Exhibition of Various Artists: 2010

Sunday, December 12, 2010

HAJJ 2010

A Muslim pilgrim prays atop Mount Al-Noor during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca November 9, 2010
A general view shows the Saudi holy city of Mecca, as seen from the top of Noor mountain, late on November 13, 2010
An Indian Hajj pilgrim holds prayer beads prior to his departure for Mecca at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, India on October 26, 2010
Saudi Arabian men ride on the newly-opened Holy Sites metro light rail in Mecca on November 2, 2010. The Chinese-built monorail project, will link Mecca with the holy sites of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah, and will operate for the first time during the Hajj this month at 35 percent capacity to ferry Saudi nationals who will take part in the upcoming annual Muslim pilgrimage.
Saudi special forces show their skills during a military parade in preparation for the Hajj in the Saudi city of Mecca on November 10, 2010.
Thousands of tents housing Muslim pilgrims are crowded together in Mina near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2010
Muslim pilgrims walk past construction outside the Grand Mosque during the annual Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on Friday, Nov. 12, 2010.

Muslim pilgrims are seen on their way towards a rocky hill called Mount Arafat, on the Plain of Arafat near Mecca, Saudi Arabia on Monday, Nov. 15, 2010.
An ambulance is parked among thousands of Muslim pilgrims praying near the Namira Mosque at Mount Arafat, southeast of the Saudi holy city of Mecca, on November 15, 2010. Pilgrims flooded into the Arafat plain from Mecca and Mina before dawn for a key ritual around the site where prophet Mohammed gave his farewell sermon on this day in the Islamic calendar 1,378 years ago. Pilgrims spend the day at Arafat in reflection and reading the Quran
Muslim pilgrims pray outside Namira mosque in Arafat near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Nov. 15, 2010.
Pilgrims fill the streets in prayer, near Namira mosque in Arafat, Saudi Arabia on Monday, Nov. 15, 2010

A Muslim man visits the Hiraa cave on Noor mountain late on November 13, 2010 during the annual Hajj. According to tradition, Islam's Prophet Mohammed received his first message to preach Islam while praying in the cave.
A Muslim pilgrim holds his daughter on Mount Arafat on the plains of Arafat, outside the holy city of Mecca on November 15, 2010.
Pilgrims pray on the side of Mount Arafat, near Mecca, Saudi Arabia on Monday, Nov. 15, 2010
Pilgrims climb up Mount Arafat on the Plain of Arafat in Saudi Arabia on Monday, Nov. 15, 2010.A Muslim pilgrim reads the Koran at Mount Al-Noor during the annual Hajj on November 11, 2010
A Muslim pilgrim reads the Koran at Mount Al-Noor during the annual Hajj on November 11, 2010.
Muslims on the Hajj pilgrimage take a rest in Mina near Mecca, Saudi Arabia on November 15, 2010
His head resting on the Jabal al-Rahma pillar, a Muslim pilgrim prays atop Mount Arafat near Mecca, Saudi Arabia on Monday, Nov. 15, 2010.
Muslims touch and write on the Jabal al-Rahma pillar on Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia on Monday, Nov. 15, 2010
Muslim pilgrims pray atop Mount Arafat, southeast of Mecca, on November 15, 2010. Pilgrims flooded into the Arafat plain from Mecca and Mina before dawn for a key ritual around the site where prophet Mohammed gave his farewell sermon on this day in the Islamic calendar 1,378 years ago.

MUNNI BADNAM HOI DARLING TERE LIYE…

Attitude Is Everything

By Francie Baltazar-Schwartz

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"
He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it.
I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."
I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers.
While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.
Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied.
The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply... I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

You have 2 choices now:

1. save or delete this mail from your mail box.
2. forward it to your dear ones and choose to pass this on

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Why Corporate Images are on Fire

For every major corporation that has reached the limelight of reached the limelight of public scrutiny for mismanagement of its financial affairs, hundreds more face crises of credibility. Why? A trend toward weak corporate name-identities has resulted in an alphabet soup of look-likes and sound alikes.

