Ishtihari

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Record Tweets Over Osama’s Killing!

2011-05-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

Record Tweets Over Osama’s Killing!

osama bin laden, twitter, tweets, killing, death, bin laden, osama, pakistan, president, al qaedam qaeda leader, abbottabad, facebook, washington, barack obama, commandos, astounding, india, video, sunday night, bin laden death, mansion, new record, photos, city, compound, frenzy, lasting, wave, japan

Apple Denies Tracking iPhones and iPads

2011-05-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

Apple Denies Tracking iPhones and iPads

Sony & Tablets

2011-05-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

Sony & Tablets

Apple: iPad 2 Demand Has Been Staggering

2011-05-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

Apple: iPad 2 Demand Has Been Staggering

Disable iPhone Tracking System – Easy Steps to Follow

2011-04-25T12:04:00.000-07:00

Disable iPhone Tracking System – Easy Steps to Follow

From $1 to $1.25M: Google’s Schmidt Gets a Huge Salary Increase

2011-04-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

From $1 to $1.25M: Google’s Schmidt Gets a Huge Salary Increase

Royal Wedding: Kate and William Marriage Live on YouTube

2011-04-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

Royal Wedding: Kate and William Marriage Live on YouTube

Google Android Smart phones are No.1 Choice of U.S. Consumers

2011-04-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

Google Android Smart phones are No.1 Choice of U.S. Consumers

Social Networking - Understand in a Better Way!

2011-04-18T03:03:00.000-07:00

Social Networking - Understand in a Better Way!

Increase the Speed of your Website

2011-04-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

Increase the Speed of your Website

20 Creative Billboards

2011-04-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

20 Creative Billboards

Businesses and Internet Presence – What Companies Prefer?

2011-04-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

Businesses and Internet Presence – What Companies Prefer?

iPad 2: Buggy

2011-03-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

iPad 2: Buggy

IPad vs IPad 2 – What is the difference?

2011-03-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

IPad vs IPad 2 – What is the difference?

Facebook Ending on March 15th!!

2011-01-09T12:16:00.000-08:00

http://ishtihari.com/2011/01/facebook-ending-on-march-15th/

Impact on Social Media after blocking Facebook, YouTube & Wikipedia in Pakistan

2010-05-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

Impact on Social Media after blocking Facebook, YouTube & Wikipedia in Pakistan

Google Chrome Vs. Internet Explorer

2010-05-09T04:02:00.000-07:00

Google Chrome Vs. Internet Explorer

Easy Paisa…Instant & Secure Money Transfer!

2009-11-23T10:21:00.000-08:00

Easy paisa formed by Telenor in collaboration with Tameer Micro Finance Bank. This is a branchless banking service provided to every person throughout Pakistan. Easy paisa, a world of convenience!!!
It allows every person to achieve the financial transactions in the easiest and convenient method. It provides the convenience of making payment of utility bills, transference of money from abroad and also throughout Pakistan. People could make transference from urban to rural areas as well.
Firstly, easy paisa started with the payment of utility bills but now it has offered another excellent feature which provides the comfort of transferring money. Some of the other extraordinary facilities would be available soon.
Easy paisa is the largest branchless banking network in Pakistan that offers the most convenient and ready access to the financial services and to every Pakistani. Whether an individual is a cell phone user or not, he/she could benefit him/herself from what easy paisa offers. Easy paisa allows every person to perform the financial transactions in a manner which was never done ever before.
There are approximately 4000 outlets, designated for the easy paisa services, throughout Pakistan. This is the branchless banking system, which has brought in innovation and modernism. An individual could get money and make payments instantly, in a faster way, with ease and convenience.
Easy paisa has offered ‘easy money’ transfer, through which, one could transfer money to friends, family. This could be done from any of the easy paisa channels which is available throughout the country. By going to an easy paisa shop, one could make money transfers in a most convenient, safe and easy way. A person does not need to have a Telenor bond nor is required to be a cell phone user at all. This service does not require any registration and every person could get the benefit from it.
Workers could send their salaries to their family from one city to another. Parents also could send their children with the educational funds and other funds, which they could receive from any of the easy paisa outlets. Businessmen could also benefit from this service, they do not have to carry with them a large quantity of money, but they could transfer funds from one location to another when they move along different cities.
The most prominent and notable product features are; any person possessing the NADRA CNIC could transfer the money. This service is not limited to just mobile phone users, but every person could make use of it. No registration is required. Money transference is available throughout the country. This service is approved the by the State Bank of Pakistan. This is a service based on GSM standards; an instant SMS message would be sent/ received on receiving and sending of money.
This is a revolution in Pakistan; one could leave all the tensions, troubles, anxieties and worries behind, taking more control over his/her own life, making it hassle free!

EASY PAISA- Badlay Zindagi Asani Se

2009-10-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

Telenor Pakistan in collaboration with Tameer Micro Finance Bank has introduced branchless, mobile banking throughout Pakistan. Telenor has termed it as 'EASY PAISA'. It says that; Easy paisa is the most convenient and easiest way to perform the financial transactions. It includes payment of utility bills, sending and receiving money throughout Pakistan and also providing a facility of receiving money from abroad. Currently, Easy Paisa has started with payment of utility bills, to the official authorized stores, throughout Pakistan. The other facilities will be available soon.
Easy paisa facility is not just for Telenor users, but it is available for everyone. There are approximately 2000 outlets, designated for Easy Paisa payments, throughout the country. A person can just make the utility payments, anywhere and at any time of the day, which would be processed quickly and conveniently. The utility bill would be stamped as paid, and the customer would also be receiving a confirmation sms, that the bill has been paid.
Telenor and Tameer group claims to be the first one in Pakistan for launching this feature, but Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) has already made an attempt to begin branchless, mobile banking. But Telenor has brought this transformation and innovation, in terms of the services and products which are being offered in this branchless banking are termed as the first in Pakistan.
Telenor, before launching Easy Paisa, has been running a teaser campaign over Face book and blogosphere, awarding an IPod as a prize, for people guessing what is EP?
Easy Paisa is a revolution is Pakistan, which provides convenience, comfort and handiness to every person. It makes every individual control his/her life and making it stress free by leaving all the difficulties, anxiety, stress and trouble behind.
Utility companies on board are; Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, Sui Southern Gas Company, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd, Karachi Electric Supply Company, Islamabad Electric Supply Company, Gujranwala Electric Power Company, Gujranwala Electric Power Company, Lahore Electric Supply Company, Hyderabad Electric Supply Company. (PTCL, SSGC, SNGPL, KESC, ISCO, GEPCO, LESCO, HESCO), Respectively.

Why humorous appeal is working in Telecom advertisements?

2009-10-04T12:01:00.001-07:00

This was all started when Ufone was launched with tremendous packages that actually were priced in such a way that even a middle class consumer could easily go and buy a connection. With Faisal Qureshi, the mind behind all the ads with humorous appeal, the ads were loved by the masses.

Well, that was a gist of history. Ufone is still following that humorous appeal in their ads and they are creating impression in a great manner. The message behind those ads is well communicated. But have you noticed something ? Recently, Jazz and Zong both are trying to follow the same approach. Look at the Jazz ad first in which Waseem Akram ( who was once endorsed by Ufone) is endorsed as the main celebrity. But have you seen the faces who were sitting behind in this ad. Yes, they are Azfar and Mani and they have come from the same group who used to produce Ulta Seedha ( Geo TV) and many other programs with Faisal Qureshi team. So, Jazz is also thinking on the same lines that humorous appeal is gonna work fine and will create an impact. So they have endorsed Azfar and Mani to create some kind of humor in it. Of course, Ufone is the pioneer but now Jazz has become a follower and they are following this approach.

Now, Coming to Zong, another telecom brand, who used to be sarcastic in most of their ads by making comments on every brand. Surprisingly, their latest ad of “Chotay” is again creating an humorous appeal. If you are not familiar with the Ustaad’s face then let me tell you this guy was one of the characters in the sitcom “Rubber Band”. Personally, I loved the advertisement but then I thought for a while all these companies are following each other. First, they followed in terms of Value added services (VAS) and now they are also copying each other’s themes. Looks like, our advertising agencies have nothing to think something creative.

