A Time for Growth

Hamna Farrukh

December 12, 2022

SYNERGYZER: When did you join State Life Insurance Corporation Pakistan? Walk us through your professional journey.

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: I joined State Life a year and a half ago, in March 2021 precisely, as the Chairman and CEO. I was in Hong Kong for 3.5 years working as a Global Director, Risk, and Strategy for the largest pan-Asian insurance group, AIA Group Limited. I also worked with Milliman, an American strategy and management consultancy. Before that, I was in London for thirteen years where I completed my further education and qualified as an actuary. I worked for HSBC, Ernst & Young, and Prudential, where I took on different roles from advisory to strategy management.

SYNERGYZER: After having spent so many years abroad, what brought you back to Pakistan?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: I am from Pakistan. I was born in Quetta and soon afterward, my parents moved to Karachi where I finished my schooling as well as A’Levels from Karachi Grammar School.

My journey abroad has been fantastic; I got to learn a lot and also made some great friends, but at the end of the day, your root is your home country. I believe that there’s no greater reward than coming back to the country you call home with your own area of expertise, and professionalism and knowing that you can contribute towards the growth of the country in whatever capacity you can – it’s something that brings me immense pleasure! It is effectively the Japanese concept of Ikigai “your ‘reason for being.”

SYNERGYZER: How would you say the international exposure has shaped your career?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: Since I left the country at a relatively young age, my experience abroad taught me a lot, from the professional ropes to personal experience, it has shaped me as a person and as a professional. Especially in the context of the last 20 years, a lot has been happening geo-politically and geo-economically; the concepts of globalization is changing. Working in London, the financial capital of the world, while the economies were changing drastically, not only did I get to work with best of the seat but I also learnt the value of different cultures and perspectives and to adopt and grow in a constantly evolving leadership, never losing sight of my culture and heritage. It is important to live one’s own identity; so when we talk about diversity and inclusiveness, I have experiences that range across the spectrum, because when you are working as a minority, you are working harder to prove yourself and be included.

Now that I am here in Pakistan, my focus is to ensure inclusivity, to give confidence to every individual to bring their own set of skills to the task and celebrate the value of diversity of perspectives. For any organization to thrive I think it’s very important that we identify and value these skill sets to use them in the right place and explore their true potential. Only then can we draft narratives, solutions and identify the needs of the people we are here to serve.

SYNERGYZER: How do you think has Pakistan’s insurance sector changed over the last two decades, and what is it that has remained unchanged?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: Pakistan has one of the smallest insurance markets; it has a very low insurance penetration rate, which is the amount of annual premiums over gross domestic product. Currently, the world average is around 3.5%; India stands at about 4.5%, while countries like Malaysia and Indonesia would be above 3.5%. Pakistan currently sits at 0.9% and I see no reason other than the limited innovation.

State Life’s current market share stands at 60%, it was at 50% when I joined. So the growth we’ve achieved over the year proves that the entire market has the potential to grow. The insurance sector as a whole holds its forte in selling saving products, but what I feel is missing is the innovative aspect to meet the protection and social welfare needs. This applies to both private and public players in the market. Given the current population of 220 million, it is high time that we realize how a one-fits-all policy does not apply to such a vast population – different people are going through different stages of their lives and need different solutions for financial inclusiveness and protection needs. I believe the innovation in products has not been promoted as enthusiastically as it should have been and that is what, SLIC has been primarily working towards ever since I have taken charge.

SYNERGYZER: Keeping this penetration rate in mind, why is there still scepticism about insurance among customers?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: When you enter the insurance industry, you are taught that insurance is not bought, but it is rather sold. Going in with that frame of mind, what I see is that some companies are only looking at high net-worth segments of the market; making savings or investment products for them, whereas the real purpose of insurance is savings and protection.

Unfortunately, in Pakistan, during the past ten years or so, there has been a practice of selling insurance as an investment product which means when stock markets are volatile, the returns may not be as much as what people expect and that is when trust in the industry goes away. What is insurance primarily? It is a promise to the individual that when the need arises, the insurance company will be there to meet that need. When that promise is broken, so is the trust. I think the industry, as a whole, has to work very hard to bring that trust factor back and we are doing that with a line of new products which focus on protection and individual needs. These products are made with different age groups and financial segments in mind so that we can offer solutions that assist them in their life journeys.

SYNERGYZER: Your leadership vision and drive has brought significant growth to SLIC. At the same time, you have highlighted the need for innovation. What are the innovative changes you have brought to the organization since you joined it in 2021?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: With innovation, our focus has been on products, digitalization and increasing accessibility. With product innovation, we were the first in Pakistan to launch rider protection plan. In today’s gig economy there are many platforms that provide rider and courier services and their riders are the frontline workers. We have innovative digital product that protects these riders, providing cover for life, accident, disability and hospitalization.

We have also launched our individual and corporate health product line; where the focus has been to ensure affordability for the masses. As per our benchmarks, our products are 40% cheaper than anything else that is available in the market for the same service and protection.

Speaking of health protection; Pinktober is marked to create awareness against breast cancer, it’s one thing to create awareness but we also need solutions to support women and the only way you can fight cancer is by preventing it. We have created Sinf-e-Ahan, Pakistan’s first women specific cancer protection plan that protects near all types of cancers that may afflict a woman. The design of the product is purposefully simple where we pay-out straightaway on diagnosis and again the focus has been affordability; the cover can be taken for as little as Rs 200 a year.

We have launched a ‘haari’ protection plan for our farmers in the rural society and soon a domestic help protection line too. We are a young nation, and there are a lot of good things happening in the freelancing and tech industry but there aren’t any financially inclusive products for them, so we are focusing on these.

Moreover, we re-launched some of our best saving products under ‘golden endowment’ since we are celebrating 50 years of State Life this year. We have technically reviewed the policy, the product and refined it, which means that the new product gives you an automatic 25% value addition from day one. It is not only protection but also generates savings growth with guaranteed bonuses each year.

Similarly, SLIC’s pension savings plan is one of the best values in the market where on average your initial investment doubles in seven years.

On digitalization, we have also launched our digital product line which brings health and protection solutions in the palm of your hand. Digital premium payment solutions are available to policyholders now.

Our health line, has evolved to e-claims and e-processing providing cashless solutions. In July this year we launched ‘state-of-the-art’ data centre in Islamabad. So together, with continuously improving and digitizing our policyholder services, we are also focused on making our internal processes more efficient and paperless.

We have focused on improving accessibility to our policyholders. I myself hold e-kacheris on a monthly basis, where anyone engaged with SLIC can call in or connect via zoom and we look resolve any issues at the earliest.

We are also focused on improves sales accessibility. Our agency force is the largest in Pakistan with nearly a hundred thousand agents and more than 11,000 area offices across the country. We have some excellent banking partners and are also bringing on corporate agents as well as digital sales points.

SYNERGYZER: Moving forward with your digitalization plan, what role does it play when it comes to the insurance sector and where does SLIC stand currently as compared to its competitors in terms of digitization?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: Generally speaking, across the globe, the insurance industry is always a step behind when it comes to digitization and adopting technology. However, I think there are some good initiatives taken along with directional push being brought in on digitization in what you call ‘Insurtech’ from the SECP and companies are innovating. However, what you usually find in a financial world is that the front face, for example, a digital app etc., may be available to a policyholder or a customer but the back end is still very manual. So, for me, when you talk about digitalizing, I am not only talking about the front face but I am talking about the entire journey and I think that journey still has to be undertaken in leaps and bounds as far as Pakistan is concerned.

