For the Sheer Fun Of It

My day starts whenyours is ending, butwe are connectedto the second, with only a 12-hour time difference. Yet,that seems like worlds apart – andwe are apart in many aspects,advertising being one of them.After years as a creative directorin Pakistan, I relocated to the USnine months ago, and we knowwhat can happen in that time. Yes,astronauts experience profoundtransformations in their vision,changes in muscle flexibilityand bone density, and isolationand confinement in space canimpact their mental and cognitivebehaviours. I feel this sometimes,far away from the madding worldof an ad agency in Pakistan. But italso feels like I have this vantagepoint. To look at the advertising backhome from space – a bird’s eyeview if you will – and evaluate howthe communication is so different.

Should I compare? Should I dare?

Each country has its advertisingnuances. Both are exciting, with theirshare of highs and lows and prosand cons. Yet, the contrast in creativeapproaches is both enlighteningand thought-provoking. On manyoccasions, I feel like Pakistaniadvertising has moved on from thetried and tested, good old, maybeeven ‘fun’ ways of doing advertising.

Let Me Entertain You
The lyrics of Freddie Mercuryring true in the way most Americanbrands approach their advertising,especially on TV and streamingservices. They know that adsinterrupt the viewer’s purpose whenswitching on the TV – so they workhard to make sure these pausesare enjoyable and engaging. Whilewe are always trying to ‘challenge’the brief, this part of the equationdoes not even figure.

One would think that brandmascots are so done, but not here,they are not. A plethora of brandsymbols have been around fordecades, and newer ones keeppopping up. Some have becomecultural icons. The Insta-Cart spotfor Super Bowl 2025 featuredclassics like The Kool-Aid Man, theEnergizer Bunnies, Heinz’s WienerDogs (an army of them), Cheetos’Cheetah, the Green Giant and awhole lot of others. Super Bowlcommercials are much anticipated(even in Pakistan) because theyepitomise this entertainmentcentric approach. Brands investheavily in producing believable adsthat are humorous, star-studdedand even nostalgic.

In Pakistan, advertising (readadvertisers) is often treated likea public service announcementgarbed in brand colours. As adprofessionals, we almost make itour right to correct our ways withpreachiness, metaphors, dramaticnarration, ‘epic’ shots, and moralovertones… whether it’s a bankreminding you of your duty to yourfamily or a telco urging you to dreambig, or a detergent convincing youthat you can change Pakistanand wash it clean. The tone ispreachy, emotional and heavy. It’s acopywriter’s handbook summarisedin a four-page script. In the US, it isdifferent. The ad is not the thing inyour way. It makes itself worth theinterruption. It is funny, odd, charmingand probably has the same actorsas the show you are watching. It isself-deprecating, sometimes evenabsurd. The underlying pressure is toentertain. To keep you from ‘skipping’ .The ads are not teaching andpreaching or providing moral lessons.They are not here to evaluate you.They want you to lighten up, to makeyou laugh, smirk and hope that youassociate them with the brand. It’sa single-minded approach, not thebrand team’s boardroom checklist,before the pre-production meeting.

Let Me Show You
What do ads really show you?One of the most noticeabledifferences is that Americanadvertising reflects real life,specifically American life. Fastfood, medicines, insurance, dentalplans, dealerships, homemakers,lawyers, home improvements,car dealerships and more cars,bodywashes, body creams,deodorants, DMV and Medicareoptions – to name a few. Liferevolves around these, and so doesadvertising. There is a constantpulse of practical daily life content.You will see ads for The HomeDepot and Lowe’s showing couplesbuilding something big in theirbackyard. You will see car adshighlighting zero-interest financingrather than performance. And, ofcourse, you can’t watch a footballgame without 10 different fast foodjoints pushing their burgers, pizzas,fried chicken and sandwiches. Incomparison, Pakistan’s advertisingecosystem is dominated by banks,tea and telco brands jostling forattention with spots that promiseempowerment, dreams andconnectivity beyond borders,aspirations that lure the commonman into thinking he’s not aworking-class hero in his own right.

Let Me Please You
When you please everyone, youplease no one. Cliché? So are onesize-fits-all ads. US campaigns aresharply targeted, running differentversions for different audiences. InPakistan, we are still going mass.One version for all… and usuallywith a moral lesson. I know it’spartly due to media limitations,but also partly habit and partlythe fact that our audience hasa weaker purchasing power, soadvertisers play it safe. Also, inPakistan, despite the rise of digital,TV remains king, and mass marketmessaging still carries weight.

Let Me Digitise You
You might expect the US tobe ahead in digital advertising,and that may be true in terms oftools and scale, but not alwaysin creativity. It is very functional,targeted, retargeted, text-heavy andtransactional. On the other hand,some of the best visual storytellingis emerging from Asian marketsand yes, Pakistan. Remember theSIUT and Zameen ads?

Let Me Cast You
Fawad Khan was featured in adsfor Zameen, Lux, Tuc, Aquafinaand this and that. In the US, castingis crucial and current. You will seefaces from whatever is trending – Netflix stars and AppleTV+‘ssuperstars, athletes and stand-upcomedians, aligned with the now.In Pakistan, we cling to the familiarface. Humsafar made MahiraKhan and Fawad Khan not justsweethearts in every household,but ad darlings who stayed that wayyears after the series was aired. Wenever saw them coming togetheron TV except in ads. Advertisingmade them superstars, not viceversa. Why? Because we don’t takerisks, we rarely bet on the unknown.I remember rooting for AbdullahEjaz, then a complete unknown,for a Ufone postpaid campaign.It worked. He became a soughtafter model, but not every client orcreative is willing to make that call.We recycle the same five faces untilthey become visual wallpaper.

Let Me Tell You
Having worked with brandslike L’Oréal, KFC, Suzuki, Lay’s,PSO and Zong, I can tell you thatPakistani creatives are incrediblyresourceful. Unexpectedly creativeand unashamedly vocal. We knowhow to do more with less, we havea strong emotional palette, andwe understand storytelling. Yet,we often shy away from humour,from imperfection, from simplicity.Is that something we can borrowfrom here? The risk of not puttingtoo much science behind an idea,of going with a gut feeling and thewillingness to not try too hard. Ofenjoying what we do. Of not tryingto teach the world to sing. Let metell you, after seeing how much funadvertising can be here, maybeit’s time to loosen our collars andnot stand on the pulpit carryingthe burden of a ‘deeper’ meaningin every copy, caption, script andmessage. And yes, Americanadvertisers could learn a thing ortwo from our depth, from our abilityto create culturally rich, resonantstories. Some of our narratives haveheart and the power to stay with us.

Let Me Close OnA Good Note
I believe advertising is a mirrorinto society, into what is happening,into life. In this case, both mirrorsshow different things. One showsyou a culture obsessed withcommercialism, utility and humour,the other with values and dreams.And neither is right or wrong. Andin this age of content, there isspace to intertwine the two.

As I continue this new chapterin advertising, I carry the lessons,the passion and the knowledge ofa past life in Pakistan. It has beensaid that “advertising is the mostfun one can have with one’s clotheson.” I would like to believe this is stilltrue. Sometimes the best way to beremembered is to simply be fun.

Oswald Lucas has spentover four decades in Pakistan’sadvertising industry. oswaldlucas@gmail.com