I've often seen most of my friends on campus getting concerned about two things..... a) which majors they should choose....b) which carrer would be suitable for them.
As sir Mannan rightly said in the first few classes that now is the right time to seriously start thinking about what we all want to do in future. Some of us are quite sure about their future plans....while others like me are still thinking....and confused. Our minds say somethng else....our parents say smthng entirely different.......and ofcourse all those friends,cousins and relatives who keep on showering us with their "wise advices".
"Ye karna....wo mat karna"
"Is ka scope hai.....os ka nai hai"....etc....etc!
At the end of the day....after listening to countless opinions....we're back to square 1.....that is.....CONFUSED!
I woke up this morning and according to the usual routine skimmed through DAWN and realized that the articles in today's Advertisement Supplement "TOP 10 CARRERS IN PAKISTAN" are an Eye Opener. Rozee.pk......a popular website that acts as a recruiting platform for thousands of job seekers around the country.....has conducted a survey revealing Pakistan's hottest carrer tracks. Most importantly they've given the growth potential of different carreers in the coming 5 YEARS!!!
If you dont have the newspaper....then please get hold of today's edition....Its a must read thing...
I would strongly recommend it to all those ***friends*** with whom I often have discussions regarding our choice of Majors and carreer scope in Pakistan...
***(Fatima Arif, Summayyah, Safa, Ayesha, Fatima Zahra, Meerab, Jawad, Bahawal, Usman, Osama, Zeeshan, Shiraz, Sohaib, Nouman.... and others)***
After you all read we can have a discussion either on the blog or in the university.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
A Rapid Shift from "Tv Adds" to "Internet Adds"
Recently an article caught my attention that said....
"MADISON AVENUE is fastening its seat belt as the cascading effects of the financial crisis begin to hit the advertising economy.
As consumers suddenly cut back spending on everything from cars to clothing to cold cuts, companies are reducing their "ad budgets" or shifting to lower-cost alternatives like "e-mail marketing" and "public relations".
That means layoffs at agencies, which since the dot-com bust have been carefully counting heads whenever clients start counting pennies.
Several big agencies have been reducing staff levels throughout this year. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/business/media/07adco.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Thus, it seems as if things like e mail marketing and viral marketing are replacing the conventional style of marketing that was done primarily through advertisements (Tv adds, Billboards, neon signs etc). That's why small companies or the new entrants in the market usually resort to online promotion of their products, i.e., viral marketing. Since the trend of buying and selling online is growing popular everyday, companies feel it’s a cost and time effective method of product promotion.
However, MNCs and other well established businesses still have high add budgets. I guess all this depends on the sales of the product itself. A company might be ready to spend excessively high costs on advertising a product if it is a “cash cow” and is reaping the maximum sales revenue.
"MADISON AVENUE is fastening its seat belt as the cascading effects of the financial crisis begin to hit the advertising economy.
As consumers suddenly cut back spending on everything from cars to clothing to cold cuts, companies are reducing their "ad budgets" or shifting to lower-cost alternatives like "e-mail marketing" and "public relations".
That means layoffs at agencies, which since the dot-com bust have been carefully counting heads whenever clients start counting pennies.
Several big agencies have been reducing staff levels throughout this year. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/business/media/07adco.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Thus, it seems as if things like e mail marketing and viral marketing are replacing the conventional style of marketing that was done primarily through advertisements (Tv adds, Billboards, neon signs etc). That's why small companies or the new entrants in the market usually resort to online promotion of their products, i.e., viral marketing. Since the trend of buying and selling online is growing popular everyday, companies feel it’s a cost and time effective method of product promotion.
However, MNCs and other well established businesses still have high add budgets. I guess all this depends on the sales of the product itself. A company might be ready to spend excessively high costs on advertising a product if it is a “cash cow” and is reaping the maximum sales revenue.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Advertisements v.s Advertisements
Pakistan is a trend-setter in telecommunications. Its Wateen provides countrywide WIMAX, the first in the world to do this. PTCL offers countrywide IPTV, another world first. The price of a call to the USA from a Pakistan cell phone is around 1 cent per minute and SMS is commonly used, included in your package. Ufone, Chinamobile , Mobilink, and other cell phone services offer more services at lower rates than any cell phone services in the United States.