SYNERGYZER: The growth and turnaround State Life has witnessed under your leadership has been phenomenal. Despite the ongoing pandemic, State Life paid Rs 100 billion in claims, registered 100% business growth and your market share increased. What are some of the factors that led to this?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: 2021 was a record-setting year for State Life and we are very proud to be a part of it, despite the pandemic and other economic challenges. State Life increased new business year on year by 100%. We paid Rs 100 billion in claims which is the first ever in Pakistan. I earlier mentioned our endowment product where we pay guaranteed bonuses each year. In 2021 alone, we allocated about Rs 85 billion in bonuses to policyholders. The fantastic thing about State Life is that it’s the only company, which allocates 97.5% of its profits to its policyholders. So, whatever we earn, effectively goes straight back to the policyholders. When we talk about the best returns and the best protection, State Life naturally gives that. As for the other factors, I inherited a team of people who are very loyal and very dedicated to State Life and when the challenges were put up to them, they worked really hard to surpass them. From our actuarial divisions to our policyholder services to our marketing division and the field force, I think they all did a fantastic job.

The main goal that I’ve had since I’ve been here is to really generate and increase the penetration rate in Pakistan and the acceptance of insurance, and the reason for that is that a larger and more dynamic insurance industry will contribute a lot more to the economy of Pakistan and towards the social protection of Pakistanis. A vibrant insurance industry has the potential of becoming the backbone of an economy because its focus remains on long-term savings and protection and when individuals feel that they are protected, they are much more likely to take entrepreneurial risks to fulfill the dreams that otherwise they may not have the means to, and that’s why we are here: to back them up and protect them. We are the market leaders, however, I feel currently, there should be no competition within the insurance industry given how small it is on whole and its potential for growth. SLIC’s focus is really to lead by example and show that there is a much bigger service to roll out to all of Pakistan and I am very happy to say that yes, we have been successful in the past year or so and hopefully will continue being so.

SYNERGYZER: What was the objective behind the revival of your historic Aye Khuda Mere Abbu Salamat Rahen ad campaign this time addressing the mothers and dharti?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: Following all the hard work we had put in including coming up with new products, starting the digital journey, reviving different sales channels, etc. it was important to get the message across. So, we sat down with a number of media companies and got a whole diaspora of pitches, from something very flashy on how to connect with the new generation to something being a bit more archaic, given we are an old company. All had their pros and cons but the one thing that kept coming up was the jingle, ‘Aye Khuda Mere Abbu’ which everybody still remembers; it’s a fond memory in everyone’s mind. Since we had our 50th anniversary coming up, and there was a realization that it is a legacy to be celebrated. Also, Pakistan has also changed since that jingle first came about. A father is not the only sole bread earner of a family anymore, a mother has an equally important role. She had an important role back then too but more so even now. No matter what they may be doing, they may be homemakers, leading their own lives together with the father being bread earners, or single mothers or single fathers, understanding and respecting those different roles was important.

Also, one of the things that struck me was that this is not just a jingle or an ad campaign, it’s actually a prayer if we really think about it. It is something that you can wake up every morning and say to yourself. All you’re doing is wishing happiness and wellbeing for your parents and your family and of course, your nation and your country. Those are the driving factors and driving identity in anyone of our lives. The country and nationality that we have, the parents under whose guidance we grew up, so waking up and saying a silent prayer for them is probably what we’ve all done as children, so I saw it more as a prayer than a jingle and I think that was the thing that we wanted to grasp; a message of hope across the country to tell people that we have a legacy; that we have served and protected Pakistan in our capacity for the past 50 years and we look to serve Pakistan for the next 50 years as well.

SYNERGYZER: What changes are you planning to bring in terms of marketing on TV and social media?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: Well, the goal is to communicate, to celebrate our victories. We are the largest insurance group in Pakistan. For us to achieve 100% growth in our sales figures is no small feat so I think it should be celebrated. One aspect is to celebrate the successes of our people and our company but moreover to also show the people of Pakistan that we are here, integrated with you, as part of your lives, and we are here to serve you. With all the innovation that we are carrying out within State Life, be it through digital product lines, digital access to policyholders, or improvement of services, I think there’s a lot more to do and we will keep doing it such as coming up with health and protection solutions but we also have to inform the individuals. If you don’t inform them how will they know that they have a solution in their hand. So, it’s not so much a marketing spiel, or a celebration of successes today but also information sharing for what we have to offer that we know will benefit the Pakistanis across all sections of society.

SYNERGYZER: What are some of the challenges the insurance sector currently faces in Pakistan and how can they be overcome?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: There are two aspects to it, insurance really comes about gradually. It may not be the immediate need. Globally, after Covid-19, the economic pressures that every country has had and Pakistan is going through as well, might put pressure on disposable income for individuals. I see that being a challenge for the consumer because even if they wanted to, would they be able to buy an insurance product? Also, we need to find out whether the insurance industry really is providing solutions to the market or the people of Pakistan. For example, we have recently gone through devastating floods; crops and houses have been wiped out, entire villages have been submerged, and most dangerously, when the water levels were stagnant and not receding, the diseases that come out of that. These are scenarios where insurance really comes into play, if these individuals had health insurance or if we really had a health insurance industry across the country, then the biggest care of morbidity would be covered.

Moreover, think about the financial strain these families would be going through. When we talk about financial protection that meets the needs in such unforeseen circumstances, it gives us an education on the need the insurance must fulfill. So, I think the market space is out there, the need is out there, and the challenge for the insurance industry is really to come up with solutions that meet those needs. Understand that we are here to serve all of Pakistan not just a particular well-to-do segment and that’s what SLIC is focusing on.

SYNERGYZER: What is State Life Insurance Corporation doing in terms of CSR (Corporate social responsibility)?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: If you really think about it, State Life came into being for the purpose of social responsibility. Its founding principle in 1972 was to create a social protection network for the country. What we’ve been focused on is for State Life to spread across the length and breadth of Pakistan from Gawadar to Gilgit, from Karachi to Khyber. We have more than 11,000 area offices across the country.

We activated these area offices to reach out to flood-affected areas and we have set up free medical camps to provide medical consultation, medicines, pregnancy advice, child nutrition, water purification, and women hygiene products free of cost. Since we are an insurance company, our doctors have been volunteering their time free of charge to be available at these camps and our field force and officers and staff have been in these areas directly to facilitate and ensure that the people come to these camps and avail the services. We’ve had two phases of these camps already; there are about 60 medical camps that we’ve organized and we will continue doing so as far as the needs are concerned and then we will reassess again what we can do going forward. That’s one area.

Secondly, we introduced Sinf-e-Ahan, the women’s cancer protection programme. We’ve been very focused on doing our bit where we can to help generate awareness against cancer. We recently participated in and sponsored Pink Pakistan’s cancer awareness bike ride in Karachi. Our engagement in this cause will continue throughout the year.

