McDonalds and its various promotional strategies

 McDonald’s creates awareness of their products in various ways, including advertising, public relations, direct marketing, sales promotion, and personal selling. For instance, a fast food place like Mcdonald's may create awareness of its products through advertising campaigns on television, billboards, magazines, or social media platforms. They may also use direct marketing methods like email marketing, SMS marketing, or targeted online ads to reach potential customers. Additionally, companies may employ sales promotions like discounts, loyalty programs, or free samples to incentivize customers to purchase their products. For example, McDonald's often offers coupons or deals on their menu items to attract customers and boost sales. Overall, the company may use a combination of these promotional strategies to create awareness of its products and reach its target customers effectively.

McDonald’s may use various promotional strategies to encourage consumers to try its product, depending on the type of product and the target audience. Some common strategies include offering free samples or trials, discounts, coupons, referral programs, loyalty programs, and influencer marketing. For example, if the product is a beauty product, the company may offer free samples or trials to customers who visit their stores or purchase other products. They may also collaborate with beauty influencers on social media platforms to showcase their products and offer discounts or promo codes to their followers. Product packaging: The product packaging may contain information about the product, including its features, ingredients, and calories. In-store displays: The company may use in-store displays to showcase the product and provide information about its features and benefits. Product demonstrations: The company may offer product demonstrations in-store or at events to showcase the product and provide customers with an opportunity to ask questions. Online platforms: The company may use its website, social media platforms, and online ads to provide information about the product, including its features, benefits, and customer reviews. Customer service: The company may offer customer service support through various channels, such as phone, email, or live chat, to answer any questions customers may have about the product. Loyalty programs: The company may offer loyalty programs that provide customers with rewards, such as discounts, free products, or exclusive offers, based on their level of engagement with the brand. Personalized offers: The company may offer personalized offers and recommendations to customers based on their purchase history and preferences. Excellent customer service: The company may prioritize providing excellent customer service by promptly responding to customer inquiries, resolving issues, and providing helpful information about the product. Consistent quality: The company may ensure consistent quality in its products to maintain customer satisfaction and trust.

Community engagement: The company may engage with its customers through social media, events, or other channels to build a community around the brand and create a sense of loyalty among its customers. Bundling: The company may offer bundle deals, where customers can purchase multiple products together at a discounted price, encouraging them to buy more. Upselling and cross-selling: The company may use upselling and cross-selling techniques, where customers are encouraged to purchase complementary products or upgraded versions of the product they are interested in. Limited-time offers: The company may offer limited-time offers, such as discounts or free gifts, to create a sense of urgency and encourage customers to make a purchase. Referral programs: The company may offer referral programs, where customers are rewarded for referring their friends and family to the brand, encouraging them to spread the word and potentially purchase more products. Product education: The company may educate customers about the various ways they can use the product, highlighting its versatility and encouraging them to use it more frequently. Influencer marketing: The company may collaborate with social media influencers who have a large following to promote their product and reach a wider audience. Sponsorship: The company may sponsor events or organizations that align with its brand values to increase exposure and attract new customers.

Sales promotions: The company may use sales promotions, such as discounts, coupons, and buy-one-get-one-free offers, to attract new customers and encourage them to try their product.

Overall, all these companies such as Mcdonalds always try to find the best possible strategies which can help in increasing their sales and customer loyalty. 

 

Understanding media through the lens of the Moderate Effects Era

It is unarguable that the media plays a vital role in our society; of not only informing people but also of being a watch-dog and keeping certain elements in-line. However, the media today exists on a very broad spectrum and with the rise of fake news and yellow journalism media can used as much as a tool to misguide and mislead people as it can be used as a source of providing information, knowledge and shaping perceptions.

Regarding the theories, it has come to our conclusion as a collective group that they all provide a meaningful point-of-view to interpret media but not all of them look at it accurately.

