Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Preamble to the greatest blog on Bangladeshi advertising!

Everybody in Bangladesh knows that telecomm companies have completely changed the advertising industry’s face. Marketing and advertising has gone from an arcane apiary to an all-powerful swarm. Cannibal bee-eating bees, gigantic and internationally affiliated; medium-sized bees, tiny design-oriented bees, sleek and fat media-buying bees, and so on. (I guess we’re all following the advice of the latest telecomm newcomer to Bee Passionate.)

This industry has created heroes, enriched thousands, introduced the concept of everyday marketing strategy to the world outside of Unilever (even when competent practice is far away for all). This babbling, foaming scramble for filthy telecomm lucre is beautiful as it is chaotic.

Like all things that are too good to be true, historical inevitability states that our gold rush for marketing competence is due for a massive crash. I agree with lessons of the ages, even though I may not learn from them. So, with the all-ratifying blaze of hindsight and the fart-lit matchstick of guesswork, I will tell you what’s wrong and what’s right with telecomm communication. I will predict its future. I will also tell you where Bangladeshi advertising is going, how to create good advertising for the Bangladeshi market, what it takes to create functional marketing communications in Bangladesh. I’ll use lots of industry jargon, accidentally namedrop famous creative directors and pretend like I really do know, like the rest of us in this industry, what advertising really is.

I’ll also try to update this regularly.