I must appreciate Telenor here which is strictly following the “Gentleman’s approach” by giving this attitude that “I really don’t care about what others (My competitors) say. Personally, I think that’s a good approach if you think long term and want to develop a good brand image. Their ads (except for their Annie ads) depict emotional bonds between families and people can easily associate themselves. At this point of time, I must say that most of our telecom brands have failed to make a strong brand identity in the minds of consumers except Ufone who is consistently following one theme approach. This is especially in the case of Jazz, Zong and Warid who are still experimenting with their brand identities even after such a long presence in the market.

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NIDO - Caring For Toddlers

2009-09-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

NESTLE has been serving in Pakistan since 1988. It started when the Switzerland based NESTLE, the parent company, first acquired its shares in Milkpak Ltd. Today, Nestle is fully integrated in the Pakistani environment and is recognized as the producers of tasty, healthy and nutritious food. The Company's philosophy is to provide healthy and nutritious food to every consumer at their doorstep. For this, company has got a perfect supply chain planning. They want their customers to get all products in an easy and convenient way.

NESTLE has a diversified portfolio of brands like; milk, dairy, chilled dairy, beverages, bottled water, baby food, prepared meals, breakfast meals, chocolates and confectioneries.

NESTLE has got 3 forms of products under its MILK Head, which are MILKPAK, NESVITA, NIDO, NESLAC and EVERYDAY.
Children grow extremely quick, so do their developmental requirements. NESTLE, keeping this in mind, have developed such, nutritious powdered milk that contains all the fundamental and nutritional needs of children at all stages of growth.
NESTLE NIDO 1+, 3+, 6+ is a new line of powdered milk products, which comprises of all the basic and essential requirements of children at these particular ages. These nutrients are very much useful for such age groups as these are considered to be the development stages.

Reviewing the ad of NESTLE NIDO 1+ TVC, in this ad, the toddler wants to touch everything around, he wants to put things in their mouth, he does not know if it is healthy for him or not, this is a new world around him, and he wants to discover and explore it on his own.

By touching and putting everything in his mouth, he enormously wants to figure out everything around. This could make him suffer from severe digestive problems.

For this, kids require such blend of fibers, which are highly useful for children from the age group of 1-3. This could help to make their digestive system stronger and healthier, to prevent them from stomach diseases. NESTLE NIDO 1+ has Prebio1 in it. It contains vitamins, iron and minerals in it, which are necessary nutrients, for the growth of toddlers. These are the essential nutrients which should be provided to the children to strengthen them up with a healthy immune digestive system and the ability to fight off the germs. So, now mothers do not have to worry about their kids. They just have to give them NESTLE NIDO 1+ a day, and let them discover this world by their own.

Visit our Official Website ( Powered by Concept Creation)

The World’s best brands for 2009

2009-09-23T04:48:00.000-07:00

Products are turning into brands and companies are heavily investing in their products to make them recognized brands. The competition is no more for the share of mind now it has raised to achieve the share of heart. For such branding plays the dominant role.

Interbrands has just taken out their famous brands ranking and again Coke with the highest brand equity is ruling the world again. This is not happening for the first time that Coke is at number 1 place. Coke has been number 1 in the brands ranking since last ten years. According to Interbrands, Coke has the brand equity of $68 billion which is actually a 3% rise over a period of one year. According to Time Magazine, Coke has launched 700 products in 2008.IBM holds number 2 position in Top 100 brands of the world. This brand has also shown consistant performance during the decade. With a brand worth of $60 billion, IBM is at number 2 in Interbrands ranking. During the last few years, a brand has risen to a level where it looks like that it has the ability to compete with the top brands in the world. Although, Americans just love Coke and their love and affection with this drink looks simply invincible but a brand is rising and despite the global recession this brand has shown 25% growth and jumped to a brand worth of $32 billion. This brand is none other than Google who has even replaced the word of searching with “Googling”. Also Google has come up with so many innovative products in the recent past with the latest addition in the browser industry named Google Chrome which is two times faster than the browsers available.

Global recession has effected the financial institutions like anything and they are the biggest victims of it. American Express with a 32% downfall at number 22, HSBC with a 20% downfall at number 32. But the biggest victim in financial sector according to Interbrands is Citi group. Citi group used to be at number 19 in 2008 rankings. Due to global recession, the brand has fallen down to number 36 with a downfall in brand equity oif 49%.

Interbrands publish this branding list every year. For a brand to qualify for the list, a brand must offer publicly available financial data and must book at least one-third of its revenues from outside its country of origin. The reason why Interbrands has mentioned this speared is to gauge the brand loyalty of those brands who are truly global in a real sense. That is why Walmart is not in the list because it does not generate enough internationally under this name.

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Olpers - A Powerful Pakistani Brand

2009-09-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

We never thought of a strong brand that is purely from Pakistan can give a tough competition to the players like Nestle who has ruled the market for a long time. With excellent branding and promotional strategies along with strong distribution network, Olpers is now considered as one of the top most brands of Pakistan. They have sustainable communication strategies with an emotional appeal that has touched the hearts of Pakistani consumers.
Olpers stepped in to the market by launching a massive marketing campaign featuring some of the biggest stars of Pakistan. Billboards were setup at major cities with key locations and soon the brand captured the 22 percent market share. It had a voice which differentiated it from other, and this is where the success story begins.
Olpers always had a unique campaign; and it has been 3 years since Olpers celebrates the spirit of Ramadan. Olpers advert launched in Ramadan 2009 is the latest example for it. This Ramadan they have has come up with another nice promotional campaign. They are promoting the Muslim patriotic spirit all around the world through the most popular ‘Hum Mustafavi Hein‘song and a message of Peace for the whole world. The advert features Atif Aslam and Dawood Ali. It is directed by Asim Raza and he has worked fabulously. This ad has been shot in 5 different countries I-e Pakistan, Dubai, Morocco, Brunei and Turkey. They have shown the Muslim rich culture, heritage and beautiful mosques.
Olpers hasn’t stopped by only concentrating on Milk as they have diversified their portfolio and came up with other products as well. The latest one is Omore which is again a decent launch with an out of the box promotional campaign. One can safely say that Omore is kind of brand which we can compare with any International brand.

COKE BRRR AD, PAKISTANI COMMERCIAL

2009-09-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

Coke has always used a drive theory to motivate to engage its consumers. Primary objective of coke is that addition of coke drink (Consumer Soda Drink, CSD) leads to a change in life style; it elevates your standard and style. It gives you the feel of enjoyment, fulfillment, and self satisfaction. Further the punch line “very chill hai coke zindagi”, very clearly highlights the message of living a tension free, easy and comfortable life with just an addition of coke, Consumer Soda Drink in life.
Keeping in view the core target audience for Coke Company and its products in the consumer soda drink industry, Coke identified its core market for youth, teens and elderly people. This was done by using Consumer Muti Media Index, CMI. The research showed Sharpe twist in coke preference within its target audience. Coke was a must drink in the following Social Economical Class, (SEC).

Keeping in view the core audience, in view Coke adapted its South African Copy for the BRRR….. Ad campaign. The original copy of the ad was of 60 second. For on airing the same copy in Pakistani market Coke reworked around the same copy and concept and adapted it to a 45 sec main Television Commercial, TVC. Local faces of youth, teens and elderly audience were added in the commercial to give it a localized look and feel.
This ad before on airing was pre tested in category SEC A & B only. The results were positive and thus were on aired. On the hand this was contrary to what the actual target audience was i.e. SEC B-. C in short masses, as the same ad was not tested in the stated social economical class.
The consumer soda drink company, Coke had set an ambitious goal to maximize its sales in the upcoming summers. The new summer ad of coca cola was on aired on all leading local and terrestrial channels with high reach and frequency. The on aired advert analysis showed that the ad had high reach and achieved high media ratings, where as the overall recall for the same ad was not that high and considerable.
The BRRR… ad started with colorful impact and Shoaib Hashmi unique BRRR style. The ad creates the impact to the all ages, as someone drinks Coca Cola, instantly he reacts with BRRR response (chill factor). In the ad, BRRR is a state of a person enjoying with full of fun and amusement.
As per COKE international policy to on air identical concepts in all identical target markets. The COKE-BRRRR ad is adapted from an African theme. The theme clearly depicts African culture; as the Brrr action in the ad is actually one of the basic dance moves in the African dance. The overall media tracking reports a failure of this advert in the South-Asia. (Source Ac. Neilson), furthermore the media tracking company of Pakistan; Media Bank reports a drastic failure of this advert in Pakistan. One of the biggest reasons being, that it is not close to Pakistani culture, specially women doing the Brrr action is highly criticized by the society.
Moreover, the sophisticated class SEC A & B did not to associate themselves with a product so degraded. It is the illiterate class that shows a behavior as non-serious as shown in the advert. In general any advert, regardless of being associated to the lower sector of the society is presented in a way that it gives the feel of elevation, the people of that sector feel motivated to change lifestyle and become better as people above their status. This advert is not motivating the people to improve their standards and take life to a next higher level, but, it is actually de-motivating.