Overnight, things got suddenly changed, over-exposing of corporate credibility and governance, like Richter scales gone wild are thumping the global populace in sheer panic while shattering thousands of mega corporate name brands worldwide.
The good and sober companies of the world not only must weather these credibility quakes but also must project their clean image and stay protected during these monstrous shift of globs image and stay protected during these monstrous shifts of global image. Today, no matter how big or small the name-identity, it must face some of the principle Laws of Corporate Naming to cope with brand new challenges of corporate sobriety.

Laws of respectability

A corporate image and its name must offer a credible personality to its customers and shareholders alike; unless a corporate name is for a circus, the customers are seeking value and shareholders the protection of their assets, and neither is seeking a monkey show. A business name of any serious enterprise must have an alpha-character to qualify and gain respect projecting sound personality, honesty, integrity, reliability and stability. No room for randomly picked wild names like "Globe-a-Con,"Blacktower" "Tomorrow Inc." "Guarantee Inc" or just "Omelette".

Cute, pretentious or humorous names are out. Difficult and obscure names only confuse customers. Looks-alike or sound-alike names only kill marketing efforts. Twisted spellings hurt. search-ability. With major bankruptcies all over the other innocent businesses with similar names are getting trapped.
Currently amongst the modernized world the credibility of financial services has gone to the bottom, as false claims to exotic superiority failed to match the unexplainable performance. So are the related sectors, impacting doubts about every-thing, and also gone are the so-cherished and respected images of the past corporate identities of the past from hard core manufacturing to incred - ible services. Where and when will this train stop?

In the last decade, most banks simply adapted the init-ialization of their long twisted names and clearly short-changed them-selves by eliminating any distinct identity or a respectable image. The analysis of the top 1,000 banks of the world is nothing but the most thick, creamy alphabet soup one can dip into. Almost all of them suddenly decided in unison to simply just become initially named banks and now they are all just a bank, falling and crumbling under the stress tests.
If ever, and when the next round of a run on a major American or British bank will occur it will cause havoc for the other hundreds of innocent financial institutions which are still holding on to their very clean and sober affairs.
Whether the board likes it or not most corporate boardrooms are extremely scared to open a debate on this name image issue while this meltdown is taking this name identity crisis to the very top. A survey of major corporations around the world shows 87% of corporate names are seriously identical to other business names causing confusion and losing name-equity in the marketplace. The sooner they address this, the better.
Naseem Javed is author of "Naming for Power" and reconginsed as a world authority on building corporate image and creating global name indentities. Javed introduced the Laws of founded ABC Namebank, in Toronto and New York, a quarter century ago.

http://www.corporate-images.com/fckeditor_userfiles/file/AOR%20release-1.pdf

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Monday, November 15, 2010

Building CSR into Your Brand Fabric

Until quite recently, companies considered themselves to be good citizens if they paid their taxes, complied with the law and maybe supported a few good causes. They seldom paused to consider their wider relationship with society, nor were they expected to.

Time have changed now, and for the better. Business are facing challenging times wold wide. Increased competition and commercial difficulties are combining with intensifying regulatory standards and consumer demand to create a whole new playing field. Conventional outlook of business is also changing. No longer are people confidently expecting government alone to sort things out. And all over the world, the role of multinational corporations is being reappraised. It is no longer enough for these organization to simply employ people, make a profit and pay taxes. Being part of the world, they are now expected to act responsibly, be accountable and benefit society as a whole. This is the new agenda of corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSER) or corporate citizenship. From a trickle, it has become a wave far-reaching boardrooms across the world. As the general public, the commentators, the analysts, the media and governments all now expect big business to practice responsible behavior, There are commercial consequences to be paid by those who do not. In other words, as the issues become more pressing and more widely felt, corporate responsibility has shifted from being a voluntary and often reluctant add-on to a central leaders have been quick to embrace this new philosophy spotting its potential for triple bottom line benefits - Profit for the economic bottom line, the social bottom line and the environmental bottom line. And since more and more companies are making their social initiatives public, CSR has now emerged as the latest tool to enhance your branding.

