Marketing Diaries

Muhammad Wasim Ishtiaq

ID: 2010-1-46-11337

Instructor: Naveed Ilyas

Course: Principles of Marketing
 Marketing Diaries

Engro’s ‘Tarang Bhara Des’

Be a Pakistani, in a Vibrant Way.

Engro Foods Limited continues its endeavor to highlight

the diverse cultures of Pakistan through its latest
campaign for “Tarang” tea whitener; “Tarang Bhara
Des”. Pulsating with the catchy lyrics “Mera des hai Tarang main, suroor kay sachay
rang main”, this one of a kind campaign uses the vernacular, filmy platform to unite
Pakistan‟s rich cultures. Commenting on this new exciting campaign, Brand Manager,
Tarang, Syed Mohammad Salman Ali said to a local newspaper that, “We have always
given our consumers the taste of culture and the essence of Pakistan. However in this
new campaign we have attempted to bring
together all the colors of Pakistan keeping in line
with Tarang‟s platform; the glamour of
Lollywood”. I would really like to appreciate that
yes that made this impression very strongly that
only with the help of local Pakistani essence and
Pakistani talent they have managed to leave a mark on people‟s mind that it is really a
Pakistani product.

It also gives this feeling that Engro Foods under the Tarang
umbrella has been working towards reviving our Pakistani film
industry. With the previous successful campaign of “Hero
Bannay Ki Tarang” and the various campaigns launched by
the brand, the local giant has stayed in the limelight. This new
Tarang campaign features artists from all regions of Pakistan
performing together, in sync with each other. The theme is again festive with a hint of
patriotism to bring the different communities closer together.

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They are actually developing the idea of bringing this feeling to the people in person, to
revive their love for the nation through happiness and closeness. They are moving
along in this campaign with some of the Pakistan‟s finest performing artists from TV and
film Industry who will be promoting the idea of a tea brand that is connected to our
traditional happiness and cultural essence.

It is really after a long time that I finally saw the traditional colors of our culture being
promoted by a brand and making a long lasting impression on people‟s mind. I have to
say „Thumbs Up Engro! you have done it again!.‟

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HBL’s Campaign: A Crash

While following the world cup matches closely, you cannot completely ignore the
unusually annoying ad by HBL that uses the Mr. Bean look-alike to portray the use of
HBL‟s various services. Seriously, instead of drawing attention towards HBL‟s premium
brand services, it certainly exposes the immature adventure that has been done in the
name of funny advertisement of a very giant and sober name like HBL. I condemn this
adventure for numerous reasons but to cut short, mentioning only few would be more
than enough.

The values and personality which HBL stands for, do not resonate with being funny and
cheap. Name of HBL has always been the mark of integrity, standard and reliability.
Since childhood I heard HBL‟s name as if it was the only bank of Pakistan and it‟s only
fair to say that two decades ago, majority of the nation thought HBL was the „State Bank
of Pakistan‟. Such huge sober image and using some look-alike character to create
some humor around the brand, which is known for serious and
authentic banking, do not actually go together in any sense.
Never before, have we ever associated HBL with fun and humor
because it completely negates the whole persona or image of the
bank.

Let‟s be very honest, I am not an HBL customer, but even if I

were, I would have felt embarrassed showing my HBL debit card
to anyone. The biggest bank of Pakistan does not have non serious or goofy customers
as shown in the advertisement. Obviously, next time, when customers of HBL are using
their debit card or any other product, other people of society will try to make fun of them.

If we talk about the main character of the campaign alone, the look-alike guy does not

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look good. His expressions in most parts are very odd and in close ups, he does not
look like Mr. Bean at all.

Conclusively I believe that a bank of such a stature and repute should not be using such
low level adventurous techniques in advertisements, simply for the matter of being
different. Responsible persons should always keep in mind the values and significance
associated with the company as you cannot just veer your campaign from Shahid Afridi,
Umer Gul and Younus Khan to MR. Bean.

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Telenor Djuice Announced:

‘Khamoshi Ka Boycott’
Highly anticipated but not expected change is here. A new
Turn over has been given to djuice, a youth dedicated
brand. With this change, djuice website gets new look as
well as the tagline of the djuice has now been changed to
“Khamoshi Ka Boycott” which previously was “It‟s fun to
be young”.
Djuice, ambassador of fun, has now decided to bring a
meaningful change to youth life by working on some
creative ideas to implement in all important walks of life,
and with this not only creating a positive environment in Pakistan, djuice continues to
create and introduce fun, entertainment and youth focused brand in the market.