The other area that we’ve really focused on are helping the youth. Earlier in the year, we signed an agreement with Pakistan Software Export Board to help promote affordable products for the tech and freelancing community and with that ethos of generating a protective layer, the protective social network for the younger entrepreneurs and the youth of this country.

We have also supported the Pakistan Junior League which is the first ever in Pakistan, the first ever in the world. The thought process behind that really is to not just to have our brand logo there but to provide an opportunity for young of this country, to fulfill their dreams.

SYNERGYZER: Talking about PJL, can we hope to see more such sporting initiatives from State Life in the future?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: Yes, definitely. There are a lot of things in the pipeline because personally, I don’t see these opportunities as a marketing gimmick nor do I want them to be. We can always go into the tournament or something, give a little bit of money, and have our logo printed there. But I like to go in with a solution and create that solution technically; not just give in a sponsorship amount but also come up with a solution that serves the purposes or fulfills the need. We are in conversation with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB); I think they have got a fantastic pathway group where they went and found 100 young talented boys. We are also devising activities and programs around women’s football and cricket. Once we go through this, this is not a one-off like I said, so we are looking to become integral to the promotion of youth and healthy sporting activities within Pakistan.

SYNERGYZER: Do remote and hybrid setups work for insurance companies? Do you think there is room to adapt to the new work trends?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: I think one must. We’ve seen during Covid-19 that more and more companies and individuals now believe in working remotely or in hybrid setups and that we do not have to be physically present across one another to achieve a goal, as long as we are working towards a goal.

Be it State Life or any other company, adapting to modern times and working styles is only beneficial for the individual and the corporation, people can work more efficiently and can contribute even more. There needs to be a balance between the two but I think a healthy balance will only improve the efficiency throughout.

SYNERGYZER: Lastly, State Life is completing 50 years this year, what do you think is the way forward? Where do you see yourself and the organization in the next five to ten years?

SHOAIB JAVED HUSSAIN: First and foremost, on behalf of State Life, I would like to thank all of Pakistan for their trust in State Life for the past 50 years; it is a matter of pride for State Life to serve Pakistan for the past 50 years. For the next 50, the focus is to really expand the protective social network. We are available, affordable, and accessible for all Pakistanis regardless of their background. We want to be there; we want to recognize their needs and we want to be there to support them throughout their life journey. If one wants to take quite a traditional route, we want to be there as the backfall, as a partner in their life journey to live a healthy and longer life. If an individual wants to take on more risks be it from a professional standpoint or otherwise, we want to be there to give them the confidence that they can take on more risks because they’ve got State Life there that protects them; be it financially and otherwise as well. All in all, I strongly believe that a robust and growing insurance industry can be a protective net for the individual and an economic backbone for the country.

Desi Advertisers

Asrar Alam

October 4, 2022

Life teaches us lessons no university will offer in the world. Only if you’re a good observer of life, you learn from it. Long before I joined advertising as a profession, I met some underprivileged and talented people who I believe knew the art of salesmanship, advertising and marketing no less than professionals having degrees of prestigious universities. Observing them closely even today helps, in particularly carving useful consumer insights in advertising. These were one of the best desi advertisers I came across in my life. You can also find them in a local train, a public transport bus full of strangers or in your neighborhood Sunday market. These talented people are walking advertisements of their businesses, they coin their own taglines, strategies and sticky jingles too, like I said, you’ll know if you are a good observer.

The Attention Seeker

Imagine your mundane usual commute in one of those city buses in Karachi Saddar bazaar, provided you have travelled in such a bus. There is nothing exciting in that bus and you’re just waiting to get off as soon as your point arrives and a man enters, a local vendor, selling those cheap Chinese products. “Yeh kia ho raha hai bus mein? Yeh kia hora hai bus mein?” He screams at the top of his lungs getting everyone’s attention. You’re puzzled, looking at him for further explanation, thinking what’s wrong and he goes on in relatively softer tone, “Rumaal lelo dus mein!” Finally, everyone smiles. He also manages to sell his products to a couple of passengers. I am guilty of buying those handkerchiefs which I never wanted in the first place, let alone people who needed them. That’s when I developed the love for advertising.

The man in the bus was clearly a self-taught person who writes his own script for his own life – and for his business too. The cut-throat competition scenarios he faced on a daily basis taught him well. He never spoke about how good that handkerchief was, where it was made and how cost-effective his deals were. No functional benefits whatsoever. For me he was a star and I used to wait for him to enter the bus and entertain us with his wit and delivery of script.

The Headline Hawker

You must have come across hawkers who sell newspapers in streets. But have you ever noticed how they manipulate with actual news and headlines? I saw one who used to sell multi language newspapers in our neighborhood and he would read Urdu headlines out loud. The funny thing was after you buy the newspaper, you never find any of his cheesy lines on the front page. He would always pick his favourite lines from page three, manipulate it and make it sound like an intriguing headline – a perfect bait for you to buy the paper.

The Famous Sunday Bazaar

Everyone has visited the famous Sunday Bazaar in their lives for one reason or the other. I used to go to get DVDs, oil paintings, original movie posters, camcorders and stuff I couldn’t find anywhere else at cheap prices. Every vendor had a different technique to lure the customer. They used to sing their offers, compete with each other like an actual banter between shopkeepers, etc. Imagine you’re passing through the maze of that enormous bazaar and you overhear, “Hogayi shaam, gir gaya daam” and you can’t help but ask the price. We actually used to think it must be cheap now since it’s evening and the bazaar is about to close, while the vendors wanted to sweep their remaining stocks in lumpsum since early birds have already gotten their worms by that time. And you must have heard a monotone sung line in misfit aunties’ sections, “12, 12 rupia, 12, 12 rupia, 12, 12 rupia.” I am sure you read this in the same tune in your mind.

How consumers behave, what sellers want, you must know if you’re an advertiser, and you have to be a great observer as well. Like I said, an advertiser can pick up useful insights from a dhaba and help his creatives design a communication in the consumer’s language, manner and style. And many times, we see something different and an idea strikes because travelling itself is food for the brain, it brings you out of the concrete jungle and into a place full of possibilities and ideas hiding in every corner.

The attention seeker and the headline hawker did the exact same thing. They looked around and caught useful insights upon which they based the advertising of their businesses. They did not speak about the functionality of their products; they spoke what the consumer would not forget. How genius is it to tease pedestrians by announcing the headlines and capturing their interest, thus compelling the consumer to buy the newspaper in order to read more about it. Where does this insight come from? It comes from the curious nature of humans. We cannot deny that gossip is one of our favorites, whether it be about someone we know personally or a famous celebrity. The hawker used the same curious nature to design his communication and was successful in getting the audience interested.

These are a few examples which brings to light the importance of paying attention. A good advertiser pays very close attention to how their consumer behaves which helps him/her discover insights which will lead to a successful idea appealing to the relevant target market. Noticing the small, minor details can make a significant difference as even a single word can help the audience connect with the brand. Successful advertising can be termed in many different ways, the most common way is through numbers, but another way is memorability. When a consumer sees an ad which they can connect with, they tend to remember it which leads to a more favorable outcome for the brand in stores and also customer loyalty as it was not a random pick but a definite decision of the customer to buy that specific product.

And We Are Live!

