Friday 27 June 2014

In the spirit of visualizing something to help make it happen, this post is me visualizing how the tragic, dreadful, erroneous situation in the Middle East would be resolved.

  •        Highest Shiite and Sunnite religion authorities speak up. They each launch a proper, concerted and sustained effort to remind people that Islam is not about bloodshed and has nothing to do with the murderous ideologies that are using its name left righ and center.
  •        These same authorities preach in mosques, use social and broadcast media, Islamic schools and all other places and mediums to make sure their voices are heard above the racket made by the terrorists.
  •        Muftis, Imams, Ayatollahs and all other types of genuine clerics visit and help victims from each other’s communities.
  •        They hold a Sunnite-Shiite summit at the highest level, and issue joint statements taking people back to basics. They remind people that murder, oppression, rape and pillage which is all that these gangs do are actually the biggest sins in Islam.
  •        They pressure governments to reduce or shut down funding for terrorists. They use the funds to promote peaceful thinking and conciliation.
  •        They excommunicate all those preaching violence and warfare and clearly state that what they are doing is neither Islamic nor jihadist.
  •        They ask the civil society to help by raising their kids in tolerance and acceptance and the practice of real, peaceful Islam.
  •        Civil society responds by launching its own activities. Sunnis and Shiites meet and talk. Mixed families speak up. People make every effort to ensure their kids are not recruited and brainwashed.
  •        Civil society speaks up takes back the image of Islam which has been hijacked by the savages and the mercenaries.   
  •        Funding is channeled to support war victims across the region, especially in Iraq and Syria.
  •        Governments put all measures in place to stop funding and recruitment for the gangs.
  •        A wide scale NGO efforts are launched to understand how and why the hatred spread and put measures in place to ensure that through education etc this would not happen again.

Tuesday 10 June 2014

Feeling unloved by World Cup advertisers

Copyright may apply

I’ve barely come across any World Cup related marketing this year. I’m thinking it’s one of the following reasons:

  1. All marketing budgets have gone into targeted digital media and since I have no interest in sports whatsoever, I’m not the right profile. 
    1. If so, the marketer in me is very impressed! It means that you really CAN target the exact people you want and avoid wasting money on others. 
    2. But as a consumer, I feel unvalued and resentful  
  2. Very few companies are interested in sponsoring/activating marketing around the world cup this year, at least in the UK. 
  3. People have stopped caring about the world cup and advertisers know that. 
  4. Marketing budgets are extremely small.
  5. I need to get out more or even watch TV  
If you’re seeing a lot of word cup related advertising or marketing, please reply here with your age, gender, attitude towards brands, internet usage details etc ;).