Be`Cause (its`s) Branding!
For a brand to find success and growth in today`s marketplace, it must become a relevant part of a customer`s life. Brands can do this by responding to trends, understanding customer concerns, and joining with customers and employees to meet real societal needs - Cause branding.

"Brand A was there for us when the earthquake hit us. Brand Y financially supports programs to improve child education. Brand X is giving back to the community and investing in our future. I will support Brand X and tell my friends and family to do the same."

Cause branding is the public face of a comprehensive CSR program. Its is a strategy to unite a brand`s core value (s) with a consumer passion and the right cause partner to raise awareness and funds to positively impact to positively impact a societal need. It is a continuous 365-day - a - year association with a cause via internal and external programs. A true cause branding program is about one issue, be it health, the environment, literacy, youth education or any other societal need. It is a true branding endeavor to align a cause and a brand`s support of that cause in the consumers mind. While CSR can work to establish a brand as a good corporate citizen, cause branding forges a true emotional connection between a brand and its customers to support a cause that reflects the brand`s core values and the passions of customers and consumers. so overloaded with content, yet at the same time so fragmented, that a consumer who needs and most likely is looking for a specific product, can`t find it. In a growing marketplace that features declining rates of traditional media consumption a brand must embrace new strategies to break through the clutter and differentiate itself in the eyes of a consumer.

Embracing cause branding makes good business sense. Nothing builds brand loyaity among today`s increasingly hard-to-please consumers like a company`s proven commitment to a worthy cause. Other things being equal, many consumers would rather do business with a company that stands for something beyond profits. Your cause branding activities highlights your company`s reputation within your target market. It can positively differentiate your company from your competitors and provide an edge that delivers other tangible benefits, including increased sales, visibility, customer loyalty, enhanced company image and positive media coverage.

Today consumers expect if not demand, that multinationals and bid local companies play an active role in enhancing quality of life in local communities. This change is occurring because in many eyes ths government bureaucracy is seen as too big and slow, and not tuned in or responsive to needs of people. The seemingly never-ending stories of corruption, regardless of what party is in power have also worked to disillusion the public. It is only a matter of time until the scandal and indictments against government officials commence. Increasingly, business is seen as the entity most able to deliver services during a crisis. This shift is occurring because business and brands are closer and more responsive of multinationals, big locals and high worth individuals to the earthquake of 2005 was not a singular event but shining example of the growing role companies overtly plays in responding to local needs A brand with a focused cause branding strategy, aligned with a specific cause that is relevant to consumers, can easily stake a claim in the minds of consumers, "Brand A was there for us when the earthquake hit us. Brand Y financially supports programs to improve child education. Brand X is giving back to the community and investing in our future. I will support Brand X and tell my friends and family to do the same." This is the potential impact on reputation that a focused cause branding program can have,. By leveraging media channels to raise awareness of a cause branding program a brand can activate the coveted word-of-mouth endorsement all brands seek to enhance corporate reputation.

Developed and executed correctly, cause branding is a strategy to differentiate a brand from its competitors and positively impact a brand`s corporate reputation. Thus the objective of a cause branding program is to positively enhance corporate reputation with the intent to gain favor in the minds of consumers. The outcome of that favor is brand advocacy by consumers and its cause partner with the desired outcome being a services or products.

How to get started?

Any brand can establish a cause branding program as it progresses. A brand follows this path as it matures from local check writing and traditional philanthropy to cause marketing promotions and, ultimately, to committed, long-term support of a cause and nonprofit partner with a sustained cause branding program. A true cause branding program is national is scope and executed across all marketing platforms.

