"Record-Breaking" Marketing by ROBI !!!

Here's a question for you all, "whats the best day to market yourself as a brand made for a a particular country?"

It's without a doubt a day of national importance, although it might vary across nations, in Bangladesh the victory day is the perfect day for it. While in earlier years it was all about making fancy and heart touching TVC to commemorate the birth of this nation as a free country but what Robi did this year was indeed a benchmark of its very own.

Robi decided to break the record of the largest human flag in the world verified by none other than the Guinness book of records.Here's why this was a really smart move:

1. It was able to create a buzz in the media and many voluteered to be a part of this attempt ( more than 27,000 people volunteered!)

2. It got media coverage literally EVERYWHERE. In all the media there is.

3. Everyone was busy talking about it or atleast knew what was going on unless you live in the jungle with no connection to society what so ever

4. By taking this initiative Robi made a huge impact into the telecom market ( although I am not aware about their sales figure though)

Nevertheless, this was one hell of a clutter cutting campaigns of the year. You guys deserve it. :D

Azad Products - Marketing in Critical times. :P

Prothom Alo & Bangladesh

So the leading daily newspaper came up with a new campaign this year, which without a doubt caught my attention. Lets have a look at the ads ( there are three categories) and then I will proceed with my dissection. :D

AD 1: This one focuses on one of the majority in Bangladesh, the farmers. For those of you who don't understand Bengali, the ad basically portrays a bunch of kids pretending to be kids and playing saying who cares if people goes without any food, then the lead farmer takes the stage and says " this is not kids game, we are the majority, as long as we are here no one will go hungry".
that's more or less the idea.

There are two more installments in this campaign, focusing, yet again majorities of Bangladesh like the students, and the garments workers. ( See the bottom for the videos)

This campaign is called "Poth harabena Bangladesh" or "Bangladesh will not lose it's way/goal". Grey Advertising Agency is the brains behind it.

Dissection: Well, the ads are good. I mean they are touching and kinda moves you to the point ( thanks to the background music) of getting goosebumps. However I am not sure if this is the reality here in Bangladesh. At least not at the moment. Do the majorities really mean something or are we captive under the notion of so called demo--.......maybe later. :p

Enjoy the other two videos. I will be back with more.

AD 2: Student

AD 3: Garments worker (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_-wruYG3Dg )

Banglawash taking the internet by storm

Amid all the political confusion, the Bangladeshi cricket team has made us proud. Very proud.  Their recent innings against New Zealand has been nothing short of spectacular! They really did ‘banglawash’ the kiwis!

Needless to say, the banglawash has taken the internet by storm. I see banglawash ads everywhere. This particular ad caught my attention-Banglawash with tiger protein and new improved anti-kiwi formula. This sure is innovative and especially now that the whole country is frenzied with joy about our recent win, this ad is quite effective too. George’s Café’s ad campaigns, as I have observed, are well targeted and clever. This particular one had 179 shares already and over 370 likes.

Good job, Bangladeshi cricket team!  I hope they banglawash more teams. It won’t be long till they win the World Cup. Here’s wishing them good luck for their future innings! I’ll meet you all next week, till then take care and happy holidays! :)

*Drum Rolls*

This blog is about to become way more fun. :D

Eid Mubarak!

Eid Mubarak to you all. Here's a recent "thoughtful" and "smart" ad that caught my eye. Enjoy the holidays and have fun. :)

The not so unexpected 3G wars!

Well, after a lot of anticipation and patience the people of Bangladesh will finally get a taste of the 3G, Some might have already "tried" it at specialized booths or certain zones where the service is now available. Although this might be of something "odd" as most of the world are already living, eating and breathing in the 4G world and moving towards 5G without much fuss. However at this side of the world, this is like a dream come true ( well for most at least).

So from the day of the bidding the marketing world has been already buzzing about which telecom company will make the most out of this and cut through the clutter of everyone calling out 3G!

So far unfortunately NONE was able to catch my eyes yet.

However,
something DID happen that caught my eyes.
1. Grameen Phone changed their Tagline to " echee holei cholo bohudur" aka "Go Beyond, If you Want"

2. Banglalink also changed their Tagline to " Notun kichu koro" aka "Do Something New". I smell some long term plan here folks. Lets see. 

I AM REAL!?!!

So recently there has been a new player in the ever expanding fruit juice market in Bangladesh. The brand “I am Real” caught my attention while I was shopping in my neighborhood’s super store. I thought it was some foreign brand and liked the packaging very much. The pristine glass bottle, the funky label and the natural color of the fruit juice peeking through the clear bottle.

What makes it different from the other brands currently in the market is its mission of selling 100% natural juice whereas the other brands are all in most cases use artificial color and flavoring. I also find their marketing approach to be unique in the way they have positioned themselves. Not to forget their home delivery service which is pretty cool since they are not yet widely available.

On the downside, the name is just too clichéd. I know its to the point but still, they should have come up with a better brand name to expand more in the future. However, they are still at an infant stage so things are still a bit shaky to predict their future. However given proper finances and distribution model and a unique marketing strategy they can secure enough niche to be considered one of the best juices in the country at the moment. Best of luck!

I am Back!!!

First of all, my sincere apology for being absent for sometime now. However I am done with my exams and I am super excited. I have tons of things to share with you all; the heated ice cream wars, the new Ananta Jolil ad campaign, the opening of the Jamuna Future Park, the 3G bidding and lots and lots more.Stay tuned. :D

Innovative Eid Promotion (Part 2)

This is by far the best campaign according to me this year for Eid. So this campaign is by none other than the number 1 soft drink in the world Coca Cola. 

The holistic campaign goes around something like this

1. Coke Introduced new labels with space to write messages in an attempt to spread happiness. 

translation: Lend a hand and spread Happiness.

