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MOBILINK: FOUNDATION MAKES A MARK

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MOBILINK: FOUNDATION MAKES A MARK

A conversation with Omar Manzur, Head of Corporate Communications, Mobilink, about Mobilink’s CSR initiative.

Synergyzer: Explain the ‘Make Your Mark’ initiative.

Omar: ‘Make Your Mark’ is the brainchild of our parent group, VimpelCom. Launched in December 2014 with the aim to provide young people with technology tools, support and mentoring, and in some cases access to basic education, to help them tackle the growing number of challenges at an individual, community and national level.

We recognize the challenges that today’s young people face.  We believe the vast resources at our disposal make us responsible for facilitating the youth to help them shape a better future for themselves. ‘Make Your Mark’ is a key element of VimpelCom’s corporate responsibility strategy, reinforced across multiple business units, with the objective of ‘Helping young people shape their future’.

“Our ‘ICT Enhancement Program’ wants to push the marginalized youth to get on an even keel with the privileged classes.”

Synergyzer: Is the Group’s initiative carried forward by all its brands and Business Units in every country?

Omar: Yes. For example, to make digital education more popular and accessible for young people in geographically isolated and remote areas, Beeline Russia, a BU of VimpelCom, partnered with the Coursera project with an aim to translate online courses from more than 100 universities into Russian This way they have covered a wide variety of fields of knowledge from natural sciences to humanities, and are inspiring young people to make the most of modern technology. In Bangladesh a contest called ‘Grandmaster’ was launched by Banglalink for students, to come up with innovative telecommunications service ideas. The winners, from Chittagong University, created an app for booking bus tickets, often difficult in Bangladesh. In Ukraine, Kyivstar, a BU of VimpelCom, connected 270 schools and orphanages to free high-speed internet.

These are just some of the initiatives, which are part of the ‘Make Your Mark’ program, and have been implemented by the BUs independently in the countries they operate.

Synergyzer: How does Mobilink carry forward the group’s vision in Pakistan? Please highlight projects you have launched under the MYM program locally.

Omar: The ‘Make Your Mark’ program has three parts.

  1. Quality Education

Provision of education to young people who have little access to quality education in a bid to improve their life chances. An example of local implementation is our award-winning SMS based literacy project called Mobilink mLiteracy.

  1. Supporting Digital Entrepreneurism

The second core element is supporting young entrepreneurs in bringing new digital businesses to life by leveraging mobile technology to drive growth in the economy. Our partnership with the LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship to facilitate young entrepreneurs with the necessary resources and guidance to shape their ideas into productive ventures is one such local example.

  1. ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Enhancement Program

The third core element is inspiring young people to use their energy, creativity and business ideas to address society’s challenges, creating ‘services for society’ (in the areas of healthcare, education, financial services and agriculture) while shaping a more sustainable future. A local initiative is the ‘ICT Enhancement Program’, through which we continuously assist schools in marginalized communities to impart ICT based education to students.

 “Mobilink partnered with Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) to provide six state-of-the-art ICT labs to its partner schools.”

Synergyzer: Please give us a brief about the mLiteracy program and how you plan to expand it further? 

Omar: Developed to educate rural women, our mLiteracy program helps teachers offer a basic literacy curriculum using SMS  with free connectivity for teachers and learners. The program’s project facilitators organize classes in small learning centers in villages, often in the houses of local elders, and learners’ responses are logged to monitor their progress.

The project started with 250 female learners in rural Punjab, and by the end of 2013, it had embraced 5,000 women across the country. Early in the project, the proportion of students graded as ‘A’ for their literacy skills increased from 28% to 60% after being enrolled for six months. The project has expanded enabling rural women to better manage domestic finances, and to raise subjects such as religious tolerance and equal opportunity. The program has noticeably reduced gender bias to mobile use, and participants have reported a heightened sense of security from having access to this means of communication.

In early 2014, the Mobilink Foundation secured a grant of $286,000 from the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), to extend the scope and scale of the literacy program in 2015. Following the grant, VimpelCom handed over a similar amount to Mobilink Foundation, helping us to enroll an additional 3,900 rural women in 100 new learning centers in five districts, namely, Haripur, Mansehra, Charasadda, Mardan and Nowshera of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

At the 5th annual Ethical Corporation Responsible Business Awards, the mLiteracy program won in the category of the ‘Most effective international community investment.’

Synergyzer: Please tell us how exactly have you facilitated LUMS Center of Entrepreneurship to provide mentorship and sustenance to startups?

Omar: Mobilink Foundation provided support to LCE through financial and non-financial means to help them in their pursuit of supporting the enhancement of the entrepreneurial eco-system in Pakistan.

Mobilink assisted LCE with the initial scouting of these entrepreneurs; how feasible their idea is? How big a role does mobile play in its implementation? How will it impact the society? Etc. Such research was done on each paper LCE received before we made the final decision.

Our role includes business mentoring and support. We help strengthen both, the startup and the founding team’s entrepreneurial skills.

Synergyzer: How has Mobilink empowered marginalized youth through the ICT Enhancement Program as part of the 3rd MYM initiative? 

Omar: We understand there are equity issues related to the uses of ICT in education. There is a real danger that such an approach regarding ICT based education will further marginalize groups already excluded from existing educational practices and environments. Our ‘ICT Enhancement Program’ wants to push the marginalized youth to get on an even keel with the privileged classes, so they too can thrive in the fast evolving digital economy. Our approach is simple; the best technology is the one you already have, know how to use, and can afford. Which is obviously the cell phone, and the PC. For this purpose, Mobilink partnered with Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) to provide six state-of-the-art ICT labs to its partner schools. The program will reach out to almost 3500 deserving students of primary and secondary schools operating in rural and peri-urban areas every six months.

At Mobilink, we have come to understand that the ‘digital divide’, which was once primarily thought of in terms of access to technology, and increasingly as a function of access to reliable power, is also about the skills and abilities of people to benefit from access to technology. The underlying risk is that exclusion from digital advances may extend into exclusion from social and economic opportunities, leaving millions of Pakistanis effectively locked out of the next phase of global growth and development.

Synergyzer: Do you expect the digital startup landscape to grow in the near future with access to high speed internet in the country? How will you facilitate such initiatives? 

Omar: The internet is the most significant invention in human history. It has the capacity to change everything — the way we work, the way we learn and play. What’s more, it is doing so at an unrivalled pace as opposed to other disruptive technologies of the 20th century i.e. electricity, telephone, and automobiles. We are and will continue to be enablers during these times; ensuring the products and services we offer exceed demands, help consumers in lowering costs dramatically across their supply and demand chains, take customer service into a different league, enter new markets, create additional revenue streams and redefine business relationships.