The objective of a successful cause branding effort is to effect real change to improve the society, the common thread is the cause, which must be relevant to three key audiences.

Brand Partner - The cause must align with a brand`s values and/or its products and services. The program must embody a core value to be authentic and embraced by both internal and external audiences.

Cause Partner - The cause partner should have natural affiliation with the brand.

Consumer Partner - The cause must be relevant to a brand`s core customer segment.

The Cause Commitment - must resonate with core customers to build a foundation for growth and to activate those individuals who will become vocal advocates for the brand and the cause. The cause must also be relevant to a brand`s target consumers to attract new customers to the brand and drive ever-increasing participation and fundraising for the cause.

While it may seem daunting to begin utilizing cause branding in your business, you will soon find that it becomes second nature. Not only will you increase your profits, but you will be giving back to the society. You will quickly discover that a well implemented cause related branding plan is truly a win-win situation!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Are You Ready to Evaluate 2010

Evaluating 2010? Don't Just Follow the Revenues!
Connecting the Dots is as Important as Adding Up the Spreadsheet

It's that time of year when we pull out the spreadsheets to figure out if we're going to make our financial goals this year, and at the same time, develop our strategy for next year.

And while it's true that numbers don't lie, they don't always tell you the whole truth, either. They may answer the basic question of whether you made more revenue than last year, but they don't answer the broader questions of why or why not. In doing your year-end analysis, I'm sure part of your evaluation will focus on the effectiveness of your marketing program.

To help you determine the course you chart for the coming year, my recommendation is to look at all the marketing data you've collected, almost like dots on a page and ask yourself if you were able to connect them all.

What dots, you ask? Well, everyone has to answer that for themselves, but here are the steps to figure out what they are:

Your Message: Making your numbers is usually the result of you getting your message out to the right people, so you can maximize your sales. If you didn't make your sales projections, now is a good time to analyze that message. Why didn't it resonate with your potential customers? Was your message too "inside" your industry, making it difficult for others to receive? Or was it that you tried to water your message down so much for the masses that it ceased to have any relevance at all. Messaging is one part art, one part science, and your end result should straddle the edge between appealing to everyone and appealing specifically to your potential customers.

Your Customer: It's not enough just to garner customers; you need to know who they are so you can focus your efforts on people who fit that profile. One of our clients, Jaynie Smith, author of Creating Competitive Advantage from Doubleday, (www.smartadvantage.com/), polled 3,000 CEOs to find out if they understood their customer base. Less than 5 percent accurately identified the profile of their primary customers. So, as you review this past year, look back in the files and take a look at who your best customers were and why.

Your Tactics: If you missed your projections, don't automatically fault your marketing strategy and your target audience. Don't be afraid to examine your tactics as well. While we don't advise our clients to avoid advertising, we also don't recommend a heavy concentration of it to the exclusion of other tactics either. The key thing is to balance your efforts across different forms of advertising and public relations, so that your different tactics will feed off each other. If you did make your goals, take a look at the tactics you used and see if you can determine which ones were more effective. Next year, you can redistribute your marketing resources to emphasize the tactics that worked best.

Your Web site: The Internet is taking on an essential role in just about every facet of communication, marketing and sales. Don't just examine your outreach, but also examine your website as a point of sale. If you didn't close as many customers as you wanted, take a look at the amount of traffic coming in and the number of visitors who turned into customers. The comparison of those figures is your "conversion rate," or the percentage of visitors who wound up making a "buy" decision after reaching your Web site. If the figure is less than one percent, then chances are something isn't clicking (no pun intended) between your customers and your Web site, and it's time to make some changes.