Djuice held an event at PC Karachi where the common problem in youth sector, “Booti
Culture” was brought to scene. Youth enthusiasts as well as industry leaders joined the
event where they discussed the issue.

Brand ambassadors of djuice, Shahzad

Roy who is a famous Pakistani pop singer
and Mahira Khan who is a famous VJ,
actress and presenter at CityFm89 also
attended the event.

No change has been made to djuice tariff

and package plans as it was being
anticipated that djuice is going to have an
end but the case is totally different here.

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Only with a new idea to bring change in society by bringing important social issues to
light, djuice is here as it was and even bigger this time.
First thing to this series is to raise voice against “Booti Culture” which is really
devastating the educational body and base of students. Secondly, issue regarding
women rights was raised and series is continuous in its flow.

Telenor Pakistan has announced its new philosophy towards its youth brand „djuice‟ to
reaffirm its commitment to the young people of Pakistan. The company announced the
brand‟s new philosophy, which empowers young people to speak out and take action
against social injustices, comes with the tagline „Khamoshi ka Boycott‟. This Social
contribution from corporate sector was badly needed in our society and was long due.
Telenor has put up the first step and made the mark.

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Brook Bond Supreme:

The Death of a Brand

Remembered from 2002, one of the most exciting and vibrant brands in the market, was
Brooke Bond. I loved the whole brand identity, the line „Yehi to hai woh Apnapan‟ was
one of the most comprehensive platforms in the country. The advertising was spot on
and excellent.

„Supreme Ishq‟ hit the airwaves and although this was the time when we didn‟t know
what social media meant, the song was a viral sensation. Everyone was talking about it
and everyone who hadn‟t seen it wanted to see it. Supreme brand team released an
even more memorable song which starred „Eiman Ali‟ as the romantic „Anarkali‟. This
new song was also a talking point and was very well received. Brooke Bond Supreme
seemed to be going great guns.

However, what was a superb advertising master piece, turned out to be the brand‟s
swan song. In recent years, the brand equity of Supreme has been eroded. First the
tagline that encompassed the brand was changed to the cheap sounding „Chaska
zindagi ka‟. When discussing the sorry state of the brand and why it was so, a friend
told me that according to his sources, the brand suicide was actually a homicide. The
logic he had, Supreme was being sacrificed on purpose as Lever wanted to focus on
Lipton.

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Why destroy something you built over a period of years? What a short sighted strategy
was this? If it‟s true then the brand gurus at Unilever need to do a double think. Also if
it‟s not true that the brand is being killed they need to do a triple think as to what
communication or brand strategy they are applying.

What brought on this rant you may be asking? The answer is simple, yesterday while
watching TV I saw the latest Brooke Bond commercial. I was left with my mouth open in
disbelief; I was wondering for a while whether I had imagined the whole thing.
Unfortunately no the ad was real, my horror was also equally real.

The ad is about a family drinking tea and the discussion

turns to tea being unhealthy, one by one the family members
name each other as having told them that tea is unhealthy,
finally the old grandmother is stuck with no one to blame so
she quickly says that her dead husband had told her. Next
Shaan tells them that tea is actually healthy and should be
drunk. Next, they show the dead grandfather in the painting
saying “Kaash kisi ne mujhe bataya hota!”, and he sips a cup
of tea. The ad ends with the shot of a tea cup and the smoke
from the cup which is in the form of a human figure, does a
handstand over the cup!

Trying to look for a silver lining in a very ferocious thunderstorm, let‟s see what‟s good in
the ad: the concept is trying to tackle the issue of tea being unhealthy and how you
should not listen to „suni suni baat‟ that‟s great but the attempt at humour as well as the
steam from the cup doing cartwheels has crossed the realms of creativity and entered
very firmly the area called stupidity!

For us sitting at home, scanning TV channels for ads like we‟ve been conditioned to, by
our profession and education. We‟re left asking questions:”What were they thinking?
“How did this get approved?” No doubt the brand team will come out with some face

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saving excuse in research, people were concerned about health, this concept was best
liked in ad testing , the brand manager came up with this concept etc.
However if Pakistani advertising is going to win even regional recognition then we need
to apply more rigor and accountability to make sure that such farcical ads are an
exception not the rule.

To be in India, Yes it‟s true our neighbor and 24 hour rival is better than us in creating
impactful and relevant communication. A while back, I saw a tea ad that really
entertained me, with just good advertising. I‟m a fierce advocate of having local
solutions and communication instead of copy cut pasting „global/regional‟ ones,
however, in the case of the death of a great brand like Brooke Bond run the Indian ads
please!

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