There is no one who can stop Ufone!

2009-09-01T21:09:00.001-07:00

It started of with the launch of Ufone when Interflow Communications teamed up with Ahsan Rahim and Faisal Qureshi so that a new humorous appeal can be created in advertisements. The concept began with the story of Salma and Faisal and it was a big hit.But then Ufone decided to drop this concept the trend was changing and they had to compete with the growing brand djuice and also to keep the youngsters and opinion leaders on their side. The advertisements were executed pretty good but the concept that Ufone was portraying was not aligned with the brand image that has been created initially i.e. humorous appeal.

Two years ago, I was interviewed for a marketing position in Ufone and I told them in the interview that you brand is not consistent and you are confusing the consumers by portraying too many images of one brand. The Assistant Brand Manager said in reply that Just wait and see what is going to happen in in a few months and after a few months Interflow teamed up again with Ahsan Rahim, Faisal Qureshi and an fresh model named Meekal. The overall chemistry and the execution went well as expected and people began to love Ufone again. But this time they came with a bang and there is no one stopping Ufone. They are not only coming up with creative advertisement, funny appeals, innovative packages but they are also aggresive in their campaigns as they are hitting directly or indirectly to other telecom but the best part is their advertisments are the most creative and people always think that they cannot come up with a better ad than this but Ufone advertisment agency always suprises the audience with their new advertisement.

Ishtihari is taking a step further!

2009-07-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

This time no article or no review but just a small news to share with the readers of my blog. Ishtihari is going to launch its official website soon. The web development process has been started and in next month you see see Ishtihari is taking a step further to come up as a proper website.

Regards

Arsalan Ali Baig

Telenor's Ali Zafar has switched to Jazz!

2009-07-01T12:43:00.000-07:00

OK! I am not Philip Kotler neither I am some Marketing or Advertising Guru in the industry but today I saw something which as a student of branding and advertising, I could never imagined happened.

I woke up at 10.00 AM today and started calling my mom to give me breakfast because I have to leave early this morning. Even if I have to pass my time, I never read newspaper in the morning but there was something today that I could not stop myself opening the newspaper to see the Jazz latest advertisement. To my surprise, Ali Zafar who used to be brand ambassador of Telenor Talkshawk was appearing in Jazz latest advertisement. For a moment I thought what the hell he is doing in Mobilink’s ad and then for the second moment I thought “Are Jazz people crazy to hire a celebrity who has some strong associations with Telenor Talkshawk”. When people think of Telenor Talkshawk’s celebrity there are two people that come to our mind. First one is Annie and then Ali Zafar. I don’t know I am overreacting on this but this decision is one of the biggest blunders in Pakistani’s advertising history. In my opinion, it will deteriorate the Ali Zafar’s brand name but also it will not give any benefit to Jazz as well if they really think they have made a SMART move.

Imagine, Aamir khan is coming in Pepsi advertisement and Shahrukh Khan in Coke advertisement..Can you imagine? No you can’t because these two celebrities have made such strong associations with these Colas that no one can’t even imagine that they will go for switching. But there is a difference, Indian celebrities are smart, they know if they do such a mistake this will not only destroy their image but also the company’s image. Our celebrities have shown once again that they don’t care for their brand image and all they care about is money only. Telenor Talkshawk will be the least possible victim from this new campaign even if Ali Zafar has switched to Jazz. I would simple say to Mobilink and Ali Zafar “Not a smart move!”

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The Weirdest Brand Name : Mamoo Burger and its interesting story

2009-06-25T05:27:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you a very interesting story. Even if you are not a management student or related to marketing etc you will love this story as much as I do. The story reveals about how businesses are growing and you don’t have to be an MBA to run your business successfully and this thing applies at its best in Pakistan especially.

I was born and raised in Rawalpindi and I have some very strong associations with this city. I am also planning to make a documentary to brand this city. One of the businesses that is growing very rapidly is Restaurants business. Consumer patterns are changing and people now love to eat outside at least once a week and this frequency is increasing day by day now. If you are not very hungry and want something like EGG SHAMI BURGER, there are in fact a lot options available in every market. But two turned out to be good products. One is International Burger and the Second one is MAMOO Burger. I am sure this word MAMOO Burger has brought smiles to the faces of those people who live in Rawalpindi. What is so special about MAMOO? Its actually nothing but fresh food and that’s it.

Mamoo Burger started 10 years back with collaboration of West Food Bakers. Actually West Food Bakers rented their outer space to Mamoo Burger so that they can sell their burgers there. Mamoo became one of the famous Egg Shami and Beef Burgers because of its taste. You will see people in queues during the Maghrib and Isha Prayer. In these ten years, Mamoo ( The Owner of Mamoo Burger calls himself MAMOO) never thought of growth or expansion. But then one fine day, West Food Bakers, told Mamoo to leave because they wanted to start their own Burger stall. But this was not enough..Guess what West Food Bakers named their Burger Stall...Surprise Surprise...It was Mamoo Burger.

The original Mamoo reacted so quickly against this move because it was his brand and he was infact THE MAMOO. So he rented out a space very next to West Food Bakers and named it ASLI MAMOO Burger( Original Mamoo Burger). After that, a fierce competition started between the original and new Mamoo burger. They launched many new campaigns in order to cash the Mamoo brand name and both were claiming that they are the original producers of Mamoo Burgers. One was offering 5 Chicken burger with one free Pepsi package, while other was offering more or less the same kind of package. The new Mamoo successfully gained some customer base from the original Mamoo. Mamoo even put this picture on the promotional banners to prove that he is the original mamoo ( hahahaha this is quite funny). We all used to see this as a very funny yet interesting story. One fine day, I went to eat Mamoo Burger and I saw big surprises were welcoming me. The original Mamoo has acquired the near by Chinese restaurant and he was using it as a Family Hall. I observed Mamoo as he was giving instructions to the new staff how to behave with the customer and I was thinking that we marketing students study alot about how to behave with customers but this guy who never even has seen the class room is talking so much sense. You must be thinking now, what did the other Mamoo Burger do in retaliation? Well, they couldn’t buy some space because they don’t have any. So I saw some chairs and an motorcycle wrapped with a Panaflex sheet where it is written that Buy one burger and Win motorcycle in lucky draw. When I saw all this, I decided to put in on my blog because I wanted to share this story with you.

What we have learned from this story? Ten years of kingship and still no expansion or growth but when the Bakery asked Mamoo to go, he thought of innovative ways to compete. That’s why Wise people say. “Competition brings quality and innovation.”

Google Vs Bing

2009-06-18T04:41:00.000-07:00

Although, most the reviews must be comparing the technical aspects of both search engines but there Is one important thing that we are all missing. According to Brands of the year report 2009, Google has become the number brand having more brand equity even than Coke. The search word is going to be replace with the word Googling and currently it is in the transformation phase. Now comes a new search engine BING.com. Although, you never noticed that search unless you got to know that Microsoft is behind in developing is search engine and that thing interests you somehow to use it. As far as my opinion is concerned, BING is fast, having good search results and in terms of technicality, this search engine has something to offer. But look at Google, its not about just their brand equity which has crossed even Coke, which has sustained the number 1 brand positions for decades. You remember what people called marketing blunder of all times; its none other than replacing the Coke with NEW COKE and people totally boycotted the new product just because they have strong association with the current brand and they totally refused to accept that brand. Well, Google has also developed such brand power and in the near future, may be our kids will be calling search as Google. So now the question is…Can Bing do something to replace the power of Google? Well certainly not especially at this point of time because Google as a company is certainly on a rise. I myself is very loyal to Google search engine and I just love Google. So when I visited Bing for the first time it was like a new world for me and I was very irritated and wanted to get back to Google as soon as possible. May be Bing is technically Good and may be they have some really complicated algorithms to search the best results but one thing is for sure they don’t have the brand power Google has and it will take years to even reach near Google now.