Your Outflow: One of the principles that I use faithfully in my business is the relationship between outflow and inflow. Outflow basically represents how much I reach out to my customer base via emails, articles in the press, columns that I email to my newsletter subscribers and social networking. Inflow is simply the response I get back. Outflow produces inflow! It's this one important principle that has contributed greatly to the success of my business. The corollary is simple, the more I reach out, the more I get back.
And that's what I mean by connecting the dots. You, your message, your customers, your potential customers and your business goals are all just dots on a page. Your marketing program is the line that SHOULD, in a perfect world, connect them all together. Whether you're an author trying to sell books or a company trying to increase sales - or an entrepreneur trying to compete in a crowded market - all of these principles can easily and directly apply to how you evaluate your marketing results for the year as you plan for 2011 and beyond.

Warm regards,
Marsha Friedman
CEO EMSI Public Relations

Closing down in 10...9...8...7...

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Exhibition of Various Artists: 10 Predictions for the Agency business for 2010

Exhibition of Various Artists: 10 Predictions for the Agency business for 2010: "As agencies start planning for the next year and beyond, here a few predictions about the future, courtesy Shoaib Qureshi.You may or may n..."

Saturday, November 13, 2010

10 Predictions for the Agency business for 2010

As agencies start planning for the next year and beyond, here a few predictions about the future, courtesy
Shoaib Qureshi.

You may or may not believe them. The Choice is yours!

1. Agencies will grow to new heights even if marketing spends go down: 2010 will be the year of the rebound of the agency business despite clouds of economic gloom still visible over the horizon which could curtail marketing spending. Many individuals and companies in the agency business will reset their meters (zero meter entrepreneurial mind-set) on their agency dash board, look at the challenges and opportunities with a fresh set of eyes, and be even more inventive or creative for their own survival and business than they have ever been before for any client of theirs, They will use the pent-up energy stored from the lows of the last year to springboard to new heights and surprise even themselves. As a result, 2010 should be a year to be more creative, aggressive and hence expect greater returns. Not a year to sit back and say that I am not doing well because the country is in economic trouble, there is no political stability and advertising business generally is down.

2. Agencies will get out of MPD syndrome and come of age: In 2010, more than half of the profitable agency`s revenues will go beyond the MPD (Media, Productions, Designing) - traditional areas that still continues to grip the agency thinking. Many old school agency owners will realize that companies in similar categories adopt similar practices over time. They begin to look, sound, think and act alike. In the advertising agency business, which is well over 100 years old, it shouldn`t come as a surprise that many firms are still stuck in a business model that has outlived its usefulness. smart agency owners will have to start searching for the new territory to operate because agencies have the mindset that they are only supposed to be involved with the soft areas of marketing-activities that revolve around brand awareness and preference creation. They think hard marketing is the client`s domain-areas such as distribution, selling and even the product development itself . but there`s third domain, a link between soft marketing and hard marketing. It`s the domain of evaluation and improving the consumer`s experience at all point of contact with the brand. Everybody talks about it, but in most cases, no one actually doest it. Which means that the role of the agency of the future is to move from helping clients create and place marketing messages to helping clients evaluate and strengthen the relationship that their customers have with the brand-at all points of contact. This is a much broader and more valuable role and similarly agencies will have to find and develop newer roles through proper understanding of clients other evolving needs. And all these roles that I am talking about often have very little to do with traditional advertising functions such as media, productions and designing.

3. 2010 will be the year of the client-agency fracture: Relationships will fracture a lot more often than usual this year as brands come increasingly under pressure form many external and internal reasons. also between what a lot of clients think they want from an agency (a vendor of services) and what they really need (a provider of ideas) is the middle ground where most agencies are today. And the middle-of-the- road is a dangerous place to be for anyone. Large advertisers, whether multinational or local, will either "dissolve or dilute" their longstanding relationships with their agencies or will flirt outside for all kinds of relationships (short-term and long-term) with people and agencies who are know to be idea specialists to increase the effectiveness of their marketing spend.