On the support front, we will continue gaining a more detailed understanding of the needs of digital entrepreneurs to identify the practical support required, and creating the right environment for innovation to flourish through provision of the fastest and the largest 3G network in over 200 cities of Pakistan. We will also enter into creative partnerships with other players in the ‘ecosystem’, i.e. LCE.

Synergyzer: Please explain how you plan to take your MYM program to the next level.

Omar: ‘Make Your Mark’ will gather momentum and scale through 2016 as we double our efforts and resources under its theme. Our aim now is ensuring a greater number of lives are impacted in the coming years. We are continuously scaling up our SMS based literacy program with the establishment of 100 learning centers in KPK being just the beginning. Our goal is to spread SMS based learning across the country to enable women fight inequality and poverty.

Mobilink will also continue to impart ICT based education to marginalized youth in the shape of similar ICT based donations to schools, and mobilization of our volunteer employees to build staff capacity. For supporting the startup environment in the country, we will ensure facilitation of young leaders through partnerships with incubators like LCE. We also plan on launching ‘Mobilink Make Your Mark mEntrepreneurism Award’ – a digital business and app development competition for young people aged 16 to 32 years.

Synergyzer: Mobilink talks about digitization and its benefits for the end user, please provide us an insight on its benefits for the society as a whole.

Omar: Success for the society in a digital environment will demand sustained effort from many parties, and while we don’t pretend to have all the answers, we are determined to play our part. With digitization of Pakistan, our vision is to curate a nation where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from the digital age on more equal terms.

Ultimately it is the society which will reap the rewards. From microfinance to mobile communications, eHealthcare to mobile banking, smart cities to government services are delivered over the web; all these components will play a role. But arguably the most important factor in ensuring society comes out on top is education, a space where technology will open up new possibilities and capabilities every day.       

Synergyzer: Do you think there is scope for businesses to bridge the divide with the community in Pakistan?

Omar: In the past, organizations mainly concentrated on the economic results of their decisions. But today they realize that it is imperative to take into account the moral and social consequences of these economic decisions.  In a recent report, multinationals invested billions of rupees in Pakistan during fiscal year 2014-15 under Corporate Social Responsibility. These companies invested primarily in education, health, community development, environment, disaster relief and infrastructure development. If we look around in Pakistan, we find hospitals, educational and welfare institutions being run by various corporations. Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry is one prime example of an entity doing everything possible to ensure the uplift of society to create more growth avenues for local economy. They have so far undertaken development and enhancement of Sialkot International Airport, Sialkot dry port, roads and infrastructure projects, Business and Commerce Centre etc., such CSR initiatives, which in return will directly benefit Sialkot as a whole. So there has been immense improvement in this field over the years, but still a lot needs to be done.

Synergyzer: Tell us about the Mobilink Torchbearers. What role do they play in Mobilink Foundation’s CSR Efforts?

Omar: Our Corporate Responsibility goes beyond philanthropy and donations and we take into full account the impact that Mobilink creates on all stakeholders and on the environment when making decisions. But our greatest asset in this endeavor is neither our financial standing nor our utilization of tech. It is our employee base, which supports our initiatives and puts in countless hours to volunteer for our causes. The Mobilink Foundation Torchbearers clock an average of 4 to 5 dedicated hours per person per month during official working hours.

Our CSR program’s foundation is built on the spirit of volunteerism. Our brand value dictates bringing people together, and so does volunteerism at Mobilink. Almost all our CSR initiatives involve our C-level executives, working under a team leader. We bring people close this way.

 

 

DIGI MEDIA: EXPANDING HORIZONS

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DIGI MEDIA: EXPANDING HORIZONS

Zubair Ashraf Khan, Group GM, DiGi Media Company talks about the expansion of the DiGi network and market share growth of cable TV in Pakistan

 Synergyzer: Briefly tell us about your company and its vision.

Zubair: Digi Media Company (DMC) was launched in 2011 initially covering a few areas in Karachi with the aim to centralize the scattered cable industry across Pakistan. With a professional team and mindset we started with an aim to bring order and organization to the industry. we entered a joint venture agreement with Solo Media Group; a cable network group that has excellent penetration in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Multan, Quetta, Islamabad etc. Due to this alliance, we are the largest cable network company of Pakistan, operating in all major cities.

“Cable advertising was able to secure more than PKR 2 billion in spending in 2015.”

Synergyzer: What is your business model?

Zubair: Firstly, we wanted DiGi to be a cable network company that will take the cable network industry to the next level. For this, we carried out buyouts of a number of cable operators with small scale infrastructures. Hence, we are co-managing such cable networks with our identity prominent on their cable channels with the logos of FW Cinema and Solo Cinema on our in-house channels broadcasting legal content.

Secondly, we wanted to provide advertisers an alternative to existing mediums i.e. TV, radio, OOH, print etc. and cost effective advertising rates to run ads in a targeted manner; i.e. in selected regions or nationwide. Hence with certain small scale cable operators, we initiated strategic partnerships by acting as media buyers since having offices in major cities of Pakistan gave us the advantage of being able to secure ads from corporate advertisers, an option that was not available to many cable operators in smaller cities. Through such strategic partnerships we are now the biggest cable network in Pakistan.

“A serious challenge for Cable TV is incurring the cost of buying legal content.”

Synergyzer: How much share did cable advertising secure in 2015?

Zubair: Cable advertising was able to secure more than PKR 2 billion in spending in 2015, majorly due to media buying agencies including Group M, Starcom, T Media, Interflow Blitz etc. that made advertisers aware of the medium and followed the lead initially set by EFU, Mobilink, GSK, PTCL, Candyland, EBM, Tapal etc.

Synergyzer: In your opinion will cable advertising take share from TV advertising budgets in 2016?

Zubair: We are expecting more than PKR 3 billion in market share in 2016. In 2015, agencies and advertisers who approach us directly for ad placements, mostly from the real estate sector, put high budgets for advertising on cable TV. Advertisers are fast realizing that cable TV can give results at a fraction of the cost of advertising on satellite and terrestrial TV channels, for this reason a number of multinational companies are also looking to delegate huge budgets to cable advertising in 2016.

“We have invested around PKR 2 billion in this industry in the last 5 years”

Synergyzer: What are the major challenges faced by cable channels that lead to advertisers shying away from the medium. How are you planning on addressing those problems?

Zubair: A serious challenge for cable TV is incurring the cost of buying legal content, and lack of education in local cable operators on how to expand their setups poses another complication. DiGi has taken steps to address the pirated content issue by procuring 100% legal content, which consists of thousands of Hollywood and Bollywood movies with content verified by PAS – Pakistan Advertisers Society valid till 2017.