Whats the Real Use of Twitter ? A Conversation between me and Omar

2009-06-11T00:20:00.000-07:00

I have put this status few days ago that Whats the real use of Twitter and One of friend who is in a social media advertising firm answers my question. I thought, it would be interesting that I paste the conversation here and may be we can learn something out from it.

Me : Whats the Real Use of Twitter? Anyone???

Omar : its one of the part of SOCIAL MEDIA OPTIMIZATION STRATEGY......and the messages that u send through twitter are called tweets...tweets are just as an sms A SHORT MESSAGE FOR MARKETING YOUR BRAND

Me: isnt it the same thing we are doing on facebook! whether you call it tweeting or something else....I mean its like having two cell phones ...one for receiving calls and one for sending sms ...isnt it?

Omar : listen in social media optimization strategy there r bundle of offerings like sms mktng,tweets, forums,articles,groups on fb & other social media sites, email mktng etc so it is one of the tools of SMO Strategy and you can send sms fom web to customer's mobile directly through a paid service like clickatell etc....GOT IT????

Me : u didnt get my point i guess..All I am saying is facebook is a package with almost everything while twitter is just a small application of facebook where you can just write abt What are you doing or whats in ur mind..Do you think ppl really need a website for it just to tell ppl what they are doing! Correct me if I am wrong but for me its the most dumbest idea :D

Omar : Dear u just consider it as sms mktng, almost its the same thing and yes by relying only on twitter is a wrong strategy , it should be a part of ur stratgy as many advertisers are focussing more on social media sites and technologies and its one of them. So it should be incorporated in ur strategy but using alone would be a bad choice. it can only enhance to what u want to promote.

Me : dude just take the consumer's perspective for sometime. We all know what twitter is and we know that you can post updates, news, information blah blah on twitter. All I am saying is you can use groups and communities on facebook to market ur product but in twitter you just have 140 character limit. So that means you have to first Build a social network there and then you will be able to market your product effectively that was the marketing perspective.
Take consumer perspective for a minute now. Initially I have just one mobile to communicate with my friends ( Facebook) and now I ve got two - one for sending sms (twitter) and other is for receiving calls ( facebook) Although I know I can use the same mobile ( facebook) to send sms but I am the dumbest guy in the world :P bcoz I have bought another mobile ( twiiter) for sending sms to my friends ( Keep in mind the consumer perspective)

Omar : Arsalan y dont u understand its just one another platform like tagged & myspace etc, twitter would be one for platform and it can increase ur viewership by some unique users (who r not on FB). simple and yeah right FB also provides u these facilities but what about those clientele who are not on FB so thats y companies & advertisers makes all these options as part of their strategy in order to deliver the msg to maximum digital audience and from consumer perspective they do have the option for linking up their FB account with twitter and vice versa...If u still have doubts about it do call me in ur spare time i will try to give u maximum information that i have.

Me : dude just tell me one good user who is on twitter and not on facebook i mean come on yaar :D
but ok we ll discuss this some other time. its like we have almost cover the whole home page :P

Omar : hahahaha....ok we will discuss it some other time ...as i am leaving office in few minutes

Me: Ok Buddy See you

Mascot Advertising

2009-05-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

If you are somehow related to Marketing you know what I am really talking about here. For those who don’t, I will introduce you the concept shortly. Have you ever seen some fictional characters with any brands? I am sure you must have? Think more and you will get more than one brands who have associated some characters with their brands. In my mind, I have 7-up’s Fido dido, Ding Dong’s Cat, Vodafone’s Puppy, Energizer’s Bunny, Safeguard’s Commander Safeguard, Kellogg’s Tiger and Nintendo’s Super Mario. Well, there are many I can name it but we have to talk about many other things besides just naming the mascots. First of all, why companies invest in making such mascots? If you are thinking all these mascots are developed just to target the children, you are definitely wrong because there is more than that. When you are managing a brand, you have to build stories around your brand and there are many ways. You can endorse a Hi-fi celebrity, you can do some Pr activity or you can create a mascot. Mascot is just a fictional character, representing the brand persona which teaches the consumers about what the product is and why consumers should buy it. It has some characteristics of the target market of course. Mascot is not just creating a creative character but also defining some characteristics which are related to the brand somehow. What's more, mascot advertising is a cost-effective way to help consumers remember your brand. A company could pay Shahrukh Khan or David Beckham millions of dollars to represent it, but if you don't have the budget then it obviously can't. Mascot enhances the possibility of brand recall and people or your target market can have a strong association with your mascot. In the long run, a mascot can help in creating strong brand equity which is a strong asset for any company. Mascots are very common in sports and if you haven’t noticed so far check out the different logos of different leagues, sports teams or even Tournaments who brand themselves. For example check out Olympics for which Mascots are used every time. Do you remember the Cricket World Cup 1996 in which a red ball was used as a character? However in my opinion the best mascot is the Michelin Man used by the Michelin Tires used since 1905 and it has the strongest recall I think till now.

Checklist before Creating a Mascot

1. Strong Association with brand

2. Must represent the brand Persona

3. Must be creative enough and well executed

4. Should have a professional name

5. Should provide fictitious credentials for the character

But before you create a mascot for your brand, you have to keep this in mind that you need to build stories around your mascot and your brand because that is what branding is all about. It has the ability that people should talk about your brand.

Creative BUT not Practical!!!!

2009-05-26T02:19:00.000-07:00

This is a must read article for all of you. I believe there are two kinds of people in this world; one of them have really crazy ideas and they have the passion to do it. Others belong to the critics category, who are there just to criticize those people. Here, I am not talking about those people who criticize the ideas just for the sake of criticism but those who are experienced, practical and have the ability to think on long term basis.

But, I am here to support those crazy people in this world and this article is dedicated to those people who have the most craziest ideas but due to some SO CALLED CRTICS, they are unable to continue with what they are thinking. I will start with quoting some examples from the real world. Blast from the Past, look at Wright Brothers, who used to repair bicycles. People used to laugh at them when they shared their idea that they are going to make something so that a human can fly. Look at different businesses that have opened new horizons for new businesses. I will come to the idiotic ideas later but now I want to talk about those ideas right now which people used to think would be feasible enough to make profits but they turned out to be cash cow ventures for them. You know how facebook started, the concept behind facebook? If you belong to some western country and you are a student then you must know. But if you don’t then facebook was a message board in American universities which is used to socialize with new friends and find the old one. Mark Zuckerberg , the man behind facebook took the same idea and used it as for online social networking. Look at Digg.com, the most simplest and most innovative idea just to share news, websites and links but the person has become millionaire. Now coming to some idiotic ideas which have made the persons millionaire. Every year, millions of children around the world send letters to Santa and hope for a response. Byron Reese, the man behind this idea realized the potential in this market. He launched "Santa Mail," a service that allows kids to send letters to the North Pole. Parents enclose a small fee of just $9.95, and children receive a personalized letter back from the Santa himself. By now, Santa Mail had responded to nearly 300,000 children.

Why we cannot think on simple lines when we talk about creativity? Remember one thing Creativity lies in Simplicity more often and one don’t has to build Robots and Machines and go into some technical stuff in order to be creative. So its better to start working on it now. But remember few things before you think of an idea

1. Even you have the most craziest idea, it should satisfy some of the need of human beings

2. If you think there is no need for such idea you are thinking, Can you create a need for such things?

3. Think about how you can earn money from your idea

Now you might be thinking that I am talking about those TYPICAL things which can make even the most craziest and innovative ideas unrealistic and unpractical. Well that is not the case because if you have a passion for something and you really want to do it, Just do it and yes that’s what Nike says all the time. But keep that in mind that one day or another you have to follow these if you really want to earn money and make your idea consistently working.

Things you should know before availing discounts on coupons codes

2009-05-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

There are certain things which you should know when you are purchasing something online and going to avail some kind of discounts through coupons.