Raaj Kheraj

September 29, 2022

Remember the time when social media did not exist and all we had was a television which broadcasted content at specific timings and we had to wait for our favorite shows to air? (cartoons, dramas, talk shows, live shopping shows etc.). One show that my uncle eagerly looked forward to watching was the post-midnight telemarketing show; he watched all product sequences and then sometimes ordered one for himself. Back then, I did not understand why people were so excited about these live broadcasts.

Fast-forward to today, when TV is almost an absolute essential in the lives of many and digital is the main source of communication, brands are again moving back to the live stream phenomenon and there are good reasons why this has become one of the best ways to engage with the audiences and convert them into customers in real-time.

Live-streaming is an evolved and more engaging version of live TV. The reason it creates a significant impact is because it keeps people up-to-dated on newest products in the market, and this is why television has lost a lot of subscribers. Whether it is Facebook, Instagram or YouTube, with just a click of a button, you can broadcast your content live to millions of viewers across the globe. Moreover, since more people have gotten into streaming, numerous other platforms have also been created specifically for live-streaming to give them choice as well as for audience to connect virtually. An example of this is Twitch TV, a new virtual world where fans spends 95 minutes on average watching other streamers play Fortnite, draw anime characters or perform their alternative music.

One of the reasons why live-streaming is so attractive and crucial for brands and individuals is because of the level of interaction and engagement it offers. No other platform or marketing strategy allows such a level of interaction. In addition to this, live-streaming also has the highest rate of engagement for all types of content.

Digital live streams can do everything a Live TV can along with value-added features. On a digital stream, viewers can post their comments, reactions, reviews and sentiments, which automatically show up in real-time, allowing the viewers to interact with the streamer and vice-versa. This real-time interaction makes the consumer-and-brand bond stronger and opens a great channel of communication. Video-on-demand, which was a fan favourite previously, is now losing its charm as it cannot create the same engagement with the viewers as the live-stream can.

Read More: REIGNITING ADVERTISING

Another important aspect of live-streaming is reach. With live-streams, you can reach out to more people, for example, if you go live on Facebook or Instagram, the chance of your content popping up on your follower’s screen is more compared to any other image or video on demand.

Increased reach is just the beginning; with increased exposure, one can get more and more leads for your venture and more followers for your brand. Within the digital universe, it is elementary for people to find and share live videos as the action required to do so is minimal and hence it increases your reach as their friends and connections view it as well.

To top it all, one reason that it has been the choice of brand managers is cost-effectiveness. For some marketers, reaching out to the audience effectively and engagingly can be expensive and may require significant investments, but live-stream can be created on small budgets and the results are better than any other platform. This is one of the most essential reasons why live-stream today has outgrown video on demand, and with each year, the passion for live videos has seen significant growth – 3-4 times higher than video on demand and almost ten times more than short formats.

Let’s look at an example, something Facebook has quoted as live best practice on its Meta for Business portal. Samsung, as we all know, is one of the biggest electronic manufacturers and distributer in the world. Back in the COVID-19 pandemic days, Samsung tried Facebook’s live shopping solution for the very first time to evaluate its impact on the business. Consumers activity had already been shifted online due to no or restricted outdoor activities; it was a great time to experiment it. Samsung in collaboration with Meta initiated a campaign to offer the existing and potential consumers an online experience using Facebook live events.

In collaboration with its media agency, Samsung hosted these live events to promote the launch of their new home appliances products. Two influencers were taken on-board to host the session and share details about the product in an engaging way. People who wanted to buy the product could, at the same time, click on the links provided to view the product featured and check out further details. The link directed the viewer to Samsung’s official website, where people could also buy the product. With these live sessions and other marketing efforts targeted to direct viewers to the live sessions, Samsung was able to; increase the ad recall by 6.8 points, lift the overall sales by 39% and increase brand awareness by 4.2 points. And all of this during the pandemic times. This shows the potential a live stream holds for businesses.

Daraz Pakistan’s new livestream feature is another local example for how brands in Pakistan can harness this power. Inspired by the technique used by local online sellers on Facebook groups, where they sell products online via live sessions, Daraz introduced a real-time content feature available on their app. It gives sellers another tool to engage consumers, while helps them interact with the sellers and see the product before they can buy it. It features a variety of content, including product showcases, trivia games and Q&A sessions. This new feature helped Daraz garner more sales then ever during their biggest sale of the year, and hence the new philosophy with the play button in the middle, which also promotes it and forecasts how it will play an integral role in the brand’s journey in the near future.

Live streams are the next big things and they have a huge potential in the e-commerce world to provide endless monetization opportunities. And with a widened and eager audience at our disposal, advertising enthusiasts have a new way to experiment with campaigns and get results in real-time.

Just to summarize, let’s use the one thing that we all love – numbers. Live videos during COVID-19 grew by 93% with an average viewing time of 26.4 minutes per session (source: Streaming Media, 2019). Live video holds the attention 10-20x better than the pre-recorded content (Forrester, 2017). The engagement is so amazing that 7 out of 10 people who watch the live stream tune in regularly (Interactive Advertising Bureau, 2018). All in all, live streaming is a trend that is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.

So, if you’re an agency person, here is your pitch for the next live campaign to your brand. And if you’re a brand person, ring up your agency and go live!!!

REIGNITING ADVERTISING

Hashmat Mirza

September 28, 2022

Changing times change industries. The advertising industry is synonymous with creativity, teamwork, and innovation; however, the state of affairs is far from how it could have been.

The Gap That Exists

In a world of fresh creatives, eye-catching spectacles, and jaw-dropping campaigns; Pakistan DOES lag behind. While the rest of the world is testing the limits of new technology, Pakistani creatives do at times seem to be content with the work of yesteryears. So, why does this gap exist?

Well, for one, the conservative nature of many top brands leads them to staying with the tried and tested formula. While most of the world has moved towards digital and tapered-off old-fashioned radio spots, we have remained behind. This is partly due to our demographics (a tiny percentage of our marketing audience is available online – and the number is far from what it is in many other countries) and partly due to the fear of stepping into the unknown.

Why Is The Gap There?

Majorly, there is a major learning gap in the Pakistani ad industry, largely down to the lack of link between educational programs and the work required by agencies.

Students study a program at their college or university and, often, instead of stepping into an agency where they can be mentored, matured, and molded, they enter the world of freelancing. Freelancing is not without its merits, and while the potential pay may be higher, it does not provide the foundation of a good advertising and marketing career that an advertising agency experience does.

Agency Aid

So, how do people in today’s day and age learn about the industry? Aside from educational programs and taking on a low-paying freelance gig, new creatives have taken it upon themselves to learn from impersonal sources. What they need to realize is that a YouTube video is not the same as the trial-by-fire training first-hand involvement provides.

Hence there are those who seek out agencies to learn from; becoming management trainees or social media executives, hoping to climb the ladder and absorb as much as they can along the way. These young talents use their theoretical knowledge that they have studied in their respective educational programs, and try to implement it in the real world. They aspire to see the campaign they have worked on, on TV or on a billboard; up high touching the clouds. The truth is often less attractive than fantasy. Raw talent is just that: Raw, not ready.

