Appeared in the March 2009 edition of the Bangladesh Brand Forum magazine.
The old adage proclaims, “Money makes the world go around.” Well at least it makes the advertising world go around. Like rest of the rat race, we are also obsessed with money. How much billing we have, who are the top spenders, what is the percentage of commission, how much outstanding an agency has, who gets what salary – the questions are never-ending. However it seems one area of money that so far we have not explored is the one that we instinctively should. And that is the advertising of money. Or at least, that of financial services.
Many advertising practitioners across the world have told me financial services and products are the most difficult item to brand and promote. It’s a no-brainer. Come on! I’m not willing to hand over my life savings to just about anybody. Even when it comes to taking money from a financial institution we are wary – read the fine print thrice, ask four friends, consult an adviser. We have an instinctive distrust of bankers. You know, those people who will give us an umbrella when it’s not raining and take it back when it does.
On the flip side central bank and regulator dictates make it difficult to have a uniquely distinctive product. Interest rates are usually within similar ranges. As are product features. I still haven’t figured out how the credit card I get from x bank is different from y bank given that both are Visa. Come to think of it, what is actually the difference between MasterCard and them? I mean I use both with equal ease (or sometimes unease!)
Bangladeshi financial sector has another spanner in mix. We have now 60 plus banks, not to mention all the NBFIs (non-banking financial institutions) and insurance companies that do both, take deposits and give out loans. It doesn’t matter if I want to hoard away my saving or borrow money for that new car; I am utterly perplexed when it comes to figuring out whom to trust.
Now it is a complete lie on my part to say that financial institutions in Bangladesh have not been advertising. One of my first jobs was to work on financial products of the then ANZ Grindlay’s Bank. I remember we marketed the loan scheme just like we had any other consumer product. We gave it a brand name – Planz! It had a logo and a product story. And I believe it was quite a triumph for the bank. We followed up with a few other products with varying levels of success. Few other banks followed suit.
It is also true that one of the prime advertising revenues for the print media come from banks. There is always some bank talking about a new branch opening or the other. On TV, banks usually sponsor most of the news programs. But do consumers actually know or appreciate the difference between Mutual Bank, Trust Bank or the Mutual Trust Bank? How about between Standard Bank and Standard Chartered Bank? Or Citibank N.A and The City Bank? UCB, UCCL, NBL, NCCL, XYZ – the list goes on and on.
Now I am sure there will be a reader who will pounce on me now to say that Sonali Bank was amongst the top 20 brands in the recently announced Bangladesh Brand Awards. Ok I don’t want to get into a controversy here but one needs to appreciate the methodology of that research. It did not judge top of mind recall, but rather the strength of the brand name and health. The latter is not necessarily a function of branding efforts but just the sheer geographical reach and length of presence in the market, amongst other factors. . Meaning, often there might not be direct investment behind the brand but external factors influence its consumer perceptions.
Banks in Bangladesh, it seems, do not appreciate the need to differentiate. We all know what Jack Trout said, “Differentiate or die!”
Again a bit of over exaggeration on my part, some banks have now started down this path. Some, with hesitant steps, and some, with a head on plunge. At the agency we get at least one RFP (request for proposal) a week from one of these banks. It is also promising to see some of the most talented marketers in the country – Masud Imam, Sarwat Ahmed, Aftab Khurshid to name a few, are now in banks. Hallelujah! There seems to be some movement at this front.
A point of clarification: as I usually only review TV commercials for this column I’ll not get into reviewing specific branding exercises. But I would request readers to have a look at the websites of banks in Bangladesh (http://www.bangladesh-bank.org/links/links.php?ltype=1) to get a feel of where we are at that end. By the way the first person to email me the name of the bank whose pay-off line is “a bank with a difference” wins a plate of Fakhruddin kachchi from me!
AB Bank Limited: the recent trend towards branding and advertising in the sector has been spearheaded by Arab Bangladesh Bank’s name shortening to AB Bank and the subsequent advertising blitz to popularise their new identity. AB Bank being one of the “first generation private banks” needed to weave their heritage along with the dynamism of the new technology and products that have infiltrated the industry. I believe the advertising agency Cogito got a very strong set of brand ambassadors for AB Bank. Using the generational gap of father and son duo of Ferdous Wahid and Habib, they captured the dichotomy of consumer’s various needs. They cannot seem to agree on anything in life but they agree on their bank. But look, for dissimilar reasons. “Service and reliability” says Wahid, while his son is looking for “smart and fast”. No it isn’t a message for split personality disorder, it’s just saying the bank is different strokes for different folks. AB Bank has, as they claim at the end for 25 years, been catering to diverse needs of consumers. Here is where I begin to tread cautiously with the approach. The bank is trying to own four points in consumers mind. My feeling is that overwhelmed with messages, consumers will not remember any. The “story” of AB Bank will be lost. Instead they should have focused on their pay-off more strongly. The message to be left behind is, "we alter our offerings to suit your needs." Without this, the ad leaves us only with the name recollection and not any product attributes. It will be very interesting to see how the brand custodians build on the foundation they have laid.
If we are to discuss the particular TV spot, production quality wise the director has tried to add a lot. Being a fan of both these gentlemen, I liked the differences that were brought up. And I think it captured that generational divide so well. Brazil vs. Argentina, morning exercise vs. sleep, steaks vs. maach bhaat, black vs. white, they could be any father and son pair. Particularly touching was that the other one was their favourite singer. For different customers of the bank, there will be something they can identify with. On the negative side, I didn’t care much for the soundtrack. Also, some of the sets used could have been spruced up a bit. Overall I thought it was a very good effort.
On production value I’ll give it a 6 on 10. On originality and insight: 6. On translating the idea into a TVC: 5 and Overall: 6
The City Bank: a lost opportunity to change their name along with the re-branding effort. Why still be a victim of the brand name being party of the sentence, “kon City bank? T.Y na N.A?” (“Which City Bank? T.Y or N.A?). Many companies have successfully gone through transitions like this. Lucky Goldstar is now LG and British Petroleum has gone beyond to bp. The City Bank, in addition to adding the “the”, should have been bold enough to toy with the name itself. Remember how strong Grindlays name used to be? Standard Chartered very successfully handled the merger of not only the bank, but also the brand essence of the bigger rival. I don’t believe City’s name was so strong with such equity that consumers would have rejected a change.
Furthermore while the new kite logo is attractive, it fails to inspire. I am not too sure what it is supposed to represent. It does look modern but that’s all.
The campaign, on the other hand, was very strong. Unitrend, the agency, hit the nail bang on. They captured the heart of an insight – financial service boils down to money! Isn’t it so true that we spend most of our time pre-occupied with the pursuit of the same? Now of course I would at least listen to a bank that tells me that they know “money”. And The City Bank says just that. Throughout their campaign, be it on TV, print or billboard they have emphasised on their familiarity with the same. Bringing out the history of the stuff or thought provoking quotes, they set out to prove that they know their material well.
The TV spot itself highlighted the interaction of different people with money. From finding some on the street, or having loads of it, to taking some from someone’s wallet, or having none. It chronicles our obsession with it. The voice over not only gives us knowledgeable insights, but also confidently reassures us. It’s God’s honest truth that money is so many things to us and makes us do so many things. Each of the slice of life situations shown was so believable. The man buying a fish visual re-emphasised the loudness of money, while in contrast, the shyness of the man buying the condom its quietness. The boy smiling or the woman crying, getting some was absolutely true. Overall the TV spot matched campaign rational perfectly with the brand’s promise.
Production value I’ll give it a 5 on 10. On originality and insight: 8. On translating the idea into a TVC: 8 and Overall: 8
Nazim Farhan Choudhury is the Deputy Managing Director of Adcomm Limited. Over the last 14 years he has worked on many of the leading brands of the country including 8 of the top 20 winners of the Bangladesh Brand Award 2008. Having said that, he somehow believes that there should have been more of brands that he worked for in that list. Well let us hope that this columns criticism of advertising goes some distance in helping with the promotion of the art and science of branding. If you have comments, feel free to write at farhan@adcommad.com or visit his blogsite http://nazimfarhan.blogspot.com
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
I tube, we tube, YouTube!
Those who read my blog regularly (yes all two of you!) will know that I have a thing about Freedom of Speech. It really ruffles my feathers when that particular right is trampled with. Last few days you might have confused me with Big Bird! Boy o boy were my feathers in a mess. Some one in their infinite wisdom banned YouTube and a few other websites.
Well we think it was banned. There was no official announcement. But after you hit enter after www.youtube.com nothing happened. Some ingenious (geeky?) bloggers dug up the dirt and reported that BTCL (Bangladesh Government owned telecommunications company) had blocked the site after instructions from BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission). Before you start feeling bad about me for missing Top Gear and Sylheti serials on world’s favourite video site, you will be happy to learn that the site is back online!
So all is well and balance has returned to the force you might declare! But before we head back to trying to find the next viral craze, we should spend a couple of minutes and ask about what are the lessons learned.
Well for the first thing I get out of this incident is that despite all the talk of Digital Bangladesh, we haven’t figured out what that means. I mean wow so you figured out how to block a site! But did you? Well most believe the site was banned because of some audio files of a certain meeting between the PM and Army brass! I don’t want to get into the merits of the files, but YouTube isn’t the only place where you could get those. BTRC apparently only asked BTLC to block the sites but not private gateways like Mango or ISPs with direct VSAT hook up. Even then simple proxies could be used to by-pass the BTCL block. More over many who had listened to the files had downloaded them. So instead of trying to listen to it on YouTube it was being zipped back and forth on emails. Or come to think of it, say no one had downloaded the files nor had any idea of how to set up proxies or don’t have access to private ISPs - all you had to do is ask your khala in the US of A to go to YouTube and download the required file and email it to you. Want to ban emails now?
Only success this incident had was to point out the obvious weakness that we have in the desire to control the world wide web. And end of the day, do we even want to control it? Did we not declare Digital Bangladesh by 2021? Or are we waiting till 31st December 2020 to say we have achieved the goal?
Bangladesh’s reputation took a big hit. We joined the ranks of China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia on the list of countries who don’t trust their citizens. Ironic given that one of the founders of YouTube is after all a Bangladeshi!
We need to ask a few tough questions.
*Who was it who authorised the ban?
How far up the totem pole does one need to go to get a ban like this implemented. Does the Chairman of BTRC decide what gets on my screen? I know the man is just days into his job, but I’m sure he is aware that his job description doesn’t include this. So does it at least go up to the information secretary (who also is days into his new job courtesy the last secy who was busy writing poetry!)? Or maybe the Information Minister? (I am told he is a capable person but given that he is a first time minister he might have been a wee bit confused). Maybe the ICT Minister approved this. I don’t think the good Architect (no jokes, that is his name!) had anything to do with it. Does a decision of this magnitude need a nod from the all powerful PM? Maybe the author and horta korta of Digital Bangladesh Engineer Sajeeb Wajed Joy knew? Was this discussed at the cabinet meeting? For sure it wasn’t in Parliament. So who decided? Is some bean counter somewhere decide what we are to see or not see? Not only do we need to know, we need to ask the person our next question
*Why?
Really? The audio files? There are worse (relatively speaking) things out there that you might want to ban. Should we all not know what the censorship guidelines are? I don’t want my blog to get blocked because I happened to like Alu bokhara! Seriously what is kosher and what isn’t? I believe Bangladeshi site Joubonjala was “taken over” for a while and the IP addresses of those who visited the site was recorded. (Don’t believe you when you say you have no idea what that site is about! According to Alexa that is the most popular site in the country!). But it isn’t now! (or so I’ve been told!) I remember CNBC was banned a few years back because of immoral content. Well given the current economic crisis, then Information Minister Tariqul Islam might not been off the mark. Apparently it still is. Along with FTV! Are we trying to be Morale Police? Maybe the Cultural Police? As citizens we need to know where we stand.
*Why was it reversed?
So if the ban was actually for “National security interest”, has that subsided now? What was the emergency that needed YouTube to become public enemy number one? Was it because the ban wasn’t important enough? That then leads to next question
*What safeguards do we have?
So if we are to believe that this didn’t have the approvals from the highest of levels, then how safe are we from some junior bureaucrat going postal on our civil liberties? Do we wake up one day to see Prothom Alo banned? Or New Age? Are they too big to be banned? Well then what is the latest on CSB? Is Islamic TV or Digonto safe? What about websites like Unheard Voices, Somewhereinblog or Shachol? Maybe Facebook or Google tomorrow?
Friends, I hope this incident shouldn’t become just a flash in the pan. Hope fully we will press for answers. We need it to become a catalyst to enshrine our rights pertaining to freedoms of expression.
Well we think it was banned. There was no official announcement. But after you hit enter after www.youtube.com nothing happened. Some ingenious (geeky?) bloggers dug up the dirt and reported that BTCL (Bangladesh Government owned telecommunications company) had blocked the site after instructions from BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission). Before you start feeling bad about me for missing Top Gear and Sylheti serials on world’s favourite video site, you will be happy to learn that the site is back online!
