Innovative ideas and technology can jointly give a new meaning to branding and marketing, analysts said yesterday.
Consumers nowadays are more conscious and demanding, so effective branding is needed, they said at the seventh edition of the Communication Summit, organised by the Bangladesh Brand Forum in association with Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
About 350 professionals from business organisations, marketing and creative agencies and the related sectors attended the daylong summit at the capital’s Le Meridien hotel.
The theme of this year’s event, which was presented by Meghna Group of Industries, supported by Rangs Toshiba and powered by The Daily Star, was empowering creativity with a multi-connected world.
“Digital channels, especially Facebook and other social media or websites, can play the role of a marketing and branding tool,” said Vikas Mehta, former chief executive officer of Lowe Dubai.
However, technology will not be the main driver; innovative ideas are also needed, he added.
“To achieve more success in the international market, entrepreneurs need to brand Bangladesh with the ‘halal’ tag,” said Jonathan AJ Wilson, a professor and consultant expert in ABCDs of Business and Culture, Halal, Muslim and Ethnic Markets at GSM London.
He also said local brand agencies should change their ways of delivering messages. “None should say Bangladesh is a great country. Rather, you should say why Bangladesh is a great country.” The move would not only brand Bangladesh but also the product. “And that’s why people trust Japan-made products,” he added. For branding anything, the agencies and marketers need to connect people with the product, said KV Sridhar, a veteran Indian adman.
The gap between the higher management and the young agency executives also needs to be addressed to get the maximum success from campaigns, he added.
Marketing and branding is not the same thing and there is a knowledge gap from the clients’ side, said Syed Gousul Alam Shaon, managing director of Grey Advertising Bangladesh Limited. “We, the idea agencies, are now facing heat from the digital agencies, as you can do whatever you want to do by using technology.”
However, there will be a question of quality, he added. But Mehta said if an agency is working with ideas it has nothing to lose as ideas always dominate regardless of the technology breakthrough in the market.
“Digital agencies can never challenge the branding market as they have less creativity. They are working with mostly Facebook and other social media platforms,” he added.
The industry should accept the presence of digital agencies and in the near future technology will do lots of the branding work, said Shariful Islam, managing director of the BBF. But agencies will always be needed for creativity and ideas, he added.
The marketing and creative agencies are not only selling the products they are also helping to build the society, said Asif Iqbal, executive director of marketing at Meghna Group of Industries. Also at the summit, Grey Advertising Bangladesh and Bitopi Advertising presented separate case studies focusing on their individual campaign stories, problems and ways of solving them.
Alongside the sessions, two workshops were arranged, one of which was specifically for the startup founders/co-founders, conducted by Wilson of GSM London.
The other one was a walk-in workshop conducted by visual artist Nazia Andaleeb Preema, also a director of the BBF. Preema engaged her audience with several interactive activities and shared her thoughts on the importance of creativity.
Over 40 of the award-winning advertising and PR campaigns at the 64th Cannes Lions festival were showcased with still images and campaign stories, with a view to educating local agencies on how to develop award winning ideas.
The summit was followed by Commward – Excellence in Creative Communication, an award of the BBF to inspire creativity in marketing communication and honour the best ad campaigns of the country.
–