Search for discount codes

There are different kinds of discounts offered while you are purchasing something from an online retailer. Search for a particular discount code. They come in different types like some are in percentages while some are in dollars discounts. There are some companies which waive off the shipping charges as discounts. But you need to keep this in mind that you should not settle to the first coupon code in your search results. One should keep on searching on page 2 and even 3 of the search results because there are sites which could offer even bigger and better discounts but due to weak search engine optimization they are displayed on the second or third page of the search result

Subscribe newsletters for free coupons

Why search for coupons for your favorite brands in these websites? Some websites offers you newsletters in which they send you free coupons directly into your email so you don’t have to search for coupons from different websites to avail discounts. As you have seen that by consuming some time and effort, you can save a lot of money and this can add handsome savings.

Look for Promo Code

When shopping online have you have seen something like promo code or promotional code while filling out the form? If yes, then remember, this field can be used to gain some extra discounts even more than you get from the online coupons. So, whenever you are shopping online, have a look for the coupon code box while checking out. The name can be different for different websites but normally this field comes with this word of promo code, promotional code or something like that.

Check the expiry of codes

Promotional codes always come with an validity or expiry date and it happens sometimes that they expire before the date mentioned. One of the reason might be the popularity of the promotional code and then the manufacturer or retailer has to cancel the code before the expiry date. Contrary to the situation, some of the codes work even after their expiry date passes away. The consumer has to make sure that they get the same amount of discount which is mentioned or promised by the company. Because there is a possibility that the retailer has ignored the promo code and he may charge you the full price of the item you purchase.

Things to remember

• Some of the promo codes are case sensitive and while filling the form you have to make sure that you enter the right letter. For example if the code is 25OFF , the system might not accept if you write 25off

• There is a greater possibility that you can use the discount one time per customer

• As mentioned, coupons come with expiry date so you should check the date as well

Online Coupons- The hottest Sales Promotion activity in USA

2009-04-27T01:16:00.000-07:00

Although the concept of coupons and the perception of these sales promotion actitivites is totally opposite in Pakistan, one cannot deny the fact how much coupons not only enable the customers to save their money. The perception about coupons is entriely different and people perceive those companies as DESPERATE who are involved in such kind of activities. But as far as the countries like USA are concerned, coupons whether they are online or offline are something which every consumer wants while purchasing anything.

In this world of cut throat competition, where your competitors are doing anything to gain the maximum market share, every company has to do something extra and something different in order to sustain and come up with new strategies that can help them to foster their sales. In today’s world of crisis where every consumer wants to invest very little and wants to get the best out of it, it is necessary to offer them something beyond the core product.

We also have to see WHY these discounts are being offered by the companies. What are the benefits of offering such discounts and how this activity can enhance the sales as it is said as one of the hottest sales promotion activity in marketing. Before we start, I would like to mention that coupons do not apply on each item. You can not offer discount coupons while selling a Rolls Royce to a consumer because the buyer of Rolls Royce is far away from thinking about discounts. So, the concept of couponing applies for things like grocery items etc.

Customer retention is very important and should be the focal point for every company. By focusing on online promotions, a company can not only cut their major cost of mailing and printing but also it can enhance customer loyally. One of the online promotion tools is by offering discount coupons online. So instead of spending thousands of dollars on directly mailing and printing newsletters, a company can send coupons directly into the customer’s email and your client can print and ask for the discounts at any grocery store. These discount coupons will help the customers to buy something else in the same budget because you will be offering some discounts. This activity will help the company to increase in the number of units sold but will also help them to retain their current customers. Definitely, with this sales promotion activity, one can expect to have some new users because discounts normally create a good word of mouth among the customers. But now the question arise that how one company you direct their customers to their websites. The best thing to do here is mention each and everything about your online promotion in your newsletters which you will send to your customer

Another great way to direct the traffic to have online coupons is to put a link to your coupons on your website. This will make it easier to find about the coupons in your website.

One thing companies have to keep in mind is to offer discounts which are better than your conventional printed discounts. Like you were offering 10% Off on a purchase of a particular item when you were using the conventional mailing method. Now, when you are emailing the newsletter with discount coupons, offer them discount like 15% to direct your traffic to your website. You can also include a link TELL A FRIEND to create a good word of mouth about the discounts being offered. It might be a possibility that your potential customers who are not using your product currently might be looking for a deal. So, by offering them such discounts you can increase your sales and gain the highest market share.

Why Pakistani e-Ventures are not successful globally?

2009-04-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

Its not like Pakistani people are not creative at all in terms of generating new ideas. Personally I think we Pakistani are far better than americans as far as the idea generation is concerned. The problem starts when we dont have the proper infrastructure to develop those projects. This article will give you a brief introduction of american and pakistani mentality in terms of e-ventures.

Look what americans brought to you...We have google, youtube, facebook, digg, stumble upon and twitter, yahoo, wikipedia, rapidshare and so on. Go to alexa.com and see for yourself the top 20 sites in the world with the highest traffic. Do you see anything common in it? Yes of course...there is onething pretty common in all these websites which is SHARING. I am sorry to say but Asian people donot have the mentality to share things. They have a perception that if I share something with other person he or she can somehow take away my recognition. But contrary, americans do share alot of things and they promote the culture of sharing knowledege, feelings and emotions. This is one of the biggest problem.

Second problem is we dont think globally. Our e-marketers define the target market in terms of local consumers and thats it. Again, go to alexa.com and see for yourself which websites have the highest traffic. There are only two websites comes in the Top 20 one is GEO.TV and other is Jang group website. We have rozee.pk at number 25 which is an online recruitment portal. But the social networking site that we know is Naseeb.com. No doubt technically its a good website but look at the tagline is MUSLIM's social network. This is the point which I was talking about. Naseeb have clearly segmented that its a website only for muslims and the first thing come into people's mind is whether it is a matrimonial website or something related to islam only. Look at the websites which americans have made they have segmented the market in terms of lifestyles not in terms of geographic and demographic basis.

If you are aware of the hofstede's cultural dimensions, you must know Pakistani people are risk averse as the uncertainity avoidance factor is high. We dont work on simple ideas, we are always in complexity and complications. I mean look at Youtube, Digg or rapidshare or even flickr. Is there anything really Innovative in it? These are the most simplest ideas you have ever seen. Twitter is a website which i really dont know why is it so sucessfull but look at the traffic on twitter and we all know the functionality of twitter which is just a small component of facebook application.

Thnk on these lines..May be, some of us come up with a global website

NIRALA - A wonderful Brand

2009-03-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

When we were studying consumer behavior, a class fellow of mine did this interesting exercise in the class. During his presentation, he distributed the NIRALA SWEETS to everyone in the class to get their feedback. Those who were familiar with Nirala's taste were able to identify that the Mithaye (SWEETS) in it is not from the NIRALA brand, it is only packaging which was from NIRALA. Although I am not a great fan of sweets, but this incident was pretty surprising for me that students were able to identify that this sweet hasnt that unique taste which Nirala offers. All I said that time was WOW!

Nirala Sweets started their operations over half a century ago with a small shop in lahore. There was no concept of branding a mithayee(SWEETS) that time in Pakistan. Mr. Taj Din who was the founder of Nirala sweets started as a typical Mithayee shop with the entreprenurial spirit to grow it to a national level. They offered this unique taste of DESI GHEE which became their unique selling proposition. His son Farooq Ahmad ( Chairman : Nirala Sweets) took his father's business further and adopted the growth strategy to further open Nirala's outlets to more locations in Lahore. As the product was superb, they were successful in getting good sales from other locations as well. But the proper branding started when Faisal Farooq and Ahmar Farooq ( sons of Mr. Farooq Ahmad) took over the business and came up with a concept of branding Nirala Sweets. As both individuals are MBA and they had this vision in mind to make it a proper brand and implements each element of branding in it. These people not only worked on the logo, and other promotional stuff but also on the facia, ambiance and the products they were offering. They implemented the same pricing, same brands and same ambiance so that the consumer have the same taste and feel while he is having mithayee from an outlet in Lahore or in Islamabad or whatever.