Advertising agencies these days are stacked full of either such newbies who have just entered the job market or those who are older and are settled in their positions and spaces, more popularly referred to these days as their ‘comfort zones’. In my opinion, comfort is a creativity-killer: Creativity demands continuous improvement; the belief that nobody, least of all me, is capable of knowing it all; and that life’s journey is just about learning as much as anything else.

For agencies to improve, and for our industry to improve in-turn, we need to nurture our talent. The solution is simple yet not easily achieved: Retain young talent and mentor them into the creatives of tomorrow. This can be made achievable by providing young creatives the tools for their own growth; including continuous development opportunities in the form of workshops, hands-on training, creativity stimulating games, and most importantly, a workplace culture that puts emphasis on quality rather than quantity.

A very sad fact is that most advertising agencies these days are akin to mills, churning out product that is essentially homogenized. You see an ad for a cooking oil brand and you can be sure there will likely be a play on a wedding or a huge family gathering etc. This leads to an obvious lack of new ideas.

Can The Situation Be Fixed?

Nothing is truly irreparable and with the right steps, the industry will be able to look forward to producing more and more creative professionals with outstanding ideas. The most important need for a more creative tomorrow is to create a better working culture today. Gone are the days when every aspiring advertising professional would look forward to working at an ad agency. These days anyone can put up an ad on Fiverr or Upwork or any of the hundreds of job boards online and create a ‘gig’ to start selling themselves as marketers.

What modern marketers want, and honestly, what everyone wants is a good work-life balance. People want to work at a place where they like spending time. A place free of office politics, a place where promotions are given based on merit and nothing else, a place where they can be happy. People are now more focused on work-life balance than ever before because they have more options. So, if they are working at a place with a bad culture, they will just leave. We have all seen this happen many, many times. Modern problems require modern solutions, and a culture built on employee happiness can pay dividends in the short-term as well as the long-term.

Burnout is hardly a new concept in the field of advertising, but the sheer number of people leaving the industry all together is a worrying trend and one that seems unlikely to change. A better environment will lead to better work being produced and more committed employees.

Some revolutionary suggestions based on my experiences working with a number of advertising agencies: Instead of Human Resource Managers, advertising agencies should consider having Happiness Managers on-board. Instead of late nights, cooped up in an enclosed space, there should be room for escapades with colleagues. To encourage long-term employment at agencies, provide newbies with a mentor; someone they can rely on to learn while they take their first steps in the world of advertising. This way, by building a better culture, we can build relationships that will hold strong far longer than they currently do.

Welcoming a Brand New Tomorrow

Although the Pakistani advertising industry may be in a tough situation, it has the potential of going a long way from where it is right now. The Pakistani nation has an abundance of talent and with relevant strategies, we might soon be able to welcome back the golden age of advertising that we still remember from the ‘70s and ‘80s.

The future course of action will be set by the actions we carry out today – this can be our line in the sand. We must adapt and improve or risk losing it all. With the appropriate shift in culture, our industry can become a beacon of fresh ideas and inspiring work.

We are the creators of our destiny – let’s create a beautiful one.

Why are Agencies Failing Miserably at Retaining Talent?

Sameen Rashid

September 27, 2022

You reap what you sow is a very mindful piece of advice. Planting a seed into the ground is not enough. You have to nurture it to help it grow into a beautiful tree. You can expect a healthy plant only if you provide it with the right amount of water, sunlight, and protection from the creepy crawlies.

What would happen if no one took care of the plant? Well, it will either lack in its growth or it will die due to deficiency. It is our responsibility to provide it with an environment where it can thrive and unveil its true capacity.

Similarly, when an individual with a creative flair takes a step into the advertising field, whether as an associate, executive, or a manager, they require the agency which has decided to take them on board to provide them with an environment where they can excel and grow. The person to who that particular creative is reporting should act as a mentor and help him/her identify their strengths and polish them. This way, the creative can learn and utilize their knowledge to create new and better ideas which would help the industry grow as they are the upcoming generation who will take over.

The focal point where the problem rests at the moment is the toxic environment that exists at advertising agencies. This lowers productivity and demotivates an employee from taking initiative for the company. Something is definitely amiss when a creative is not excited to go to work. Yes, every place has a few problems but these seem to have increased rapidly in the current time. Let’s look into some of the things that an agency might be doing wrong which has resulted in people opting out of agency life.

We all must have heard that there are ‘no timings’ while working in advertising or any other form of media. As true as this is, this phrase is now being exploited into making creatives and other employees do unpaid overtime. Why are there no policies for overtime? When a creative joins an agency, they have been hired for a set number of hours; so why isn’t he/she given a return for the extra hours that they are investing in the company?

Read More: Being Human

Working for such long hours has a significant impact on both the mental and physical health of any creative leading to loss of interest, creative block, frustration and a wide gap within the team itself. When a creative is constantly grinding, they naturally reach a point of exhaustion from which they need time to recover, but in most cases, this does not happen, as the creative will not receive the proper amount of time off required.

Not having a work-life balance may cause a disconnect with friends and family which often leads to negative feelings and a very harmful impact on the mental health of creatives. In order to combat this, agencies should start taking active steps towards this. Agencies should value productivity instead of late hours. A creative should be expected to finish their work within the office hours and discourage late sittings and over time. A boss should not expect a creative to “look busy” by being glued to their seats and typing away on their laptops.

Unlocking a creative idea takes time, sometimes hours, days or even weeks. A good creative idea cannot be available on demand. One good idea may come out of twenty bad idea, and this requires time. Of course, there are deadlines but agreeing to unrealistic ones and expecting a creative to deliver them is not entirely fair.

Everyone wants to produce their best work, but if such limitations are placed on a creative then the agency is making it impossible for them to deliver what he/ she is truly capable of. As a wise mentor once said, “If a creative is staring at an empty wall, you cannot accuse them of not working because you do not know what is going on in their mind.” A creative is always working, you never know when an idea might strike, even from something very irrelevant or peculiar.

For a creative to flourish, you need to create a happy and, obviously, creative environment for them. It would be very helpful if agencies give their creatives the liberty to play music, have comfy sofas or bean bags, have an array of leisure activities and the interior of the agency should be lively enough to turn a frown upside down. The vibe of the room should be exhilarating the moment a person steps in. The agency will then be able to retain more creatives as the energy itself would be addictive.

It doesn’t hurt to take a chance, once in a while. We need to quit using the old “inside the box” ideas when every client brief always contains the phrase, “out of the box ideas”. What if young and upcoming creatives were able to take chances and create new beginnings. Agencies should take chances to potentially hit a new mark in the wall.

Now, because of all the above reasons, agencies have seen a sharp decline in the creatives available in the market. Either an agency is unable to retain the creatives they hire or are unable to find any new ones willing to come on board. This is happening because the younger lot of creatives value their mental health more than succumbing to the toxic ways of a company. A creative does join an agency but as soon as they realize that they do not see themselves working long term there, they bail.

At times, it is the fault of the creative as they are the kind of person who finds it difficult to stick to a place or they might be performing poorly. Unfortunately, a few of the younger lot has mastered the art of acing an interview. They know all the right things to say which gets them the job but when it’s time to perform, they are unable to deliver. On the other hand, some agencies are unable to retain creatives due to the uncanny pressure and hours.