Synergyzer: Ad tracking of cable advertising is a major concern for advertising and media decision makers. Do you have a solution for your clients in that regard?

Zubair: There are solutions available for cable tracking in cosmopolitan cities, however there are approximately 1,100 cable operators across Pakistan; each running 3 to 5 in-house channels according to their license issued by PEMRA. With almost 3,300 channels to track, a large infrastructure needs to be deployed which demands a huge investment.

Synergyzer: How does political advertising affect cable channels?

Zubair: Political ad campaigns don’t usually run that long, and are mostly focused on the OOH medium and satellite TV. These campaigns are however quite expensive and contribute significantly to the revenues of cable TV operators.

Synergyzer: Do you have plans to invest in improving the infrastructure of your cable network?

Zubair: We have invested around PKR 2 billion in this industry in the last 5 years; in infrastructure, legal content and strategic buyouts of local cable operators across 31 cities of Pakistan to expand our cable coverage nationwide. Moving forward, we are planning on upgrading our in-house channels by screening similar caliber of legal content that we get on satellite TV.

Synergyzer: Do you expect any new genres of content to be introduced by cable networks to compete with TV channels?

Zubair: We have developed channels like WOW and MAX on DiGi/Solo specifically for children and teenagers, which are similar to Cartoon Network and HBO. We are further adding dedicated channels for specific genres such as comedy and our objective is to raise the quality bar of content shown on in-house Cable TV channels.

Synergyzer: Electronic media plays a major part in shaping mindsets of any community through the content it provides. What is your take on that, considering that our news and entertainment channels are currently providing sensationalized content versus content that may help in mindset evolution? Can cable TV content influence that in anyway?

Zubair: According to Medialogic, in-house cable channels were the second most watched genre in 2013 and 2014 after entertainment. The fact that news and media channels create panic is advantageous for in-house cable TV channels. We provide the break people need from the mainstream fear-speak by giving people music, movies and comedy contributing to a healthier environment.

 

When we change for the better so does the world around us

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When we change for the better so does the world around us

By Ahmed Kapadia

Where are we going? This is a question that I keep asking myself and see on the faces of progressive minded Pakistanis. This question resurfaces each time there is some senseless demonstration and reaction to the West and its inciting actions that leads us to a self-destructive spree.

I feel we have been falling into this trap far too often and it is time that we reflect on ourselves as a nation of 180 million people, who have a much larger role to play in the world. We have an opportunity of creating a major positive impact on world politics, as a result of our geopolitical importance and create a sensible direction for our fairly large population. However, to do that, we must self-reflect and understand that it is peace and only peace that will bring about a change in our society and not anger and destruction which has been such a visible part of our reflection for the rest of the world.

To support my argument, I would refer to all self-help and spiritual books that are available to us and highlight a very important part of its teachings. All these books start with the same principle: “When we change for the better so does the world around us”. You may be wondering about my referring to such hackneyed thinking which has been done to death, but the fact is that we have read such stuff many times yet, refused to learn from it.

So what should we do now? There is no simple answer to this question, but it does make us realize that in our history as a nation we have missed out on certain beliefs that have misconstrued our understanding of civic responsibilities. It is time that priority is given to the subject and formal learning programs in schools, colleges and universities are introduced immediately for the benefit of 180 million Pakistanis.

We must realize that this is now absolutely mandatory keeping in mind the growing impact of media in our lives. Let me assure you that with the world population in billions and websites carrying self-generated content, we should expect more hurtful content to appear on these sites.

However, how we react to this is in our hands and we need to learn to respond to it in a manner that is productive and in the larger interest of Pakistan.

 

 

 

SOOPER: Sooper goes SUPER

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SOOPER: Sooper goes SUPER

A brand is just a perception, and perceptions attune to reality. Brands may create trends or emulate them. Yet, as the cycle of life goes, it is extremely important for brands to match the pace of change otherwise they get left behind. Hence, a lot of effort is required to ensure that they become part of the constantly changing universe their customers exist in; a universe where consumers aspire to own the brand. Developing lifestyle brands is the only key to achieving this goal.

Lifestyle brands promote a certain way of life, sharing the same identity as their consumers and creating an emotional bond to a particular lifestyle. Such branding forms a much higher emotional value for consumers as compared to superficial features, cost or benefits alone.

Amin Rammal, Director Asiatic Public Relations, FireBolt 360 and The Brand Crew, says, “Lifestyle branding focuses on the social benefit that people consciously or subconsciously can relate with the brand or the brand’s activities. The importance depends on the product category and the brand’s ability to lend itself to any lifestyle. Such association can be an important point of differentiation that creates engagement at a visceral level but it should not be contrived. It needs to naturally flow from the brand.”

Companies strive hard to create lifestyle brands because the benefits are endless. It helps brands achieve higher financial benefits by building strong and sustainable bonds with consumers, making it irreplaceable. For this to happen, a brand needs to provide the self expressive benefits their consumers are seeking. A consistent brand personality with an in-sync message across all available touch points is crucial to achieving such status.

Coke Studio, National Ka Pakistan, and BeautifulYou.com.pk are some examples where Pakistani brands have associated themselves with content that intersects with their brand values and consumer interests and way of life.

Another such case in point is Peek Freans Sooper, the flagship brand of English Biscuit Manufacturers (Private) Limited (EBM). It is Pakistan’s most selling biscuit according to AC Nielson’s Retail Audit 2014. Sooper, the egg & milk cookies were the first of their kind from the packaged biscuit industry, launched initially in 1996. The brand was re-launched in 2002-2003 and went on to become a success story with a net worth of PKR 11 billion, gaining 38% segment share of the plain-sweet biscuits category. This speaks volumes for the consumer acceptance that it enjoys.

Peek Freans Sooper’s creative agency, Prestige/Grey, Affiliate of the Grey Group, has been instrumental in the success of the brand.  Communication campaigns such as, “Maama Sooper” and “Sab sey aagay sab sey ooper Peek Freans Sooper” have received accolades from marketers and consumers alike.

Sooper achieved success initially through communicating the functional aspects of the product but slowly it started becoming an integral part of its consumer’s lives. Whether it was the 10am breakfast in office or 4pm tea at home, a friend’s get-together or just a simple movie night; the biscuit became a perfect accompaniment for all such occasions, irrespective of age or geographical boundaries. With such an overwhelmingly positive response, in 2013 Sooper decided to take its communication up a notch by introducing the “Sooper Hai Zindagi” platform to create an emotional connect with its audience. Zulfiqar Ali Ansari, Head of Marketing at EBM, has to say about the brand’s new positioning, “The idea behind this positioning was simple. We wanted to intertwine Sooper with Zindagi (lives of our consumers). After two successful years, the brand is no longer just a product, in fact it is focusing on something more meaningful; the emotional connect with its Sooper consumers.”

