Ready to e-bank?
By Sabeen Mahmud, COO, b.i.t.s.

We’ve come a long way from the days when “all branches now online” merely meant that you could cash a cheque at any branch of a bank, irrespective of where your “physical” account was located. I remember being horrified at the misuse of the word, “online”, when I learnt that these so-called online branches had nothing to do with offering financial services over the Internet. Or maybe, I just didn’t “get it”.

While the technology market has been taking a beating on stock exchanges around the world, the online finance community firmly believes that the Internet has unleashed tremendous change and upheaval in their sector. "Despite the market sentiment and a backlash against dotcoms, serious players in established verticals like finance remain convinced that the Internet will have a profound impact," said Lionel Smith-Gordon, Asia head of Lab Morgan, the e-finance unit of JP Morgan Chase.

Fearless Mobility
By Yasmeen Malik, Consultant, yEvolve.com

Building mobile/wireless brands on price alone will not be sufficient in the long run and factors such as quality of service will take the fore front in due course.

Fearless. That is the way market leader Mobilink describes its branding. Branding that has not been dampened by the competition, the telecom regulator or indeed the market itself.  For readers of this article who are in one way or the other involved with selling or promoting their respective brand, the telecom industry in Pakistan over the last two years has been replete with examples to show us how to and how not to sell your wares.

The fact that ad spend in the local telecom sector has sky rocketed is no secret.  According to a recent survey, the telecom sector is the leader in the list of top 10 product categories that advertise in the print media.  The survey further shows that 5 out of the top 10 brands that placed advertisements in the print media last year were related to the telecom sector. Even for those who are not familiar with the exact figures, outdoor, TVCs and other BTL-based advertising from this sector has been hard, if not impossible to miss.  From free SMS to free connections, the telecom players have made it difficult to resist their offers.  In real terms their offerings has translated to an increase in tele-density from a little under 3% to over 10% currently.

So how did they do it?  Smart advertising, perhaps?  As many experts continue to argue both in this publication and elsewhere, there is not really a lot of “smart” local advertising to be found in Pakistan.  Plain old good luck then?  Or was it the sheer volume of ads and promotions that took us all in?

The Other Side Of Branding

Are corporations more powerful than mega-states?
Najam-ul-Hasan Ata finds out

The world is now caught in the tangled web of globalization, brute forces of market economy and pop culture from where there seems to be no escape. Consider a simple yet a disconcerting example of a youth who has grown on a staple diet of classical singing suddenly embracing pop music (with heavy American overtones), one of the main ingredients of pop culture. People under 25 years of age, from Bogota to Brisbane are greatly impressed by the American pop culture and their tastes and preferences too have gone the American way. It is a fact that the American marketing strategy is heavily targeted towards youth market of 15-25 year age category.

The Brand Magic Of Harry Potter
Syed Imran Ahmed makes a magical mystery tour of the brand called Harry Potter

Let’s take our own magical mystery tour of this phenomenon called Harry Potter and look at how it has attained an iconic status that has helped it become a mega-brand.  Firstly, one has to remember that in this age of consumerism, anything that sells in millions, has ancillary merchandise worth millions and has blockbusters made of, is a brand and a huge one at that.  David Beckham is a brand, The Rolling Stones are one and Andrew Flintoff may even be one in days to come. So why not Harry Potter, world’s most popular boy wizard? To date, six books in the seven-book series have been published and approximately 250 million copies have been sold worldwide. This places Harry Potter third on the all-time bestsellers list, after The Bible (2.5 billion copies sold) and The Thoughts of Chairman Mao (800 million).

How Indian Media Has Impacted Pakistani Advertising

Sets of cultural values and ideas have emerged with the influence of Indian media on Pakistani advertising, discovers Masuma Habib Halai

Culture is defined as “that complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” It is important to recognize that culture, although immensely powerful, is not fixed forever. Changes in culture tend to be slow and are not fully assimilated until a generation or more has passed. There is a much more relaxed attitude to those who choose to ignore the convention.

Is the clash of the generations imminent?

By Syed Imran Ahmed

Something alarming is happening in the West. Battle lines are being drawn for a new form of class warfare. On one corner, it is the aging generation. On the other, the future generation. Unfortunately, for the future generation, it’s not going to be an easy ride.  Let’s find out how.

While the rest of the world and especially the developing nations grapples with the perpetually serious issue of population explosion, fertility rates across Europe continue to fall at a pretty disturbing rate. In most European countries, where demographic decline is quite apparent, birth rates are falling below replacement levels. A rapidly aging, growing population is threatening to bring about a new form of class warfare over scarce resources. The aging population has been promised much more than can delivered and its seems more likely than ever that the future generations may have to face the brunt.  And the battle that they have in their hands is a tough one.