So all is well and balance has returned to the force you might declare! But before we head back to trying to find the next viral craze, we should spend a couple of minutes and ask about what are the lessons learned.
Well for the first thing I get out of this incident is that despite all the talk of Digital Bangladesh, we haven’t figured out what that means. I mean wow so you figured out how to block a site! But did you? Well most believe the site was banned because of some audio files of a certain meeting between the PM and Army brass! I don’t want to get into the merits of the files, but YouTube isn’t the only place where you could get those. BTRC apparently only asked BTLC to block the sites but not private gateways like Mango or ISPs with direct VSAT hook up. Even then simple proxies could be used to by-pass the BTCL block. More over many who had listened to the files had downloaded them. So instead of trying to listen to it on YouTube it was being zipped back and forth on emails. Or come to think of it, say no one had downloaded the files nor had any idea of how to set up proxies or don’t have access to private ISPs - all you had to do is ask your khala in the US of A to go to YouTube and download the required file and email it to you. Want to ban emails now?
Only success this incident had was to point out the obvious weakness that we have in the desire to control the world wide web. And end of the day, do we even want to control it? Did we not declare Digital Bangladesh by 2021? Or are we waiting till 31st December 2020 to say we have achieved the goal?
Bangladesh’s reputation took a big hit. We joined the ranks of China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia on the list of countries who don’t trust their citizens. Ironic given that one of the founders of YouTube is after all a Bangladeshi!
We need to ask a few tough questions.
*Who was it who authorised the ban?
How far up the totem pole does one need to go to get a ban like this implemented. Does the Chairman of BTRC decide what gets on my screen? I know the man is just days into his job, but I’m sure he is aware that his job description doesn’t include this. So does it at least go up to the information secretary (who also is days into his new job courtesy the last secy who was busy writing poetry!)? Or maybe the Information Minister? (I am told he is a capable person but given that he is a first time minister he might have been a wee bit confused). Maybe the ICT Minister approved this. I don’t think the good Architect (no jokes, that is his name!) had anything to do with it. Does a decision of this magnitude need a nod from the all powerful PM? Maybe the author and horta korta of Digital Bangladesh Engineer Sajeeb Wajed Joy knew? Was this discussed at the cabinet meeting? For sure it wasn’t in Parliament. So who decided? Is some bean counter somewhere decide what we are to see or not see? Not only do we need to know, we need to ask the person our next question
*Why?
Really? The audio files? There are worse (relatively speaking) things out there that you might want to ban. Should we all not know what the censorship guidelines are? I don’t want my blog to get blocked because I happened to like Alu bokhara! Seriously what is kosher and what isn’t? I believe Bangladeshi site Joubonjala was “taken over” for a while and the IP addresses of those who visited the site was recorded. (Don’t believe you when you say you have no idea what that site is about! According to Alexa that is the most popular site in the country!). But it isn’t now! (or so I’ve been told!) I remember CNBC was banned a few years back because of immoral content. Well given the current economic crisis, then Information Minister Tariqul Islam might not been off the mark. Apparently it still is. Along with FTV! Are we trying to be Morale Police? Maybe the Cultural Police? As citizens we need to know where we stand.
*Why was it reversed?
So if the ban was actually for “National security interest”, has that subsided now? What was the emergency that needed YouTube to become public enemy number one? Was it because the ban wasn’t important enough? That then leads to next question
*What safeguards do we have?
So if we are to believe that this didn’t have the approvals from the highest of levels, then how safe are we from some junior bureaucrat going postal on our civil liberties? Do we wake up one day to see Prothom Alo banned? Or New Age? Are they too big to be banned? Well then what is the latest on CSB? Is Islamic TV or Digonto safe? What about websites like Unheard Voices, Somewhereinblog or Shachol? Maybe Facebook or Google tomorrow?
Friends, I hope this incident shouldn’t become just a flash in the pan. Hope fully we will press for answers. We need it to become a catalyst to enshrine our rights pertaining to freedoms of expression.
Dispatches from the Frontline : Live blogging from Sylhet during the Elections 08
I just noticed that my writings during the Elections of 2008 have not been posted on my blog site. I was in Sylhet at that time and was live blogging on the Unheard Voice blog site and had not updated my own site. So here for the sake of having all my writing at the same place, I am archiving the material from that time. December 28-30th 2008
Dispatch from the Frontline (hopefully 1 of many)
I spent the evening of the 27th with the AL candidate from Sylhet 4, Mr. Imran Ahmed. Had the opportunity to see the race from up close. Actually from the stage itself. Though he hade closed his official campaign on the 26th with a large rally, we still attended two boktita session. Mostly comprising of party men and “supporters” (bdjobs.com take note, there is a career to be made in shouting slogans).
Few points that stuck out to me:
1. The older people in the crowd (the actual voters there) didn’t seem to react to the message of lower prices and no corruption.
2. In the two rally that I did attend there was no talk of din bodol or first time voters.
3. Zero female audience (but in Sylhet at night I think that was accepted. Though I’ve been told no one could bring out female supporters here)
4. A lot of children. And a lot of them wearing the BNP badge from the day before and shouting “nouka”.
5. The BNP-JI is playing the religious card again. Saying if AL is elected then there will be no more aajan in the masjid and such “truths”.
6. AL is worried that huge amounts of vote will be bought on the last day.
If this election were held in 2006, it would have been a easy ride for Mr. Ahmed. He has won three times before. (Including once when he beat Mr. Nazim Kamran Choudhury). His opponent Dildar Hossain Selim is the corrupt incumbent BNP candidate. But today it is difficult to call. Ahmed got about 25% less vote (approx 15000) the last elections. Despite what the PROBE survey predicts, I don’t see him narrowing the gap much.
Elsewhere in Sylhet seems that AL has locked up one (Sylhet 5 for Hafiz Muzamdar) and BNP one (Sylhet 2 for Ilyas Ali). Sylhet 6 is leaning AL’s way because of a rebel BNP candidate. Sylhet 3 is up for grabs but still leaning BNP way as there is both a JP and an AL candidate for that seat.
And the bellweather Sylhet 1 fight? MA Muhit seems to be inching towards victory. Delimitation has seen the BNP strong hold of Companyganj being taken out and internal feud between Saifur Rahman and Ilyas Ali has crippled BNP. But Saifur Rahman is drawing in some sympathy votes and there is a strong 8% “Islamic” vote there that could be a decider.
I am heading out to another area of the constituency in an hour or so. I’ll be stationed there for the next 2 days. Hopefully will be able to give you regular updates. That is if the cell phone network isn’t cut off.
Dispatch from the Frontline 2
Spent the day crisscrossing Sylhet 4 seats Goinghat area. This time with a neutral union parishad chairman. Well as neutral as one can get. He is a BNP man but isn’t in favour with the party’s candidate. Hence he has taken a back seat this election. I’m spending the night at his place.
I did manage to meet the BNP candidate Dildar Hossain Selim today. That was at about 3 pm. When I reached, he was in his house and still in his pyjamas (night dress as opposed to Aarong one!) He went to sleep late and was meeting people since the morning. When I asked him how he thought his position was, he said he would not say anything because he can’t campaign. Then promptly his aides handed me his introduction pamphlet. He was fuming at the time we met. According to him, his opponents were busy buying votes as we spoke. He called the DC and lodged a complain. He told me how low AL was. He said that the best strategy to win would be to spend 5 years deep in corruption and then spreading the money days before the election. As I was thinking “wasn’t that exactly what you did?” he proved himself (and me) correct! He handed over Tk 30 to a man who had come to see him. First I thought it was for a pack of cigarette but then Tk 500 was given to a union parishad “member” that had just entered. To top it all he had the audacity to ask the abovementioned Chairman who was my host/guide, how much money was needed in the latter’s union. So much for the aggrieved honest candidate.
Rest of the place the opinion was about equally divided. Having just returned to the base, I am confused. I called the seat for BNP (and still stand behind it). But to give the AL candidate his due, this election is far from decided.
There has been a lot written about the first time voters. So I asked a few on how they are voting. The new voters want a new face. But in absence of this it seems their vote is breaking on party lines. In this constituency they actually do not have much of a new choice. The AL candidate has been contesting since mid 80s. The BNP man has contested the last 4 elections (including a by-election because of Saifur Rahman giving up this seat in 1996). So while they, like counterparts in rest of the nation, have a huge potential to make a difference, doesn’t look as if anything much will come of it. Voting will be mostly on family / village lines. Interestingly most didn’t know about the “No” vote option. And when explained the concept (and those who knew) thought that it would not amount to much and would not “waste” their votes.
I tested out a theory that Zafar Sobhan had presented in one of our nightly political adda. Basically that as the youth have no negative opinion (if any at all) on Ershad. He is bang on. One people believe all politicians are corrupt. At least he served his time and made amends. And like the British Raj, the Ershad days are seen through a coloured glass. Those were the days my friend! No one knows what Ershad did or stood for. I think if he stood from Sylhet 4 he would have won hands down. That is scary! Neither AL or BNP has managed to find a place in the youth’s hearts or mind. The stage is open for the party to go beyond the rhetoric aimed at the youth and actually come up with constructive programs aimed at them. That alone will change the dynamics in the next elections.
Well now that Naeem Mohaimeen’s plea of not switching off the mobile phone networks has worked, I’ll hopefully try to keep updating through out the day. Friends, all the best. Go out, vote, make a difference (or not!)
Dispatch 3
Seems like we are looking at record turnout. Well at least from the two centres that I’ve visited so far. By mid day in Mahturtol Bazaar centre 50% of the voters had already cast their votes. And more people were pouring in. However the ban (or the confusion regarding it) on vechicalur traffic and specially motorcycles have meant difficulties in reaching the centre. Particularly problematic for women voters.
Matter of fact the female turn out at Monikandhi the second centre I visited was really low. They had turned the female lines into male lines there. Females only trickling in. Distance being a major issue sited. Another theory was that they will only come in the afternoon after finishing lunch and the day’s chores. A females job is never done.
While a lot has been said about the first time voter / youth votes. The major parties have failed to activate them and win them over. Similarly close to nothing has been done to court the female votes. Ironic given regardless who wins, our next PM will be from that gender.
Sylhet 4 political equationwise I am currently in the BNP heartland. It seems that AL is gaining grounds here. But that means that while last election in Monikandhi AL got only 200 of the 3000+ votes this time they will get 4 times that number. In actuality 800!
After lunch I’ll be moving to another centre. More balanced view of the outcome hopefully.
As a side, discussions with friends in Comilla, Mymensingh and Sylhet 1 indicates an AL victory.
Dispatch from the Frontline (I forget which number)
By the time polls closed at 4 pm it was clear, Sylhet 4 had seen record turnouts. 90% at places. I was curious why. Was it an endorsement against the CTG / Military backed government? Most people didn’t seem to say so. I don’t think they would be against a longer tenure of the present government. Was it huge support for one of the candidates? No evidence of it. Was it great organisational “get-out-the-vote” efforts? No. Matter of fact that was one bottleneck according to organisers of both the parties. Was it a confidence that a change will come and lives will improve? Most voters I met were not hopeful of that. Was it a desire to elect a government for themselves? Well yes mostly. Somehow they were infused with belief that voting was their right AND requirement as a citizen. Regardless of polling centre or the background of the person talking to me, I was summarily castigated for being there and “wasting” my vote in Dhaka. It were the forceful drives to get voter enlisted and photo id cards issued that showed to the person in a remote village that their vote was important and it did matter. If the CTG should take credit for something it would be this.
Another reason for high turnout in Sylhet 4 was the improvement of the road network. People did not have to put in a lot of effort to get to places. And electricity and media proliferation meant that more people got to know about their duties as a citizen.
Ok back to the Election result in hand. Sylhet 4 polling centre results started trickling in at about 5 pm (an hour after close). I was at the AL candidate Imran Ahmed’s house at that time. He was a happy man. Smiles were seen. Things are looking good for him. On the 40-minute drive back to my place we started getting more results over the phone. Things are looking real good for him. Mobile communication will ensure that the parties will know the results much before the Election Commission has the chance to collate it.
It is 7 pm now. I am seated in the fringe of bell-weather Sylhet 1 constituency. I am hearing “Nouka! Nouka!” chants outside. Things are looking good for Mr. MA Muhit as well. Matter of fact it might be a huge victory for him and the AL. He has to close a gap of 40,000 votes if the last election results are a guide. He lost to Saifur Rahman then. This time in the battle of the finance ministers he seems winning. Might be still close but then he would have swung around a big seat. I hope to be in his place in about an hour. Hope to have a better feel of thing by then.
I’m getting sms/ calls from mostly AL friends. They are talking a landslide AL victory. I am not sure. Probe magazine a few days ago did give the two abovementioned seats to AL but the government to BNP. Nothing indicates that they are wrong. BNP might still be the largest party in parliament (albeit without a majority). We will know in about 12 hours.
