When something sells, everyone flocks to be associated with it and of course, the brands will not stay behind. For some years now, during the Cricket World Cup time, we get campaigns specifically to encash the affiliation and inflame patriotism for the country. There are brands, which directly relate themselves to the Pakistani team, while others simply joyride on the frenzy that ensues.

The first one to pop the bubble this year was Coke, who have been quite aggressive with their Cricket frenzy in Pakistani spirit for some time. Pepsi of course, would not be left behind and came up with a recent ad, which shows the Pakistani team having some fun in the airport.

Oh wait, doesn’t this look familiar? I trawled around the web just to search what was up and here’s what I found:

A football based ad of Nike from ’98…

If I say I’m speechless, it would be right. Both ads even start the same way, but where the football commercial keeps you sitting at the edge of your seat due to its quick pace and quality, the Pepsi ad bores you with the same old story about the last Pepsi being reserved for the winner.

Is this the best that could be done on a brand that should by now be evolving into the new generation’s voice, rather than giving audience stale ideas that have been pulled off of youtube? I mean, we are entering the digital age here, where the target audience is just sitting there waiting for something good. You just have to know, how to reach them.

The only thing I can say in the end: “Son, I am disappoint”.

Meat One opened its doors to public on Sunday, 18th July 2010, and it turns out that these guys specialize in selling export quality meat at very affordable rates. The soft launch kicked off with a press conference in which Meat One’s COO, Kazim Namazi, briefed the journalists about the company’s ambitious plans to open 20 more outlets in the city during the next one year. They slaughter their animals in their semi-automated slaughter house and then transport the carcasses in refrigerated vans to the Meat One shop, where it is further sliced and diced according to customer specifications.

The air conditioned shop looks state-of-the-art with a friendly staff. Personally I don’t visit meat shops in general so it was good experience of no flies and smell. The meat was neatly stacked and packed in chillers. For fresh cuts, trained butchers are available to fashion the meat in whatever sizes/cuts one wants.

The shop offers beef, veal, mutton, lamb, chicken and a wide variety of meat cuts from local favorites to the more exotic ones. I was feeling a bit rebellious so I opted for mutton chops and chicken steak. They also offer a variety of deli and marinated products. There is a 15% discount across the board on all meat products during this entire week along with a free espresso so if you want to try it out this week’s the ticket.

The first Blog Awards received 207 entries for 41 defined categories, which were judged by 14 industry experts. Welcoming around 300 guests that not only included nominated bloggers but tech gurus and industry specialists whose input made the evening intellectually riveting.

Nominee hand bands

From our contributing bloggers, four got lucky in winning for the following categories:

• Best Podcast (Awab Alvi & Faisal Kapadia)
• Political Blogger (Teeth Maestro)
• Best Live Photo Blogger (Jamash)
• Photo Blogger (Raja Islam)

The awards announcements were sporadically done and complimented by three Unconference sessions featuring industry luminaries of respective fields; in short:

Session 1:

Topic: Innovation in Media

Panelists: Amin Rammal, CEO Digispace
Sarmad Ali, MD Mktg & Adv Sales, Jang
Bushra Iqbal, Digital Team Leader, P&G
Nabiah Mohammad, Dawn News
Naveen Naqvi, Blogger and News anchor
Faizan Leghari (audience member)
Mohammad Jehanzeb (audience member)

Summary: The evolution of new media and it’s increasing role of how people access it. There was a time that TV and Print were the only mediums of news; however, with ever increasing internet penetration (cable/broadband), users are switching bandwagons. They see and hear exactly what they want to rather than some designated representatives that provide only one side of the story. Blogosphere has played a major part in making that happen with citizen journalism and active participation in making the voices of masses heard, highlighting the real socio-political issues.

IPTV is in its nascent stages but there would come a time when the content being seen would be totally ruled by the viewer along with customization. An example of it is Youtube presenting an array of tagged content that is easy to find.

The time of innovation is NOW and many traditional media vehicles are finally catching up to it. E.g., introduction of epaper, Live streaming of news and programs online, updates and alerts regarding content and competitions via SMS, IVR and Web, interactive Outdoors, etc.