When talking about McLuhan’s book: Understanding Media and McLuhan’s views about media in general you can’t help but feel they are outdated especially when looking at media with a more modern context. For instance, one of the main themes of the book is that: “media, not the content that they carry, should be the focus of study”. Whereas, in reality media today is very much defined by the content it publishes or airs. The book is also filled with certain contradictory statements. Such as McLuhan saying that media can change and re-shape perceptions while also calling it a light with no substance.

The Agenda setting theory by McCombs and Donald Shaw is actually a more accurate way of looking at media. Because the media does set the public agenda and plays a role in telling people what to think about. And this is something that is visible by the hot-topics and current events that the media focuses on and also the level of focus they give to each respective topic.

The knowledge gap analysis is a much different interpretation of media but one that is unfortunately, very true and very relevant throughout the world, especially in our society. It is a fact of life that the privileged will always be the ones with more knowledge compared to the less privileged. And in a multi-cultural society such as Pakistan where people have such massive difference of opinion in the way people perceive events therefore, there will always be a conflict of views which would in-turn prevent the homogeneity of information. Similarly, the ones with the most power will manipulate the media to appease their self-interests rather than using the media as an instrument for the betterment of society.

Book Review: The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The Reluctant Fundamentalist begins in a café in Lahore. A bearded Pakistani professor is in the company of an American man, he takes a sip of tea and begins to tell the American his life story and how he arrived at this fateful meeting. Flashback to the past and that same man, Changez Khan is hungry and driven young man committed to achieving the American dream in the United States. Fresh out of Princeton he gets a job with a hotshot valuation firm and quickly finds himself climbing the corporate ladder. However, when the tragedy of 9/11 strikes Changez finds himself becoming more defensive about his cultural identity in post 9/11 America.

Very few books have that unique ability to not only compel the reader but also move him and make him truly feel for the characters and the story. Mohsin Hamid’s gripping and mesmerizing ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ is such book and as soon as I started reading it, I found it very difficult to put it down until I had read the very last page. I suppose the greatest thing about this book for me is how it seamlessly blends the somewhat familiar rise and fall story with the 9/11 tragedy and in the process tells both a heartbreaking and utterly riveting story. Mohsin Hamid’s eloquent writing is really what makes this book what it is in my opinion. The story he aims to tell is undeniably ambitious but his grasp on character, story and plot is so tight, his writing, so fluent, that he never lets anything feel meandering or even the slightest bit dull. It truly is executed to perfection.

And another reason why I loved this book was because the story it tells it not only a timely one but also one that many Pakistanis and Muslims, for that matter can relate to. There’s no question that Muslims suffered greatly in the wake of the September 11 events, and The Reluctant Fundamentalist tells that story on a broadened canvas through the eyes of a Muslim man who sees just about everything slipping from his hands. There’s a sense of hope in Mohsin Hamid’s novel, a sense of hope always represented by the protagonist at various points in the story, but there’s also this really tragic undercurrent to the entire thing that makes this book both a heartfelt and profound piece of work. I found The Reluctant Fundamentalist to be a stirring and affecting novel which I would greatly recommend.

Enron's corporate culture is a cautionary tale for today's tech-savvy companies

In the case of Enron, we saw the weakness of human beings. The executives of Enron were very and highly qualified people, but they destroyed the fortune they built in 16 years and also hurt many investors. The fundamental cause of this disaster is that they lack the idea of the business ethic and whenever the executives of Enron encountered ethical dilemmas, they chose the wrong way.
The example of Enron is perhaps one of the best examples of greed and corruption in the corporate world and why having a good moral conscience aswell as a good understanding of business ethics is necessary to succeed if one is to succeed in the business world.

Enron’s corporate culture contributed significantly to the ethical scandal. Enron emphasized a culture of competition and getting financial goals at all costs, even if that meant cutting corners. They created a competitive environment by instituting a rating system which required that 20 percent of all the employees had to be rated as below requirements every year and then were encouraged to leave Enron. Although this rating system was created so employees would be encouraged employees to work harder it ended up in-turn creating a culture of deception.