Dispatch from the Frontline 5
Boy was I wrong. I didn’t see it coming. As reports come pouring in AL is headed to about 220 seats. And each seat by huge margins. Big heads have (are) falling. Nizami, Amir Khusru, Delwar are few of them. Here in Sylhet MA Muhit has turned his 40000 deficit to a lead of that much. AL will win all 6 seats here and likely all 19 in the division. Saifur Rahman has also lost his Moulvibazaar seat. Even the mighty Illyas Ali’s Sylhet BNP jaugernaut has lost its wheel. I am now at MA Muhit’s residence cum HQ. The atmosphere electric. Huge crowd. It was difficult coming in. Specially through the personal security. Cheers going up every few seconds as another centre or seat is announced. Some have even gotten tired shouting. No one here believes what is unfolding. I am sure this was the atmosphere at the Obama camp two months ago. Ok boys and girls take out the the pens and calculators. New mathematics in play.
Dispatch from the Frontline (hopefully 1 of many)
I spent the evening of the 27th with the AL candidate from Sylhet 4, Mr. Imran Ahmed. Had the opportunity to see the race from up close. Actually from the stage itself. Though he hade closed his official campaign on the 26th with a large rally, we still attended two boktita session. Mostly comprising of party men and “supporters” (bdjobs.com take note, there is a career to be made in shouting slogans).
Few points that stuck out to me:
1. The older people in the crowd (the actual voters there) didn’t seem to react to the message of lower prices and no corruption.
2. In the two rally that I did attend there was no talk of din bodol or first time voters.
3. Zero female audience (but in Sylhet at night I think that was accepted. Though I’ve been told no one could bring out female supporters here)
4. A lot of children. And a lot of them wearing the BNP badge from the day before and shouting “nouka”.
5. The BNP-JI is playing the religious card again. Saying if AL is elected then there will be no more aajan in the masjid and such “truths”.
6. AL is worried that huge amounts of vote will be bought on the last day.
If this election were held in 2006, it would have been a easy ride for Mr. Ahmed. He has won three times before. (Including once when he beat Mr. Nazim Kamran Choudhury). His opponent Dildar Hossain Selim is the corrupt incumbent BNP candidate. But today it is difficult to call. Ahmed got about 25% less vote (approx 15000) the last elections. Despite what the PROBE survey predicts, I don’t see him narrowing the gap much.
Elsewhere in Sylhet seems that AL has locked up one (Sylhet 5 for Hafiz Muzamdar) and BNP one (Sylhet 2 for Ilyas Ali). Sylhet 6 is leaning AL’s way because of a rebel BNP candidate. Sylhet 3 is up for grabs but still leaning BNP way as there is both a JP and an AL candidate for that seat.
And the bellweather Sylhet 1 fight? MA Muhit seems to be inching towards victory. Delimitation has seen the BNP strong hold of Companyganj being taken out and internal feud between Saifur Rahman and Ilyas Ali has crippled BNP. But Saifur Rahman is drawing in some sympathy votes and there is a strong 8% “Islamic” vote there that could be a decider.
I am heading out to another area of the constituency in an hour or so. I’ll be stationed there for the next 2 days. Hopefully will be able to give you regular updates. That is if the cell phone network isn’t cut off.
Dispatch from the Frontline 2
Spent the day crisscrossing Sylhet 4 seats Goinghat area. This time with a neutral union parishad chairman. Well as neutral as one can get. He is a BNP man but isn’t in favour with the party’s candidate. Hence he has taken a back seat this election. I’m spending the night at his place.
I did manage to meet the BNP candidate Dildar Hossain Selim today. That was at about 3 pm. When I reached, he was in his house and still in his pyjamas (night dress as opposed to Aarong one!) He went to sleep late and was meeting people since the morning. When I asked him how he thought his position was, he said he would not say anything because he can’t campaign. Then promptly his aides handed me his introduction pamphlet. He was fuming at the time we met. According to him, his opponents were busy buying votes as we spoke. He called the DC and lodged a complain. He told me how low AL was. He said that the best strategy to win would be to spend 5 years deep in corruption and then spreading the money days before the election. As I was thinking “wasn’t that exactly what you did?” he proved himself (and me) correct! He handed over Tk 30 to a man who had come to see him. First I thought it was for a pack of cigarette but then Tk 500 was given to a union parishad “member” that had just entered. To top it all he had the audacity to ask the abovementioned Chairman who was my host/guide, how much money was needed in the latter’s union. So much for the aggrieved honest candidate.
Rest of the place the opinion was about equally divided. Having just returned to the base, I am confused. I called the seat for BNP (and still stand behind it). But to give the AL candidate his due, this election is far from decided.
There has been a lot written about the first time voters. So I asked a few on how they are voting. The new voters want a new face. But in absence of this it seems their vote is breaking on party lines. In this constituency they actually do not have much of a new choice. The AL candidate has been contesting since mid 80s. The BNP man has contested the last 4 elections (including a by-election because of Saifur Rahman giving up this seat in 1996). So while they, like counterparts in rest of the nation, have a huge potential to make a difference, doesn’t look as if anything much will come of it. Voting will be mostly on family / village lines. Interestingly most didn’t know about the “No” vote option. And when explained the concept (and those who knew) thought that it would not amount to much and would not “waste” their votes.
I tested out a theory that Zafar Sobhan had presented in one of our nightly political adda. Basically that as the youth have no negative opinion (if any at all) on Ershad. He is bang on. One people believe all politicians are corrupt. At least he served his time and made amends. And like the British Raj, the Ershad days are seen through a coloured glass. Those were the days my friend! No one knows what Ershad did or stood for. I think if he stood from Sylhet 4 he would have won hands down. That is scary! Neither AL or BNP has managed to find a place in the youth’s hearts or mind. The stage is open for the party to go beyond the rhetoric aimed at the youth and actually come up with constructive programs aimed at them. That alone will change the dynamics in the next elections.
Well now that Naeem Mohaimeen’s plea of not switching off the mobile phone networks has worked, I’ll hopefully try to keep updating through out the day. Friends, all the best. Go out, vote, make a difference (or not!)
Dispatch 3
Seems like we are looking at record turnout. Well at least from the two centres that I’ve visited so far. By mid day in Mahturtol Bazaar centre 50% of the voters had already cast their votes. And more people were pouring in. However the ban (or the confusion regarding it) on vechicalur traffic and specially motorcycles have meant difficulties in reaching the centre. Particularly problematic for women voters.
Matter of fact the female turn out at Monikandhi the second centre I visited was really low. They had turned the female lines into male lines there. Females only trickling in. Distance being a major issue sited. Another theory was that they will only come in the afternoon after finishing lunch and the day’s chores. A females job is never done.
While a lot has been said about the first time voter / youth votes. The major parties have failed to activate them and win them over. Similarly close to nothing has been done to court the female votes. Ironic given regardless who wins, our next PM will be from that gender.
Sylhet 4 political equationwise I am currently in the BNP heartland. It seems that AL is gaining grounds here. But that means that while last election in Monikandhi AL got only 200 of the 3000+ votes this time they will get 4 times that number. In actuality 800!
After lunch I’ll be moving to another centre. More balanced view of the outcome hopefully.
As a side, discussions with friends in Comilla, Mymensingh and Sylhet 1 indicates an AL victory.
Dispatch from the Frontline (I forget which number)
By the time polls closed at 4 pm it was clear, Sylhet 4 had seen record turnouts. 90% at places. I was curious why. Was it an endorsement against the CTG / Military backed government? Most people didn’t seem to say so. I don’t think they would be against a longer tenure of the present government. Was it huge support for one of the candidates? No evidence of it. Was it great organisational “get-out-the-vote” efforts? No. Matter of fact that was one bottleneck according to organisers of both the parties. Was it a confidence that a change will come and lives will improve? Most voters I met were not hopeful of that. Was it a desire to elect a government for themselves? Well yes mostly. Somehow they were infused with belief that voting was their right AND requirement as a citizen. Regardless of polling centre or the background of the person talking to me, I was summarily castigated for being there and “wasting” my vote in Dhaka. It were the forceful drives to get voter enlisted and photo id cards issued that showed to the person in a remote village that their vote was important and it did matter. If the CTG should take credit for something it would be this.
Another reason for high turnout in Sylhet 4 was the improvement of the road network. People did not have to put in a lot of effort to get to places. And electricity and media proliferation meant that more people got to know about their duties as a citizen.
Ok back to the Election result in hand. Sylhet 4 polling centre results started trickling in at about 5 pm (an hour after close). I was at the AL candidate Imran Ahmed’s house at that time. He was a happy man. Smiles were seen. Things are looking good for him. On the 40-minute drive back to my place we started getting more results over the phone. Things are looking real good for him. Mobile communication will ensure that the parties will know the results much before the Election Commission has the chance to collate it.
It is 7 pm now. I am seated in the fringe of bell-weather Sylhet 1 constituency. I am hearing “Nouka! Nouka!” chants outside. Things are looking good for Mr. MA Muhit as well. Matter of fact it might be a huge victory for him and the AL. He has to close a gap of 40,000 votes if the last election results are a guide. He lost to Saifur Rahman then. This time in the battle of the finance ministers he seems winning. Might be still close but then he would have swung around a big seat. I hope to be in his place in about an hour. Hope to have a better feel of thing by then.
I’m getting sms/ calls from mostly AL friends. They are talking a landslide AL victory. I am not sure. Probe magazine a few days ago did give the two abovementioned seats to AL but the government to BNP. Nothing indicates that they are wrong. BNP might still be the largest party in parliament (albeit without a majority). We will know in about 12 hours.
Dispatch from the Frontline 5
Boy was I wrong. I didn’t see it coming. As reports come pouring in AL is headed to about 220 seats. And each seat by huge margins. Big heads have (are) falling. Nizami, Amir Khusru, Delwar are few of them. Here in Sylhet MA Muhit has turned his 40000 deficit to a lead of that much. AL will win all 6 seats here and likely all 19 in the division. Saifur Rahman has also lost his Moulvibazaar seat. Even the mighty Illyas Ali’s Sylhet BNP jaugernaut has lost its wheel. I am now at MA Muhit’s residence cum HQ. The atmosphere electric. Huge crowd. It was difficult coming in. Specially through the personal security. Cheers going up every few seconds as another centre or seat is announced. Some have even gotten tired shouting. No one here believes what is unfolding. I am sure this was the atmosphere at the Obama camp two months ago. Ok boys and girls take out the the pens and calculators. New mathematics in play.
Friday, December 12, 2008
ELECTION 2008: gazing into the crystal ball.
… and they are off!
The JP-AL drama is over (at least this round); manajat at Shahjalal Mazaars are done; election manifesto has been announced on live TV; candidate lists finalised and CTG thrashed on Tritio Matra! The campaigns have started and in about 17 days we will have an election 26 months in the making.
Going into the elections I believe the conventional wisdom puts AL as the front-runner. But I have a different angle to this. BNP is not as weak as they are thought to be. Now that Ershad has decided to stay with the Mohajoth (a wise decision on his part) this election has boiled down to a head to head between AL vs. BNP. If we take the premise that a typical swing constituency in Bangladesh has about a 40% AL vote and the victory is secured by how the remaining 60% is divided, BNP is in a comfortable position indeed.
The Mohajoth deal will give JP, I calculate 10-15 extra seats. But I don’t think we can trust Ershad to be a man of his words. He will always be a joker in the pack and will horse-trade his MPs after the elections to find the best deal.
Another googly in the game is how rebel candidates will do in the polls. AL has got its fair share this time (usually not the case) as has BNP. End of the day these candidates will shape the outcome to a great degree.
As difficult as it might be, no armchair political analyst should get by without a prediction on the election outcome. So here is mine:
AL + allies (– JP) 120-130
JP 30-35
BNP + JI 135-145 (JI being about 15-20)
Bilakpa Dhara + allies 2
LDP 1
Independent + Others 7-10
And if I am right the next prediction I’d venture to make is that Ershad will jump ship after the election and support a Khaleda Zia cabinet in exchange for the Presidency.
But hope you’ll allow me to create one little caveat for myself. Till today Sylhet 1 constituency has been a bell weather seat. It has always elected the winner. This year two finance minister hopeful are in contention for that seat. Sylhet 1 map has been redrawn leaving the BNP favouring Companyganj out, resulting in a very tight race. Having visited there over the Eid holidays I tend to think that seat is leaning AL’s MA Muhit’s way. Only way Saifur Rahman can win it is if he pulls sympathy votes (being old and having a son in prison) by staying home and allowing his arch-rival Illiyas Ali to bring in the votes. (In exchange for vacating the seat to an Illiyas supporter in the by-elections)
This will no doubt be an interesting election to watch. There is going to be enough drama over the next few months to keep us all in business!
The JP-AL drama is over (at least this round); manajat at Shahjalal Mazaars are done; election manifesto has been announced on live TV; candidate lists finalised and CTG thrashed on Tritio Matra! The campaigns have started and in about 17 days we will have an election 26 months in the making.