4. Disruption Marketing will start becoming the norm this year for brands: With an abundance of choice, products and services, there is an ever-growing need to be even more extraordinary to stand out and succeed. More attention and reward will be given by clients to those agencies who can find greatness within or outside marketing norms. Clients will be on the lookout for agencies that can possibly hit a "content six", as the days of taking "advertising singles" are over. Agencies that have the magic to create big and unusual ideas and make one million budgets look like ten million. The need to be more inventive will make creative destruction the norm rather than the exception. Consequently, effective change agents will be in increasing demand this year.

5. True integration will be the client rage: While specialization will remain important, real value will be created by those people and agencies that can pull all the clients brand pieces together and reduce the duplications of resources. This has been the dream of the multinational client: but the reality, has often been very different. The need to collaborate and operate more quickly, effectively and with fewer additional resources will give rise to the " Integration guru" (from one of the many agencies-ALT, BTL, PR Media, Interactive etc-that the client already has on its roster to take this up for grabs role) and hence "truly" integrated results for the clients.

6. The agency commission and retainer systems will be critically reevaluated by clients: Recession and competition-bitten advertisers will probably be wary of a compensation model that still pays and rewards agencies based on a model tied to spending, rather than saving their money. Thus several new compensation models will emerge this year and be tested.

Many clients will cancel their long-term agency retainer arragements, option to pay by project. A lot of short-term contracts with new breed agencies will be put in place by clients as they search for magical solutions for their brands.

7. Targeting will replace creativity as the top priority for agencies more marketing spends move from traditional television and print to the tighter confines of on ground internet and other mobile mediums to keep pace with the ever on the go consumer, agencies will have to focus more on better targeting than creativity to deliver results for their clients. There will be clear link seen by clients between better targeting and brand sales. Thus agencies will have to better understand the value of targeting which has traditionally been ignored as most advertising briefs target the same audience (women age 13-35).

8. Use of Data and Metrics will rise at agencies: Marketing decisions will increasingly need to be backed by data to reduce waste and downside risk for clients. The maxim will be that "whatever gets measured will get done" to whatever does not have measures will not get a budget.

Consequently, metrics and analytic should see resurgence at agencies to convince clients into spending money. consequently, what it means is that "gut feel" will see the gutter more often this year!

9. Grass-roots marketing thinking will accelerate at agencies: Business and creative plants for their clients will be filled with grass root marketing ideas this year. More attention will be given to influencer marketing to get fans for the grand and hence creative agencies will use this as a test for the creative ideas that they will present to their clients.

With clients and brands already going more and more to direct marketing at the grass root level in places where consumers live and enjoy their lives to better create a brand experience, hence agencies that can do the hard work in this area will be in business.

10. More new agencies will be hatched out of old agencies: Either the multinational agencies will be taken over by the local affiliate agency, or the local affiliate will be changed to step change growth in the market place. And last but not the least, new blood, sweat and energy will be inducted into the agency business, as many smart people currently working for these old agency in 2010. one thing in clear- a lot of moving and shaking will take place in the agency business.

Shoaib Qureshy is Chief Strategy Officer,

Bulls Eye Communications

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agency

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Evolution and Revolution in MARKETING

In the first of the series of two articles,

Professor Dr. Matin A. Khan looks at the

evolution and revolution in selling and Marketing

The reason for emphasizing evolutionary and revolutionary role in marketing has become important mainly because of continuous improvement in the technology of production, transportation and communication and greater development in sociology and psychology. Marketing today has become more important because of increasing competition among business organizations improved technology in manufacturing and increasing chance of global trade.

Now let us first clarify the meanings of the terminologies used:

Evolution: Gradual development of something to more complex form.

Revolution: A dramatic and wide-reaching change in the way of something works or organized.

The process of evolution has become important because of more educated persons working in business organizations who are trying to be increasingly innovative in managerial functions. As far as revolution is concerned, 21st century may have more revolution in manufacturing process, transportation, communication, mainly because of the availability of Internet, not only to the executives but also to workers. The distinction between evolution and revolution is essential to identify changes in the organization and its possible causes. It may also be stated that 21st century may have better evolution too, which may become effective for greater efficiency in the evolutionary process of business management.