In my opinion, one of the major reasons for the boom in the telecommunication sector is because of the “right” kind of advertisement to the “right” kind of people at the “right” time…!
There’s a strong competition going on between the cellular network companies in Pakistan. Each and every one trying to outdo the rival by yet another attractive offer. A battle of adds seems to have raged up in cities and streets….at home and in public places!
The companies are well aware of the increasing trend of using mobile phones….it has now become a necessity. Secondly they’re also equally aware of the powerful effects of all the eye catching adds they offer. According to a website…
“People of Pakistan are really after good adverts they follow them, believe them, adore them and even rhym the advert songs (if nice)” (http://www.telepk.com/zong/)"
All day long you'd be reminded in a million ways of the different packages these companies are offering. Its just a matter of keenly observing. I did it one day…and was amazed at the results.
In my opinion, one of the major reasons for the boom in the telecommunication sector is because of the “right” kind of advertisement to the “right” kind of people at the “right” time…!
There’s a strong competition going on between the cellular network companies in Pakistan. Each and every one trying to outdo the rival by yet another attractive offer. A battle of adds seems to have raged up in cities and streets….at home and in public places!
The companies are well aware of the increasing trend of using mobile phones….it has now become a necessity. Secondly they’re also equally aware of the powerful effects of all the eye catching adds they offer. According to a website…
“People of Pakistan are really after good adverts they follow them, believe them, adore them and even rhym the advert songs (if nice)” (http://www.telepk.com/zong/)"
All day long you'd be reminded in a million ways of the different packages these companies are offering. Its just a matter of keenly observing. I did it one day…and was amazed at the results.
8:30 am…. On my way to the university, Zong’s latest “pick out a special number for a 24 hour free call” caught my attention. (I really like the add btw)
12:30 pm……I was going back home when I happened to notice a rikshaw stand. Five white and Orange rickshaws were standing in a line. No marks for guessing that “white and orange” refers to ufone’s “sab say sasti call”.
5:00pm….While skimming through a fashion magazine (Vouge)….I came across another of zong’s colourful offer….”Get your SIM at home”.
9:00 pm -11:00 pm…… During these 2 hours that I spent watching tv…I saw atleast a dozen telenor talkshawk adds.
Later that night the worst part came when I got a glimpse of the newspaper(Dawn)…...........
Thus I’ve realized that no matter how intimidating these adds get at times…….they do influence us strongly. That’s why all the cellular network companies are on the run 24/7 to keep their subscribers interested and satisfied.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
How the "Habits"...have disturbed my habits!!!
When sir told us abt the "7 habits"...we were all very skeptical on the idea of reading a book apart from our syllabus book. Much as we all are used to the conventional style of teaching since the day we were born. Asusual we all had stupid fears and silly questions in our minds.......like......
"Yaar ab ye book bhi parhni paray gi saari???"
"Oye agar sir nay is 7habits wali book say quiz lay liya to....*gulp*....*gulp*...???
"Why are we even bothering to study this dry and boring book...??"......................and the list goes on.
However, as things've turned out well for me....I dnt know abt the others but atleast I've started to realize the worth of the 'apparently' boring book. They'r so right when they say that appearances can be deceptive.
The reason why I'm forced to think in this way is the number of changes the book has brought in me so far.
I really like habit 1...."being proactive". The discussionof this habit in class proved to be an eye-opener for a pessimistic and reactive person like me. A proactive person is one who thinks positively and thus undergoes continuous improvement all his life. While a reactive person is very negative and is always blaming circumstances. This blame game affects a reactive person’s social life and thus his circle of influence shrinks and the circle of concern widens, vice versa. So the underlying message is that we all must at all stages of life adopt proactivity as a primary habit. It will reflect on our other habits too and thus help us in becoming a much better person. Try being proactive....believe me u'll start feeling good about yourself......and so will others. The habit makes you do every thing with enthusiasm and viguor and brings out the optimistic person in you.
As far as habit 2 is concerned...."To begin with the end in mind".......I guess it hasnt brought any significant change in me since I feel I was already practicing it. Whenever I take up a task....whether at home or in class....I make sure that I know what results I want to get at the end of the day....that makes things fairly simple for me. But I just wish I was able to apply this habit in my BSC courses.....semesters are passing by.......and I'm still a bit double minded abt my majors.