Website is an important part of the marketing strategy and most of us when we want to know about something, we simply google it. So Nirala definitley wanted to have a strong online presence with a little ecommerce flair in it. User has also the option of ordering the Sohan Halwa ( one of their famous product) online. I have a little observation in the website. If you have ever visited any of the outlet, you will see a strong color which is Yellow, which I have found not present in their website. I suggest they should also incorporate this color as the most dominant color.

Now Nirala is not only in Pakistan but also in UK and Canada and they are still growing. They want to be present in every single market in Pakistan and these people have the vision to be a strong brand like KFC and Mcdonalds.

Beliscity - Pakistani's Amazon

2009-03-13T04:52:00.000-07:00

Whether we are business students or techy people, we have heard alot about www.beliscity.com. This website has come up with a very unique idea of selling the products online with a different mode of payment. Beliscity knew the physcology of Pakistan consumers that they are risk averse and they still have the fear of purchasing a product online. To encourage the Pakistan consumers to buy the products from home, they did two things which were like hitting the bull's eye. They offered the products cheaper than the market and secondly, they offered it without using your credit cards. There are four different methods to buy a beliscity product, through email, phone, sms or go to their store in clifton karachi which is actually a warehouse. But they are going to open their retail outlet soon.

What they are offering is pretty interesting. Why i am saying that they are offering interesting products because its actually everything which our pakistani consumer really want to buy. Yes amazon is a good brand name so is barnes and noble but they cannot be successful because of the reason that people here in pakistan donot have the aptitude to read books and especially those books which are licensed. Around 80% of our books are low priced edition or pirated, so students dont bother to buy a licensed book. So what beliscity did was they offer products related to electronics and stuff. Today they have a wide range of products from a flash drive to laptops, jewelry, perfumes and even routers.

The delievery system is also good. I never tried beliscity but my friends had good experience as far as the delievery system is concerned. Beliscity is planning to expand as they have also opened their outlet in lahore and most probably they are planning to come to islamabad soon. I suggest they should introduce product reviews section on their website so people can post comments about the products. This tactic can increase their sales and also work as a viral marketing tool for them.

Brandsynario - The goods and bads

2009-03-09T01:27:00.000-07:00

If you belong to advertising, marketing or related field, you must have heard about the website www.brandsynario.com. I must say a great website with loads of information about the Pakistani advertising and media industry. The website is a product of Synergy Advertising which is one of the leading advertising agencies in Pakistan. The website is divided into five major categories and every section has its own importance.

The first section is Advertising, whether the campaign is local or foriegn, whether its a print or TVC ad, brandsynario has uploaded everything for the marketers and advertisers. I remember I used to visit this site when I was studying the course of Advertising and promotion in my MBA. The content is great but there is one problem that the resolution of those ads is very less. One of the reason why they are doing is to save the web hosting space as much as they can and offer larger quantity

The second section is Marketing, which offers you different videos and stuff related to brand management, supply chain and marketing. Although brandsynario doesnt have much to offer in it but still the concept is really good

The third section wich actually helped me alotin in advertising project and still its a good source for students as well as different companies is the list of all types of media companies like TV, newspaper, Radio with their profiles. Also there is a list of advertising agencies which come under the company profiles tab.

The most important section is the Research section in which ratings of different Tv channels and newspapers are given. Also Synergy Advertising conducts some survey which are not very frequent but the they are very good in terms of their content.

Recommendations :

Brandsynario currently believes in quantity as in there are lots of ads but they are ads just for the sake of ads. Definitley its the only website that is promoting the advertising trends all over the world but the quality of the content should be improved as well as there should be something new on daily basis.

Branding Savour Foods

2009-03-07T13:22:00.000-08:00

If you live in Islamabad or Rawalpindi, you must have heard about Savour Foods. This article does not give you an introduction about what is Savour Foods? How tasty is their Pulao ? And how much the owner of Savour is earning. I am sure 30% of the crowd coming into Savour think and discuss on the same lines and surprisingly they have assumed some handsome figure in their mind. So I am not here to discuss the importance of Savour Foods. Yes it has become a part of Islamabad Culture. They position themselves as Cost effective Pulao Kabab which everyone can afford to eat. Wait a minute! I have unintentionally used a marketing term here called POSITIONING. But can any marketing guy tell me What is their marketing strategy? Also what exactly is their expansion and growth strategy? I am sure we have suggestions but we don’t have proper solutions.

Savour Foods, Nirala Sweets and Gourmet Bakers have become the favorite case studies for all the business schools in Pakistan and why not? Our professors know that these products are brilliantly good and they are just lacking one or two components. As far as the Savor Foods is concerned, the product is simply addictive. I still go once in a week to have Savour whether with friends or some other. But the reason for any consumer to go to Savour is their tasty pulao with a low price. Although this strategy is pretty good in Pakistan but if I say you to compare McDonalds, KFC, Subway, and Pizza Hut with Savour foods? Yeah I know the target market is totally different but Savour Foods has not defined any target market they are just catering the masses. The only thing they lack is a proper brand. Do any of us remember the logo of Savour? Certainly NOT but we do remember the logo of KFC or McDonalds right?

The product is superb and has the potential to be successful all over Pakistan but I don’t know why the guy is expanding too slowly. McDonalds is a great example of giving franchises to people. The same can be done with Savour and I am sure there are people who want to invest in this business. That is how they can expand themselves. I am always wondering Why Pakistan don’t have a proper brand when some of our products have great power to rule the world? Well there are many reasons and one of the reasons is Pakistani entrepreneurs are very risk averse. We are making Jeans for Levis, we are making shirts for Gap and Marks & Spencer. We are making football for Nike that means we have the capacity to make exceptional products but what we can do is to brand our product

Browser Browser !

2009-03-06T22:18:00.001-08:00

Well, Well Well....I am a big fan of reading about the competition and the competitors tactics. I have been following the stories since I was new to computers. I used to be a great fan of Netscape Navigator and read alot of stories about the the war between Internet Explorer and Netscape. Then came a browser Noeplanet which was faster than Netscape but failed due to many reasons which frankly speaking I dont remember because I was a kid that time. For a long long time, Internet Explorer has dominated the market until Firefox came into being and Wow what a browser with simply awesome features. The concept of tabs was introduced by Opera but beautifully followed by Fireox. Firefox is fast, reliable and I simply loved the feature of storing the session if the user has opened two or more tabs. Apple also introduced Safari which they claimed to be the fatest browser but with the launch of chrome they are now a little behind. Last month Google Inc, which recently launched its own Chrome browser, joined the Mozilla foundation, producer of the Firefox Web browser, and Norway's Opera, in protesting Microsoft's dominance in the browser market.n January, European regulators brought formal charges againstMicrosoft for abusing its dominant market position by bundling its Internet Explorer Web browser with its Windows operating system, which is used in 95 percent of the world's personal computers. So now Microsoft Corp is developing a feature in its new operating system that allows users to turn off Internet Explorer and other key Microsoft programs. So lets see what is the next strategy of each player in the browser market. I am also sharing a comparison of the Top Browsers in the market.

Rank	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	#7	#8	#9
Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor	Firefox	Google Chrome	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Maxthon	Flock	Avant Browser	Deepnet Explorer	PhaseOut
Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor



Overall Rating
Ratings
Features Set
Ease of Use
Security
Speed & Compatibility
Help/Support

Speed
Initial Startup Time	14	8.1	8.5	7.1	10.6	7	20.2	25.7	11.6	21.3
Average Startup Time	3.8	3.1	2.2	4.4	3.7	6.4	8	11	7.8	10.7
Navigation Time	6.4	7	7.4	7.3	7.8	8	8.3	6.4	6.3	8.8

20 Permits You Deserve! By Kimberly Englot

2009-03-06T01:13:00.000-08:00

I am under the impression that most people do not allow themselves these simple principles. I know that until recently, I didn’t either. I think it’s very important to shed some light on 20 permits that you need to allow in your life. Let go of the idea that you’re being selfish. Think of it as being self-ish! Many of these permits are familiar, but being an adult and the responsibilities that go along with that move in and take over our common sense! Take a few minutes to go through this list. How many of these do you give yourself permission for on a regular basis? Take away your inner critic’s power!

GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO:

1.LET GO OF “OBLIGATIONS.” If you don’t absolutely love it, consider letting it go!

2.SAY NO! Every yes you say to something, is a NO you are saying to your family.

