Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Google Celebrate Thomsan Edison's Birthday Today
Google post their festival logo dedicated to the 164th Birth Day of Thomsan Edison, An Inventor of Bulb or Electrical Lighting with a search link on Edison.
Sania Mirza set to rock Pakistani ads
LAHORE: Pakistani advertising agencies are busy doing consumer research for their clients to gauge Sania Mirza’s acceptability as their brand ambassador, a report of the Economic Times stated.
Both Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik seem to be the flavour of the season for Pakistani companies.
Not surprisingly, results show Sania Mirza having more brand equity than Shoaib Malik as he is facing a one-year ban by PCB and will not be able to shoot any ad campaign during the period.
Meanwhile Mirza is also gearing up to take part in Aegon Classic tennis in Birmingham.
The Indianization Of Pakistani Advertising And Marketing
If we consider Pakistan a brand/company or organization which has several products, services and brands extensions under it; from healthcare to hygiene products, fast moving consumer goods to telecommunication products, news channels to press, footwear and everything that you see, which is selling in under the umbrella of Pakistan.
During recent years we have seen (or atleast I am seeing) a shift in the advertising and marketing campaigns of different products and services (brands) in Pakistan. Most of the advertisements, marketing campaigns, the theme and content is getting "Indianized". By the term "Indianized" I mean, seeing Bollywood celebrities in the advertisements of renowned brands ranging from cold drinks to cooking oil to beauty products etc etc. Some of the advertisements can easily be guessed that they are made in India.
Pakistani faces are getting diminished and we are not coming up with any more super models (male and females) and opinion leaders (people who influence us in a specific direction, who have a say and reputation in the public).
Every second advertisement, whether its print ad or television commercial has one or more part "Indianized". The songs, themes, celebrities dancing, families shown and the content is too much inspired, adapted and often led by Indian artists.
What's wrong in that? A marketing student can argue that it's the time of integrated marketing communication i.e. a company or brand speaking the same language and promising and delivering the same value, whether its selling in india, Pakistan or united kingdom. That's why we see the same foreign ads for coldrinks like mountain dew, pepsi or coke run on Pakistani television, which run on the international scenario.
It can also be accepted that we cannot remain in isolation and keep ourselves away from the influence of a giant media industry in our neighbourhood. Why would a company refrain from using a same marketing campaign or a television commercial in Pakistan that it has successfully using in India, with the fact that most of our population is addicted to Indian faces, Bollywood music and media.
Than what's the problem? The problem is we are losing the face of Pakistan in these campaigns. For me, as a marketing student, still the campaign of 'Aey Khuda Mere Abbu Salamat Rahein (State Life - Insurance Pakistan) is more appealing and filled with high emotional quotient , then a Bollywood glamorous model/actress coming in every advertisement to sell me soaps, shampoos, cold drinks etc.
When Shan can brilliantly do the Mobilink Indigo (Postpaid) campaign, why do they (Mobile phone companies) need to shoot their advertisements in India (or Dubai) with Indian Models. Why a Pakistani tea whitener milk (Tarang) needs to be sold by dancing? At least they have Pakistani celebrities (so-called) in it.
It's not just confined to the marketing industry; even the Pakistani television channels are happy to buy the rights of Indian award functions and Indian movies, but they are not willing to invest the same, or more/less amount to make their own Pakistani award shows to promote the Brand Pakistan.
The local or Pakistani touch is getting out, and we are seeing more and more globalized and Indianized approach in our media. The soul of everything should be Pakistani. In order to make our own identity, our own voice and uniqueness; we need to promote the brand Pakistan, in everything we do but in a better way.
Many brands are still promoting Pakistan, but others specially the Multinationals are happy to copy/paste the work into Pakistan that they have done in India.
Despite of all the arguments about the similarities between the culture of India and Pakistan, our likings and linkages, anything that is done here; should be purely Pakistani; so that we can get ourselves to that point where our campaigns, our ideas are re-used in other countries and in India as well. Lets hope for the best.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Oil prices fall as Egypt violence ebbs
 NEW YORK: Oil prices fell Monday, as violence in Egypt appeared to ease, dampening fears about disruptions through the strategically vital Suez Canal. "Some of the concerns about Egypt are now being seen as at least partly resolved," said Adam Sieminski of Deutsche Bank. "The fact that things are not deteriorating makes crude look less risky." New York's main contract, light sweet crude for March, dropped $1.55 to end the day at $87.48 a barrel. In London Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March was at $99.25, down 58 cents compared with Friday's close. The price of New York crude lags far behind Brent owing to large supplies of oil remaining at the main US transit point of Cushing, Oklahoma, according to analysts. The price drop came after Brent last week jumped above the key $100 mark for the first time in more than two years on concerns over the impact of the unrest in Egypt on global energy supplies. On Sunday Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman met with opposition groups in an effort to appease an anti-government revolt. Suleiman -- key lieutenant and possible successor to beleaguered President Hosni Mubarak -- invited several opposition groups to join him on a panel to pilot democratic reform. Although demonstrators were unimpressed and vowed to maintain their two-week vigil in Cairo's Tahrir Square, there was little of the violence seen in recent days. While Egypt is not a major crude producer, the country is home to the Suez Canal, which carries about 2.4 million barrels daily, roughly equal to Iraq or Brazil's output. On the back of Egypt concerns, Brent crude spiked to $103.37 last Thursday -- reaching the highest level since September 26, 2008. | ||
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Tuesday, February 8, 2011
LG to unveil first full 3D smartphone
MADRID: The world's very first 3D smartphone will be unveiled by LG at Mobile World Congress (MWC) to be held on February 14 in Barcelona.There will a live demo of LG’s 3D smartphone.
The LG Optimus 3D is aimed at addressing the lack of such a smartphone and the lack of 3D content issue.
Users will experience a full 3D experience right in the palm of their hands.
Concentrating on the 3D elements only the smartphone comes with a dual-lens camera offering 3D recording, the screen is a glasses-free LCD offering 3D viewing, HDMI and DNLA for 3D content sharing.
LG will provide the full details for the LG Optimus 3D at MWC, meanwhile you can look at whats known to-date here.
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