The Rise and Fall of a super brand

The Rise and fall of a super brand 

By Sheeraz Adil 

I thought I would never see a down fall of a well establish brand and it will remain only in our marketing books that every product has a life cycle.

For those who have no idea about the product life cycle, it is one of the core principles of marketing that every product goes through 4 stages

1:Introduction
2:Growth
3:Maturity
4: Decline

When my marketing teacher introduced this concept, it suddenly came to my mind that only newly opened businesses can decline as one can understand that it is hard for them to sustain but once the product reaches its peak how can it decline. Or else not very huge companies can decline like Frooto, Choco Chums, Haleeb, RC Cola and Polka to name a few but their decline was primarily because of the tough competition from the huge companies like Nestlé Unilever Coca Cola and Pepsi.

Then I realized that the life cycle exists for all the products doesn't matter if they are on their peak. Some unbelievable declines of the recent times are Nokia, Blackberry and now GEO which is of most interest to me being part of the same industry.

Geo has been an institution in the Pakistan Broadcast Industry. It has produced talented journalists, engineers, directors and many other professionals.

Things that went wrong with geo:

1: Feeling of being super power

Geo thought they control everything in Pakistan and to some extent it wasn’t wrong at all. However too much of everything leads to a path where you don’t realize what you are doing. Many think that Geo has played a vital role in defaming Pakistan internationally. . The most disliked content ever broadcasted by geo according to me was their attempt to proof the plan and nationality of Ajmal Kassab. I still have a question in mind that what could be the objective of geo broadcasting the investigating reports with no proper proofs.

I would sort of agree with it however we should also realize the role that geo has played in promoting the positive image of Pakistan, whether its any achievement in sports or research or some really effective education and awareness campaigns it was only Geo in the whole industry who could have done this for Pakistan

Although geo is by far the most neutral content provider but one felt that something is wrong. Too much support to the current government and  being one of the biggest supporters of the controversial Chief Justice pushed geo to where it is now. It is also said that it is because of Geo , General Musharraf is having tough time in Pakistan. I personally think that he doesn’t deserve what he is going through these days. Democracy is fine, but he did what none of the democratic leadership has done to Pakistan. He was the one who coined the free media term in Pakistan otherwise we would be relying on the 9 pm pro government news of our state broadcaster.

2: Ignoring other participants of the race

There is another strategy that we learnt in marketing and that is cooperative strategy. Geo didn’t consider having alliance with any of its competitors and this lead to the grand alliance of its competitors against geo. It is really sad when one of the journalist or team members of any channel dies due to any terrorist activity, the other channel ignores such a big incident. On all these occasions all the channels should have a collective voice.

Most of the channels in Pakistan now seem to have one aim- and that is to make sure that geo doesn’t recover from the recent hit. It should not be this way; the industry will suffer if something happens to geo. When most of the channels are reluctant to pay even salaries, geo has always ensured that the employee gets the salaries on time.

3: Supporting too much PML-N and ex CJ

It is a general feeling that geo is too much pro PML N and ex CJ. No matter if geo denies this but it is quite evident that the content after the elections has been biased. I think we haven’t eliminated any corruption or miss management in the government run organizations as compared to the last government but certainly we haven’t seen that sort of criticism for this government like it was in the previous one.

4: Unnecessary defaming of ISI chief

I think this has been discussed on all the forums so I need not to write too much on this. It shouldn’t have happened. This is irresponsible journalism and many think that you don’t do this with your top agency and if you do you are off air!

5: Revenge mode against Musharraf

We all know that geo was banned in Musharraf’s reign and geo also faced tough time in UAE due to the pressure of Gen. Musharraf however that doesn’t mean that you start taking the revenge on air.

Things in which geo was accused and blamed unnecessarily

1: Morning show issue & its reaction

It wasn’t an issue at all, this was unnecessarily created by its biggest competition. I am not an expert but this is not be wrong if I say that ARY and Mubashir Lucmans content has way passed the level of extremely immature journalism. The series of Mubashir Lucmans Baba ji campaign was pathetic and pointless. But it shows the mindset of our people and how external forces creates and changes the perception of the masses.

2: To an extent Aman ki Aasha

I think Aman Ki Aasha was a very nice campaign if the objective was to reduce the tension at the borders and to improve the economy. We all should realize that we should have good relationship with our neighbours in order to excel. However at the same time if there is some anti state activity by the neighbors then it should also be broadcasted in order to be neutral. Certainly Aman ki Aasha is pointless if we find  out that the India is responsible for the unrest in the country. In addition to this, even if they are responsible for this, it cannot be done with our black sheep so instead of blaming others we should identify bad people amongst ourselves in order to eliminate this issue.

