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By Aqsa Tariq

The Marketing Association of Pakistan(MAP) partnered  with Unilever Pakistan this year to host the Marketing Conference, popularly known as Marcon, 2012 on the 21st of March at the Marriott Hotel, Karachi.

Marcon 2012 was indeed an extravagant, all day affair which hosted nearly 400 people belonging to different fields, moderated by the Editor-In-Chief of CIO Pakistan, Rabia Garib. These included marketing professionals, senior members of the industry and renowned personnel from a variety of fields. This year’s theme New Trends & Insights in Creating & Sustaining Competitive Advantage, focused on the countless opportunities one can dive in to gain a competitive edge over others.

Other event partners included Terrabiz, Peak Freans, HBL, Allied Bank, Coca Cola Pakistan Beverages Limited, CNN, Jang Group, MCB, IoBM, CIO Pakistan and Symmetry Group.

The keynote was presented by S. Masood Hashmi, President of the Marketing Association of Pakistan(MAP) and CEO of Orientm McCann Erickson.  Following it, was an extensive insight into what should be done by industry veterans to bring about the desired regional growth by Sakib Sherani, CEO Macroeconomic Insights and Former Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Finance.

Prominent speakers at the conference included Ehsan A. Malik, CEO, Unilever Pakistan Ltd., Afnan Ahsan, CEO Engro Foods, Amir Paracha, VP Marketing (Home and Personal Care) Unilever Pakistan, Javed Jabbar, Global Vice President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Khaliq ur Rehman, VP, MAP, Lahore Chapter and Shoaib Qureshy, CEO, Bulls Eye Communications Group.

Summarizing the fertility of events like the Marcon to the economy, Tarek Miknas, CEO Middle East and Africa, Fortune Promoseven Group made an analogy to peeling a banana from the other end to pull out from ‘the conventional way of doing things’. Since the economy of Pakistan was in the spotlight at Marcon 2012, Coca Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited made a video presentation that echoed the message ‘There are reasons to believe in Pakistan’.  Following it was a short documentary of how technology was used to ‘Rebuild, Reuse and Restabilize’ in a campaign earlier. Here, Haider Ibrahim gave a brief note on ‘Resettling the Indus’, which was an initiative taken by a group or architects and artists after the disastrous floods in 2010.

In addition to the speakers’ lined-up, Marcon 2012 also held two panel discussions. One of these called brought together a panel to discuss Adaptation to the Evolving Relationship between Client, Media and Agencies. Discussed here, were strategies on how to respond to the changing needs of the market. Another panel discussion was the CEO Round Table which discussed the Alignment of Marketing with the Corporate Business Strategy. Discussed here, were essentials that the marketing schemas shouldn’t give up on. As highlighted by one of the speakers, people in Pakistan generally haven’t held grasp over the power of the digital age which is why they are running after the wrong things. With an urge to divert attention towards social media tools, most of the eminent speakers at this year’s largest marketing conference emphasized on the convergence of digital media and creativity in order to project your brand.

Quoting the example of PTCL, Naveed Saeed, Senior Executive Vice President PTCL emphasized on the horizons of marketing that has increased with the emergence of the digital age. He shared the insights of his organization and the significance of viral space digital marketing, social media, internet marketing, mobile marketing as these are the essential new tools for companies that want to maintain competitive edge over others.

Moral of the story, here at Marcon, is that marketing revolves around a nucleus which is the consumer. How one packages and presents one’s product, with a tinge of creativity and innovation is what gives it a competitive edge over others. These days, the audience is spread all over and using different mediums. To engage with the audience is essential if one must reach out to all the potential consumers. With more and more options flowing into the market, people tend to forget one product at a relatively faster pace. In order to keep up with the market and the consumer needs, one must constantly innovate and enhance their performance.

With a sharp understanding of the emerging trends in marketing, use of technology and developing customer centric products, the speakers at this year’s sessions provided valuable tips for marketers who were keen on gaining insight. And that is obviously, only the more necessary because marketing today must be integrated with all other departments in order to bring about a dynamic change in the outlook of the product offering.

 

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