2. Creates a new TVC that explains the campaign ( video posted below)

3. Links one of the major Radio station to promote the campaign

4. Best part: the message contest by Radio Foorti will be used to send loved ones a special message no matter the distance along with gifts. 

So cute. Now that’s literally about opening happiness. ^_^

Innovative promotions for Eid (Part 1)

This year Mojo, a soft drink brand of Bangladesh have re launched their previous years' offer once again. I find this promotion quite interesting and out of the box. So basically Eid which means Happiness in other words, is increased by the customs of buying new clothes. For a lot of people this might be something beyond their capability at present market rates. So Mojo comes up with this campaign that would give their customers an offer to get their Eid shopping done. Seems pretty cool to me!

Cutting the clutter of Adulterated Fish

I mean seriously, adding chemicals to induce the life span of everyday food items is just too "yesterday". In Bangladesh you would find these harmful activities being carried out every where almost. Unless of until you are lucky enough to have your own private garden or farm out of the city that ensures your access to unadulterated food.

Recently this superstore called "Unimart" came up with a way to position them in an interesting way when it comes to selling fish.

Behold! An alley of aquariums to hold live fish. Buyers can now chose from a variety of fish while they are alive and swimming in the water of these aquarium. Although it would have been way cool if the customers had the opportunity to catch them with a net ( just my point of view, I am sure a lot of the customers will not be that excited about getting their hands a bit dirty). 

Although this is a neat idea imported from China, where people only buy things that are living, I wonder how they will manage to sell "Ilish" or "Hilsha"fish as they have a tendency to die out the moment they are caught from the sea or rivers. Nevertheless this, from my point of view looks cool. Only question now is will it be effective enough? Let's see!

Ramadan Promotion: Something Different!

Well, honestly a lot of the top notch to medium range hotels/ restaurants/ cafes are already providing various Iftar offers like Buffet with Dinner and special Iftar box and so on. However this particular promotion caught my eye and i found it to be pretty unique.

Behold, a "Midnight Biriyani Buffet"!! Although eating out for seheri or suhur at Puran Dhaka is a nothing out of the usual but here in the is something totally different, i mean all you can eat Biriyani buffet!!! Now that's cutting the clutter. Although I would rather have a decent sleep before suhur and eat home made food with my family, I do believe there are foodies who wouldn't miss such an offer.

Ramadan Promotions! Part 1: The Great Big Iftar

Like all other years we Muslims fast from Dawn to Dusk for one month which leaves the restaurants in a dilemma. How can they cope up with the loss of business for 10 hours or more? Well the idea lies in selling Iftar. However is simply selling Iftar like every other store you can think of, specially when they are all selling the same kind of items, good enough to salvage the business for a months time?

So, it probably started 6 or 7 years back when Pizza Hut, the popular franchise decided to take a different approach for the month. The idea worked like Magic. They started an offer which sounded too good to miss. Pizza Hut started serving all you can eat pizzas and unlimited coke refills. The conclusion? This promotion started drawing out customers from their home and started pouring them into their outlets. That was probably, if I am not wrong, the first time that we started intentionally going out to break our fast, whereas before, this was simply done under unavoidable circumstances.

I can't find the promotion Pizza Hut was offering back then, but I do have the promotional poster they have released for this year. take a look!

Lastly, I would say that although the inflation rate did hit this offer's pricing however there has been complains about slow services and moderate tasting pizza's. However one does not simply stop going to Pizza Hut's Iftar Offer despite the dissatisfaction one faced!

Ramadan Kareem!!

Guess I have been slacking off lately, but I will be posting on the Innovative and Interesting hits and miss for marketing promotions that are directed towards this Holy month of Ramadan, So keep visiting and I promise you can find something worthwhile. Off to sleep for now! Goodnight! :)

BD Cyclist

Grameen Phone AD- BD Cyclist

One of my favorite ways to pass time is watching ads. They are usually clean short and are able to conjure amazing emotions in a matter of seconds. I guess most of the ads loving Bangladeshis are already buzzing about this latest production of Grey; the GP ad featuring the BD cyclists so I should too. This was one of those inspiring Ads that get you hooked like a fish stuck on bait to every word that was being uttered. Overall it was beautifully executed. The link is given on top of this post so if you haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, do so and let me know about your feeling about the ad!

Client: Grameenphone Ltd
Campaign: GP Thematic (BD cyclist)
Agency: Grey Advertising Bangladesh Ltd.
Executive Creative Director: Syed Gousul Alam Shaon
Group Creative Director: Constantine Chew
Associate Creative Director: Jaiyyanul Huq, Mahbub Alam Mahi
Copywriter: Anam Biswas, Fahim Reza

Head of Account and Planning: Shafquat Wasi Ahmed
Client Servicing Director: Siddhi Prada Bhattacharyya
Campaign Manager: Shahnawaz Ahmed, Tauhid Hasan
Campaign Executive: Rajib Kundu
Intern: Ronie imran, Taranna jamil

Production House: HALF STOP DOWN
Director: AMITABH REZA
DOP: Rashed Zaman
Artist: Bd cyclists
Music: Rupart Fanandes

Korolla

Well for those of you are not Bangladeshi; this word might strike it odd.

Curious? Could it be some new marketing term? Is it "Toyota's" new model of car? Not quite. This is but a humble vegetable that's commonly found in this part of Asia and well, although packed with lots of good things is not the most favorite thing in the world for most. Bitter Gourd; My one true inspiration to start this blog!

Well I am not an expert by any means in marketing but my love for the subject and its intricate wonders in our everyday life even in this densely populated part of this world doesn’t fail to amaze me. So here goes nothing, this is Shorna blogging these marketing misfits, amusements from Bangladesh. Here’s to love and Marketing.

^_^