To engage with its consumer group, a new campaign titled “Sooper aap ki zindagi ko kaisay super banata hai?” (How is Sooper making your lives super?), was launched on august 2015, through which consumers were asked to share their experiences with the brand. The campaign was communicated through all available ATL and BTL platforms. Says Ansari, “This recent communication is one leg of our campaign. It aims to find out the role of the brand in our consumers’ lives, from the consumers themselves through audio and video testimonials.”

The marketing campaign is a holistic one, integrating traditional and digital media. The brand hammered its messages through TV, radio, print, out-of-home, PR, digital, cellular and BTL activations. Similarly, call-to-action was made possible through various touch points such as digital (Facebook: www.facebook.com/ PeekFreansSooper  and microsite: www.pfsooper.com.pk, developed specifically for this campaign) and BTL activations through which consumers could send in their entries. Furthermore, the website offers a Live Feed feature, integrating Facebook, mobile and the website showing consumer engagement and testimonials on a real-time basis. The BTL activity featured  Immersive Reality’ brand experience, in which 3D VR – Virtual Reality – goggles were used that gave users a fully immersive VR experience of sky diving, underwater marine life and riding a roller coaster.

Having executed such campaigns at length, it was important for Sooper to know if the brand has really become a lifestyle brand for its consumers. Elaborates Ansari, “Lifestyle brands define who we are, what we believe in and what tribe we belong to. They communicate our status and our aspirations. They indicate the way we deal with our life and sometimes reflect our own unconscious desires and motivations. For Sooper to come to this level, it was extremely important for us to know our consumers better. Every step of this campaign and the ones previously rolled out on the ‘Sooper Hai Zindagi’ positioning have been carefully thought-out and well researched.” A qualitative research was conducted to assess how well the “Sooper Hai Zindagi” platform has registered in the minds of consumers, the role of the brand in their daily lives and to study their lifestyles. The research results were promising and validated that the brand plays an integral part in the day to day activities of its consumers, as well as celebratory occasions such as birthdays and Eid. These insights paved way for a full-fledged consumer engagement testimonial campaign, “Sooper Hai Zindagi, Magar Kaisay?”

A lifestyle brand takes energy from the youth demographic to assert and enforce change. These brands maintain a perspective that is always in motion being either proactive or reactive to the environment around them and fuel’s the young generation’s opinion. Sooper is targeting the youth, both male and female comsumers belonging to the 16-30 age group, across all SECs, who are happy-go-lucky and take life one moment at a time.

The success of the campaign is a testament to the popularity of the brand. The campaign received more than 300,000 entries through Facebook, its microsite, SMS and BTL activations showing that Sooper is truly part of the consumer’s “Zindagi” (Life). One photo entry shows packs of Sooper next to tea associating the biscuits with Pakistan’s favorite beverage signifying that both go hand in hand. There is also a heart-warming picture of a toddler feeding her mother Sooper; signifying that Sooper promotes family bonding.  Another photograph shows a shopkeeper holding a box of Sooper inside his shop demonstrating the importance of Sooper to a retailer’s livelihood. Text entries reinforce this positive response as different participants have given their comments.

Lifestyle brands that develop self-expressive benefits impact not only their direct consumers but also the communities their consumers exist in. For instance, if a woman is wearing a certain outfit and driving a certain car, people around her will be evaluating her subconsciously through the brands she is seeking. There is still time for Sooper to reach that level, yet it has so far managed to remain simple yet keep consumers involved by emulating the joy of human interaction, by being a brand that is extremely accessible, that evokes comfort and homeliness and ties in beautifully with moments in everyday life, taking the regular and making it “Sooper”.

No education for the wicked

Omair Faizullah
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No education for the wicked

By Omair Faizullah

“Let’s intelligently design our future using the gift of foresight, something that never existed before brains – and for practical purposes, that means human brains – evolved. The ability to design is one of the crowning glories of our species. Bridges, planes, buildings, all sorts of ingenious contraptions. The essence of design in this true sense of the word is deliberate foresight. Human designers can look into the future and see the possible mistakes, see the possible pitfalls, try things out in imagination.”

– Richard Dawkins     

Sitting around tables one always ends up with the conversation leading to the state of affairs in Pakistan with different point of views emerging on politics, economy and who should lead the country. The one thing that everyone ends up agreeing on is the state of education. Yes, it has been established that we need to be educated en masse in order to tackle all the challenges we are faced with.

But do we have enough institutions and qualified faculty to actually disseminate education? Do we have enough qualified faculty to teach all the post-modern professions that keep cropping up all the time?

Not so long ago, when I ended up in the business of communication design, people close to me – my family, friends, relatives – upon learning that I was going into the arts, questioned my decision. It was a time when the common understanding of design did not exist for the common man. Design was associated to the advertising industry and there was no further application. There were very limited options for higher education in design and even more limited faculty to actually teach. Things are not drastically different now; the number of institutions in the country that offer quality design and communication education can be counted on the fingertips of one hand.

Let’s assume for an arbitrary moment that there are 5 major institutions that provide higher education in Design and Communication in Pakistan. Let’s assume further that each of the 5 schools produces an average of 30 graduates each year, which gives us approximately 150 design graduates each year. For the sake of this argument, lets assume that the gender ratio for the profession is 1:1 i.e. 75 boys and 75 girls (in actuality, there are far more girls enrolled in design programs than boys). Bearing in our mind the fact of impending marriage for girls post graduation, let’s assume that 50 of the girls get married and in no way utilize their profession outside of their housewife lives. So that’s 50 designers victim to the chopping block right off the bat. Out of the 100 left, approximately (and this may be a gross exaggeration) around 15 leave the country to pursue higher education and another 20 leave for Dubai to do what they do best. So that leaves us with 60 to 65 designers ready to be assimilated in the country.

Since we are on the assumption train, out of the 15 that went abroad for higher education only 10 return having spent 4 years in foreign lands and that too because they absolutely have to. Not necessarily by choice, but because they either could not find work or the scholarship they availed bound them to return and serve their homeland. These end up leaving the country as soon as the term period of their mandatory return expires.

Basic math tells us that around 60 to 70 communication designers end up serving the communications needs of a country of 185.13293 million (per the World Bank – because we are absolutely swamped with fighting terrorism and making roads to focus on this thing called the census). Within the lot, around 10 actually end up making any difference as far as work is concerned. Others end up changing professions or eventually get assimilated into their family enterprises.

