How Effective Is Your Advertising?

When was the last time a Pakistani brand changed or at least challenged the way consumers think, behave or buy? Have you ever thought about the difference it would make if some of the top brands decided to hold on to their advertising spending? Why does a top biscuit or tea brand need to advertise? Wouldn’t the distribution muscle, store visibility and push strategy be enough for sales and business growth? When was the last time a challenger brand toppled the market leader? Does advertising – the way we do it – make any difference? I am not asking these questions because I have any doubts about the power of advertising. I am simply curious because I fail to gauge the effectiveness of the white noise most Pakistani brands are collectively creating across mediums. Are we even doing it right? I can’t think of many brands – except for Shan, Lifebuoy Shampoo and Telenor – which in the last couple of years have actively tried to drive some sort of behaviour change through their advertising narrative. It is also a rarity to see local commercial work that has the potential to start conversations that could lead to change in consumer behaviour. Sadly, building brands, disrupting categories and driving the behavioural of the average Pakistani consumer is not on anyone’s agenda. And this is not a mere observation or an assumption. The fact is that everyone is a brand builder and a storyteller, at least on LinkedIn. Yet, every category is supremely commoditised. For example, packaged milk brands have not been able to move the penetration needle beyond 10% in over three decades. The fact is that despite the media muscle, big-scale films and foreign shoots, the average Pakistani consumer still doesn’t trust any packaged milk brand. Tarang, one of the biggest ad spenders, could not survive one PR crisis. Talk about the strength of a brand that was making epics in the name of TVCs. All the turnaround champions and award-winning marketers could not rescue a giant like Tarang. It doesn’t end here.