This is a generation that believes in working for itself if they don’t find themselves being valued, and well, can you blame them? A creative requires their freedom to bring their best to the table. Confiding them into a system that might seem the best may be doing the most damage. If you wish for a creative to remain at your company while producing good work then you have to provide them with the environment which they require to grow into their complete potential. A creative mind needs to surround itself in an environment which elevate its capacity and helps in finding solutions.

And I think it is safe to say, that seeing the current fiasco through which different advertising agencies in Pakistan are going through, it is time to change. We can either mend our ways and welcome the talent which flourishes in our land or we can keep up the existing ways and continue scouting for new creatives in the market as there is a shortage. If you know what I mean!

Being Human

Muhammad Ali Khan

September 26, 2022

Ever since I entered advertising, I still hear the one fact about consumers that’s reiterated over and over again – that they are constantly evolving. They have evolved to become smart and see through many of the marketing and advertising tactics we showmen are always cooking up for them. But that doesn’t change the fact that advertising is still very effective if done right. Gone are the days when we could assume things about consumers and build narratives for brands based on our gut feeling; today, it’s all about representing the right kind of values and saying the right kind of things, while seamlessly integrating the brand in those narratives.

However, it doesn’t just stop there. When consumers interact with a brand, they expect to be heard and given due attention on an individual level. That’s why it’s usually advised that ad copy should refer to the customers in the second person. Brands aren’t unreachable anymore; they now have an inherent responsibility towards their customers when it comes to building a connection with them.

Since it’s about connecting with them on a much deeper level now, brands cannot just talk down at customers anymore; they must speak with them and expect the conversation to continue if customers connect with their message. In order to ensure that everything goes smooth and a strong relationship is to be created with them, brands need to show consumers that they’re not just a faceless voice that can be heard on media platforms, but rather humans like all of us, who do not just embody the brand but actually speak with them on behalf of the brand.

Say It Like You Mean It

Brands talk to people. All the communication we as marketers and advertising professionals develop for brands are actually the voices we are giving them in speaking with their customers. That’s why brands spend time strategizing their positioning, messages, tone and essence. However, if those strategic decisions get translated into robotic messages advertising speak these days, then those brand building efforts risk falling flat on their faces. Brands need to embody various personas and, in their communications, need to constantly reinforce those personas to maintain a healthy connection with consumers. This is simply because people respond better to people; audiences are not just looking to understand the ‘why’ behind what your brand is doing, but they also want to get to know your brand better as well as the people behind it. Taking this route makes it easier for your brand to become relatable, interesting and most importantly personal to consumers.

An example can be drawn from brands such as Harley Davidson, a brand which comes across as a rebel. While its communication embodies rebellious connotations, its tone of voice, and even human elements have a specific representation that people can relate to. When you think Harley, you think leather jackets, big tattoos, a long beard and a badass attitude. People with affinities towards such a personality have the potential to connect better with the brand.

Personifying Your Brand

One of the best ways to personify your brand is by using a simple but important Brand Archetype tool, that lets you choose between twelve types of identities that you can assign to your brand. Each identity represents a specific tone of voice, motivations, strengths, fears and associations. Attaching your brand with an archetype is the first step in making an effort towards humanizing your brand.

Another way to make your brand human is by assigning it a certain type of personality. Ask yourself one question every time you are in the process of building a brand – who would my brand be if it were a human? By imagining your brand as one specific individual, you have given the brand enough context to breathe some life into it. Then, start delving into the details – what is the framework of this person? Is it a man or a woman? Is he or she so professional and formal or laid back and playful? No matter how you personify your brand, you will always find a group of audiences ready to connect with you.

Share Your Story With Transparency

Just like humans have stories, brands do too. However, rather than talk about a ‘legacy’ and ‘origins’, talk about the things and people behind the brand and be transparent about it. Staying relevant and tying your story with the motivations and stories that push the brand to move further allows for better relationship building with the audience.

If It Talks Like a Human and Walks Like a Human…

Then it’s a human! Some of the most successful brands these days speak with their consumers, especially on social and digital platforms, like people would. This ensures that the interactions that take place between them are real and interesting. The way Wendy’s tweets about its thoughts, as well as the famous ‘National Roast Day’ allows for people to connect with the brand just like they would with a cheeky friend. Coca-Cola, KFC and others take the time to actually respond to audiences online just like a human would, when they are mentioned. In fact, many brands even go the extra mile to have a say in many subjects to show audiences that they, like humans, have an opinion too – which they aren’t afraid to voice. An excellent example is how Nike stood by Colin Kaepernick and launched a campaign featuring him, during a time when it was most controversial, even though a lot of people ended up burning Nike shoes.

Consistency is Key

While it is easy to build a brand and attribute human qualities to it, the bigger challenge is to stay consistent with that voice and attitude. Imagine a friend who is a certain type, and if he acts out of character one day, it would make you suspicious. The same is the case with brands. Staying true to your character and representing the right kind of associations is what helps brands win, and truly make themselves matter not to ‘target audiences’, but to the people that matter to them.

CULTURE VULTURE — The Alchemy of Learning

Omair Faizullah

September 23, 2022

CULTURE VULTURE — The Alchemy of Learning

In a world where there is peace amongst the many nations, where there is no poverty, where no one has to work, where there are no lies, where there are no people being enslaved, where there is no disease, where there are no power outages, fuel hikes, crumbling economies or fluctuating governments – there is the absolute knowledge of creation. A place such as that, the perfect utopia is a thing of the imagination. An ideal that emerges perhaps only when one is tired (or bored) of the world that surrounds us and wonders about the inanity of all the senselessness we are surrounded by. One starts creating fantasies that lead to or form the idea of a utopic existence where everything is in an existential or empirically designed harmony. Thus also, arrives the idea and the need to educate, to inform and to extend knowledge through exploration and eventually, experimentation.

When we talk about design or the ideas that it can represent, we tend to mostly think of it as only to be created towards addressing functionality. If it’s not serving to “solve” something it becomes difficult to call it design and it starts gradually falling into the realm of “art”.

This is a fundamental disagreement I have had with some of my artistically-inclined peers during my time spent teaching. Where my understanding of design or art for that matter, starts to overlap their understanding of design or art, things become nebulous and the perfectly isolated utopia that’s been built around either of the disciplines starts to crumble into abstraction. Disciplines become fluid, and to give it a visual metaphor, it becomes like liquid blue, purple or green of one viscosity being mixed with a red, yellow or pink of another viscosity creating a strange marbling visible in a million new forms and colors. It is an input, with the intent of creating an output without really knowing what the result will be. And the resulting creation is an oddly harmonic cacophony of forms and colors. If you haven’t, look-up “acrylic pouring” on YouTube, and you will see what I mean. The thing I find most interesting about the whole process is that no matter what, the end result always – literally always – looks amazing. The best part is watching the paint as it moves, it slides over the surface, mixing, blending and always creating something unforeseen. Watch it, it’s beautiful.

As you watch, you will think – hey, even I could do it! And believe me, you can. It really is that easy to pull-off. But it will be very different when you do it. The paint will always move and mix in interesting ways but it will not always work the way you would like it to. Then, you will start to work towards making it into something that you want and eventually you will start making it work for you. And that my friend, will be your glimpse into your personal functional or nonfunctional utopia.