Allow me to repeat that, that is 60 to70 designers having an HEC certified degree per a population of 185.13293 million people. Let’s take a minute and allow that to sink in. With the amount of advertising and communication occurring in the country presently that is an extremely dismal figure. There are simply not enough communication designers in the country.

These dismal figures prompt further questions. Do we need more communications people/designers? Yes. Of course Mr. Sherlock! Absolutely!

But do we have enough designers to actually teach designers?

That’s where it gets even murkier. Most designers, upon graduation do not really feel the desire to either teach or expand on their own craft. And when they do teach, more often than not, it is simply to fulfil an economic need. Not that that’s a judgment in any way – everyone needs the moneys to survive, but perhaps along with financial gain, there must also be pedagogy.

In order to understand the problem, we must step back a bit. I’m on the hypothetical train so bear with me on this one. There is something inherently sweet about fables.

Once, there was the very first designer in Pakistan. The very first designer went to the very first design school and learnt to make design. They taught the designer the physical aspect of design to no end. They made the color wheel, did paper collages, typography, posters, logos, campaigns and all the good stuff that you can do with your hands. But they did not really focus all that much on the theory of it all. The designer was not asked to read all that much and even less so to write out the concepts that looked so pretty on paper. The designer graduated and immediately upon graduation, was invited to teach at the same institution. It was great. The designer loved teaching and making students make pretty pictures. But because the designer was not trained to read and write, the students never learnt to do it either.

The students would sit around tables and discuss these great thoughts to no end, but would have no idea on how to document their thoughts. Thus all their valuable thoughts turned into smoke and ran away with the wind.

In time, the students of the first designer graduated, they went on to teach at other design schools and their students too would sit around tables and talk these great concepts and their thoughts too would turn to smoke and run away with the wind. Over the years, all these thoughts kept being collected in the air until it formed a great dark black cloud that kept getting bigger and bigger.

One day all the designers decided to meet and gathered in an open ground for an award show. There was much merriness and talk of great concepts. The wind stole the concepts and carried them to the dark cloud. The cloud could not take the burden of so many great concepts all at once and it started moving and blinking with lightning. It flew over onto the open ground and rained down a barrage of lightning upon the designer collective. Defenseless and exposed, all the designers were burned to tinder in seconds and there was no real design left in Pakistan anymore.

As they say – well, that escalated quickly.

It had to happen sooner or later people. But that is essentially how the design education works in the country. Both writing and research are integral components of education and neither of those are emphasized in the art and design academia.

The point of the little story above was to illustrate how design academia really works. In order for any craft to evolve, there must be intellectual discourse. Pakistan does not have a single journal that addresses design specifically. We have award shows that hand out fancy trophies to essentially the same people every year but no journals.

There is an absolute lack of critical discourse on design. And its not there, not because it doesn’t exist, but because designers are absolutely unable to articulate their thoughts to paper. Sure, you can have an enlightening discussion about fine art vs. design that can last for hours (to absolutely no conclusion) but designers are inefficient at documenting their own efforts. Not because they can’t but because they simply don’t know how to articulate.

Omair Faizullah is an Assistant Professor and heading Marketing and Communication at Habib University. Omair is a designer and strategic communication specialist he can be reached at whomair@gmail.com

 

PRINT MEDIA CURRENCY IN PAKISTAN

Ahmer Rasheed
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PRINT MEDIA CURRENCY IN PAKISTAN

WHAT IS PRINT MEDIA CURRENCY?

Being marketing professionals, we are all familiar with the concept of GRPs – Gross Rating Points – that serves as the common currency for electronic media buying. However, for print media (newspapers and magazines) we don’t have GRPs available. Earlier in 1950’s marketers used to allocate their print media spend based on circulation numbers, which could not account for multiple readers of the same copy of any newspaper or magazine. Eventually in the 50’s researchers in Britain came up with the idea of a “National Readership Survey”, commonly known as the NRS.

NRS is aimed to provide marketers accurate reach of all print mediums that could be used as print currency to allocate print media budgets accordingly. Globally, NRS is conducted either using recall based methodology or through the Diary method. In most countries, NRS is carried out using a nationally representative sample although the frequency differs from monthly to yearly in different countries.

 NRS: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

I believe two markets can illustrate a good example for Pakistan. UK, which pioneered the survey can be a good benchmark; and India, being a closely similar market.

First, it is worth understanding how the NRS in UK is organised. The following three associations have formed a not for profit organization, NRS Ltd., which is governed and largely funded by these three stakeholders.

  • Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA)
  • News Media Association (NMA)
  • Professional Publishers Association (PPA)

A clear indication here is that all key stakeholders i.e. print media sellers as well as buyers are aligned, which helps establish NRS as the only print media currency in UK.

Next, we look at how NRS UK is conducted in detail and what it provides. This will help us understand what is missing in our market.

Scope

NRS publishes readership estimates for over 230 publications including Dailies, Weeklies, Monthlies etc.

Sample

34,150 interviews a year with adults aged 15 plus. The sample respondents are selected randomly.

Methodology

It is a continuous survey and the fieldwork is carried out 12 months of the year, 7 days a week with face to face interviews being conducted at respondents’ households. The interview uses the Double Screen CAPI (DS-CAPI) technology through which all prompt material is shown to participants on a tablet screen that is controlled by the interviewer’s laptop via a radio link.

Information Coverage

The survey participants answer questions about their consumption of print media; including a list of news brands, newspaper supplements and magazines, as well as their online behaviour and how they consume other forms of media. Also, they answer questions about their demographics and lifestyle.

Respondents’ Incentive

All participants are offered a £20 gift voucher.

Deliverables

The most important output of the NRS survey is Average Issue Reach (AIR) which is used as print currency. AIR is simply a count of the number of people who have read or looked a daily newspaper within the past 24 hours, a weekly newspaper or magazine during the past 7 days, a fortnightly magazine within the last 15 days, a monthly magazine during the past 30 days, a bi-monthly within the last 2 months and a quarterly within the last 3 months.

The data is calculated to form the AIR score for a particular publication. Deliverables also include average number of readers per copy of a publication, which are calculated using reach and circulation numbers provided by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). Reader profiles are also a key part of the standard deliverables. The data is delivered on a quarterly basis.

The Digital Measurement

In order to accurately capture readership count through digital media, ComScore, a web traffic monitoring company, collects online audience data, which is fused with NRS’ recall data to form an accurate AIR score. ComScore also classifies the type of device (mobile, tab etc.) through which digital versions of print publications are consumed.

I covered NRS UK in great detail for benchmarking the print readership survey of our market  using methodologies that can be learnt from it. However, reviewing Indian Readership Survey (IRS) is equally important as our market and the methodologies we are using are quite similar to India.

