit their casesthat are evaluated in phase oneby the jury members and in thesecond phase they receive sevenminutes to present their case tothem. The winners are chosenbased on the scores assigned byindividual jury members.

As the event expanded, sodid the number of sponsorsas brands could see that theevent was providing themwith exposure. “This year’ssponsorship funding was threetimes that of last year,” saysQahar. Bank Al Falah, InvictusBrands and Jubilee Insuranceare among the organisations thathave consistently supported theevent over the last seven years.

When it comes to otherinitiatives organised under thePDA banner, Qahar points tothe Digi Leaders Conference,which has had two editionsso far. The CreataverseMentorship Platform isanother endeavour for digitalcontent makers such asTikTokers and Instagraminfluencers. A panel at thisevent advises budding contentmakers on how to increasetheir digital presence.

Organising an annual awardprogramme while maintainingthe legitimacy of its meritbased selection procedureis not without its obstacles.“Initially, our credibility as aforum that evaluates digitalmarketing success was calledinto question,” Qahar continues.“However, over the years, wehave established our credibilityby assuring participants thatevaluations are conductedby a jury of impartial experts.Another challenge we still face,unfortunately, is that someparticipants try to buy an awardin a specific category. When wereject them, we feel pressured,but we have grown evenmore focused on deliveringa transparent jury-basedevaluation process.”

In the future, the PDAsintend to expand the scope ofthe awards and organise moreeditions of the Digi Leadersconference and Creataverse inPakistan as well as in SiliconValley. Furthermore, theteam hopes to representPakistan’s digital landscapeon an international level inthe near future.