3.CHANGE YOUR MIND. Circumstances change, so do moods, feelings, impressions, ideas and people!

4.REASSESS YOUR GOALS, PASSIONS AND DREAMS. As you change, so should your “plan.”

5.QUESTIONS OTHERS. You have every right to make up your own mind and not just follow along, especially if it doesn’t feel right for you.

6.HAVE YOUR OWN OPINION. Don’t let others dissuade you or bully you! You are allowed to think whatever you want, and so are they.

7.TAKE TIME OFF. Honestly, the world will not implode because you took a break! Take time to recharge and you’ll function at your peak afterwards.

8.MAKE MISTAKES. Life would be pretty boring if you were perfect, not to mention how much others would dislike you because they felt inferior!

9.SLEEP IN. Rest is important, schedule a day where you can sleep in if you want to.

10.LET “IT” GO. Dragging old resentments and anger will only hurt you.

11.HAVE “ME” TIME. Having at least one thing that is just for you will go a long way to improve your life.

12.BE GRATEFUL OF WHAT YOU DO HAVE. Getting stuck in a cycle of I’ll be happy when… keeps you from being happy, EVER. Look around and see how wonderful your life is now!

13.SUCCEED. Sometime you get in your own way! Fear of failure is less of a factor than fear of success in most cases.

14.DREAM BIG! Small dreams keep you safe, and small! So dream big because even if you don’t fully succeed, you’ll be much farther ahead.

15.CELEBRATE “SMALL” STUFF. This puts in your mind how grateful you are for what is in your life. Success is success, not matter how small! Treat it with the respect it deserves.

16.FEEL REALLY GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF. It’s not bragging or boasting or being arrogant to be proud of who you are.

17.FEEL EMOTIONS (EVEN NEGATIVE ONES LIKE FEAR & ANGER). To ignore emotions only gives them more power. Acknowledge them and they’ll disappear much quicker.

18.CRY. Again, trying not to only makes it worse! Crying is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of being sympathetic and caring, not to mention a release.

19.FORGIVE. “Holding anger & resentment towards another is like drinking poison and expecting it to kill your enemy.” Forgiveness is for you, not the other person.

20.REWARD YOURSELF. When you reach a milestone, reward yourself. While creating your plan, decide how you’re going to reward yourself once each big goal has been reached.

Kimberly Englot is an Authentic Life coach, the founder of Authentic Self and the creator of the Life Cleanse Mastermind.Kimberly’s passion is to work with women who are ready to identify and eliminate their resistance to living greatly. She teaches women to listen to their intuitions, cast out self doubt and have the courage to be authentic. An advocate of life long learning and personal growth, Kimberly’s personal philosophy is “Be True to yourself: Be Authentic!” For more information check out her website www.kimberlyenglot.com, or email her at kimberlyenglot@gmail.com.

Stumble Upon!

2009-03-04T23:22:00.000-08:00

The trend of information sharing is obviously changing and different internet players are trying to come up with new concepts in order to grab the attention. One of the major problem in web businesses is you have to give your users something new to increase your traffic otherwise your users will be bored with the same old activities. Orkut is one example which I would like to give here. Although the concept was great and they were the market leader in Brazil, India and Pakistan. But they didn’t add something new and facebook came up with a concept of applications and new catchy interface. Now if you go to alexa.com and compare the traffic between orkut and facebook, you will find Orkut nowhere near to facebook. What is this all telling us?

Definitley, Internet players have to be aware of the fact that no matter how catchy your interface is, how many features are there on your website but there will be a time when your website will boredom the audience. A new concept has arrived which is not new to the world but its still has to be evovled in Pakistan because most of the traffic is from the west and still alot of brand awareness needed.

StumbleUpon is an Internet community that allows its users to discover and rate Web pages, photos, and videos. It is a personalized recommendation engine which uses peer and social-networking principles.

Web pages are presented when the user clicks the "Stumble!" button on the browser's toolbar. StumbleUpon chooses which Web page to display based on the user's ratings of previous pages, ratings by his/her friends, and by the ratings of users with similar interests. Users can rate or choose not to rate any Web page with a thumbs up or thumbs down, and clicking the Stumble button resembles "channel-surfing" the Web. StumbleUpon also allows their users to indicate their interests from a list of nearly 500 topics to produce relevant content for the user There is also one-click blogging built in as well.

Go see it for yourself…It has a lot to offer!!!!!

Did You know ?

2009-03-03T23:28:00.000-08:00

This time I am sharing this video which contains lots of information. See for your self and dont forget to rate :)

Google it!

2009-02-28T05:28:00.000-08:00

I dont know man but Google has simple changed the way people used to think of anything. Today I attended a presentation by a google representative and to my surprise he gave me two new concepts. I used to think that I am one of the most techy person around, among the business graduates. But Google really has alot to offer.

Two new things I learned today were

Google Insights :

Wow! What a wonderful tool it is. You type the keywords and you analyze the how many times we it has been searched on google and use it for your Search engine optimization. I have tried this and it gives you a detailed analysis of what you are searching and analyzing for. And most important and interesting thing is, they are offering this tool for free. I am still figuring out, where the hell they are earning from. They have given you the tools for free and the only source I can think of is Google Adsense and Adwords. Well I believe Google still has lot of offer but the things they have given to their consumers are simply awesome like gmail, search engine and the latest addition is chrome

Google Analytics

Another wonderful tool which is also free is Google analytics. Have you ever think how many people daily visit your site, how much time they spend and what is the percentage of people who just see the website and close it. Google analytics gives you all this. All you have to do is to copy a small code in your homepage HTML file and you will get this all. But the analysis doesnt end here. Google analytics is a world which gives you so many things about your website that you can easily make stratgies and marketing plans for further pursual.

HRD and Globalization

2009-02-16T11:49:00.001-08:00

Cross cultural Preparation

‘Cross cultural preparation’ educates employees (expatriates) and their families who are to be sent to a foreign country. To meet with the globalization needs these employees must understand the different business practices and the cultural norms of different countries. To prepare employees for cross cultural assignments, companies need to give cross cultural trainings. Many big companies do mistakes by sending their employees on foreign assignments without any preparation. As a result problems arise and many of them return back without completing the given assignments. To succeed globally, an expatriate needs to be

Aware of the new culture and has learned about all the factors discussed above in context to the new culture he is going to
Competent in his/her areas of expertise
Having motivation to succeed, and tolerance, un biasness and flexibility for the new culture.

One of the reasons for high failure of these expatriate is that companies place more emphasis on developing the hardcore technical skills of these employees not considering the factor of cultural understanding which is even more important in this case. Training is essential for this cross cultural preparation.

Cross cultural Training

Before leaving for the new place employees need to be get trained about the language, culture and custom etc. Participation of the employee’s family in these training is also very important. These expatriates should be told by the HRD that how this foreign assignment will fit in their career plans and what can they expect from the company upon returning back. There are several techniques for cross cultural training. Methods range from presentation techniques such as lectures which the expatriate and their families receive, attending culturally diverse communities in the home country, experiential exercises which is a mini culture experience.

This cross cultural training continues when the expatriate reach the host country. There again orientation to the customs and culture is given to them. Some times expatriates and their families are paired with an employee in the host country, who helps them understand this new environment. HRD role doesn’t ends here. HRD has to prepare expatriate for return to the parent company. Here employees are encourages to self-manage the repatriation process.

Diversity Training

‘Equal employment opportunity’ and ‘Affirmative action plan’ (An action plan to increase minority representation) are important but not enough to deal with diversity. To successfully manage a diverse workforce companies need to ensure that

Employees understand that their behaviors and stereotypes influence their behavior towards other employees of different gender, ethnic , religious backgrounds etc.
Employees consider cultural differences to be natural and accept them.
Behaviors of employees should be improved towards diverse workforce

All these points can be accomplished through diversity training programs. Basically these programs are designed to change the behavior/attitudes of employees and develop behaviors to work with diverse workforce.

Attitude awareness and change programs

These programs are designed to create awareness among employees about the differences in cultural back grounds, ethnicity, or personal characteristics which influence behavior towards others. The thinking behind these programs is that it would help employees to avoid negative stereotypes when working with diverse workforce. These programs help employees to examine the cultural difference among work force, their attitude towards minorities etc. Video tapes and experiential exercises are used to create awareness of negative stereotypes effect on minority.