IRS: MORE CLOSER TO HOME

IRS is conducted by MRUC (Media Research Users Council) and RSCI (Readership Studies Council of India). IRS is done as a Single Source Study i.e. in the same survey, brand consumption of more than 100 FMCG’s, service sector products and durables are analysed; and detailed media consumption of almost all key vehicles including TV, radio, internet and print is covered. The interviews are conducted using DS-CAPI method as face to face interactions at respondents’ households. A huge sample of over 235,000 interviews is conducted every year of individuals aged 12+.

The fieldwork is conducted almost throughout the year i.e. ten months while data is delivered to the subscribers on a quarterly basis. India also uses “AIR” as its print currency, only it is calculated based on how many individuals read or looked at a newspaper within the last 30 days or read or looked at magazines within the past year. Hence, IRS follows milder readership criteria versus UK’s NRS.

One can expect that with such a huge sample, the results would be well accepted and respected by all stakeholders. Yet, as I mentioned earlier, our markets are very much alike even in case of problems: The last results released in January 2014 received a flood of criticism by 18 major print media houses who challenged the results to be inaccurate with doubts cast that the data was rigged. The research revealed that overall readership had declined from 353 million to 281 million readers, with certain newspapers standing out as market leaders in areas other than their base towns. This fiasco escalated so much that some publishers actually took stay orders from the court demanding the results to be withdrawn.

A committee was formed to revalidate the results which confirmed that there were some problems with the data since certain interviewers’ failed to capture responses accurately. However, MRUC was able to get clearance on the data and the abeyance got lifted in August 2014. This was done with a disclaimer that the results should not be compared with the previous waves, as earlier data was based on Census 2001 and the latest release was based on Census 2011. Knowing this backdrop, we can review NRS in Pakistan to see where it stands compared to these markets.

 National Readership Survey in Pakistan

As far as I know, the first NRS was conducted in 2006 in Pakistan by the international research agency MEMRB, which is now a part of Nielsen after acquisition. MEMRB later made NRS a part of their single source study called “Consumer Multimedia Index – CMi”, launched in 2008,  commissioned and endorsed by Pakistan Advertisers Society.  A number of efforts were made to take major publication houses and media buying houses on-board before the study was executed. This study was initially conducted bi-annually with a sample of 10,000 respondents in urban Pakistan but later on, in 2010, its frequency was reduced to being an annual survey. This reduction in frequency was traded off with an additional sample of 5,000 interviews covering rural Pakistan. Since 2012, Ipsos Pakistan has been conducting this study after acquisition of MEMRB by Nielsen and the latest results for the period 2014-15 are available, covering a total sample of 15,000 respondents aged 12+.

The results are released as an annual report only. The print currency is based on daily, weekly or monthly reach, but in most cases, media planners work with the monthly reach only whose underlying concept is similar to what India is following for its newspapers. AIR is not used in Pakistan; yet during the last decade, NRS has been conducted by other agencies, Oasis-MRB, for instance, but none of these studies were registered as the print currency which is why I have chosen to discuss CMi to compare our NRS with other markets. In order to identify the gaps, both Pakistan and India are compared with UK as presented on the facing page, where phrases accompanied by an asterisk (*) indicate areas of improvement with respect to benchmarks.

The table below shows areas of improvement in national readership surveys of Pakistan & India, marked with an asterisk (*), compared to UK as the benchmark.

NRS UK IRS India CMi Pakistan
Organization Not for profit entity None None
Endorsing / Controlling Authorities ·  Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA)

·  News Media Association (NMA)

·  Professional Publishers Association (PPA)

 ·  MRUC (Media Research Users Council)

·  RSCI (Readership Studies Council of India)

 ·  Pakistan Advertisers Society (PAS)

 
Methodology DS-CAPI DS-CAPI Pen & Paper
Recall Method Title Mastheads Title Mastheads List of publications
Target Respondents Aged 15+ Aged 12+ Aged 12+
Sample (Yearly) 34,150 235,000 15,000
Sample Selection Random through postal address database Random through electoral Randomly selected household in each area
Data Projection Census 2011 Census 2011 Census 1998
Information Coverage ·  Reading Habits

·  Brief Media Habits

·  Lifestyle / Demo

 ·  100+ Category Consumption

·  Detailed Media Habits

·  Lifestyle / Demo

 ·  100+ Category Consumption

·  Detailed Media Habits

·  Lifestyle / Demo
Avg. Interview Time 27 minutes 30 Minutes 90 Minutes
Respondent’s Incentive £20 None None
Digital Readership Recall based + Data fusion with web audience measure Recall based Recall based
Reporting frequency Quarterly Quarterly Yearly
Key Reporting Measures ·  “Air” based on

o Dailies – Yesterday

o Weeklies – P7D

o Monthlies-P1M

·  Avg. Reader / Copy

 ·  “Air” based on

o newspaper – P1M

o Magazines-P1Y

 

·  Avg. Reader / Copy

 ·  All publications-P1M

Key actions based on these observations may help improve print currency stature and acceptance in Pakistan

  • Firstly, note the organization of the survey body. It is evident that NRS UK is free of all controversies as all stakeholders (media buyers and sellers) are formally on-board. Whereas in India, the recent results were criticised by all major publishers as they were not brought on-board formally from the beginning. Similarly, in Pakistan the survey is only endorsed by PAS and publishers or media buying houses are not formally part of the governing body which is critical to regulate the industry through NRS results.
  • Secondly, we need to take a technological leap and introduce DS-CAPI based interviewing. This will help save interview time and reduce survey errors. Besides this, the visual aid issue; i.e. showing respondents a list of names versus masthead visuals of publications, will also be resolved once we move to DS-CAPI since seeing visual elements improves feedback quality.
  • Thirdly, the sample size used for gauging readership in Pakistan is another challenge to look into. Although our population is three times higher, our sample size is less than half of UK. An increase will help adjust the frequency of the report as a larger sample could be spread over the entire year and allow for the production of quarterly reports on a rolling basis spread across 12 months.
  • Fourthly, the non-availability of census data is another major issue in Pakistan. IRS lost its comparability as soon as the projections were shifted from the census conducted in 2001 to 2011. Keep in mind that it has been 18 years since we had our last census.
  • Ideally, the NRS should be done independently instead of making it a part of a single source survey as the information load certainly has an impact on the data quality.
  • I firmly believe that digital readership is rapidly increasing in Pakistan and eventually the growing importance of this medium demands that we align digital readership recall data and fuse it with Web Audience Measurement.
  • AIR – Average Issue Reach should be aligned with UK standards and used as the currency. Comparing the reach of both, newspapers as well as magazines based on the past month’s readership does not give apples to apples comparison between the two formats.
  • Lastly, we do not have an established count of average readers per copy due to inaccurate circulation data, which again, is generally believed to be highly overclaimed as print quota is allocated based on the claimed circulation.