Honestly speaking the 3rd habit just went right off my head....Its pretty confusing and I find it boring too. I guess I'll have to understand it first inorder to put it into practice.
"Yaar ab ye book bhi parhni paray gi saari???"
"Oye agar sir nay is 7habits wali book say quiz lay liya to....*gulp*....*gulp*...???
"Why are we even bothering to study this dry and boring book...??"......................and the list goes on.
However, as things've turned out well for me....I dnt know abt the others but atleast I've started to realize the worth of the 'apparently' boring book. They'r so right when they say that appearances can be deceptive.
The reason why I'm forced to think in this way is the number of changes the book has brought in me so far.
I really like habit 1...."being proactive". The discussionof this habit in class proved to be an eye-opener for a pessimistic and reactive person like me. A proactive person is one who thinks positively and thus undergoes continuous improvement all his life. While a reactive person is very negative and is always blaming circumstances. This blame game affects a reactive person’s social life and thus his circle of influence shrinks and the circle of concern widens, vice versa. So the underlying message is that we all must at all stages of life adopt proactivity as a primary habit. It will reflect on our other habits too and thus help us in becoming a much better person. Try being proactive....believe me u'll start feeling good about yourself......and so will others. The habit makes you do every thing with enthusiasm and viguor and brings out the optimistic person in you.
As far as habit 2 is concerned...."To begin with the end in mind".......I guess it hasnt brought any significant change in me since I feel I was already practicing it. Whenever I take up a task....whether at home or in class....I make sure that I know what results I want to get at the end of the day....that makes things fairly simple for me. But I just wish I was able to apply this habit in my BSC courses.....semesters are passing by.......and I'm still a bit double minded abt my majors.
Honestly speaking the 3rd habit just went right off my head....Its pretty confusing and I find it boring too. I guess I'll have to understand it first inorder to put it into practice.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Ufone's Mission Statement
With a fresher look than is accepted and appreciated across the board by people of all ages, we aim to connect with you and provide you state of the art services. No matter who you are, where you are, what you want to say, how you want to say it or how you feel, you are our focus. Because at Ufone, it’s all about U!
http://www.ufone.com/about_brand.aspx
http://www.ufone.com/about_brand.aspx
Thursday, October 23, 2008
An Eventful Thursday!!!
As soon as we entered the class we found our sleepy eyed sir sitting crossed legged on the table with a mug of steaming coffee in his hand. The day started off with Usman Khalid’s presentation on DELL computers. It was quite informative. The underlying concept was the “Direct Business Model”. In this fast paced globalised world consumer choices and preferences change rapidly. A product launched in the Market today might become outdated tomorrow. Thus inorder to cater to the changing needs and demands of its customers and to ensure sales maximization Dell introduced this model in its production house. This system enabled the customers to come directly in contact with the suppliers and order products as per their requirements. The new system of eliminating a middle man has so far been a success. However like every other business model it has its own share of problems. Maybe that’s the reason why other big competitors of DELL have still not been able to adopt this system.
Apart from the informative presenatation, sir gave us tips about the way one is suppose to address the class while presenting....... attitude, body language, speaking style....etc.
The rest of the time was spent in discussing chapter 2 in class. We read about concepts like SWOT analysis, Market Segmentation, Market Positioning, The Marketing Mix, Marketing Management etc.
Apart from the informative presenatation, sir gave us tips about the way one is suppose to address the class while presenting....... attitude, body language, speaking style....etc.
The rest of the time was spent in discussing chapter 2 in class. We read about concepts like SWOT analysis, Market Segmentation, Market Positioning, The Marketing Mix, Marketing Management etc.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
A "Routine" class....!!!
The Class began with group 2’s presentation on the 2nd habit. It went fine. The highlight of the presentation, however, were the slides. To say it in Sir Mannan’s style, they were Awesome. The use of bright colours and interesting pictures made the overall presentation less boring. The topic under discussion was “To Begin With the End in Mind”. This means that we must always plan our final goals before initiating anything we intend to do in life. For instance, I as a student should begin my graduation with one aim in mind….. i.e., what do I intend to do after acquiring this degree. Once these ultimate aims are clear in ones mind, it gets easier to move ahead in life. Apart from this several types of people and their lifestyles were discussed like spouse centered people, religion centered people, enemy centered people, self centered people….so on and so forth. After the presentation the first half of chapter 2 of marketing was covered
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