'Whats Up? with Nazim Farhan Choudhury

Nazim Farhan Choudhury participates in the 'Whats Up?' series of email interviews arranged by the Bangladesh Corporate Blog to find out the current snapshots in business activities of Bangladeshi managers, entrepreneurs and executives.

1. How is your business performing during global recession these days?

There are two answers to this. Good and bad. Our advertising business has been hit by the slow down. Clients are cutting back spends. However our graphic services outsourcing business is doing well as more companies are looking for a more value driven proposition for their pre-press solutions.

2. What is the new venture you are looking into now?
Urban door-to-door
Rural activation and distribution
New media strategy and management
Branded content


3. What is your core competitive advantage? Has it remained same or have changed over the last few years?
It has evolved over the last few years. We are basically in the process of moving from being an advertising agency to a complete communications solution provider.

4. Which external factor in the country, economy, market you are concerned with now? How your business plans to tackle it?
A slow down in the garments sector, coupled with the freeze in manpower exports will result in unemployment increasing and thereby affecting the purchasing power of our client’s consumers. That in turn will lead to drop in investments.

We are fast diversifying our offerings so that the value proposition we offer our clients in significant. Instead of going to multiple service providers they can concentrate their relationship will us and as we can manage the entire value chain, we can reduce their investments


5. Do you use any online social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, blogs) to promote your business, yourself? Which ones do you use and how often do you use it?
Yes we do. Some of our newer businesses are on FB (AktiVision, Screaming Girl, Northbrook, amarpotaka, etc) However I must confess; this is really something new for us. Interestingly we now have the capability to manage new media strategy and implementation for our clients.

6. How do you describe your business in one line?
Providing appropriate communication solutions to our clients.


Nazim Farhan Choudhury
Deputy Managing Director
Adcomm

Brilliant dubbers, brilliant brand managers and the Indian advertisers

Unilever, Reckitt, Nestle-- who is not in the league. Bangladeshi TV screens are tirelessly airing Made in India TVCs. No wonder dubbing jobs carried on by Asiatic or Adcomm requires ‘praise’. Press insertions are also snapped from TVCs. Billboards, tri-vision, neon signs, shop signs, posters, festoons, buntings all are derived from the same source. Even shows like Closeup1 ‘tomakei khujche…’ are also ‘inspired’ by Indian idol or American idol. All this replication is being treated as advertisements instead of mere dubbing! MNCs in Bangladesh are full with dubbing managers, rather than having marketing managers or brand managers. Should we rename the division 'dubbing division', and the heads as, director- dubs and developments. May we ask Philip Kotler to write 13th edition of his marketing management as Bangladesh Special where 'chapter-dubbing' will replace 'chapter-integrated marketing communication & promotion.' Amidst all this rub-and-dub, I wonder where the room is for creativity and innovation. Corporates might argue in favor of having uniform advertisements across socially or culturally homogeneous regions in order to cut cost, but that surely happens at the cost of letting go local uniqueness, celebrity endorsements etc.

by Azad. A. Kalam

Student brains ad money

The 3rd Dhaka Advertising Festival will begin at Sonargaon Hotel on September 7 aiming at cementing the ties between the participants and visitors. A competition on the print, outdoor and other creative advertisings by the young and ambitious people will be held during the two-day festival, the Advertising Club Dhaka, the festival organiser, disclosed this at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity on Saturday. The festival organising committee said the festival would provide opportunities for advertising and marketing people to work together for the industry, where outstanding advertising ideas would be encouraged and rewarded. The festival will feature exhibition on outstanding print and outdoor advertisements, television commercial screening, cultural programme and discussion on advertising theory and practice by local and international scholars. The theme of the festival is ‘Advertising-Redefined’, the organisers said adding that everyday the concept of marketing communication was changing with the changes of consumer needs. Organizers said without catering to the consumers’ demand and bringing required changes in the products and ideas one cannot sustain in the present-day competition. They also said the advertising industry in Bangladesh was growing in confidence and international competitive standard and they believe that festival will be an ideal forum for advert firms and visitors.


No wonder our ad firms have matured over time in terms of conceptualization, use of technology and creativity. Asiatic MCL, Adcomm, Mattra, Bitopi, Windmill, Unitrend etc. have timed their 'coming of age' with the growth of various sectors in the country. Nevertheless, the word is in the air that the mushrooming of ad agencies is facilitating the exploitation of creative students. Many ad agencies are using these students to work for them so they 'gain experience', the companies are selling those creative designs, concepts to high prices to corporates and worst of all, many such student workers are complaining of not getting paid and being harassed by the management! Many such vibrant brains from IBA, NSU, IUB, Charukala Institute, etc. are alleged to have been exploited by a few ad agencies in this way. Lets hope the ad agencies will continue maturing and coming up with world class advertisements for their clients, but at the same time, lets give due credit to those young student brains who are helping you get that big ad deal.