Whether it is increasing the sample, adopting DS-CAPI method, introducing incentives for respondents or introducing practices to standardize any other factors; every such upgradation depends on how much money the industry is willing to invest in order to develop a state-of-the-art print readership measurement system.

On the other hand, inducting media buyers and sellers formally in the NRS regulatory authority; having a fresh census conducted; carrying out regular media audits and obtaining correct estimates of circulation numbers involves a great deal of politics.

However, I do believe we are on the right track given our limitations; having an adequate print currency even if it is not ideal!

DIRECTING PERCEPTIONS

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DIRECTING PERCEPTIONS

The role of positive documentaries and important ecological challenges faced by Pakistan, a discussion with Sabrina Dawood.

When you go online to look up documentaries about Pakistan, you are met with images of war and destruction, of bearded men holding guns, of bombs exploding and violence breaking out on the streets. There are very few documentaries that cover the positive side of Pakistan or discuss other important problems facing our great country and almost no documentaries that cover the extensive wealth of flora and fauna Pakistan has to offer.

Journalism in Pakistan is limited to talking about politics and celebrities; we have failed to evolve our standards to discuss larger societal issues plaguing our country –the environmental and the overpopulation issues. The fact that our natural resources such as water, flora and fauna are dwindling rapidly, while our population continues to rise exponentially.

“…the objective behind creating the documentaries was to create content that had long reaching impact.”

Understanding the need to discuss these very issues the Dawood foundation recently sponsored a series of documentaries directed by Nasir Malik. According to Sabrina Dawood, CEO of The Dawood Foundation, the objective behind creating the documentaries was to create content that had long reaching impact. In the past The Dawood foundation had been active in providing support during times of disaster by providing aid, relief and assistance to affected families, aiding the development of communities through education by creating institutes like the Dawood College of Engineering and Technology (DCET), the Marium Dawood School of Visual Arts and KSBL. In total, The Dawood Foundation has setup a number of schools and colleges since their inception back in the 1960’s when Mr. Ahmed Dawood laid their foundation. This new foray into unchartered territories of film making was spurred by the growing need to educate the masses about the ecological impacts of urbanization.

The two films, titled Margalla Hills National Park, and Chitral Gol National Park, discuss Pakistan’s flora and fauna and the impacts of human population on those beautiful ecosystems. In our discussion with Sabrina regarding these documentaries she revealed the depth of the problem facing these ecosystems and the people living in these areas.

“No one cares about these national parks, even though they are protected by the government, they are being degraded. It’s a microcosm of what’s happening all over Pakistan, you can see the animals and how they are uprooted, the surrounding communities are facing major issues because of deforestation. The people living there do not have wood to burn as fuel, their livelihoods are affected forcing them to come to the cities and that puts a burden on cities which are already overpopulated,” said Sabrina.

It is the responsibility of every citizen to take an active role in conserving the water supply, to take an active part in reforestation to avoid catastrophic collapse of economy and society.

According to Sabrina the issue is greater than we imagine, with deforestation being linked to flooding that we have faced in our recent past. The issue is also linked to Pakistan’s acute water shortage – current predictions claim that Pakistan will run out of water by 2035. Sabrina states that the only way to combat these critical issues facing us is by educating the masses, which is what The Dawood Foundation is trying to do through these documentaries. According to her, it is the responsibility of every citizen to take an active role in conserving the water supply, to take an active part in reforestation to avoid catastrophic collapse of economy and society.

The Dawood Foundation is currently conducting an extensive campaign to combat this lack of awareness; they are doing this by making their content accessible, by having their documentaries translated in all local languages and making them available online on their website www.dawoodfoundation.org . To cater to the vast majority of the population that does not have access to the internet they have developed 2 mobile cinema floats and are planning on conducting film screenings across the country in around 130 cities and towns in Pakistan. They also intend to conduct extensive screenings in public and private schools starting off with Sindh.

It is simply not possible to avoid the repercussions that result from the collapse of ecosystems, deforestation and the lack of conservation efforts. The affects could result in catastrophic consequences, the least of which would be more intense floods, lack of natural pollinators leading to a whole species of infertile crops, less water causing droughts and affecting food production. The human factor is crucial here, the footprint we impart on our environment with our actions such as pollution, deforestation, wasting precious water will certainly come back to haunt us in our own lifetimes and if not in our life perhaps in those of our future generations. It is important that we share important messages like this now, far and wide, to make people realize that efforts must begin now if we are to tip the balance of nature in our favor.

Chitral City, Chitral Valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

chitral-city-night-view-cgnp-tdf-2014-walkaboutfilms-af0c0795

At a two-hour drive from Chitral city lies the beautiful Chitral Gol valley. Rich in cedar trees, the narrow valley is home to a vast diversity of animals including the Markhor, an endangered wild goat species. A stream runs through it & broadens into a river basin surrounded by high glacier peaks. Two hunting lodges are there to facilitate tourists, which were originally built by the Mehtars, rulers of princely state of Chitral.

Hindukush Mountain Range, Chitral Gol National Park, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

hindu-kush-mountain-range-cgnp-tdf-2014-walkaboutfilms-5h6a1665

The Hindukush mountain range or Koh-e-Hind is an 800 km long mountain range that stretches between Northern Pakistan and central Afghanistan. Tirich Mir, its highest peak, is at a height of 25,289 feet lying in the Chitral district. The Hindukush Mountains are said to be home to Alexander The Great’s lost tribe, the Kalash people, settled here since the 2nd century BC after their ancestors migrated from Central Asia. The Kalash of Chitral still maintain their cultural traditions.

TDF Nature Series documentaries are available for viewing at http://dawoodfoundation.org/the-dawood-foundation-nature-project/

 

Brands Shape Opinions and Belief Systems

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Brands Shape Opinions and Belief Systems

The evolution of the human race has been going on for thousands of years, yet there is hardly any change in any human being’s basic needs. The need for food, clothing, and shelter is universally consistent amongst all of us; irrespective of what race, gender, culture, religion or nationality we belong to.

Having said that, why is it that we have evolved so rapidly in different directions, particularly if we review the influences of culture, race, religion and nationality on our lifestyles? I am sure anthropologists have studied these aspects at a much detailed level and can offer a lot more insight on the topic, yet on a psychological level this has a lot to do with how we see ourselves and how we wish to be seen. What I am trying to discuss here is that the very need of humans to be seen by others in a certain way or class or belief system etc.; is the very reason why brands were created.