Going into the elections I believe the conventional wisdom puts AL as the front-runner. But I have a different angle to this. BNP is not as weak as they are thought to be. Now that Ershad has decided to stay with the Mohajoth (a wise decision on his part) this election has boiled down to a head to head between AL vs. BNP. If we take the premise that a typical swing constituency in Bangladesh has about a 40% AL vote and the victory is secured by how the remaining 60% is divided, BNP is in a comfortable position indeed.
The Mohajoth deal will give JP, I calculate 10-15 extra seats. But I don’t think we can trust Ershad to be a man of his words. He will always be a joker in the pack and will horse-trade his MPs after the elections to find the best deal.
Another googly in the game is how rebel candidates will do in the polls. AL has got its fair share this time (usually not the case) as has BNP. End of the day these candidates will shape the outcome to a great degree.
As difficult as it might be, no armchair political analyst should get by without a prediction on the election outcome. So here is mine:
AL + allies (– JP) 120-130
JP 30-35
BNP + JI 135-145 (JI being about 15-20)
Bilakpa Dhara + allies 2
LDP 1
Independent + Others 7-10
And if I am right the next prediction I’d venture to make is that Ershad will jump ship after the election and support a Khaleda Zia cabinet in exchange for the Presidency.
But hope you’ll allow me to create one little caveat for myself. Till today Sylhet 1 constituency has been a bell weather seat. It has always elected the winner. This year two finance minister hopeful are in contention for that seat. Sylhet 1 map has been redrawn leaving the BNP favouring Companyganj out, resulting in a very tight race. Having visited there over the Eid holidays I tend to think that seat is leaning AL’s MA Muhit’s way. Only way Saifur Rahman can win it is if he pulls sympathy votes (being old and having a son in prison) by staying home and allowing his arch-rival Illiyas Ali to bring in the votes. (In exchange for vacating the seat to an Illiyas supporter in the by-elections)
This will no doubt be an interesting election to watch. There is going to be enough drama over the next few months to keep us all in business!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Will Elections Happen? Its just one month to E-day!
I am not a betting man but if I were, my money would have been on the ‘not bloody likely’ camp. Well at least not on the designated 18th December ’08 date. - And before everyone jumps on me, I am not at anytime suggesting that this is a good thing. Just that given how things look, it is highly unlikely.
Standing at just one month to E-day one surely needs to ask the question "Why?"
Well let's see who benefits and who doesn't. And then try to work out who will want the elections and who will pull out all the stops to ensure it doesn't go through.
Here are the usual suspects:
The Caretaker Government (CTG): I think without a shadow of a doubt they want this election. I have a feeling that they have now just given up their "experimentation" of trying to re-engineer Bangladesh's political landscape. One botched attempt after and another showed to all and sundry that the powers that be do not have the political suaveness that would have allowed them to pull it through. Their political naivety ensured that today two years down the road, we are exactly where we were. What a wasted opportunity.
The Army: Conventional wisdom is that they (or atleast the top ranks) still call the shots and have always been keen to see polls and hand over at the earliest. Given the current situation and the several changes in the top echelon of the Armed Forces (side-lining many of the original players!) they have lost the plot. The leaders there do not see any benefit of sticking around longer. If they did, there were plenty of scenarios through which they could have delayed the dates significantly. General Moeen has pledge to the world that he wants the poll by the end of the year and as a man of his words, he will want it to happen. But, and a big but, it will be wrong to think of them as one cohesive unit. I am sure there will be elements within, specially amongst the rank and file who will think the reasons given for the takeover of 1/11 have not been fulfilled and will want to see it through to the end.
The EC: Of course they want it. They never were one who got into the political maneuverings that were hallmark over the last two years. I think they were honest in their purpose and went on a straight line towards their mandate of holding the polls at the end of the year. Yes they did put in reforms, but that was with the intention of making the process smooth. And do remember, unlike the CTG, the Election Commissioners do stick around after the polls.
The AL: They are sure of their victory. The only question that might be in their heads is, by what margin. The Bangla saying “gaachay kaathal gophey tell” (the equivalent English idiom being “counting ones chickens before they hatch”) is very apt for them. Top AL leaders have already started taking their position as the government in waiting. I say a bit premature and a lot overestimated but a victory all the same.
The BNP: This bunch knows that the chance of them coming to power are, at best, slim. They are unorganized, under funded, under manned and in a total disarray with political infighting in almost all districts. A lot of their leaders are in jail and many are on the run. With their bank accounts under watch, it will be very difficult for them to come up with a war chest that will allow them to win. The fact that they still haven’t finalized (some say even started on) their candidate list is a telling sign of what they think is the likelihood of the polls happening on schedule. Matter of fact the Begum in the first jonoshobha (public meeting) has gone on record saying that she, and hence BNP, does not believe the polls will be free or fair. She even presented a list of seven demands which if not met will result in them boycotting the elections. We all know that without the BNP (or for that matter AL) the elections will be meaning less.
The Jamaat: these boys are the sharpest, most organized group in the nation. Over the last two years while others crumbled, Jamaat used the time to re-group and strengthen their base. Being out of power allowed them to tighten the herd around a common enemy. At the same time they have been successful in stopping the loss to other hard(er)-line Islamist parties. Do they want the polls then? No! They have no chance of winning out-right. They know that. And they also know their alliance partners are not strong enough to win either. They know an AL victory will mean a witch-hunt against their leadership. War crimes, corruption, under-wrap business practices will all be fodder for the AL dominated Parliament. They don’t want that. So not having an election means that while they are not in power, neither is the AL. Lesser of the evils is an easy choice for them.
The Others: Jatiya Party, Bilkapa Dhara and the likes, know that wanting the polls is the best bet they have got. Firstly they appear democratic and have “face” in front of the foreign ambassadors. (Come on after all no one but our overseas friends give these parties any importance) But secondly (and more importantly) they know what they say or do will not change anything an iota. Election is after all good for them. Especially if the BNP does not contest and elections do go ahead, then they pick up a lot of the otherwise BNP seats. They can even hope to attract a large chunk of the BNP potential candidates who will look at self-interest before that of party directives. If they can swing say 85-100 seats that wouldn’t go to AL they become a voice with some legitimacy. On the other hand if the BNP does go to polls I am sure they will join the AL lead alliance into a Mohajote (Grand Alliance). Again contesting the 100 or so seats that AL never wins. Using AL’s small but loyal vote base in these constituencies and by picking popular locally strong candidates, they should be able to wrestle a large chunk of the BNP seats. Elections are win-win for them.
The Others II: Then there are another bunch of small political parties, mostly Frankenstein’s monsters (though that would be giving them too much credit) created over the last two years. They don’t want to go to polls. Even after all the help in the world they will not be able to score on an empty goalpost. For them Elections mean that their façade will come off. The airtime on talk shows that they enjoy now will disappear. For them the upside is that the elections don’t happen and they end up wiggling themselves on to a National Unity Government of sorts.
The Foreign Friends: I will be surprised if they are even awake. Most of the players during those days after 1/11 are long gone. Replaced in most cases by career bureaucrats. Their knee jerk reaction is that Elections equal democracy. Hence there should be a transfer of power by end of the year. Anything else they will not be able to justify back home. But then who is bothered in Washington, London, New York or Brussels? The World Financial Crisis, two Wars, domestic power struggles mean that Bangladesh is off the radar. Other than to say “Elections equal democracy” I don’t think they will do much. Exception to this is our closest neighbours – the Indians. Over the last two years they have seen a series of terrorist bombings, which they have blamed on Islamist terrorists trained and supplied from Bangladesh. If political uncertainty continues no one is around to crack down on these fundamentalists. On the other hand they would be quite right to believe that an AL government will be open to clamping down on these groups.
The Business Community: Uncertainty is never good for business. Only thing worse is the CTG. Without a plan or an understanding of how business operates this Government has hurt business. Matter of fact it has brought the economy to its knees, gasping for breath. The business community knows at more of the same means an inevitable collapse. For them anyone else is better. The new government doesn’t have to be clean, nor do they have to have a large mandate, as long as they leave business to it’s own devices, they will be happy.
The Media: Well either way I believe their business sense says they will win. But being our conscious, they are more than the bottom lines for their owners. The media in Bangladesh is usually free, fair and not shy to speak their mind. It will be difficult to generalize their attitude. One group lead by a less than prominent English daily and few of the political mouthpieces has openly and vocally criticised the CTG. They will want the elections (barring I guess the BNP papers!). Then there will be a group who will say they want the elections but certain obligations need to be met before hand. In any case I do not see the majority supporting any elections where either of the big political parties boycott.
The General Public: Stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea! The euphoria of 1/11 is long gone. To them CTG and the last two years means nothing other than spiraling costs, loss of jobs and an uncertain future. Worst is that the last two years of wasted opportunity means that the appetite for political change is gone. I am afraid they will want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. By rightly blaming this CTG’s ineptness they will wrongly say reforms don’t work. They will as always be optimistic in their hope that political leadership has reformed and will deliver them to the promised land. At the very least, they believe that the excesses of previous political will be stemmed or will take a while to restart. People want elections but they are not excited about it. Amongst Dhaka’s talking class there seems to be this resignation to the fact elections will not happen, or even if it does, nothing will change. Even people in the know within both parties are confessing to this off the record. And amongst the masses out in the districts, there isn’t any palpable enthusiasm about the upcoming elections. The excitements of a political race are missing. The promised devolution of power hasn’t happened and the CTG has already compromised by delaying the Upazilla elections after the National polls. This is on top of the fact that the elation of having MP candidates sent up from grassroots has turned out to be a farce. Only thing that both AL and BNP seems to agree on is that leaders despite being convicted, charged or on the run should be allowed to contest. Is there such a lack of leadership in the grassroots that in a country of 160 million we can’t find 600 people who don’t have a criminal record?
The Me: I am basically a believer in democracy. But in those days of October 2006, I was amongst many who found themselves in a bit of a quandary. We didn’t want elections. And that was because we didn’t equate democracy to an election. We knew we needed to take a hard look at our constitutional framework, political systems and institutional structures before we could truly call ourselves a working democracy. We embarked with zeal and enthusiasm down a path that we had hoped would bring us a stronger, more inclusive, more tolerant and, simply, a better society. We not only stumbled and hit roadblocks, we soon realized we didn’t have the map in the first place and the guide we chose never knew the path himself nor was keen to learn. Now we stand somewhere in the jungle, knowing that Shangri-La is out there but don’t know how to get there. Night is upon us. And there are hungry wild creatures nearby. And our traveling companions are cannibals!
To come back to my original question, will elections happen on 18th December 2008? Well in the above bishlaychon it seems that all stakeholders of significance but BNP-Jamaat Alliance wants the poll. But in our confrontational I-am-always-right politics, the sword (hartal and bhangchur) is mightier than the pen (tipshoi). The greater good of the nation is only a minor obstacle to ones self preservation. If the BNP (or on the flip side AL earlier) does not want something, it doesn't happen. Hence the answer to the million dollar question is a resounding a "No!" Care to wager on that?
Standing at just one month to E-day one surely needs to ask the question "Why?"
Well let's see who benefits and who doesn't. And then try to work out who will want the elections and who will pull out all the stops to ensure it doesn't go through.
Here are the usual suspects:
The Caretaker Government (CTG): I think without a shadow of a doubt they want this election. I have a feeling that they have now just given up their "experimentation" of trying to re-engineer Bangladesh's political landscape. One botched attempt after and another showed to all and sundry that the powers that be do not have the political suaveness that would have allowed them to pull it through. Their political naivety ensured that today two years down the road, we are exactly where we were. What a wasted opportunity.
The Army: Conventional wisdom is that they (or atleast the top ranks) still call the shots and have always been keen to see polls and hand over at the earliest. Given the current situation and the several changes in the top echelon of the Armed Forces (side-lining many of the original players!) they have lost the plot. The leaders there do not see any benefit of sticking around longer. If they did, there were plenty of scenarios through which they could have delayed the dates significantly. General Moeen has pledge to the world that he wants the poll by the end of the year and as a man of his words, he will want it to happen. But, and a big but, it will be wrong to think of them as one cohesive unit. I am sure there will be elements within, specially amongst the rank and file who will think the reasons given for the takeover of 1/11 have not been fulfilled and will want to see it through to the end.
The EC: Of course they want it. They never were one who got into the political maneuverings that were hallmark over the last two years. I think they were honest in their purpose and went on a straight line towards their mandate of holding the polls at the end of the year. Yes they did put in reforms, but that was with the intention of making the process smooth. And do remember, unlike the CTG, the Election Commissioners do stick around after the polls.
The AL: They are sure of their victory. The only question that might be in their heads is, by what margin. The Bangla saying “gaachay kaathal gophey tell” (the equivalent English idiom being “counting ones chickens before they hatch”) is very apt for them. Top AL leaders have already started taking their position as the government in waiting. I say a bit premature and a lot overestimated but a victory all the same.