3: Cable operators Mafia

I am sure now the government would realize that how important for us is DTH and even if we have to continue with the cable then they should be a proper frame work , rules and guidelines for the cable guys to operate.

 

Conclusion:

I am not an expert but if geo shuts down it will be the worst night mare of our industry. It has a huge employee base and so many kitchens are running because of geo. Not sure how can this be done but there should be a solution to this extremely big issue of the industry. I wish that geo improves its deficiencies and come back on track. With BOL to launch soon , there should be tough competition between all the leading channels for our industry’s growth.

All the stake holders need to realize if one horse falls in the race, the other horses also fell. So Geo should be running in order to have a smooth race!

My Name is Afridi and I am not a terrorist!!

Apologies for writing a non broadcast engineering article, but its difficult to maintain two blogs. We will work out on this soon. 

I don't know if this is something that is happening to us in all aspects of life but this is something that should not happen at least not in sports. I will keep this article short as I know that most of the readers including myself lose interest if the content is too much to read.

I made a visit to Dubai Sports City for some personal work and got stuck in the rush as there was an IPL match happening in the Dubai Cricket Stadium. Being the die hard fan I thought I should also try to get a glimpse of all the international players. But literally tears came in to my eyes when I realised that there are no Pakistani players in the IPL.

I have always been looking at the two sides of the picture and in this case tried to rethink to get the answer for myself as in why are the Pakistani cricketers deprived from this glamorous event. I thought a lot but couldn't find any answer to this. Asked many friends but even they had no idea as why is this being done to only players from one country who has the most wins in the T20 format, whose bowler has been the highest wicket taker and as we all know that role does Shahid Afridi plays in this format. I can bet all cricket fans love to watch him play. Even my Indian hair dresser said that I would have gone to watch the match if Afridi would have been participating in IPL. This is the team who has always been in the semi finals of all world cups of this format.

No international board has raised this question that why is this injustice done to only Pakistanis. At least ICC should raise this issue with BCCI. All my Indian friends want Pakistani players to participate in the IPL then the same question comes in the mind...why?

Pakistanis are just not getting the chance to earn on the same scale financially but they are missing the chance to play international cricket , interact with other players and missing the exposure that all other countries are getting.

With all this injustice , no home cricket , being pushed in the corner but still we are called the team who can beat anyone, this team is called the team with the most talented players and always give tough time to all other teams. Irony is that UAE was considered as the home ground of Pakistani cricket but the cricketers were not invited to play on their make shift home grounds.

I would like to admit that we may have some terrorists living in our country but our cricketers are not terrorists.  They should be treated like all other players of the world. Inclusion of Pakistani players will not only increase the popularity in the game but commercially it will also help BCCI to earn more which is the most important infact seems the only objective of BCCI.

As my best friend slash proof reader says "Politics should be separated from sports. The sport it self gives a message of friendship and harmony. How on earth , we can side line the most fertile land of cricket and do favoritism among the so called big names."

In the end I will leave the conclusion open till the time we are included , should we not boycott the IPL , shouldn't our channels stop broadcasting IPL, should our news channels stop covering that event and should our advertisers stop paying for this event??

Types of CTOs

Being in the industry for almost 10 years now, I have some very good friends working as the Chief Technology Officer in various companies of the Broadcast Industry in Pakistan. This article is not to offend any of my friends but just thought that we all should realize what factors we consider before making the decision and what factors should we actually consider in acquiring the technology.

To make it interesting I have categorized major types of CTOs , they are

·         TYPE 1: I want the best

·         TYPE 2: why should I invest so much?

·         TYPE 3: give me best price

·         TYPE 4: no we can't change everything

·         TYPE 5: our management doesn't have budget

Now let’s define these types:

 

“I want the best solution” type

This type of CTO always wants to acquire the best technology and price is never his top priority. This CTO will always follow the industry trends and ethics. He will be not adapt any short cut to meet the deadline or management’s expectations. They also play a vital role in educating his management as they are usually not technology experts so it is the CTO who guides the real use and worth of the investment in technology in order to achieve the organizational goals and targets.

“Why should I invest so much?” type

These kinds of CTOs generally are the ones who don’t keep them updated with the latest technology. Their perception is that there should not be heavy investments if a cheaper option is available. They are usually those who don’t have a specialized degree or technology background from the grass root level.  They came to this position with their experience and hands on skills. They always find an alternate cheaper option and usually think a short term solution.  In the longer run they might end up in spending more and eventually something that makes it difficult for their organization to compete with their main competitors.