The question that pops up then, is how do you incorporate the idea of that formless becoming into the minds of students? Where their mind becomes unconcerned with the function of a utopic state but ends up focusing on nothing but boundless creation. Utopia is not necessary, creation is.

The way design is being presently being taught in Pakistan is for the most part limited to its having students make pretty pictures that must always serve a purpose. Nothing wrong with that, sure, everything must have a purpose. But to limit it to being a problem and then coming up with solutions, in my mind this approach reduces the discipline into limited functionality and creates a distinct division between expression and the lack of it thereof. Where art becomes humanely expressive, and design becomes limited to catering to audiences and creating facilitative experiences only, which are essentially inexpressive and detached from emotion, we like to call it “user experience”. The boundary between the disciplines of design and art becomes stark and does not allow for the disciplines to converse, placing art on an imaginary pedestal that not only does not exist but is also exclusionary by nature. The equation has no alchemy and so, limited reason to either experiment or evolve. Design must always serve, and art does not have to. A hierarchic and dated notion, as far as I am concerned.

CULTURE VULTURE 8. The Alchemy of Learning — Designed by Walter Gropius for Bauhaus, 1922

The diagram above was designed for the Bauhaus by Walter Gropius in 1922 and illustrates the principles and curriculum for teaching and learning. This can serve as both a reminder and parallel to the design of a curriculum that develops a holistic understanding of design (eventually, art) and its application. Interestingly enough, nowhere does it stress functionality or the provision of solutions on a structural level. It would be impossible to detail all the intricacies that come into play over the course of teaching and will have multiple variables determining the eventual product. But the illustration remains devoid of bias towards any discipline and all the elements are housed within a circular mandala that encourages the transmutation of the disciple or student into something utopic.

In an oddly opposing manner, the resulting work from this model laid the foundation for what we now tend to associate towards form and function – albeit in isolation – while overlooking the fact that function and the lack of it thereof are not the objectives of education, but the nullification of them. The moment any binding is applied to the creation and dissemination of knowledge, it stops evolving. And we start visual dystopias lacking context.

Read More: Bionic Films Rebrands

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Alchemy, in the many forms that it is practiced, is meant to create transmutative experiences whether they are on a philosophical or physical level.

The illustration above, although much more complex than the former, does have some fascinating parallels. One, it has its origins in alchemy and alludes to transcendence. Second, it includes the study of elements and materials – concepts essential to the transmutative process. Third, it establishes an idea of stages that become progressively concentric. And last but perhaps most importantly; it is a designed visualization of the process that can enact the philosophy embedded at its core.

Both diagrams are vastly different but essentially work on the principle of developing a holistic understanding of the elements within the student.

The process of learning and implementing knowledge is obviously much more complex than the simplifications I have posed above. But it is ultimately governed by the systems being practiced by instructors. Who, in our case, are either limited by their fear of not being able to cater to the needs of the industry or by the illusions of their own limits.

Over the course of my teaching in Pakistan, I came to realize that the education landscape of design focuses on transformation and function more than creating opportunities within the learners to evolve and experiment.

Design does not always need a client, it does not need an audience and more than anything, it does not always need to have any function. It can sometimes, just be. And that is where it starts gaining an expression of influence that is not bound by an externalized need that must always be justified, but by the visualization of an expression that can be as abstract as the mind that produced it.

In the end, you may agree or disagree with my dismissal of the fact that design is limited to creating usable and functional utopias only. Yet the reality however remains that the teaching of design must not be limited to what it is, but what it can potentially be.

Bionic Films Rebrands

Anusha Zahid

September 22, 2022

Bionic Films, a Karachi-based, full-service production house that has created several advertising/commercial films for leading agencies recently announced its new brand identity – reflected by their new logo – with an aim to expand its range of services and operations to other cities in Pakistan and foreign markets.

According to Salman Farooqi, CEO, Bionic Films, after having worked over the past seven years on several projects within and outside Pakistan and establishing a credible reputation with clients, it was time the company redefined its vision and goals. “We spent the initial years just ensuring the smooth running of operations and consolidating the business, usually focusing on TVCs only, but now, I think our production house is well-equipped in terms of the skill set, competence and experience to take on bigger projects and venture into other segments such as documentaries, cooking, shows, travelogues, short films etc., and not just locally but for international markets as well,” he says.

Also, in the long-run Farooqi wants to build Bionic Films into a proper corporate organization where people can come and make a career for themselves. “We now want to be more aggressive and professional. We are trying to make some noise in the industry and working diligently to become the preferred brand for clients in the country.

Farooqi, who has earlier worked as a financial planner at Engro, and later as chief financial officer at Lowe & Rauf for eight years, says there came a point in his career where the pace at which he wanted to work did not match with that of his workplace. Hence the idea of starting a production house came about. “I wanted to try out new things and ideas and I was confident that if I worked hard enough, I would be successful. He adds that his financial experience combined with the production knowledge gained at the agency enabled him to provide clients with better solutions.

Bionic Films was established in 2015, when other major production houses such as SEEME Productions, Stimulus Production, Ambiance Films and The Vision Factory had already built a reputation for themselves. Farooqi says he is proud of the fact that within a span of six to seven years, his production house had earned the same stature and credibility as that of his competitors.

Starting out with little investment and working with minimum resources, Farooqi built Bionic Films into what it is today through hard work. According to him, today, Bionic Films is the only production house that has earned 11 Effie Awards in one year (2021) and for major clients such as EasyPaisa, Telenor and Unilever. However, he regrets the fact that production houses in Pakistan are not given their due credit. “Whenever an award is won, it’s the agency and the client that take the credit. What about the production house that executed the winning concept?” he questions.

Bionic Films’ immediate future plans include expanding into Lahore since there is more business coming from the city. However, their first international market will be the Middle-East, and this is because Farooqi believes ‘the region has gaps’. “You cannot operate in Europe or Turkey because their work is done by their own teams, but in Saudia or Middle-East, there are no production houses and most of the work is outsourced. We did it for one company and they were interested in working with us again, so we thought this market would be good to start with. He however adds that the major portion of the business will be generated from the local market, and about 25% of the business share will constitute international projects.

Although Bionic Films is doing well in terms of business, as well as other production houses in Pakistan, Farooqi believes there is still a long way to go if production houses in the country want to grow at par with international production houses and reach their potential.

In Farooqi’s opinion, the biggest challenge today for production houses is the lack of good resources. “The nature of our work is such that we do not have a nine-to-five routine and we work at times for three to four days in a go; hence people do not stick around,” he says. He further adds that fresh graduates, who have studied filmmaking come into the market thinking they would right away be hired as directors and are reluctant to go through the drill; they have no idea of how a production house is run because there is no practical education given to them. “This is what we need to work on.”

Furthermore, he says these days, a lot of work is given to freelancers as they offer cheap services, but “clients and brands should realise that these freelancers can only do one project at a time and cannot offer after-services.”

“If you have expertise in a certain field, obviously you will charge a little extra for it and you cannot compare us with someone who started two years ago. We never tell our clients that we will give them the cheapest option, instead, we try and provide them the best solutions within their budgets,” he adds.