Since employees were nervous about losing their jobs, they only focused on how to make their performances look good. They ignored the ethical standards, and only focused on the achievement of their financial goal. After a few employees began cheating on their works and covering up their errors and mistakes. This caused others to do the same as this was the only way to get ahead. Gradually, no one felt shame about cheating because they had no other choices and all their co-workers surrounding them were cheating.

Additionally, the culture of Enron emphasized too much on the financial goals. The person who can achieve the budget numbers would be the hero of the company. Both executives and most of employees focused on making profits for themselves through making good financial numbers instead of a real increase of the company’s economic value. Enron also was concerned less about the needs, values, desires and also the well-being of the employees. From the ethical aspect, employers should respond to their employees and keep the goal of benefiting them. In such a company, ethical standards were just for show. No one followed them.

Employees in Enron were pressured to work blindly, keep silent, protect their own short-term interests, and try to achieve their goals even if it was an obvious cheat.

Creating own platforms for expressing talents

In this world everyone has a desire of being famous with the mental need of being recognized or positively followed by people. This need is created by our surrounding because we follow people who are being followed. However, people are being followed or like by their characteristics and ability to do something different and specifically amazing. Every person varies from each other but is special and unique in different means of performing different tasks. People possess multiple intelligence, some perform some unique things which no one can and some can do the things which everyone can in a way which makes it looks completely as a new subject. The problem is that the entry in showing talent is easy through multiple ways in social media and different applications such as Tik Tok etc, but excelling is a barrier as entering in to an industry of the interested field is really not possible without not being in a position in the scratch.

This is the popular trend in the society all over the globe that people have started communicating themselves in the digital market through making their own pages/videos, V logs, blogs and though many other ways which is easily expressed with the context of their talent and intelligence. This has enhanced people’s confidence level through creating a meaning of their lives that they are capable to do something out of themselves. People are excelling in entertaining people by delivering their perspectives and being famous. Let’s take an example of many people who such as Danish Ali, Bekar Vines, Junaid Akram etc. These people have positioned themselves in the minds of the people, some have become cult followers of them and believe what they say.

So it is all about passion, faith, belief and motivation in yourself which triggers you in achieving the positions you desire. Working smart is some aspect which should be kept in mind, but success is derived from a specific period of time in which hard efforts is on which you can count on. Start from a small scale following your passion, and from all of a sudden steps would be cemented automatically which will incline your path towards your terminal goals. Don’t forget your dreams, if no one clears a path for you, so you can always create your own way out.

Written by Farasat Khan

The dark-side of digital marketing - Part 6

One of the most shocking revelations that came to light this year was Facebook’s involvement with Cambridge Analytica, a data firm which involved the two companies collaborating together to harvest user data for millions of Facebook users and then use that data to manipulate advertising. Facebook were reportedly paid money by a number of organizations including the campaign to elect Donald Trump as President of the United States and what they would do is that based on the data of a particular they would manipulate advertising on things that a particular user might not necessarily like, with things they would find favorable according to his Facebook profile. 

For example, if a person liked cats but didn’t necessarily like Donald Trump, he would see ads where Trump would be holding a cat and petting it. All this was done to manipulate the perception of a user. And experts say this data-mining had a huge hand in influencing the U.S election in 2016.

David C. Edelman talks about how the very idea of branding is bound to shift in the new age and privacy of users will be violated whether they like it or not and whether they know about it or not. The best way to avoid the dark-side on digital marketing is to be vigilant in regards to what you see and agree to online. Because this was one of the very reasons Facebook’s actions were deemed unethical rather than illegal, because everyone had agreed to it.