The BNP: This bunch knows that the chance of them coming to power are, at best, slim. They are unorganized, under funded, under manned and in a total disarray with political infighting in almost all districts. A lot of their leaders are in jail and many are on the run. With their bank accounts under watch, it will be very difficult for them to come up with a war chest that will allow them to win. The fact that they still haven’t finalized (some say even started on) their candidate list is a telling sign of what they think is the likelihood of the polls happening on schedule. Matter of fact the Begum in the first jonoshobha (public meeting) has gone on record saying that she, and hence BNP, does not believe the polls will be free or fair. She even presented a list of seven demands which if not met will result in them boycotting the elections. We all know that without the BNP (or for that matter AL) the elections will be meaning less.
The Jamaat: these boys are the sharpest, most organized group in the nation. Over the last two years while others crumbled, Jamaat used the time to re-group and strengthen their base. Being out of power allowed them to tighten the herd around a common enemy. At the same time they have been successful in stopping the loss to other hard(er)-line Islamist parties. Do they want the polls then? No! They have no chance of winning out-right. They know that. And they also know their alliance partners are not strong enough to win either. They know an AL victory will mean a witch-hunt against their leadership. War crimes, corruption, under-wrap business practices will all be fodder for the AL dominated Parliament. They don’t want that. So not having an election means that while they are not in power, neither is the AL. Lesser of the evils is an easy choice for them.
The Others: Jatiya Party, Bilkapa Dhara and the likes, know that wanting the polls is the best bet they have got. Firstly they appear democratic and have “face” in front of the foreign ambassadors. (Come on after all no one but our overseas friends give these parties any importance) But secondly (and more importantly) they know what they say or do will not change anything an iota. Election is after all good for them. Especially if the BNP does not contest and elections do go ahead, then they pick up a lot of the otherwise BNP seats. They can even hope to attract a large chunk of the BNP potential candidates who will look at self-interest before that of party directives. If they can swing say 85-100 seats that wouldn’t go to AL they become a voice with some legitimacy. On the other hand if the BNP does go to polls I am sure they will join the AL lead alliance into a Mohajote (Grand Alliance). Again contesting the 100 or so seats that AL never wins. Using AL’s small but loyal vote base in these constituencies and by picking popular locally strong candidates, they should be able to wrestle a large chunk of the BNP seats. Elections are win-win for them.
The Others II: Then there are another bunch of small political parties, mostly Frankenstein’s monsters (though that would be giving them too much credit) created over the last two years. They don’t want to go to polls. Even after all the help in the world they will not be able to score on an empty goalpost. For them Elections mean that their façade will come off. The airtime on talk shows that they enjoy now will disappear. For them the upside is that the elections don’t happen and they end up wiggling themselves on to a National Unity Government of sorts.
The Foreign Friends: I will be surprised if they are even awake. Most of the players during those days after 1/11 are long gone. Replaced in most cases by career bureaucrats. Their knee jerk reaction is that Elections equal democracy. Hence there should be a transfer of power by end of the year. Anything else they will not be able to justify back home. But then who is bothered in Washington, London, New York or Brussels? The World Financial Crisis, two Wars, domestic power struggles mean that Bangladesh is off the radar. Other than to say “Elections equal democracy” I don’t think they will do much. Exception to this is our closest neighbours – the Indians. Over the last two years they have seen a series of terrorist bombings, which they have blamed on Islamist terrorists trained and supplied from Bangladesh. If political uncertainty continues no one is around to crack down on these fundamentalists. On the other hand they would be quite right to believe that an AL government will be open to clamping down on these groups.
The Business Community: Uncertainty is never good for business. Only thing worse is the CTG. Without a plan or an understanding of how business operates this Government has hurt business. Matter of fact it has brought the economy to its knees, gasping for breath. The business community knows at more of the same means an inevitable collapse. For them anyone else is better. The new government doesn’t have to be clean, nor do they have to have a large mandate, as long as they leave business to it’s own devices, they will be happy.
The Media: Well either way I believe their business sense says they will win. But being our conscious, they are more than the bottom lines for their owners. The media in Bangladesh is usually free, fair and not shy to speak their mind. It will be difficult to generalize their attitude. One group lead by a less than prominent English daily and few of the political mouthpieces has openly and vocally criticised the CTG. They will want the elections (barring I guess the BNP papers!). Then there will be a group who will say they want the elections but certain obligations need to be met before hand. In any case I do not see the majority supporting any elections where either of the big political parties boycott.
The General Public: Stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea! The euphoria of 1/11 is long gone. To them CTG and the last two years means nothing other than spiraling costs, loss of jobs and an uncertain future. Worst is that the last two years of wasted opportunity means that the appetite for political change is gone. I am afraid they will want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. By rightly blaming this CTG’s ineptness they will wrongly say reforms don’t work. They will as always be optimistic in their hope that political leadership has reformed and will deliver them to the promised land. At the very least, they believe that the excesses of previous political will be stemmed or will take a while to restart. People want elections but they are not excited about it. Amongst Dhaka’s talking class there seems to be this resignation to the fact elections will not happen, or even if it does, nothing will change. Even people in the know within both parties are confessing to this off the record. And amongst the masses out in the districts, there isn’t any palpable enthusiasm about the upcoming elections. The excitements of a political race are missing. The promised devolution of power hasn’t happened and the CTG has already compromised by delaying the Upazilla elections after the National polls. This is on top of the fact that the elation of having MP candidates sent up from grassroots has turned out to be a farce. Only thing that both AL and BNP seems to agree on is that leaders despite being convicted, charged or on the run should be allowed to contest. Is there such a lack of leadership in the grassroots that in a country of 160 million we can’t find 600 people who don’t have a criminal record?
The Me: I am basically a believer in democracy. But in those days of October 2006, I was amongst many who found themselves in a bit of a quandary. We didn’t want elections. And that was because we didn’t equate democracy to an election. We knew we needed to take a hard look at our constitutional framework, political systems and institutional structures before we could truly call ourselves a working democracy. We embarked with zeal and enthusiasm down a path that we had hoped would bring us a stronger, more inclusive, more tolerant and, simply, a better society. We not only stumbled and hit roadblocks, we soon realized we didn’t have the map in the first place and the guide we chose never knew the path himself nor was keen to learn. Now we stand somewhere in the jungle, knowing that Shangri-La is out there but don’t know how to get there. Night is upon us. And there are hungry wild creatures nearby. And our traveling companions are cannibals!
To come back to my original question, will elections happen on 18th December 2008? Well in the above bishlaychon it seems that all stakeholders of significance but BNP-Jamaat Alliance wants the poll. But in our confrontational I-am-always-right politics, the sword (hartal and bhangchur) is mightier than the pen (tipshoi). The greater good of the nation is only a minor obstacle to ones self preservation. If the BNP (or on the flip side AL earlier) does not want something, it doesn't happen. Hence the answer to the million dollar question is a resounding a "No!" Care to wager on that?
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Asia Brand Leadership Award
I hate to blow my own trumpet~ Well actually not! so here goes... I received a Brand Leadership Award at the recently concluded 17th Asian Brand Congress!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped me learn advertising and branding and also lessons in life. Foremost of whom is my mother and boss - Geeteara Safiya Choudhury (or as I call her at work - Madam). Also to all my colleagues in Adcomm past and present over the last 14 years who have encouraged and supported me. And lastly but not least, to my clients who have put up with me and allowed me a little part in contributing towards their precious brands.
Below is the press release that Adcomm put out to report the Award win:
Press Release
Bangladeshi Advertising Man Wins Asian Recognition
Mumbai
Nazim Farhan Choudhury the Deputy Managing Director of Adcomm Limited was presented the Brand Leadership Award during the recently concluded 17th Asia Brand Congress that was held at the Taj Land’s End Hotel in Mumbai, India. This was in recognition of the contribution Mr. Choudhury has made in practicing and promoting the brand building discipline in Bangladesh. “It is an acknowledgement that Bangladesh’s advertising industry has come of age,” said Dr. Bhatia, the convenor of the event.
“The awareness of Brand building is growing in the country. Business are now mindful that one of their greatest assets are the brands that they own and are now beginning to invest behind them,” said Mr. Choudhury. “I believe that this trend will only continue on its upward trend, even during difficult economic times. After all, a brand’s strength is what sees a business through during times like this.”
The Asia Brand Award is an annual gathering of the leading Brand marketers from the Asian region. This year saw two days of great sessions that included stalwarts like Barney Loenhis of Isobar, Dr. Dae Ryun Cheng of Yonsei University, Ian Gee of Initiative Media, Josy Paul of BBDO, K V Srinivasan of Reliance, R. Balakrishnan of Lowe, Ravi Deshpande of Contract, Sanjay Behl of Reliance Communication and Sunil Lulla amongst many others. While Times Now, Reliance Consumer Finance and Airtel, sponsored the Congress, the Brand Leadership Award was promoted by Yahoo!
Adcomm Limited is one of the leading advertising and communication agencies in Bangladesh with an impeccable reputation of building strong Bangladeshi Brands. Mr Choudhury has spent 14 years in the agency working on 8 of the top 20 Best Bangladeshi Brands of 2008.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
BBF: Evolution of TV Advertising
“Glory baby suit. Glory baby suit. Mon bhoray jai aharay, Glory baby suit!” Does anyone remember this jingle? Or this Bata Shoe classic “Hatti hatti pai pai dekhona…?” Maybe “come on everybody smile… smile, smile the Peps Gel smile”? All these are milestone ads in the evolution of the advertising industry in Bangladesh. The TV advertising in particular has evolved from telope based slides of early years, to the glitz of 35 mm highly post produced gems that we see today. Be it the old couple in the Shadharon Bima ad, Nargis of Gaco Touch or the lines “agay chilam boka…”, our TV advertising has many memorable moments. Some great, some good, some forgettable, and some downright awful.
Bangladesh’s advertising industry started even before there was a Bangladesh. Mr. Enayet Karim’s Interspan (Interspeed these days) or Mr. Reza Ali’s Bitopi, were making a mark for themselves in the Pakistan times. Those days the advertisements in TV was limited to only a few ads of Habib or Grindlay’s Bank that were shot in West Pakistan but broadcast here. But there was an interesting experimentation in those days, in which, PTV used to run a soap opera called “Ghoroa” where brands were weaved into the story line. Talk about early product placements! Outside of this, TV commercials were, by and large, limited to some telope ads (akin to showing a PowerPoint presentation) during the Eid festivals. It was only the late 70s that saw the regular appearance of motion picture TVCs. Colour ads however did not come in till the early 80s. It was about that time that competition between brands began to break out. Peps Gel vs. Close-Up was the first big advertising match up. This was an eye-opener for the business world. Consumers now had a choice, and they were exercising it. It was not acceptable any more that products were simply made available. Marketers needed to give a compelling reason to the consumers to buy their products. Be it the mouthwash in Close-Up or the great strong smile of Peps Gel, consumer benefit had to be articulated. It is difficult to say who won. I guess both sides claim victory. In the mid 90s after a decade of David vs. Goliath battle, Unilever eventually bought out those brands from the smaller Fisons. This was the time when the big advertising agencies, Asiatic (East Asiatic at that time) and Adcomm, came into maturity.
1990s saw the emergence of a new style of advertising. With Colour Zone and Pearson, Afzal Hossain’s Mattra broke into the scene. Though a vast majority of the advertisements were still being produced in India Mr. Hossain became the director of choice, shooting a string of highly popular commercials. Advertising agencies were lining up to get him to shoot. Unfortunately all the hype had a draw back. While the ads were attractive, star cast affairs (that was the time Mou, Bipasha, Nobel and the other celebrity models started to emerge), they were beginning to look alike. We had great looking ads that were a part of everybody’s conversations coming out one after the other, but frankly, they failed to connect. People loved the new sari or a jewellery ad but forgot which brand it was advertising. They began to say things like “I love Mousumi’s sari ad” and in reality while they found the ad compelling, brands were not getting built.
The late 90s saw another phenomena. International advertising agencies compelled by their worldwide multinational client were tying up with Bangladeshi advertising agencies. JWT, Ogilvy, Lintas, DDB, Bates, McCann, Leo Burnett all signed up affiliation agreements with the local big guns. Overnight we saw our billings hit previously unimaginable figures. I still remember, a figure that we quoted as the total advertising market size in 1994 was smaller than my agencies billing in 2000. This sort of investments by clients led to agencies being accountable for the performance of brands in their custody. BAT, Unilever and the likes regularly monitored consumer’s feedback on, amongst other things, brand perceptions and loyalty. Advertising agencies were made to sit through research after research of brand health checks. This, along with the inputs and training the international agency networks were putting in, meant Bangladesh’s advertising industry was forced to coming of age. Since the beginning of this decade it was not good enough just to produce good-looking ads. There had to be a method to our madness. We needed to find an insight, and then build a communication around it. When I first joined advertising, I actually had a client giving me an Indian commercial and saying “amakay ai rokom akta boi baniya dan” (make me a “book” like this). Not anymore. Now I have to justify every aspect of a proposed storyboard even before we call a Pre-Production meeting. Life has become tougher, but now we can say we are building brands.