Session2:

Topic: Selling 3.0

Panelists: Ali Raza Merchant, Synergyzer & BrandSynario
Adil Ahmed, CEO The Symmetry
Badar Khushnood, Google Pakistan
Imran Moinuddin, NexDegree
Adil Ahmed (audience member)
Mohsin Jaffrey (audience member)

Summary: Digital Marketing is an infant in Pakistan that has just started crawling on its knees. It has a long way to go yet it’s not the time to write it off rather time for investment. Compared to other mediums this is highly customizable, interactive and cost-effective. I would disagree with the audience view on this topic that Pakistan only has 18M (it’s actually 20Million now) online users thus investing on such a small population is a waste. Interesting fact that Badar pointed out was that Mobility has to be made part of the digital world rather than only online.

In case of Pakistan, 58% of population (96M) possesses a mobile that is actually a part of their personality (leaving home, there are three things that no one forgets: wallet, keys and mobile). Pakistanis are ready for Digital Marketing campaigns that is proven by increasing brands taking up the challenge, just to name a few: PTCL, Mobilink, Telenor, Warid, Ufone, Zong, Nokia, all major brands of Unilever and mostly banks. It’s a high time that such limited mindsets are turned towards the traceability of digital campaigns along with high ROI via click rates, page views, SMS traffic, registrations, calls, etc.

In case of local content, our regional areas are rife with cultural treasures that can be acquired to produce engaging entertainment for the masses. The copyright issues are to be ironed out with clear rules and regulations for a profitable music and entertainment industry.

Session 3:

Topic: Engage & Converge

Panelists: Sidra Iqbal, Television anchor
Aleem Bawany – Express C/O Badar
Yasir Riaz, GEO
Jeremy Higgs, NOWPDP
Ashar Zaidi, Intel Pakistan
George Fulton, Journalist and Television anchor

Summary: With content being easily available now, panelists talked about what made them click in the viewers’ eyes and had a viral effect for increased traffic. Tech savvy users have very less time for advertisements and more time for exactly what they want to see and hear (music, videos, movies, games, etc.) They can zip websites; pick and choose the relevant content as per their preference. The content stickiness via creative content or friends endorsement are needed in order to bring in the traffic.

Many types of viral videos were discussed like some classics like Meera video, Thakur ka Inteqaam, Captain Safeguard, etc. There’s definitely a need of more such content to be produced locally. The Pakistani blogosphere has made this lacking area fill with increasingly colorful content comprising of beautiful pictures and videos of the picturesque locations, social stories, political views, individualistic opinions that ranges from satirical to solemn.

All in all, the event was a resounding success, recognizing local intellectuals, who make a point in getting heard about various socio-economic, political and lifestyle issues. Hopefully, this is the first of many.

Blog Awards Winners’ list:

Best Celebrity Blog

Naveen Naqvi – naveenaqvi.com

Best Culture Blog

Yasir Niaz – yasirniaz.blogspot.com

Best Fashion Blog

Irfan Ahson – bridalfashions.wordpress.com

Best Gossip Blog

Rafaeel Akbar – blog.roofe.net

Best Humor Blog

Tazeen – tazeen-tazeen.blogspot.com

Best Music Blog

Hammad dar – koolmuzone.com

Best Photo Blog

Awais Yaqub – www.photopakistan.blogspot.com

Photo Blogger

Raja Islam – www.flickr.com/rajaislam

Muhammad Khabbab – lahoregardening.blogspot.com

Best Podcast

Teeth Maestro (Awab Alvi & Faisal Kapadia) – laidbackshow.com

Business Blog

Salma Jafri – wordpl.net

Best Current Affairs Blog:

Adil Najam – pakistaniat.com

Best Diarist

Momal Mushtaq – mm89.wordpress.com

Best Ezine

Sarosh Waiz – pakmediablog.net

Best Food Blog

Neelam Hamid – neelscorner.com

Travel Blog

Nabeel – eatntravel.pk

Urdu Blog

Fahad Kehar – abushamil.com

Best Political Coverage Blog

Ahsan butt – fiverupees.com

Best Sports Blog

Mudassir Aijaz – reverseswing.wordpress.com

Best Personal Blog

Salman Latif – salmanlatif.wordpress.com

Political blogger

Teeth Maestro – www.teeth.com.pk/blog

Best Individual Blogger

Awais Aftab – awaisaftab.blogspot.com

Best Automobile Blog

Mohammad Khan – caradvice.pk

Best Education Blog

Khurram Hassan Shafique – nextstepforward.net

Tips and Tricks

Qasim Imtiaz – cellplugin.blogspot.com

Best Gaming Blog

Ali Sharaq – actionradius.com/jdl

Best Technology (Domestic) Blog

Tech Lahore – techlahore.com

Best Technology (International) Blog

Haris Nadeem  - sizzledcore.com

Imran Hussain – ithinkdiff.com

Taimur Asad – redmondpie.com

Saad Hamid – sizlopedia.com

Best News Media Channel

Adeel Ayub – geotauaisay.com

Best Online Community Blog

Yasir Nisar – www.flickr.com/groups/pakistaniphotographers

Activist Blogger

Sana Saleem – sanasaleem.com

Live Blogger

Fariha Akhtar

Tech hardware

Abdullah Saad – wccftech.com

Best Live Photo Blogger

Jamal Ashiqain – karachiart.blogspot.com

Best Blog Aggregator

Asim Imtiaz, Ammar Yasir, Asad Ullah and Hamza Zafar – teabreak.pk

Best News Broken on a Blog

Farhan Janjua – guppu.com

Best Local Humor

Touseef Ikram – paksatire.com

Best Industry Support

Jehan Ara

Sources: CIO Pakistan and Converge Weekly

Pictures courtesy: Jamal, Raja and CIO

CAI competition is open to anyone in Pakistan with bold ideas and tremendous talent.  Whether it is someone new to mobile or an experienced coder, Nokia is offering new opportunities for local developers to grow their business.  The competition challenges mobile and web application developers to submit entries for locally relevant content in English or Urdu in any of these four categories; Eco/Being Green, Entertainment, Productivity and Life Improvement. Details about each of these categories are available here. 

Talking about launch of Calling All Innovators Competition in Pakistan, Nauman Durrani, Services Manager, Nokia Pakistan & Afghanistan said, “We are very excited to bring Calling All Innovators Competition to Pakistan this year. There are some highly talented web developers in Pakistan and Nokia Calling All Innovators Competition will give them a great opportunity to inspire people all over the world with their creative ideas. Nokia Pakistan has high hopes from Pakistani developers and we are certain to receive some really wonderful applications”.

Submission deadline is 18 May 2010, with finalist being announced in June 2010 and winners being announced in September 2010. All eligible entries received will be judged by the sponsor and industry experts. Criteria for choosing the winner include quality and functionality; uniqueness and innovativeness; usability and creativity; and ability to fulfil users’ needs in terms of relevancy and customer adoption.

Grand prize winner will receive a special prize of 1,000,000/- PKR in cash; “spotlight” placement featuring the winning application for 4 weeks on the top page of Nokia’s Ovi Store; and paid travel and accommodation to demo the winning application at a Nokia specified event.  The winning application will also be reviewed by Nokia for possible preload on future Nokia devices. Additionally, two runners-up will get 500,000/- PKR in cash and 300,000/- PKR in cash respectively; and “spotlight” placement featuring the winning application for 3 weeks on a relevant category page on Nokia’s Ovi Store. The winners in all four applications categories will also receive a one-year membership in Forum Nokia Launchpad, which is designed to accelerate mobile application development and elevate your business visibility in the mobile world.

More information about Nokia’s Calling All Innovators Pakistan, including how to submit an application and complete contest rules and requirements can be found online here.