These revelations all serve as eye-opening warnings into the level at which the internet has taken control of our lives. While it possesses many virtues particularly when it comes to advancing the field of marketing, it also possesses many dark corners that need to be navigated with utmost caution

Creativity is still important in marketing - Part 5

Some people underestimate the value of creativity these days but the fact of the matter is that creativity is as important as ever. In fact if anything, it has become even more important in the new age of digital marketing because for an ad to truly stand-out in the large crowd that is the world-wide web, there has to be something unique and creative that garbs the customer’s attention. And if you look at companies like; Yelp, JetBlue Airways, MasterCard and Airbnb, all of them have launched and successfully run digital marketing campaigns based on one singular creative idea. Because good marketing is not just about creativity but also about finding a way to channel that creativity into a singular vision and giving it a pin-point sense of focus. JetBlue Airways for example launched a marketing campaign where they promoted the idea of excellent customer service and convenience for customers. 

They put this very idea into practice by answering all of their customers’ queries on Twitter whether they are related to booking of flights or just simple queries regarding seats. This allowed them to have a significant social-media presence and appeal particularly to the minds of the adolescents who are always looking for the easiest and simplest solutions. This also saves passengers the hassles of going to the website to solve their problems. Airbnb on the other hand used digital-marketing to rebrand their image from what is essentially a crowd-sourced hotel service to an application that allows people to see the world in a manner that is also economical on their wallet. The article Contextual Marketing by D. Kenny, J.F Marshall examines how these companies have all stood out by giving context to their uniqueness and creativity.

Creativity is often defined as divergent thinking and to be a successful marketer your mind has to be going and developing in different directions to truly make an impact. It is hardly important whether you’re advertising on billboards or smartphones when it comes to creativity. Marketing guru David C. Edelman consistently talks about the importance of creativity in his article and how he feels it is a force that will continue to influence marketing for generations to come.

Emergence of E-commerce industry and online services - Part 4

Perhaps, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the digital revolution has been the E-commerce industry. Though companies like Amazon and eBay both launched in the mid-90s it took years for them to become the E-commerce giants they are today because for one thing, that many people simply didn’t have access to the internet back then. However, in recent years, companies like Amazon, AliBaba, eBay aswell as Daraz and OLX in Pakistan have relied heavily on digital marketing. In many ways, digital marketing and E-commerce are two things that go hand in hand and realizing the importance that digital marketing carries can be seen as one of the primary reasons why all these companies are so successful today.

According to the article Consumer Perceptions Regarding E-Commerce Related Risks by Katherine Smith, the influence of e-commerce will only grow in the coming years and its influence on both the market and the mind of the consumer will greatly be felt.

Similarly, the idea of online services and applications has also benefitted and greatly been influenced by digital marketing. Services like Careem, Uber, Airbnb, GoLootlo! and PayTm have similarly relied heavily on digital marketing to promote their idea and services. And one added benefit they get through digital marketing is that they can simply add a download button under an advertisement and if the user is seeing that ad on his smartphone he can instantly download the application.

The effectiveness of digital marketing - Part 3

I’ve already reviewed the potential that digital marketing possesses according to author David C. Edelman, but what about the results? After all that is what people like to talk about when we get down to it all. One of the most positive aspects of digital marketing is that it has leveled the playing field meaning small-businesses have as much of an opportunity of competing with big-businesses if they have a marketing strategy that is good enough. Since both are already reaching a large audience, quality of marketing has become more important than ever. In Pakistan for example, small fast-food restaurants like; Jessie’s in Islamabad, Outpost BYOB in Lahore and Burger INC. in Karachi have found ways to compete with large fast-food chains like McDonald’s and KFC simply because they have fully utilized digital marketing and by creating enough of a buzz on social-media as well as posting pictures of the burgers on their menus and upcoming discounts, they have all managed to establish a loyal and constantly growing customer base.

Another aspect that can cause both great benefit and great harm to a company is that of customer reviews. To put it simply, if your product is good enough you can benefit from people responding positively to it by posting reviews and giving positive comments on social media. However, if your product lacks in quality these same people can completely sink your product by their negativity which has the potential to spread like wild-fire, especially on social media. And the same thing applies to marketing campaigns, if a company bases a campaign on something offensive people of social-media have the potential to completely destroy that company’s credibility and reputation just by posting a few negative comments.