Lastly, he says it is also extremely important to follow international practices, which includes, directors being part of the production houses as opposed to running the production houses entirely on their own. “India has Dharma Productions, Salman Films, Yash Raj Films, Balaji Films and if a film does well, you perhaps will not remember the directors name but you would know the name of the production house.”

Unfortunately in Pakistan, he says the entire show is run by directors, and this has been going on for 25 years and it is about time that this practice comes to an end. “Production is a science of management whereas a director is a creative; it is not his job to see where the cars or food or wardrobe would come from.”

Farooqi believes the reason why this has been happening is because as a society, we like to maximise our profits, when instead the focus should be on improving their directorial abilities. To fix this, he says it is important for directors to be willing and have bigger hearts, and they will observe that in the long-run, their profits will not shrink. “Instead it will help us set prices. If my director is taking five lacs per project, I could tell him now that his fee should be eight lacs, why?… because his work is exclusive and exclusiveness has a higher price tag.”

“But for this to eventually happen, directors and production houses will have to collaborate and work together for the great good,” he says.

Procuring Creative Services from Abroad, Justified or Not?

Fatima Zakir

September 21, 2022

Procuring Creative Services from Abroad, Justified or Not?

Advertising has been a continuously thriving industry in Pakistan. The demand for advertisements is increasing every day and the industry is functioning at full potential. However, where advertising has grown by leaps and bounds, a skepticism surrounds it as well, and the question arises: ‘Is our advertising ‘completely’ Pakistani?’, because for over two decades now, we have been viewing significant foreign content in our advertising.

In 2019, when Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) banned featuring Indian actors in Pakistani advertisements, we had to replace Indian faces with Pakistani ones for ongoing ads and the industry stopped using celebrities from across the border, which paved way for Pakistani talent to shine on our screens. We no longer have Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri endorsing our brands and products. However, the use of foreign creative elements in terms of production or post-production is still a dominant part of our advertising.

According to Aly Mustansir, CEO, Medialogic Pakistan, brand consultant, and trainer, if the production of advertisements is being done outside Pakistan for superior quality, it should not be criticized. “They (Far-Easterns, Indians etc.) are undoubtedly more skillful and have a better sense of videography and editing since their industries are larger and market bigger. Their knowledge of camera, sound, light is deeper, hence, there is no harm in getting them onboard for better results,” he remarks.

The film industries of countries like India, Thailand, Korea, etc. are well-developed and their markets larger. Any country where the film industry flourishes, the advertising industry is benefited as well as a consequence. With vibrant and booming film industries, these countries churn out trained actors, directors, editors, dancers, cameramen, etc. every year. This, in turn, leads to competitive market space and brings in variety. Pakistan, on the other hand, has remained an anomaly where the advertising industry has been supporting films and other media. Our films have only gained popularity in the past two decades.

Though creating waves, our advertising has also been working on redoing old jingles and repackaging them in a fresher way to connect with both old and new viewers; Lipton, Tapal, and even Tullo are examples of brands that have managed to stay relevant even after four or five decades. Moreover, from healthcare to footwear, from stationary to telecommunication, and from beauty products to fast moving consumers goods and hot-selling lawn, the industry is becoming more and more competitive as brands and products want to create memorable advertisements to stay in their audience’s minds and become the first choice when picking up products off the market. To stay on top is a priority and it is for this very reason that advertising budgets have gone up. The 30-second to a one-minute movie needs to impact viewers and touch their hearts – from storytelling to execution to performances to even the budget, every brand wants to beat the other.

However, there are certain ideas and concepts which need expertise and which are currently unavailable in Pakistan. For instance, if it is a dance-based advertisement, or the product is related to hair or food, then our industry does not have the right equipment and the skill to shoot it.

A marketing executive from a cab-hailing service who wishes to stay anonymous shared his experience. “We recently shot a dance-based advertisement. The concept was entirely done in Pakistan. However, we hired a choreographer from across the border.” He is of the view that choreography is not an established industry in Pakistan, while India is a huge market when it comes to dance. “Although we do not have a variety of choreographers in the country, yet our people know what a good dance act is. Hence, we had to sign up people outside Pakistan for the results we required,” he says.

Furthermore, the equipment to shoot for a food brand or hair product is extremely expensive, since it’s a different genre altogether and needs specialized skills. If you need an advertisement for these categories, then our brands have to get support from creatives in Thailand, Malaysia, or elsewhere. These specialized tasks have experts who can do mock shots and create items as per the needs, where we still lag behind.

Investing in international standard equipment or training our own people for the required skill is a feat that seems far, far away. People would not invest in such heavy equipment when they can get it done from somewhere else at a cheaper price. It seems like an ideal situation but who will take the first step? As far as training our workforce is concerned, the international experts doesn’t have the time to train others. They work on shift basis and gets done with a shoot in 10-12 hours to move onto a new project. They don’t have the time to coach others for months as learning these skills take time. As a result, it becomes more convenient for advertisers in Pakistan to hire someone from outside, complete a day’s work and move on.

In the 90s, Singapore was the hub for post-production. Most of the shoots were completed in Pakistan and then sent to Singapore for post-production as we did not have film processing labs here. However, during 2000s, Thailand became a cheaper option for quality post-production. We usually believe that the costs attached to shooting on a foreign location with foreign creatives must be exorbitantly high, it is actually the other way around.

“In a foreign country when you engage with a production house, it provides you a one-stop solution to all your production needs,” says Aly Mustansir. “They offer their crew, their equipment, their location, spaces to erect sets, editing, colour correction, etc. With a slightly higher cost, you get high quality work.”

Convenience is another factor. In Pakistan, it is more difficult to get permissions for shoot, the kind of locations like malls, parks, roads that you need, the professionalism in mounting and dismantling of sets, the law-and-order situation, power outages and multiple payouts to administrative organizations; all this leads to expenses and hassle. Shooting outside Pakistan relieves the ad makers of all the additional stress and helps them get the best output of their ideas.

In all fairness, everything depends upon the client. For simple indoor shoots, it is more convenient to complete it within the country, but when you need to shoot in exotic locations or expansive sets, shooting it on a foreign location seems more feasible. The brief from the client really counts. If a client’s brief is uninspiring, bland and is restricted, the end product will yield the same results. On the contrary, if a client is experimental and likes to work on unique concepts, the advertisement will resonate with the audiences too, and for this, they don’t mind using foreign services if it serves their purpose.

“When a client wants a certain quality output for his concepts, you can’t really blame him for wanting the best,” expresses Aly Mustansir. “It’s not that we don’t have good directors in Pakistan, we do. But yes, we only have a few outstanding DOPs (Director of Photography). Also, cameras are not an issue for us, it’s the colour correction and sometimes graphics during post-production where we lack expertise. So, if we send our ads to foreign processing labs for refining our product, there shouldn’t be an issue. We only do it in instances where we don’t have the capacity to produce the required results. Our focus should be on the final output which in turn helps our advertising industry grow and prosper.”

Advertising is all about connecting with the audiences. The brands and clients need results. They have certain ideas and concepts in mind which they believe will harvest the desired results and if they need to work with foreign creative services to achieve their goals, so be it… until and unless, of course, we don’t get the international standard equipment and top-notch expertise in each and every aspect of production in our homeland.

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