Via Converge Weekly

The concept of the website is all about being a part of a journey towards a brighter tomorrow. You can register to claim your own pixel and declare yourself a Nishan-e-Azm. Every pixel represents one more Pakistani determined to bring Pakistan back to its rightful glory. As pixels are added in, we can see a colored picture of Minar-e-Pakistan emerging. You can also participate by SMS’ing your AZM<space>Name to 5454 (Rs. 1+GST).

The website also has added another campaign which is National Song Competition. Exciting for all those striving singers out there. Not only does it encourage people to submit their own song but also provides an opportunity for them to be a part of Azme Alishan National Song CD.

Some on-ground activities also happened in Lahore, like the Dia Activity where people lighted dia of their Azms – all building up and towards the 23^rd of March, 2010.

You can be a part of this initiative as well. For more, check out their Facebook fanpage or Twitter.

I have made my Azm, have you made yours?

Don’t worry, this is about Karachi, something edible and easily available here.

So, what is this exactly?

Definitely a story is attached with this. And here it is after a day long wait:

It’s a Doughnut (Billie Jeans kinda got it right). Not a home baked doughnut even. A “Dunkin’ Donut” double chocolate doughnut of all the things, which arrived with the double sandwich deal they are currently running. This simultaneously amazed and icked me out.

Talk about misshapen doughnut! I’ve not been a regular in case of Dunkin’ Donut but at least knew for a fact that doughnuts are their speciality and are usually scrumptuous. However, to the contrary that day’s delivery consisted of two over-toasted Omwiches and doughnuts shaped like a puddle of clay.

Rs. 220 down the drain and I’ve had it with their service, omwich and doughnuts even. I would safely check the ordered stuff before returning the deliverer, if I were you.

I guess, being cautious helps, especially in case of food.

Sometimes children bring such sanity of things that leaves adults speechless. I felt the same, when I went to the KGS organized blood donation camp “Lifeline” today. Win hearts, give blood, save lives.

The $1-billion-grossing sci-fi fantasy Avatar has currently seized the public mind with its beautiful yet dangerous world of Pandora and its natives Na’Vi with a well-thought out plot. Avatar marks Cameron’s first dramatic feature since 1997’s Titanic, which is shot on the proprietary FUSION digital 3-D cameras developed by Cameron in collaboration with Vince Pace, and will offer a groundbreaking mix of live-action dramatic performances and computer-generated effects.

Locally, the movie has been released in cinemas by Jazz Mobilink with the partnership of Paramount Communications and Mandviwalla Entertainment. Being Avatar’s official Mobile partner in Pakistan, they screened the movie in Karachi Cineplex and introduced an SMS Promotion along with their digital agency to win Avatar tickets and digital content (ring tone, wallpaper and screensavers).

If you are a Jazz subscriber do participate in the simple SMS quiz and you might just win free passes. Also, even if you are not a Jazz subscriber, you can add their Facebook App to participate in an online trivia for the same.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er0sKK0nlu4[/youtube]

Update:

Jazz Avatar Facebook App: Answer a movie trivia question and win a chance to get free ticket of the movie.

Trivia Terms:

50 pairs of tickets to be given away through lucky draw of correct entries on the 7th, 14th and 21st of January 2010.
Fans can only enter the competition once but their entry will be valid for all four lucky draws.
One ticket admits one only.
The tickets are non-transferable and non-refundable.
The tickets are valid at all cinemas playing “Avatar” throughout Pakistan.
Contest closes January 28 2010.

Source: Coverge Weekly

Tables of 10 seats will be available to guests, for which an appropriate voluntary donation will be appreciated. All proceeds from the night will go towards funding the activities of NOWPDP in improving the lives of people with disabilities in Pakistan. If you are interested in attending the event, please contact the NOWPDP office on +92-21-3586 5501, (Ext. 237) .

NOWPDP envisions a society where people with disabilities have equal rights, dignity, justice and access to opportunities. NOWPDP works toward building the capacities of its 150 member organisations, heightening awareness of the cause of people with disabilities, advocating rights and needs, and giving them opportunities that are routinely denied to them. NOWPDP is a registered non-profit organisation. For more information, please visit NOWPDP.

Last edited: 10:43pm, 22/10/09