Furthermore, analytics have emerged as one of the most concrete indicators of success and failure in modern-times as they give marketers exacts facts and figures of the number of people who are reading or viewing a particular ad. The article Why Thinking About Digital Analytics All Wrong highlights the effect Google Analytics in particular have had as well as the steps they have taken by streamlining and adding more and more dimensions to Analytics that allows a marketer to know all the necessary facts regarding a particular ad from how long he viewed a particular ad to how quickly he closed a particular ad.

The shift from traditional to digital marketing - Part 2

It's imminently clear that digital marketing is replacing traditional marketing as the numero uno method of marketing. But how?

For one thing, digital marketing costs less and is now even considered to be more efficient because its audience can be anyone and everyone, domestic and international. Due to simply the vastness of the world-wide web an ad has the potential to reach both a person scrolling down an article in the United States as well as a person casually checking his Facebook news feed in Pakistan. The possibilities are endless. Another new dimension that digital marketing has brought to the table is that it can target a number of demographics simultaneously. With just a little variation and good analytics, marketers can target children, adults and adolescents with the same ad. And while companies like Facebook have used this dimension negatively in the recent past – which I will elaborate later on – this element has immense potential if used correctly and ethically. Finally -- and this is perhaps the most important factor – digital marketing has the element of quickness. And can reach a large audience in a very small time-frame. The potential of an ad going viral is an even more exciting possibility of marketers because if an ad does go viral it happens quickly and has the possibility of capturing attention all over the internet.

And this change in trend in marketing isn’t something that happened overnight. It is actually something that has been years in the making. According to author David C. Edelman, A study from 2009 that aimed to investigate marketing budgets, particularly, the increase and decrease in specific areas of marketing showed that 60% of marketers had made up their minds about increasing their budgets for digital marketing by taking money away from the budget for traditional marketing. The same study showed that marketers believed that traditional marketing which includes; newspapers, billboards, magazines, TV, radio etc. would either experience a decrease in effectiveness in the upcoming three years, or the effectiveness would stay the same. Whereas, over 70% of the same marketers were of the view that the effectiveness of social media, mobile, and online video would continue to grow. Nine years on, and the changes are quite clearly visible.

Where is marketing going in the 21st century? - Part 1

The idea of advertising has always irked and interested people in equal amounts. Some people consider it to be a clever way of swindling people whereas other people look to it as an avenue of that demands creativity to be wholly successful and in that case, it is not swindling but rather an intelligent way of selling something. In actuality the answer lies somewhere in between. Yes, people in marketing and advertising have been known to use unethical ways of selling their products but in many and most cases it has been the creativity that really stood out as the element influencing success. In the 1960’s and 1970’s in particular, advertising experienced a golden-era in the United States which stemmed from Madison Avenue, New York City and included many advertising firms in the area competing and coming up with increasingly bold and creative advertising campaigns that have since been known to change the advertising industry forever.

However, the situation of the marketplace has changed drastically in the 21^st century. Gone are the days of advertising on billboards and newspapers. The days where creativity was often the only defining factor needed to get the consumer’s attention. These days, people have limited attention spans due to their over-reliance on technology which makes getting their attention an even tougher task. Studies have shown that most people just change the channel during commercial breaks whereas; no studies are needed to prove the fact that the majority of adolescents don’t even read newspapers anymore. All this makes advertising and marketing all the more difficult which is why digital has emerged as an avenue where marketers have looked to gain the attention of the consumer.

I think it’s wrong to say print media, billboards and television ads have lost their influence completely. That is simply untrue. However, their influence has decreased significantly in modern times especially compared to digital marketing which is on the rise. Why is this though? Besides the obvious reason that consumers should be targeted on the platform they spend most of their free-time on.

