Mad Thoughts

MADsemble by PAS is one of those events you look forward to. It’s a great opportunity not only for learning and to meet the fraternity but the format and design of the program ensures that it’s a fun filled activity along with informative.

This year the talks were interesting and the recurring theme was be Bold, be genuine and Authentic. This was of course said in different ways by the speakers and moderators. After the welcome speech, Khalid Alvi one of the best marketers ever produced by Pakistan enthralled us all with his in depth look at the World in 2060.

I really loved Thomas Kolster’s talk about Value not Values and his own journey from a semi naivete to solid foundation. Ryan Wallman the author of Delusions of Brandeur would have been clapping throughout. Anton Reyniers workshop on Insights was wait for it insightful and thought provoking. Loved his style and the distillation of an insight as an unspoken human truth. Linking an insight to tension was for me quite novel. I wished the session had been longer. Nathalie Roos’ talk about building brands was excellent and the course correction we all need from time to time. I loved her taking the somewhat archaic Ps and making them in to Es. If one of the Es is obviously Experience then EBM nailed it with this card they gave us so that we can use it at their vending machine.

Muhammad Ammar Hassan is always a great person to learn from and this year he could have been doing stand up on stage, I was laughing so hard. As expected he came with the fundamentals and common sense and analytical approach and methodology. I’m sure his vibrant and curated talk hit all the right notes with the marketing fraternity who needs to embrace some rigor and irreverence for the status quo.

Day 2 for me started with a full to the brim breakout by Muhammad Ammar Hassan about influencer marketing and he had invited some influencers to the session so that a dialogue could be attempted. He recapped what he had presented on stage, the main thing being the Branded Content Resistance.

Next another breakout session and it was so hard to choose but Atiya Zaidi and Rifah Qadri with the commonly heard Maza nahee aya won my vote. It was a good run down of how we need to give briefs and accept or not accept them. Atiya spoke about the danger of the HIPPO in the room. And both reminded us that if you did not give respect then you did something bad.

It was next time for lunch to feed our bodies like our minds were being fed. Before that it was awesome to have a quick chat with Anton Reyniers as he was prepping for his time in the limelight. His topic digital darwinism was interesting and like many sane voices he keeps telling us AI is not the endgame or even the villain or hero, it’s made out to be. The Luna AI created for Skechers was a brilliant example of zeroing in on what needs to be done instead of what others are doing.

However as long as our local marketing industry is focused on efficiency instead of effectiveness, which is a really dangerous thing as Philip “Phil” Tiongson warned us in 2009, this is why we can’t have nice things.

The most surprising and entertaining talk of the day was from the incredible Naila Fattouh who blew us away with her argument in favor of the Anti-hero. Anti-hero? Is she a Swiftie? But we were introduced to the character of Oufa and the habibi guy. Who knew Egyptian advertising was so amazing?

Ali Rez was up next and he created once again a beautiful marriage between AI and EI, he presented 5 case studies one of which the incredible Anahar AI president for Lebanon a country and people close to my heart. The most amazing and simple was nature flags which was wait for it an EPIC idea. Prompt zero also is a game-changer as concerns of water usage and CO2 related to AI arise. As he spoke the balance is Delicate. It’s a fine line and we need to walk it carefully like Johnny Cash.

Shahbaz Zobairi spoke passionately about design and he informed the crowd of the design paradox. You don’t notice good design, you only notice bad or weak. When you are working on something, even packaging which does not get the proper importance in Pakistan that it deserves, you need to take a minute and think about what you have done, no need to stand in the corner, but pause and reflect.

Big reputation Rory Sutherland is an ad man and a mad man, he’s been a source of sanity in an increasingly insane world. Loved his talk about the Bias towards creativity. His argument to develop and create your own metrics is sound and it’s been a long time coming! Also who knew advertising demigods ate Haleem?

All in all, the event was as expected, a great experience.