“Give me best price” type

Give me best price type CTOs are the one who run for the prices. They will acquire technology only if it is extremely cheap.  They are more worried about their management’s money that the management itself. Sometimes they are quite successful as the suppliers in the competive world give extremely heavy discounts but their margins are too less and they lose interest in providing the efficient customer service. Another problem with these CTOs is that they expect the heavy discounts from the suppliers to be valid for entire life time.

“No ,we can’t change everything” type

These types of CTOs want to do something but don’t have the courage to adapt the rapid changes of the industry. They are always on the back foot and are in severe pressure from their internal clients. There are many if and buts in their mind and eventually they find that their management is not very happy from them.

“My management doesn’t have budget” type

This type is very close to “why should I invest so much type” but the main difference is that they realize the importance of acquiring latest technology but are unable to convince their management to invest on technology. They are happy with their 9-5 stable job and only get aggressive when some equipment becomes faulty.

Conclusion:

Hope the readers had good time reading but the key is to realize the individual and organizational circumstances. It always easy to criticize as compared to provide the solution and execute it. So I would like to highlight few factors that should be considered no matter what type of CTO you are.

These are below and they are not in any priority sequence

·         Total cost of ownership

·         Scalability

·         Reliability

·         Price

Total Cost of ownership

It is one of the most important factors in decision making as one should realize the overall cost of ownership and not just the deal price. It includes the customer service of the supplier, the power consumption of the equipment, post sales support, replacement policies, warranties, rack space to an extent and many such factors. 

Scalability

The industry and the organizations are always growing so the solution should be selected which is always easy to expand. it is not easy to make the equipment off air and then add the new one , so ideally the equipment should be scalable and that too without going off air.

Reliability

Reliability is again one of the most important factor as this equipment has to be up and running 24x7x365. Down time is not an option as it causes huge revenue loss therefore reliability and performance of the equipment should be considered as a top priority before making the decision.

Price

Price is also the key factor especially in our market. We are heavily burdened by the rising cost and the currency devaluation so ideally the target should be to get the best equipment in the best price.

The above article is written by Sheeraz Adil and will be happy to see your feedback on sheerazadil@gmail.com

DHOOP KINARAY lag gia aur baqi sab DHUWAN ban gaya...

DHOOP KINARAY lag gia aur baqi sab DHUWAN ban gaya.

By Sheeraz Adil

Before I start the article I want to ensure the readers that I have no connection with the content side of the media industry,  all my experience is either technical or sales and marketing therefore the below article is totally my personal judgment and opinion. I am certainly not an expert of this topic but feel so uneasy with the current day’s drama content that couldn't stop myself writing this.

There was a time when 8 pm drama hour was purely for families.  No matter daddy mummy or kids everybody used to sit together and watch our flag ship dramas and somehow there was always a positive outcome or lesson given to the society. 

Or maybe the time has come to watch extremely unethical,  cheap and disrespectful dramas with the family.

I am so sad to write the fact that dramas of today are so harmful for the society...I guess more than a considerable rated movie. Its even more sad when people in the middle of a family gathering say that have you been watching that drama,  its so good, kia Zabardast drama hai and other similar stuff. I can very easily claim that if I ask someone to name any drama which has no extra marital affair, misleading activities, unbelievable disrespectful relationships, nobody will be able to come up with any name. It is even more sad when you find that our own family is discussing these pathetic stories and that too very comfortably

I had been discussing and criticizing the dramas of today and was attacked by the argument that people want to watch this type of content, that is why these drams are made. On that I have a counter argument that 90s percent of the boys likes x rated content but that doesn't mean that Pakistani broadcasters start showing that type of content.

If we say that only these kind of content gets the highest rating then just rethink that drama DHUWAN, DHOOP KINARAY and many others caught the highest number of eye balls even when there was no concept of private TV channels , no cable etc. Such type of content will always be liked if the content creators try to give such positive messages to the society.  Even the recent day drama HUM SAFAR gave the lesson that how kids can become a cause of strong relationship in spite of all differences. 

What I feel is the negative content is being forced on our minds and to change our perception. Could you imagine a family sitting 5-10 years ago and discussing about extra marital affairs?  Even separation was considered to be most discouraged thing. But now its so sad that it is getting so common in the society and we are hearing more and more of this in our real lives.

A friend explained it beautifully that the concept of free media is killed. The launch of private media industry was not to show the disturbing content but to present a soft image of our country. This remains an open question that who should be blamed… the authorities, content creators or the viewers…

I will conclude with the statement that some say that dramas are only the mirror of what happens in the society but in my view society is actually being pushed to follow and adapt that content in their minds and eventually in their daily lives.

In the end I would request you all broadcasters to make the dramas which leaves a positive impression in the mind of viewers, it will be liked and you will still get good ratings.

If you can any comments or feedback , please feel to write on sheerazadil@gmail.com.