Revival of Pakistani Cinema

When we think about the Pakistani cinema today the first thing which comes to our mind that “Is the revival of Pakistani cinema sustainable? “

Our national film makers have altered the face of Pakistani cinema after 2012 but more steps are needed to build up and sustain the credibility of Pakistani cinema and to make the revival sustainable. Pakistan has created more than 20 top rated movies on record since 2015 with three animated movies in the list. Gone are the days where Pakistani movies depicted the low quality and old fashioned stories and scripts. The modern technology in Pakistan promises the full time fascinating and entertaining experience by the replacement of old fashioned cinemas, Theaters with multipurpose Cineplex’s in the major cities of Pakistan. Up till now Cinepax is the largest screen provider in Pakistan with more than 22 screens. The Cinepax situated in Rawalpindi first created the sense of the revival of Pakistani cinema by showing Indian movies at a premium level of experience. There first screening included “Khuda k Liye” which forced the producers of Pakistan to make such films. Moreover they also showed telefilms in their cinemas to grabs more audience attraction.

Till now ARY films are the biggest giants in the production unit of Pakistani cinema which is giving the audience back to back hit movies.

Despite the fact that brands like ARY Films, Geo Films Etc. are probably going to remain a noteworthy piece of the help structure for Pakistani movies (and the accomplishment from this will energize greater interest in film), expanding the quantity of cineplexes and screens is the main feasible approach to guarantee the security of the as of late kicked off neighborhood film industry. This is where the government of Pakistan should be promoting this and should play a positive role.

- Asad Munir

Islamabad Eat 2018

Pakistan’s biggest successful eat festival “Islamabad Eat” was celebrated second time to Islamabad town on the 23rd – 25th November 2018 at Jinnah Convention Center.
 Having float immense achievement a year ago, the celebration was significantly greater and better. Much the same as a year ago.

Islooites managed to kill the boredom by organizing an eventful weekend at the Convention Centre by the name of Islamabad Eat.

It’s being done on the likes of Karachi Eat which has been a huge success in the port city for the last two-three years.

 Bilal who has been managing a tea stall by the name of Chai Junction.His little tea shop is located in Bahria Town, Rawalpindi so he wanted to make a mark in the Islamabad food scene. He told us that The organisers have charged Rs15000 per stall fee for three days and only yesterday I started at 5pm and my sale was Rs30,000, he informed joyfully.

There were more than 25-30 stalls in all and a mix of homemade kitchens, kiosks, five-star hotels and bakery showcase. There was something to eat for everyone. Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Dosas, BBQ, Halwa Puri, stall of homemade pasta, food from Hunza, Maki and Saag, smoothies, Italian, burgers so on and so forth.

The food was reasonably priced and nothing was over a price tag if Rs300 on most of the stalls we went to. The arrangement at the venue was superb. There were round tables, neat and clean table tops and jumping castle for kids, art exhibition by Nomad Gallery for art lovers.

Chattha’s was the other stall where one could spot a beeline. Maki Roti and Saag with the Desi Makhan topping, it was lethal.

Islamabad Eat has all the potential to grow every year and bring the food scene of the capital a must visit the event.

- Rafia Shakir

The current nostalgia: the lion king’s remake

The lion king is an American movie produced by Walt Disney animations released initially its first part in 1994. The movie was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, it was produced by Don Hahn. This movie has created a deep relationship with especially the 90’s people. It has created a bridge of powerful attachment with their childhood and Scar in their nightmares. Lion king has taken a place where every child is born so to jump in to the next step of their lives it is really important for them to watch the lion king.

Whenever the early oldies talk about their childhood, the conversation used to indicate that the remake of every movie has took place such as Batman and many more but not the lion king which showed the desire of how much they miss Simba and the cold breeze of timor’s jokes.
Today the lion king’s teaser trailer has been released which evoked the slideshow of memories in to our minds and triggered the amygdala. The trailer investigated that the new film is relative with the original story, although with Simba looking so clear in the trailer, some people are worried that he might jump out of our smart modern boxes. Can you believe that Beyonce is playing the role of Nala, give your opinion how she will ride the role.