These days I spend a good part of the month looking through all the ads that have been released recently to decide on which ads to review on the Bangladesh Brand Forum’s magazine. That has helped me to get a broader perspective on how TVCs are evolving in the country. I must report that I am generally happy with the trend. Things are looking so much better thought out and professional than they did when I joined the industry some 14 years back. (Has it been that long already?). Of course there are a few brain numbingly bad ads, but that happens across the world. If you actually look at ads in the more developed markets, for every Cannes Lion winner, you will see ten Used Car Lemon Ads with the owner of some car dealership shouting into the camera on why he is the honest deal! Do this experiment, sit through any two hour slot on an Indian satellite channel like Zee Movies and mark the ads you see in two columns, those you like and those you don’t. My bet is that the latter column will outweigh the former by a factor of at least 2. The industry here is not an exception. But if you follow the ads you will see that a lot of ads are now making the effort. That some thought has gone behind finding the right insights. More than just making the ads look good, they are trying to reach out to the consumers and connect. This is the definitive sign that things are to change. There are ads that are not only building brands but also categories. The Banglalink “Deen bodol” or grameenphone’s “Ma” reach beyond just saying “buy me” to a level where it burns the brand into the consumer psyche.
Unfortunately we often mistake popular ads to be equal to successful advertising. I know I’m opening up a can of worms here. The debate worldwide in the advertising world often pivots around this point itself. Do award-winning ads sell products? Well, there are strong points on both sides of the debate. Now we even have “effectiveness awards”. And a Bangladeshi agency actually won an Asia wide effectiveness award recently. But then, how can we attribute only the advertising to the sales efficiency? In case of the Bangladeshi award, how can we not ask if the distribution got better, or if the regulations helped to stem grey market mobile set imports? This debate will continue. But the point I will make is that just a flash in the pan wonderful advertising does not necessarily mean the brand connects are there. As a matter of fact also, just because there is a consumer-connect does not mean that advertisement is remembered. In the long run brands, and their ads, that do both - that is, find an insight and execute it to a level higher than mere consumer acceptance - are the really successful brands. And ads. Bangladesh’s soap market has wonderful example of this point. In the mid 90s, Lux was ruling supreme. Unilever (Lever Brothers at that time) was complacent. I believe they took their eyes off the ball. Aromatic latched in with a superb insight – Halal soap! Those things flew off the shelves. Interestingly it had the same ingredients as Lux, which is to say that if it was possible for a soap to be halal, then Lux was, too! I remember seeing some research in the late 90s where consumers said that they first tried Aromatic because of the halal hook but stayed on because it was actually a better soap. In all this mayhem of the soap wars, which one of us can recall the Aromatic Gold ad? But when it comes to Lux, who can forget Shuborna Mostafa, Shomi Kaiser or Bipasa’s Lux star TVCs? Interestingly some of the soap ads with the most buzz was not from Lux but from Camellia and Keya Super Lemon Soap. But where are those brands of “great” ads? Both Aromatic and Camellia have been sold to the Indian multinational Marico. But Lux is still around not only because they upgraded their products and made ads that consumers have enjoyed, but also because they found the consumer connects. They moved into an insight where Lux offered the consumer a chance to become a star, like the models. And that sold. Lux today is back in their supreme position. They rightly showed the advertising world that the role of advertising today is not only to entertain or to inform, but also to make sure that consumers are at the heart of all brand development efforts. This makes the difference between a good-looking ad and an effective ad.
I don’t have a crystal ball to predict what will happen to TVCs in the future. Worldwide trends indicate the days of the 30 second spot to be numbered. I tend to disagree slightly with that. Yes, communication needs to, and will, have a more 360-degree perspective and reach, but I think TVCs will still form the core of our media buy well into the foreseeable future. However I believe there will some distinct shifts.
Firstly, user generated content will begin to be more apparent. I don’t know if you have ever gone into YouTube and typed in Bangladeshi advertising, but if you have, then you will see many mock ads that have been made by the average Jasim. And with video technology on mobile phone getting cheaper, and of better quality, as well as with infiltration of broadband, it is a matter of time that the role of marketing manager will change. Brand communication will move from being one way (i.e., from the client / agency to the viewer / consumer) to a multi-channel one, where consumer groups will start sharing not only peer reviews but also actual user generated content between themselves. This is inevitable. Unfortunately our industry has not understood that this will come sooner than we anticipate. If advertising agencies and brands are not ready for this revolution, then the consumers will simply disregard us and go on to mould brands themselves They will give them personality, values and shape that might not be in the best interest of the longevity of the brand. Without our supervision of the process brand owners will soon find out that they no longer are in control of their most valuable asset.
Secondly, I believe this is the time for local brands to establish themselves. Multinational companies, through their effort to find efficiencies of scale in the name of regionalisation, are beginning to give up unique local insights in favour of those that work over a regional audience. But all of us know that a Bangladeshi doesn’t think like a West Bengali, forget like a Tamil or a Thai. Local brands need to exploit this opportunity thrown up by MNCs. They not only can start owning these positions, but also use their dexterity to make faster decisions and their local market knowledge to drive it home to the consumers. In recent years the carbonated beverage brand Mojo has shown that by doing things that are tuned to consumer’s needs, rather than aping previously successful cola brands, a huge brand can be built. I believe it is a matter of time before Bangladeshi brands start leveraging local success into international triumph.
Last but not least, clients will stop looking at advertising as a cost; rather they will see it as an investment. A brand’s television advertising will hopefully not have to endure poor production quality anymore. By ensuring that a TVC not only has a relevant insight, but also an adequate attention to details, the extra taka put into the making of the TVC is offset by lower media expenditure. This will lead to better production facilities, more professional services and an overall improvement of quality of our product.
At the end I am reminded of something the illustrious advertising practitioner Bill Bernbach of DDB had said, “Good advertising builds sales. Great advertising builds factories.” Looking at Bangladeshi advertising’s evolution I think that this is good news for people who build factories.
Bangladesh’s advertising industry started even before there was a Bangladesh. Mr. Enayet Karim’s Interspan (Interspeed these days) or Mr. Reza Ali’s Bitopi, were making a mark for themselves in the Pakistan times. Those days the advertisements in TV was limited to only a few ads of Habib or Grindlay’s Bank that were shot in West Pakistan but broadcast here. But there was an interesting experimentation in those days, in which, PTV used to run a soap opera called “Ghoroa” where brands were weaved into the story line. Talk about early product placements! Outside of this, TV commercials were, by and large, limited to some telope ads (akin to showing a PowerPoint presentation) during the Eid festivals. It was only the late 70s that saw the regular appearance of motion picture TVCs. Colour ads however did not come in till the early 80s. It was about that time that competition between brands began to break out. Peps Gel vs. Close-Up was the first big advertising match up. This was an eye-opener for the business world. Consumers now had a choice, and they were exercising it. It was not acceptable any more that products were simply made available. Marketers needed to give a compelling reason to the consumers to buy their products. Be it the mouthwash in Close-Up or the great strong smile of Peps Gel, consumer benefit had to be articulated. It is difficult to say who won. I guess both sides claim victory. In the mid 90s after a decade of David vs. Goliath battle, Unilever eventually bought out those brands from the smaller Fisons. This was the time when the big advertising agencies, Asiatic (East Asiatic at that time) and Adcomm, came into maturity.
1990s saw the emergence of a new style of advertising. With Colour Zone and Pearson, Afzal Hossain’s Mattra broke into the scene. Though a vast majority of the advertisements were still being produced in India Mr. Hossain became the director of choice, shooting a string of highly popular commercials. Advertising agencies were lining up to get him to shoot. Unfortunately all the hype had a draw back. While the ads were attractive, star cast affairs (that was the time Mou, Bipasha, Nobel and the other celebrity models started to emerge), they were beginning to look alike. We had great looking ads that were a part of everybody’s conversations coming out one after the other, but frankly, they failed to connect. People loved the new sari or a jewellery ad but forgot which brand it was advertising. They began to say things like “I love Mousumi’s sari ad” and in reality while they found the ad compelling, brands were not getting built.
The late 90s saw another phenomena. International advertising agencies compelled by their worldwide multinational client were tying up with Bangladeshi advertising agencies. JWT, Ogilvy, Lintas, DDB, Bates, McCann, Leo Burnett all signed up affiliation agreements with the local big guns. Overnight we saw our billings hit previously unimaginable figures. I still remember, a figure that we quoted as the total advertising market size in 1994 was smaller than my agencies billing in 2000. This sort of investments by clients led to agencies being accountable for the performance of brands in their custody. BAT, Unilever and the likes regularly monitored consumer’s feedback on, amongst other things, brand perceptions and loyalty. Advertising agencies were made to sit through research after research of brand health checks. This, along with the inputs and training the international agency networks were putting in, meant Bangladesh’s advertising industry was forced to coming of age. Since the beginning of this decade it was not good enough just to produce good-looking ads. There had to be a method to our madness. We needed to find an insight, and then build a communication around it. When I first joined advertising, I actually had a client giving me an Indian commercial and saying “amakay ai rokom akta boi baniya dan” (make me a “book” like this). Not anymore. Now I have to justify every aspect of a proposed storyboard even before we call a Pre-Production meeting. Life has become tougher, but now we can say we are building brands.
These days I spend a good part of the month looking through all the ads that have been released recently to decide on which ads to review on the Bangladesh Brand Forum’s magazine. That has helped me to get a broader perspective on how TVCs are evolving in the country. I must report that I am generally happy with the trend. Things are looking so much better thought out and professional than they did when I joined the industry some 14 years back. (Has it been that long already?). Of course there are a few brain numbingly bad ads, but that happens across the world. If you actually look at ads in the more developed markets, for every Cannes Lion winner, you will see ten Used Car Lemon Ads with the owner of some car dealership shouting into the camera on why he is the honest deal! Do this experiment, sit through any two hour slot on an Indian satellite channel like Zee Movies and mark the ads you see in two columns, those you like and those you don’t. My bet is that the latter column will outweigh the former by a factor of at least 2. The industry here is not an exception. But if you follow the ads you will see that a lot of ads are now making the effort. That some thought has gone behind finding the right insights. More than just making the ads look good, they are trying to reach out to the consumers and connect. This is the definitive sign that things are to change. There are ads that are not only building brands but also categories. The Banglalink “Deen bodol” or grameenphone’s “Ma” reach beyond just saying “buy me” to a level where it burns the brand into the consumer psyche.
Unfortunately we often mistake popular ads to be equal to successful advertising. I know I’m opening up a can of worms here. The debate worldwide in the advertising world often pivots around this point itself. Do award-winning ads sell products? Well, there are strong points on both sides of the debate. Now we even have “effectiveness awards”. And a Bangladeshi agency actually won an Asia wide effectiveness award recently. But then, how can we attribute only the advertising to the sales efficiency? In case of the Bangladeshi award, how can we not ask if the distribution got better, or if the regulations helped to stem grey market mobile set imports? This debate will continue. But the point I will make is that just a flash in the pan wonderful advertising does not necessarily mean the brand connects are there. As a matter of fact also, just because there is a consumer-connect does not mean that advertisement is remembered. In the long run brands, and their ads, that do both - that is, find an insight and execute it to a level higher than mere consumer acceptance - are the really successful brands. And ads. Bangladesh’s soap market has wonderful example of this point. In the mid 90s, Lux was ruling supreme. Unilever (Lever Brothers at that time) was complacent. I believe they took their eyes off the ball. Aromatic latched in with a superb insight – Halal soap! Those things flew off the shelves. Interestingly it had the same ingredients as Lux, which is to say that if it was possible for a soap to be halal, then Lux was, too! I remember seeing some research in the late 90s where consumers said that they first tried Aromatic because of the halal hook but stayed on because it was actually a better soap. In all this mayhem of the soap wars, which one of us can recall the Aromatic Gold ad? But when it comes to Lux, who can forget Shuborna Mostafa, Shomi Kaiser or Bipasa’s Lux star TVCs? Interestingly some of the soap ads with the most buzz was not from Lux but from Camellia and Keya Super Lemon Soap. But where are those brands of “great” ads? Both Aromatic and Camellia have been sold to the Indian multinational Marico. But Lux is still around not only because they upgraded their products and made ads that consumers have enjoyed, but also because they found the consumer connects. They moved into an insight where Lux offered the consumer a chance to become a star, like the models. And that sold. Lux today is back in their supreme position. They rightly showed the advertising world that the role of advertising today is not only to entertain or to inform, but also to make sure that consumers are at the heart of all brand development efforts. This makes the difference between a good-looking ad and an effective ad.
I don’t have a crystal ball to predict what will happen to TVCs in the future. Worldwide trends indicate the days of the 30 second spot to be numbered. I tend to disagree slightly with that. Yes, communication needs to, and will, have a more 360-degree perspective and reach, but I think TVCs will still form the core of our media buy well into the foreseeable future. However I believe there will some distinct shifts.