Behavior based programs

These are the programs use to change those behaviors which ultimately create hindrance in personal growth and productivity.

One approach is to ask the employees (create focus groups) to point out the incidents in which situations of employees differences were handled unfairly. Furthermore specific training programs are developed by HRD to address the issues presented by the focus groups. Another approach is to train the employees about the basic behaviors they need to have in the workforce. E.g. managers and employees should learn to avoid statements containing negative racial, sexual and cultural content. Another important behavior based approach is the ‘Cultural immersion programs’. In these programs employees are sent into different cultural, racial and national communities so that their living styles can be studied. The degree of interaction varies and may involve talking with community members, working in community organization or just learning about their culture. Behavior modeling techniques are often used in which one interpersonal skill is highlighted. Each training session presents rationale behind key behaviors, a role model performs those key behaviors in video tape and then a session is devoted in learning how these behaviors can be used in jobs.

Team building methods

These methods are designed to improve team or group effectiveness. Talking about globalization and diversity, people from different origins and cultural backgrounds have to work together in teams so these methods are very useful. Group building methods help teams increase their skills for effective team work. In this regard a couple of team building techniques to understand people’s feelings, perceptions, beliefs while working in groups. Team building methods often involve experiential learning. Team building methods include adventure learning (through outdoor activities), team training and action learning (working on an actual plan).

Masculinity Vs Femininity(Pakistani Context)

2009-02-16T11:01:00.000-08:00

There are some factors which we have to consider when we talk about Masculinity and Femininity in any particular culture.

1. Proportion of the gender having more or equal dominance
2. Values held by the different genders
3. Expectations of organizational roles for each gender
4. Contribution of each gender in Decision making
5. Influence of the religion
6. Degree of competitiveness and Assertiveness in genders
Now I will discuss them one by one according to the Pakistani culture
Proportion of the gender having more or equal dominance

The definition of dominance is an individual's preferential access to resources over another. Clearly, if males dominate females, it is to restrict mating opportunities for other males. Dominance is measured by the number of times individuals defer to one another in social or other interactions

This factor has lot to do with the population factor. There are three major cities of Pakistan for which the issue is quite discussable; otherwise if we talk about the major population of Pakistan, Male has the dominance because of many factors. Remember that it is not possible to have the full dominance of any gender in any society. So in this context we have to think which gender has a greater impact comparatively. Now if we talk about the Pakistani culture, Male is normally the sole earner of the family or sometimes there are more than one man who is earning for his family. Another factor that leads to dominance is power. The more a person has the power, the more likelihood of dominance will be there.

The power can be achieved through many sources. One very conventional source is the power through position. So if we closely look at our society, there are more males than females who have the power through position. There are more number of politicians, high level managers and CEOs who are at the top position which shows the male dominance in the society. Now if we follow the above mentioned definition, I cannot find a single profession which has the female dominance until it is something which can only be done by females. The example I had in my mind was Doctors who have specialized in Gynecology. There must be many of course, but still if we safely assume, there are more number of males in any profession than females.

Values held by the different genders

This factor has to do with the importance that a particular gender gives when he/she is working in an environment. Hofstede conducted a research in Canada and China where noted that in a work setting, males value "advancement, earnings, training, up-to-dateness” while females value “friendly atmosphere, position security, physical conditions and manager cooperation” Now if we take the example of Pakistani gender in a work environment, we have to think what both genders value more in a work setting. Salary is an aspect which has the equal importance for both.

But if we talk about the other aspects, Females also look for a friendly work environment where their managers are more cooperative while males are more concerned with growth in an organization. In general, Pakistani women are virtuous, painstaking, graceful, homely, and selfless and God-fearing than western women. As we have discussed earlier that there are more males in Pakistan who are at the top position than females so these factors could be one of the reasons.

Expectations of organizational roles for each gender
For this factor, I have asked 20 people from different background that what role they expect from each gender. I will divide them into three categories. One is Conservatives, other is Mediocres and the third group is Elite group. Three of them gave me three different answers. Conservatives said that there is no need for female to work if the male of the family is earning and it is not at all a good practice that our females go to workplace and work side by side with males. The second group is Mediocres, who believe that Women should work, but they have defined certain roles for women and men. They said that Male can do any sort of work but there are some restrictions for females. They can work in professions like Teaching, Teaching and Teaching. When I asked them what else, they have no answer at all but they have added one thing that Professions like Teaching. The third and the last group is the Elite class of our society who talked about the women and men equality. They have their reservations that women cannot do labor kind of work but otherwise, if we talk about the work setting which we have discussed previously, if the above conditions applied for females, they can work anywhere. Unfortunately, most of the people belong to Mediocre when I conducted this survey and it is the fact that our society mostly wants females to work as a teacher. This doesn’t look quite obvious, if we see our overall environment and our perceptual field, but that is true because most of our population belongs to rural areas.

Contribution of each gender in Decision making

This aspect has more to do with our family setting rather than the work setting because in Work setting there are other certain factors that are pertaining for example designation. When we look our family settings, it is very clear that male has a very dominant position while making any kind of decision. Yes, females are there just to support the decision or give there suggestions, but in the end it’s the male choice to accept this or not. Also this factor has nothing to do with any kind of group. This practice is very common in all type of classes.

Influence of the religion
There are certain restrictions by our religion that Women cannot do any kind of job. There are many different views of different Muslim Scholars. Some says that she can work under some circumstances that she should be provided with secure transportation and should not cross the religious limits as she will be working with men too.
Degree of competitiveness and Assertiveness in genders
The last factor deals with the degree of competitiveness and assertiveness in both genders. Now this factor has certain intricacies. If we look at our environment, we found women as good as males. They are not just competent but also they are very assertive. Research has proved that females are equally competent in terms of mindset as males. But in Pakistani context, when we are discussing this issue, we have analyzed it with two major factors; one is the exposure each gender gets and the other is level of education each gender achieves. There is a trend that is developing now a days to educate women in rural areas but still a lot of work has to be done in order to change the perception who represent a major population of Pakistan. In major cities, we see a trend is emerging to educate their females equivalent to males. But I have seen many girls who still sacrifices for their education and let their brothers go for higher education. If we are taking the example of our university only where the gender ratio is almost the same, we can safely assume that degree of competitiveness and assertiveness is the same. But there is a point which I would like to make that in my two years of MBA; I have seen five to six marriages of my female class fellows. All of them were good at studies and GPA holders. To my surprise, none of them is working any where, hence they are not contributing their competitiveness to the society so what was the purpose of getting good GPAs.
Upbringing of a Male who becomes dominant by the Female who is less dominant
The question was How a Male becomes dominant when he is brought up by a female who is less dominant in our society. I believe we as Pakistani are living in a Collectivist Society. So the upbringing is not just by the mother but it’s the whole family system that is coming in our system from a very long time. We are taught from the very beginning to respect elders and the people around you. The whole family system has values which are mostly common in every family system in our society. I have seen this many times in my life that when someone lacks something, he/she wants his next generation not be what he/she used to be. For example, a teacher who gives you immense workload, if he doesn’t work hard in his student life and because of that he has suffered a lot and he doesn’t want his students to have this same inferiority. I have seen many women who haven’t gone to school when they were young; they have a greater desire than those who are educated to educate their children as much as they can.So the same is true in terms of dominance. In my opinion, it’s a human nature that these inferiority complexes are motivation of the upbringing of a child that is common in Pakistan. Women anywhere in the world want two things for sure regardless of the culture; one is security and other is good behavior.Although research has proved that Women are as competent as males, but still women cannot compare themselves in terms of power and stamina. So they are dependent on males for many reasons, even if they are working somewhere. So the first thing can be inferiority complexes and the second thing is the social values that are coming from generation to generation. We are taught from our childhood that a male can only be the head of the family and he should have a control over it. The mothers taught them that you will be the earner for us in the future, so with the time being he becomes dominant and moredominant. So the kid is not just brought up by the mothers, it’s actually the whole ritual and value system that has an effect on the kid upbringing. Moreover, he got influence from his peers and the happenings around him that how man is more influential than female.

2009-02-15T10:48:00.000-08:00