In the context of strategic marketing there seems to be continuous improvement and that promotional activity would be more expensive for improving sales and increase consumer satisfaction, which is becoming more and more challenging because of greater experience and education of family consumers including children who may use internet for their purchases. It may also be pointed out that consumption among children is continuously increasing and good parents care more for improving the personality of their children. For improving evolutionary process there must be improvement in consumption research not only about male members but also on family consumers.

The main reason for the success of corporations is continuity in overall improvement of the working system of the corporation, which we may be identified as development. To be specific, we may say that development of business organizations very much depends on continuous improvements, i.e. the result of systematized evolution. Systematization today, in my opinion, is the heart of success in business and gradual development. One may also think of good evolution leading to sudden, dramatic and wide ranging change that is revolution. One may predict that 21st century would have greater research for enhancing the performance of strategic marketing.
As we know strategic marketing forecasts for five to ten years ahead and marketing people must realize that in future there will be products with greater sophistication mainly because of average customer will be more educated and some may even have technical knowledge as well. In the 21st century the number of various brands, especially in the area of family consumers goods are becoming more popular because of huge expenditure on promotion. These promotional activities are aimed at encouraging effective competition and would require more effective and efficient evolutionary process. It may be clearly stated that business organizations evolution processes will improve to meet the new type of competition from such firms, which are quite new and may adopt better policies for consumer. Revolution in marketing should also match with increased production facilities.For example in Germany some manufacturers are receiving orders in high quantities than their total production facilities. In other words countries like Germany are conducting research to improve their production methods.

On the whole, we can say that in 21st century there will be greater efficiency, and evolutionary process will continuously improve.

I have written this article so that marketing people may realize the importance of revolution in strategic marketing. As a matter of fact the future course in strategic marketing may be dependent up on effective evolution, semi-evolution as well increased evolution in manufacturing marketing and finance. It is difficult to predict about revolution in dynamic business organizations.

Evolution and Revolution in Selling / Marketing:
From the barter system, Marketing activities evolved towards personal selling, producing sales promotion advertising, direct marketing, credit sales, institutional basis of selling where customers buy products. Evolution in selling methods started with the showing of products/brands, final selection of product by customers, and then bargain about price.

In general bargaining methods continued for centuries and may still exist in some countries. However, retailing is becoming more systematized and one price policy is gaining as an advantage both to buyers and sellers. Consequently it has been saving time of both the buyers and the sellers. Bata shoe Company in the international market popularized one price policy in pricing distribution methodology. However it institutions, department stores, chain stores, super marking and retailers with lot of branches also emerged.

In my opinion direct marketing was a revolution. Marketing through Internet was another revolution. During 1950-2000, increased production forced manufacturers to promote their products through branding. The old brand technique was given greater importance and brand managers were inducted who were also given the responsibilities of advertising, sales promoting, product modification, packaging and research. However, the role and responsibilities of brand managers were not the same. Each brand manager was assigned responsibilities according to the canges, including the inroduction of some new products.

In Pakistan quite a large number of brand managers were appointed both in Pakistani firms as well as in multinationals. Most of the brand played the most import part in enhancing the sales of Pakistani products like oil, ghee etc. Multinationals are well know for their marketing strategy. For example Unilevers have established themselves through a number of products like Lipton Tea, Lux Soap, Brook Bond Tea and several other brands. Branding strategy may be classified in two categories namely one brand name to all products of the company. some manufacturers give new brand name for each product like that of Unilevers. In the case of milk industry, (Nestle) they give only one brand name.

Your Product is our baby!

Allied Marketing is a well established full service Marketing and Distribution Company of just the right size: not too large so that management is closely involved with day to day operations, and big enough to provide the full range of services that our principals expect.

Every new product entrusted to our care is handled just like a new baby-nursed along its initial stages, seen through its teething problems and guided through life`s many pitfalls to a brighter future. and we have the skill, know how and resources to create a leader.