Firstly, user generated content will begin to be more apparent. I don’t know if you have ever gone into YouTube and typed in Bangladeshi advertising, but if you have, then you will see many mock ads that have been made by the average Jasim. And with video technology on mobile phone getting cheaper, and of better quality, as well as with infiltration of broadband, it is a matter of time that the role of marketing manager will change. Brand communication will move from being one way (i.e., from the client / agency to the viewer / consumer) to a multi-channel one, where consumer groups will start sharing not only peer reviews but also actual user generated content between themselves. This is inevitable. Unfortunately our industry has not understood that this will come sooner than we anticipate. If advertising agencies and brands are not ready for this revolution, then the consumers will simply disregard us and go on to mould brands themselves They will give them personality, values and shape that might not be in the best interest of the longevity of the brand. Without our supervision of the process brand owners will soon find out that they no longer are in control of their most valuable asset.
Secondly, I believe this is the time for local brands to establish themselves. Multinational companies, through their effort to find efficiencies of scale in the name of regionalisation, are beginning to give up unique local insights in favour of those that work over a regional audience. But all of us know that a Bangladeshi doesn’t think like a West Bengali, forget like a Tamil or a Thai. Local brands need to exploit this opportunity thrown up by MNCs. They not only can start owning these positions, but also use their dexterity to make faster decisions and their local market knowledge to drive it home to the consumers. In recent years the carbonated beverage brand Mojo has shown that by doing things that are tuned to consumer’s needs, rather than aping previously successful cola brands, a huge brand can be built. I believe it is a matter of time before Bangladeshi brands start leveraging local success into international triumph.
Last but not least, clients will stop looking at advertising as a cost; rather they will see it as an investment. A brand’s television advertising will hopefully not have to endure poor production quality anymore. By ensuring that a TVC not only has a relevant insight, but also an adequate attention to details, the extra taka put into the making of the TVC is offset by lower media expenditure. This will lead to better production facilities, more professional services and an overall improvement of quality of our product.
At the end I am reminded of something the illustrious advertising practitioner Bill Bernbach of DDB had said, “Good advertising builds sales. Great advertising builds factories.” Looking at Bangladeshi advertising’s evolution I think that this is good news for people who build factories.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
BBF: Ad critique 5 : Customer Care
Appeared in the August 2008 edition of the Bangladesh Brand Forum magazine.
One of my favourite ads in the last few years has been the Vodafone India’s Customer Care series. You know, the ones with the dog and the girl. I always found it ingenious how Hutch (the predecessors to Vodafone) had initially introduced the dog (a pug) during an ad to talk about network coverage and then adopted him as a mascot. I was sure that when Vodafone took over the network they would kill off the dog (it was a casting issue as well, since the original dog actor was getting old and a replacement was proving difficult to find). But, to my utter joy, they not only found a new mutt but also used a girl in the series of ads for the customer care function. The dog, representing the customer care, helps the “subscriber” who goes through the day nonchalantly needing subtle interventions. Like the original network ad, it showed how the relation between the two intertwines without need to call out for help. Brilliant. And a very hard act to follow no doubt. Two of our own telephone operators were brave enough to attempt it.
grameenphone customer care: I like the insight. It is simple. The gp customer care operators are “one-of-us” and hence they know exactly what we need and are there to help. After all if your grandson or shali were the customer care person you’d never have problems solving a, well, problem! It’s one of those undeniable Bengali traits; we look out for a family member or a friend whenever we need a problem solved. You know I’ve been asked so many times if I know anyone at a hospital or an airline or a bank who can help out with that little issue that has cropped up. It’s the need to have that inside track to things. Primarily this grew from the failure of businesses in Bangladesh to focus on customer care and therefore needing to rely on “contacts” to get issues resolved. gp has addressed it effectively. They basically turned to their customers and have said, “hey look, our care service is staffed by people just like you and hence your problems are our problems.” Given gp’s large pool of customer care associates, it so believable.
Here is where I start having problems with the ads. The stories are so real. A wife, a grandson, a sister, all in everyday situation helping out in ways that could happen in any one of our lives. But then why do the ads look so unbelievable? They look like ads. They have actors who are obviously models, in places that are obviously staged, and are positioned in situations that are obviously contrived. Given the above-mentioned large pool of customer care associative, why could gp not use one of its own, talking about a real life situation in a real life world? Or better still, have their husbands, grandfathers or nieces talking about how Ms. so-and-so, the gp customer care person, has gone out of her way to help them do small little everyday things. That would have been a winner. And would have turned a good idea into a great ad.
Production quality-wise, they should have abandoned the glossy, highly produced look, for a more gritty real-life handheld docu-drama feel. With the busyness and the chaos of real life. That everyday person who has to juggle so many roles, and do so many things, but still remembers that today is your aunts 30th wedding anniversary and buys her flowers on the way to work. You know, like we do everyday.
For the series on production value I’ll give it a 5 on 10. (I have no issues with the production per se but like I mentioned I think it’s the wrong look-feel for this series). On originality and insight: 8. On translating the idea into a TVC: 4 and Overall: 6 (it could have been so much better).
Banglalink customer care: the TVC made for the launch of their customer care campaign was one that is very predictable. Ask any person to come up with a customer care ad and this is most likely what would have been done. A customer care associate helping the sad boy with a balloon, the lady with her shopping or pleading for the lost ball. And end of the day putting her hand on her heart and promising (kotha dilam) to give you better service. It left me saying – “so?”
Now I am not a Banglalink user so I do not know how far they have gone to live up to, or what else they have done in the customer care end to cement this promise. But I am reminded of another telco whose strap line was “because we care” and the reason I left them was that it took me ages getting through to their customer care line and when I did, they were not helpful! So as a person whose not using Banglalink, this doesn’t do much to convince me they have good customer care. After all in today’s hyper competitive telco market a good customer care is not only essential, it is a pre-requisite. And basically to me the Banglalink ad says that they are just telling me that they will do their job! Okay. But I need more.
Having said this I think the Banglalink’s ad will be more popular (which does not necessarily mean more effective) than gp’s. Why? Well first of all they don’t pretend to be anything other than what they say they are doing. True that it seems they are not using an actual customer care associate either but then the whole thing has this overtly we-want-to-be-a-sugary-sweet-TVC feel. Viewers like that. The jingle is soothing and the TVC’s payoff kotha dilam well entranced. Overall the production has taken a bad idea and made it better. Reminds me of something I believe David Ogilvy said, “If you don’t have anything to say, sing it!” I might be wrong but this ad wasn’t.
Can I ask for a favour? I haven’t understood the follow up Banglalink customer care series at all? There is a dust storm and I look up to find a Banglink centre? Or I get pick-pocketed in the bus and find a Banglalink centre? Do they mean the robbers have gone in there? I know they are trying to say these centres are everywhere but what’s with the rain and tears? Can someone please explain this lot to me?
Production value I’ll give it a 5 on 10. On originality and insight: 3. On translating the idea into a TVC: 6 and Overall: 5
Folks can I be indulged for a few minutes more? I’ve received a few queries to ask me how I actually grade. Is it a panel of viewers? Do I benchmark? Is it a weighted mean? Why does a TVC get x or y on some parameters but then z on overall? Should there not be fractions? So on and so forth. Well frankly this is not a scientific gradation. It’s not statistically correct (I think I still hold the record for the lowest marks in any Statistics paper in Delhi University). It is basically the same scale on which I judge food – the Kachchi scale. On a scale of 1 to 10 (where 10 is a hot plate of Fakhruddin’s Kachchi and 1 is shobji bhaji) I decide to give depending on how much I want to eat it or not. But now there are some people who like shobji bhaji and hate (oh my god no!) biryani. To me, closer you are to mouth-watering biryani the better! It’s that simple.
Nazim Farhan Choudhury is an advertising professional with a love for biryani. Being a connoisseur allows him to judge things according to his taste. This means at times he is shooting of his mouth and critiquing other people’s work. Luckily for him being in the business for 14 years allows him to trump quantity over quality. He strongly believes that even Fakhruddin Baburchi needed years to perfect his recipe before attaining kachchi nirvana. We too need keep cooking up ads and people criticising our creations before we reach perfection. If you have any critique of these critiques (or any mouth watering recipes) feel free to write at farhan@adcommad.com or visit his blogsite http://nazimfarhan.blogspot.com
Links to the Ads:
grameenphone customer care
Banglalink customer care
One of my favourite ads in the last few years has been the Vodafone India’s Customer Care series. You know, the ones with the dog and the girl. I always found it ingenious how Hutch (the predecessors to Vodafone) had initially introduced the dog (a pug) during an ad to talk about network coverage and then adopted him as a mascot. I was sure that when Vodafone took over the network they would kill off the dog (it was a casting issue as well, since the original dog actor was getting old and a replacement was proving difficult to find). But, to my utter joy, they not only found a new mutt but also used a girl in the series of ads for the customer care function. The dog, representing the customer care, helps the “subscriber” who goes through the day nonchalantly needing subtle interventions. Like the original network ad, it showed how the relation between the two intertwines without need to call out for help. Brilliant. And a very hard act to follow no doubt. Two of our own telephone operators were brave enough to attempt it.
grameenphone customer care: I like the insight. It is simple. The gp customer care operators are “one-of-us” and hence they know exactly what we need and are there to help. After all if your grandson or shali were the customer care person you’d never have problems solving a, well, problem! It’s one of those undeniable Bengali traits; we look out for a family member or a friend whenever we need a problem solved. You know I’ve been asked so many times if I know anyone at a hospital or an airline or a bank who can help out with that little issue that has cropped up. It’s the need to have that inside track to things. Primarily this grew from the failure of businesses in Bangladesh to focus on customer care and therefore needing to rely on “contacts” to get issues resolved. gp has addressed it effectively. They basically turned to their customers and have said, “hey look, our care service is staffed by people just like you and hence your problems are our problems.” Given gp’s large pool of customer care associates, it so believable.
Here is where I start having problems with the ads. The stories are so real. A wife, a grandson, a sister, all in everyday situation helping out in ways that could happen in any one of our lives. But then why do the ads look so unbelievable? They look like ads. They have actors who are obviously models, in places that are obviously staged, and are positioned in situations that are obviously contrived. Given the above-mentioned large pool of customer care associative, why could gp not use one of its own, talking about a real life situation in a real life world? Or better still, have their husbands, grandfathers or nieces talking about how Ms. so-and-so, the gp customer care person, has gone out of her way to help them do small little everyday things. That would have been a winner. And would have turned a good idea into a great ad.
Production quality-wise, they should have abandoned the glossy, highly produced look, for a more gritty real-life handheld docu-drama feel. With the busyness and the chaos of real life. That everyday person who has to juggle so many roles, and do so many things, but still remembers that today is your aunts 30th wedding anniversary and buys her flowers on the way to work. You know, like we do everyday.
For the series on production value I’ll give it a 5 on 10. (I have no issues with the production per se but like I mentioned I think it’s the wrong look-feel for this series). On originality and insight: 8. On translating the idea into a TVC: 4 and Overall: 6 (it could have been so much better).
Banglalink customer care: the TVC made for the launch of their customer care campaign was one that is very predictable. Ask any person to come up with a customer care ad and this is most likely what would have been done. A customer care associate helping the sad boy with a balloon, the lady with her shopping or pleading for the lost ball. And end of the day putting her hand on her heart and promising (kotha dilam) to give you better service. It left me saying – “so?”
Now I am not a Banglalink user so I do not know how far they have gone to live up to, or what else they have done in the customer care end to cement this promise. But I am reminded of another telco whose strap line was “because we care” and the reason I left them was that it took me ages getting through to their customer care line and when I did, they were not helpful! So as a person whose not using Banglalink, this doesn’t do much to convince me they have good customer care. After all in today’s hyper competitive telco market a good customer care is not only essential, it is a pre-requisite. And basically to me the Banglalink ad says that they are just telling me that they will do their job! Okay. But I need more.
Having said this I think the Banglalink’s ad will be more popular (which does not necessarily mean more effective) than gp’s. Why? Well first of all they don’t pretend to be anything other than what they say they are doing. True that it seems they are not using an actual customer care associate either but then the whole thing has this overtly we-want-to-be-a-sugary-sweet-TVC feel. Viewers like that. The jingle is soothing and the TVC’s payoff kotha dilam well entranced. Overall the production has taken a bad idea and made it better. Reminds me of something I believe David Ogilvy said, “If you don’t have anything to say, sing it!” I might be wrong but this ad wasn’t.
Can I ask for a favour? I haven’t understood the follow up Banglalink customer care series at all? There is a dust storm and I look up to find a Banglink centre? Or I get pick-pocketed in the bus and find a Banglalink centre? Do they mean the robbers have gone in there? I know they are trying to say these centres are everywhere but what’s with the rain and tears? Can someone please explain this lot to me?