If we take a closer look at brands we see reflections of personalities of different types. These personalities depict lifestyles, professions, belief systems, acceptance in social classes and much more. In essence, by creating brands human have actually provided directions of personality types which we associate with and develop a relationship with over a period of time. In other words brands also shape our opinions and belief systems, thereby playing an active role in the evolution of humans and societies. What is really important to note in this discussion is that we need to see brands at a much larger level than just cars, designer labels for clothing/accessories or FMCG’s.

The world of branding extends to anything and everything that we see around us. We can see how the term branding applies to Nations, Political Candidates, Social Causes, Educational Institutes, Competitions/Events, Evangelists…and the list goes on and on. The most important lesson here is that branding has the potential to change, adapt, give meaning and purpose to what matters to us. Thus it is time that we learn this art so that we can apply it in different walks of life to build the self-esteem of our nation, which needs rigorous image-lifting.

I strongly feel that a nation with so much human capital and talent needs to channel itself in meaningful and purposeful belief systems. A lot of new and creative experimentation is taking place in our cinema industry, which I hope will open our minds towards new influences and perspectives that challenge norms. We have been too stagnant for too long; if there is a time this is it. We need to move with confidence and take bold actions to bring change; change that really influences and motivates towards affirmative action.

TO TRACK OR NOT TO TRACK

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TO TRACK OR NOT TO TRACK

 The Successes and Challenges of Tracking Cable Network TV Channels in Pakistan

Advertising on in-house cable channels started in Pakistan in the late 90’s. It used a manual method, i.e. changing CD’s during mid movie or at the end of the movie, or through a switcher device that would pause the movie and revert back to it once the ad was run.

In the early 2000’s, software systems were brought in which would schedule advertisements during movies and play them automatically. Later on further developments in the technology allowed for the addition of channel logos, branding logos, advertisement scrolls and other advertising options in the visual perimeter of the screen. Nowadays all cable operators have different systems for advertisement on in-house channels but they operate on the same principle.

The need for tracking cable TV for commercials arose when mainly MNC’s started advertising on TV channels operated in-house by cable TV network companies and realized the high potential this sub-medium commanded. In 2012, Ozone Solution Pakistan, a UK based media monitoring and tracking company, started catering to this emerging tracking need in the industry, carrying out its business using a blend of foreign experience and local talent with a vision to partner with the Pakistani industry in meeting new challenges. Internationally, the company also caters to digital media and FM radio analysis.

Currently Ozone Solution has its tracking systems installed in fifteen major cities across Pakistan, covering eighty nine head-ends out of around one hundred and forty and providing tracking reports for more than three hundred and eighty five in-house cable channels for nine major cable networks. These include Worldcall, DiGi Media/Solo, CMG and Amaze that operate nationwide; Wateen and Kundanz that also function nationally minus Karachi; and Expy/HVC, FMG and Miraclus that operate in Karachi only. As yet, the company does not track Nayatel, the network functional in Islamabad and some other cities.

HOW IT ALL WORKS

In Pakistan, cable network companies like DiGi Media/Solo utilize equipment known as head-ends; devices that take transmission directly from the cable network companies, to distribute their transmission all over the city. For example, Solo’s entire transmission for around 60% areas of Karachi comes from a single head-end present at DHA. Head-ends are further connected to sub head-ends; pieces of equipment that further cater to areas at the neighborhood scale, for example the DHA head-end may be connected to a sub head-end present at SMCHS. From there, loop-holders (cable TV walas) distribute the transmission further to homes in SMCHS through wirings carried out from their neighborhood offices.

Ozone Solution Pakistan tracks the transmission by installing recording devices on head-end and sub head-end equipment of cable networks. Recordings are done around the clock; every day the data is physically transferred to company offices by the data collection team in SSD’s (hard disks) and uploaded to a 120 Terabyte central storage server that stores video data for up to three months.

After this, the data is audio matched; audio is tracked from the advertisements through their jingles and music, and video matched; tracked using company logo and scroll content. Next, the data is processed and advertisements are benchmarked; cut from the recordings, and segregated; saved as individual clips, and labeled for reports. A report is generated for the quality control department who look for any abnormalities present in the data. If errors are suspected, data is re-processed. A final advertisement tracking report is generated to be shared on an online portal where clients can access it.

NOT A FLAWLESS SYSTEM

There are various issues that result in advertisements not being run according to media plans, the first of them being human error. In every cable network, designated people, called schedulers, perform the task of assigning advertisements on in-house cable TV transmissions. If this does not get carried out, the ad is not run and the tracking reports reflect this error.

In a country like Pakistan where load-shedding is an everyday occurrence, a simple power outage at the wrong time can lead to delays in transmission recording while generators kick in. If this delay happens while an advertisement is scheduled, it does not get recorded. Sometimes maintenance on power lines or high winds knock down or loosen cables which leads to the transmission getting either cut off or severely garbled, which can’t be heard or recorded. This is tracked by the system and reflected in reporting.

Most of the tracking process is automated and generally free of errors, however errors do occur. The system can freeze during the recording process due to heavy load, causing loss of data.  Load shedding causes stress on the power supply to the servers, and can cause processing slow-downs which result in freezing of the system. To make sure reports are accurate, quality control teams go through the data in the system conducting random checks on the footage and matching it with the report generated by the system. If errors are discovered they re-process the entire data to generate a more accurate report.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT CABLE TRACKING

Generally, a number of advertisers believe that cable tracking provides data that includes the number of televisions the advertisement was displayed on while it was being aired or the number of viewers for a particular commercial.

In actuality, cable tracking is there to monitor and report how many times and when advertiser content was run by a cable network company.

Providing statistics for viewership at the household level is a completely different ball game altogether. It requires investment in a comprehensive infrastructure focusing completely on cable network audience measurement.

INDUSTRY RESPONSE

Tracking in-house cable TV channels has led advertisers to realize the potential such channels hold which in turn has increased budgets for cable network advertising.

According to Ozone Solution; cable network companies, advertisers and media buyers in the industry are gradually accepting the idea of cable tracking since such tracking solutions are not exactly economical, hence the industry is taking its time in realizing the benefits of investing in cable network tracking. Media buying agencies do refer their clients to Ozone Solution even if they are not subscribed to the data themselves. Yet, a number of advertisers have made this form of tracking an integral part of their campaign analysis.

Based on the inroads that cable network television tracking has made, one does see audience measurement surveys being carried out on such channels in the future. This will mark another major milestone in Pakistan’s television industry.

Information provided by Imran Ahmed Shaikh, Head of Operations, Ozone Solution Pakistan. He can be reached at imran@ozonesolution.co.uk

 

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