Few, if any of our competitors can match our experience, or our rich historical legacy-strong, stable, steadfast. Ever since we opened our doors to business in 1898 we have nurtured our products through the 1st world war, survived the 1930 All India Boycott of British goods, overturned Congress attempts to ruin the tobacco industry, provided emergency distribution service during the 2nd World War, and have faithfully served the people of Pakistan since 1947.

The marketing knowledge and distribution expertise handed down for over four generations to us has been strengthened by the introduction of modern concepts complemented by state-of-the-art Management Information Systems for quicker and better decision making and prompt feedback to our principals.

All this was achieved by developing a dedicated team of highly motivated professionals fully aware of today`s supply chain management needs, backed up by significant cash resources.

If you are planning to launch a new product, or even energies an old one, give us a call, or drop in and see it all for yourself.

Allied Marketing (Pvt.) Limited
21-A, Gulgerg-2, Lahore 11, Pakistan. Tel: 92-42-35754724, 35758507
Fax: 92-42-35751946, E-mail: ample@nexlinx.net.pk

Saturday, November 6, 2010

ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY

The 21st century with its charms and challenges has begun and nations that have better human capital and technological advancement in terms of education are destined to lead the world. If Pakistan aspires to successfully compete in the global knowledge based economies it needs to provide readily accessible and affordable, quality higher education to larger number of its citizens. History is replete with instances of ascendancy of educationally and technologically superior nations over their counterparts on the basis of their knowledge and scientific advancement. Allama Iqbal Open University, since its inception in 1974, has tried to provide educational opportunities to the masses from basic education to post graduate levels to produce knowledgeable and skilled human resources. It has reached a new milestone of enrolling a million students in its thirty sixth year of existence. ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, a distance learning institution, has been striving to support the endeavours of the government for the creation of Pakistan, which will go a long way in ensuring a bright and prosperous future for all. The very concept of imparting education through open and distance education system suits our country owing to the geographical and gender related hurdles in our society that limit the availability of higher education. Moreover, the sill-thirsty employed people have also benefited from this flexible system, which does not have restriction of age. Locality or gender.

The success of ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY can be gauged from its unprecedented growth in terms of students enrollment, quality programmer and physical infrastructural development both at the Main Campus and in the regions.

ACADEMIC COMPLEX

FM Radia Transmission.

Serving Students at their Doorsteps Information and Communication Technology Building

Equipped with

Discover New Horizons Science Research Complex

Equipped with

Hands on Learning for the Students of Mass Communication.

Institute of Educational Technology (IET)

Promoting Exchange of Ideas

Self Access Center

Student profile

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Pristine Punjab

Luxurious vegetation, calm, spacious brick buildings and the British era canal colony take visitors to the bygone-era Revisiting Rasul Head works near Jehlum after three decades....

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Believing in this adage, our school at Lahore used to organised outings and had explored many fine places in the vicinity that could be covered in a day trip.

It was this feeling of nostalgia that prompted me to revisit Rasul Head works after three decades. Visiting wetlands has an altogether different charm than the mountains. A two hours journey from Rawalpindi or Lahore on the Grand Trunk road takes us to Serai Alamgir (near Jehlum) where the Upper Jehlum Canal brimming with sweet Himalayan water passes under the GT road. The charm starts right from the turn. as the road running along the canal bank is replete with beautiful water scenes. the gentle breeze, the luch green setting and the quiet road makes it a truly romantic journey that provides a perfect transformation from the din and smoke of the GT road and propers the visitor for the ecstatic beauty that lies ahead. After 28 km the sign board of Rasu Hydel Power Station is an indication that the head works constructed in the repartition days. lies close by. A picturesque panorama unfolds as we progress towards the headworks lush green irrigated lands. Inside Rasul, time moves backwards. The luxurious vegetation, the calm, the spacious brick buildings and the British era canal colony take the visitor some 100 years back in the bygone-era.