Production value I’ll give it a 5 on 10. On originality and insight: 3. On translating the idea into a TVC: 6 and Overall: 5
Folks can I be indulged for a few minutes more? I’ve received a few queries to ask me how I actually grade. Is it a panel of viewers? Do I benchmark? Is it a weighted mean? Why does a TVC get x or y on some parameters but then z on overall? Should there not be fractions? So on and so forth. Well frankly this is not a scientific gradation. It’s not statistically correct (I think I still hold the record for the lowest marks in any Statistics paper in Delhi University). It is basically the same scale on which I judge food – the Kachchi scale. On a scale of 1 to 10 (where 10 is a hot plate of Fakhruddin’s Kachchi and 1 is shobji bhaji) I decide to give depending on how much I want to eat it or not. But now there are some people who like shobji bhaji and hate (oh my god no!) biryani. To me, closer you are to mouth-watering biryani the better! It’s that simple.
Nazim Farhan Choudhury is an advertising professional with a love for biryani. Being a connoisseur allows him to judge things according to his taste. This means at times he is shooting of his mouth and critiquing other people’s work. Luckily for him being in the business for 14 years allows him to trump quantity over quality. He strongly believes that even Fakhruddin Baburchi needed years to perfect his recipe before attaining kachchi nirvana. We too need keep cooking up ads and people criticising our creations before we reach perfection. If you have any critique of these critiques (or any mouth watering recipes) feel free to write at farhan@adcommad.com or visit his blogsite http://nazimfarhan.blogspot.com
Links to the Ads:
grameenphone customer care
Banglalink customer care
Saturday, July 26, 2008
BBF: Ad critique 4 : Humour
The fourth in the series of my ad critique column that appeared on the July 2008 issue of the Bangladesh Brand Forum magazine.
It has been my pet peeve that we do not use humour in advertising that we develop locally. It seems that we believe consumers here are more receptive to tear-jerkers (what was Banglalink thinking using a dead mother in a commercial!?!?) or song-and-dance routines rather than a belly full of giggle. That thought process I believe is wrapped. Given the hardship that most of our consumers go through every day of their lives, would not humour bring some respite? Worldwide the inclination has been towards humorous ads. Be it the Americas, Europe, Latin America or even nearer to home in Thailand or India, funny ads rule. Which one of us has not resisted the temptation of forwarding a belly aching funny ad to everyone in our mailing list? Then why is Bangladesh an exception? Of course we get to see a few ads that end up being funny not by design but rather by accident. A mispronunciation or the sheer khatness of it! But only a handful has used this route to reach out to the consumers.
I usually avoid talking about ads that I’ve played a part in creating in these columns. But I can’t help but bring up two sets of Ads that we had created in order to break this mould. Both were for the carbonated drink Mojo. First was an ad that we call “The Cowboy Offer”. It’s about a man who is taking the Qurbani Goru (Cow) home and the usual interaction that he has on the street. The second was a series of 32 TVCs during the last World Cup Cricket where we gave away things like an aktaara, a singara, a calculator, a bonsai or even a Dhaka-Borga bus ticket. I believe these ads had a mixed reception. A few loved it and a few thought we had lost our minds. Overall I believe we tried to push the envelope. For every success there must be failures as well. How else do you know you’re not playing it safe?
Over the last few months I’m seeing an emerging trend of producing humorous ads. Quite a few of them being produced for Square Toiletries by Mediacom (Amaar naam Mohfiz or the suicide of a shirt) or by humour man himself Shawon of Grey Dhaka.
Danish Mackenzie: I believe they can rightfully claim the title of being Bangladesh’s first viral success. This was when people not only saw the ads online but also forwarded it to friends even before the official media break. What can one say about these ads but that they are close to being perfect as possible? I am going to spend the rest of this review raving about it, so if you disagree, move on to the next one.
The premise is so simple here is a generic type of biscuit (Mackenzie) that is now being made locally. So instead of buying the expensive Malaysian or Taiwanese one, here buy the same tasting local variant. And the creative interpretation of the insight is so magical. One bite and you are transformed into an Englishman! What made this series of ads so grand were the attention to details, the sheer brilliance of the scripting and the par excellence of acting. The only thing debateable here is which of the three ads in one’s favourite.
Mine is the one where the man soon migrating to America goes to a training centre to learn English. It captivates starting from the name of the centre (Hollywood), to the way the teacher is picking his teeth, to the end line where he says, “George Bush I’m coming.” And I love the way they so subtlety put in the price point (Less than Tk. 100). The touches of humour through out the TVC, be it the protagonist suggesting the price was inclusive for ticket and visa cost or the Noakhali accent that was used for characterisation.
A close second was the Dhakiya man in his house whose friend visits him. And how he is surprised by this own transformation into the English speaking person that none of his forefathers were. “Oh my god I’m talking English!” Expressions were spot on.
Needless to say Shawon and his team in Grey Dhaka had their hands all over this. The pay off a fitting “Deshi Made Foreign Taste” was delivered in the trademark Shawon style. These TVCs are amongst Amitabh Reza’s best work. The use of camera angles, framing, the music track, use of background details like Bush’s picture in the background or the IELTS book on the desk all goes on to make this a whole ad. This would not have worked if corners were cut. As I have been saying in the last few articles, we do not give enough importance to the production quality. It works to spend money and time behind making the TVCs come alive. This series is a shinning example of that.
For the series on production value I’ll give it a 9 on 10. On originality and idea a 10 and Overall: a benchmarking 9.
Pran Mr. Mango Candy: the jingle is catchy “I am Mokhles… and I’m not so hopeless”. I’ve been laughing from the ready get set go. Okay, It’s not a rib tickler. But it leaves you with a smile on your face and the foot tapping. The product is a hard candy that is being positioned as a mood upper. When things look down pop in a Mr. Mango and life will be better.
There is usually not much to rationally say about such an impulse purchase product. So best is to touch the consumer emotionally and just leave behind the brand proposition and name. This spot I think succeeded at that endeavour. The client also intelligently avoided the tendency to treat it like a child’s product and not do a “kids-having-fun” sort of a spot. Incidentally Pran with a lot of their products are in this field. Unfortunately I don’t think they pay enough attention to their responsibility as a good corporate citizen and often end up endorsing mischievous behaviour of children. (One day I will rant about my least favourite ad in the world – Pran Masala’s ad where the husband abuses his wife with “Raantay toh janlayna” (“Haven’t even learnt to cook”))
There are two major things I don’t like about the ad. Firstly the obvious caricature of some of the characters. While I will give it to them that a bald Mr. Mohkles ads to the appeal, the tiil (black-head scar) on man getting slapped was not needed. (Bringing me back to why are Pran ads so abusive?). Secondly I didn’t think the MVO (male voice over) cut away near the end to say the brand name was at all needed. Matter of fact it was distracting.
On production value I’ll give it a 5. On idea a 5 and Overall: 5/10
Nazim Farhan Choudhury is an advertising professional (and a closet comedian) with a penchant for at times shooting of his mouth (or his fingers on a keyboard) and critiquing other people’s work. Luckily for him being in the business for 14 years allows him to trump quantity over quality. He hides behind the notion that to be better, one needs to learn where one is going wrong as well. That, dear readers, you can enlighten him at farhan@adcommad.com or by visiting his blog site http://nazimfarhan.blogspot.com
Also an appeal to know if there is any particular genre or product category one would want him to focus on in the future.
Links to the Ads
Danish Mackenzie Coaching
Danish Mackenzie Dhakaiya
Pran Mr. Mango Candy
It has been my pet peeve that we do not use humour in advertising that we develop locally. It seems that we believe consumers here are more receptive to tear-jerkers (what was Banglalink thinking using a dead mother in a commercial!?!?) or song-and-dance routines rather than a belly full of giggle. That thought process I believe is wrapped. Given the hardship that most of our consumers go through every day of their lives, would not humour bring some respite? Worldwide the inclination has been towards humorous ads. Be it the Americas, Europe, Latin America or even nearer to home in Thailand or India, funny ads rule. Which one of us has not resisted the temptation of forwarding a belly aching funny ad to everyone in our mailing list? Then why is Bangladesh an exception? Of course we get to see a few ads that end up being funny not by design but rather by accident. A mispronunciation or the sheer khatness of it! But only a handful has used this route to reach out to the consumers.
I usually avoid talking about ads that I’ve played a part in creating in these columns. But I can’t help but bring up two sets of Ads that we had created in order to break this mould. Both were for the carbonated drink Mojo. First was an ad that we call “The Cowboy Offer”. It’s about a man who is taking the Qurbani Goru (Cow) home and the usual interaction that he has on the street. The second was a series of 32 TVCs during the last World Cup Cricket where we gave away things like an aktaara, a singara, a calculator, a bonsai or even a Dhaka-Borga bus ticket. I believe these ads had a mixed reception. A few loved it and a few thought we had lost our minds. Overall I believe we tried to push the envelope. For every success there must be failures as well. How else do you know you’re not playing it safe?
Over the last few months I’m seeing an emerging trend of producing humorous ads. Quite a few of them being produced for Square Toiletries by Mediacom (Amaar naam Mohfiz or the suicide of a shirt) or by humour man himself Shawon of Grey Dhaka.
Danish Mackenzie: I believe they can rightfully claim the title of being Bangladesh’s first viral success. This was when people not only saw the ads online but also forwarded it to friends even before the official media break. What can one say about these ads but that they are close to being perfect as possible? I am going to spend the rest of this review raving about it, so if you disagree, move on to the next one.
The premise is so simple here is a generic type of biscuit (Mackenzie) that is now being made locally. So instead of buying the expensive Malaysian or Taiwanese one, here buy the same tasting local variant. And the creative interpretation of the insight is so magical. One bite and you are transformed into an Englishman! What made this series of ads so grand were the attention to details, the sheer brilliance of the scripting and the par excellence of acting. The only thing debateable here is which of the three ads in one’s favourite.
Mine is the one where the man soon migrating to America goes to a training centre to learn English. It captivates starting from the name of the centre (Hollywood), to the way the teacher is picking his teeth, to the end line where he says, “George Bush I’m coming.” And I love the way they so subtlety put in the price point (Less than Tk. 100). The touches of humour through out the TVC, be it the protagonist suggesting the price was inclusive for ticket and visa cost or the Noakhali accent that was used for characterisation.
A close second was the Dhakiya man in his house whose friend visits him. And how he is surprised by this own transformation into the English speaking person that none of his forefathers were. “Oh my god I’m talking English!” Expressions were spot on.
Needless to say Shawon and his team in Grey Dhaka had their hands all over this. The pay off a fitting “Deshi Made Foreign Taste” was delivered in the trademark Shawon style. These TVCs are amongst Amitabh Reza’s best work. The use of camera angles, framing, the music track, use of background details like Bush’s picture in the background or the IELTS book on the desk all goes on to make this a whole ad. This would not have worked if corners were cut. As I have been saying in the last few articles, we do not give enough importance to the production quality. It works to spend money and time behind making the TVCs come alive. This series is a shinning example of that.
For the series on production value I’ll give it a 9 on 10. On originality and idea a 10 and Overall: a benchmarking 9.
Pran Mr. Mango Candy: the jingle is catchy “I am Mokhles… and I’m not so hopeless”. I’ve been laughing from the ready get set go. Okay, It’s not a rib tickler. But it leaves you with a smile on your face and the foot tapping. The product is a hard candy that is being positioned as a mood upper. When things look down pop in a Mr. Mango and life will be better.
There is usually not much to rationally say about such an impulse purchase product. So best is to touch the consumer emotionally and just leave behind the brand proposition and name. This spot I think succeeded at that endeavour. The client also intelligently avoided the tendency to treat it like a child’s product and not do a “kids-having-fun” sort of a spot. Incidentally Pran with a lot of their products are in this field. Unfortunately I don’t think they pay enough attention to their responsibility as a good corporate citizen and often end up endorsing mischievous behaviour of children. (One day I will rant about my least favourite ad in the world – Pran Masala’s ad where the husband abuses his wife with “Raantay toh janlayna” (“Haven’t even learnt to cook”))
There are two major things I don’t like about the ad. Firstly the obvious caricature of some of the characters. While I will give it to them that a bald Mr. Mohkles ads to the appeal, the tiil (black-head scar) on man getting slapped was not needed. (Bringing me back to why are Pran ads so abusive?). Secondly I didn’t think the MVO (male voice over) cut away near the end to say the brand name was at all needed. Matter of fact it was distracting.
On production value I’ll give it a 5. On idea a 5 and Overall: 5/10
Nazim Farhan Choudhury is an advertising professional (and a closet comedian) with a penchant for at times shooting of his mouth (or his fingers on a keyboard) and critiquing other people’s work. Luckily for him being in the business for 14 years allows him to trump quantity over quality. He hides behind the notion that to be better, one needs to learn where one is going wrong as well. That, dear readers, you can enlighten him at farhan@adcommad.com or by visiting his blog site http://nazimfarhan.blogspot.com
Also an appeal to know if there is any particular genre or product category one would want him to focus on in the future.
Links to the Ads
Danish Mackenzie Coaching
Danish Mackenzie Dhakaiya
Pran Mr. Mango Candy
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