Disney confirmed that the movie will be released on July 19th, 2019 in UK and US cinemas. But we haven’t heard confirmation of any new track by Beyonce in this one. The last lion king grossed $968.8 million at the box office. Let’s see whether this one will be able to do the Hakuna matata or will it destroy the original charm. Let’s ROAR for the best.

- Farasat Khan

Themed Cafes in Isloo

I'm one of those girls whose a real foodie. I mean I can't go a day without eating something delicious and snapchatting or instagramming it. Usually both. #YummyInMyTummy. My dream is to become the coolest food-blogger in Pakistan and also win first prize in an art-competition, something I plan to do once I complete my Masters from NUST. But enough about me, let's talk about some amazin' theme restaurants in Isloo you should (or should not) try.

 Cafe Crossbones

So apparently this cafe was supposed to be some horror themed cafe that was supposed to scare the living daylights out of me. LOL! I've seen greater horrors in the kitchen of Kabul Restaurant! 

I liked their ice-cream but I don't know why they were trying to scare people with lame things like skulls, skeletons and masks. How old do these people think we are? 11? 

My friend ordered the chocolate brownie and there were literally two eye-balls in it! Safe to say we won't be visiting again.

King’s Landing Café 

So apparently some nerds were asking me to watch this show called Game of Thrones. I told them to buzz off because I'm not a nerd who has so much free-time on her hands. However, when I went to King's Landing Cafe, I saw these same nerds again! I asked them what are you doing here nerds? They said: Rafia, this cafe is based on the show we were telling you to watch. I reminded them I'm not a nerd and won't be be watching any trendy nerd show about dragons and swords.I live in the real world!

Anyway this is an okay cafe. I liked their cheesecake and nerds said Pasta isn't bad either. They also had a nerdy but cool King chair made of swords. Nerds were referring to it as Iron Drone or Iron Krone or something like that. Don't remember and frankly, don't care!

Cafe I969

Okay so this is a real good eatery that's been around for a few years. Food is delicious, dishes are all traditional Pakistani dishes. #DesiLove. 

And the restaurant ambiance transports you to 1969. 

I wish I was living in 1969 and not 2018. Maybe then I could have gone to Momina Mustehsen's parents and asked them to NEVER let their daughter listen to Ko Ko Korina.

Written by: Rafia Shakir

Game of Thrones Season 8 promises a fitting end

[WARNING: If you have been living under a rock for the past seven years and have not seen Game of Thrones there are SPOILERS ahead.]

So the final season is set to release this April, the last and final season for this amazing show which has showed us that anything can be expected from killing off our favorite characters since season one (Edward Stark) sigh -- till now and how ruthless and ugly these deaths can get, not only that but what is most hurtful yet exciting about this show is the fact they always get you hooked with the characters and series and when you are thinking that “Oh, it might just end happily for this character” GOT is like no, not even in your dreams. So what’s really exciting about this season is that over the past 7 seasons everyone had been fighting for the throne, the power, from killing of the brutal king Joffery, to the amazing yet unexpected Red Wedding, to the point where Arya became no one, and Bran being the three eyed raven, and Sansa finally feeding the horrific Ramsey Bolton to the wolves and Jon Snow (our heart) becoming the King of the north. Every character has grown over the years and each has faced their part of life threatening situations, their characters have developed quite a lot and of course not to forgot the amazing Cerci Lannister’s wild fire bomb which literally wiped out half the characters and yet she felt no remorse. And Petyr Baelish, what he had been doing under everyone’s noses just to gain the power (well, he got what deserved later on)

But it can be seen that all the seasons have showed us the politics, and what power does to a person not only that how people can be ruthless, but the main part is that there always had been the enemy of the north who was beyond the wall have finally crossed the it and is now coming for everyone so at the end, after all those, fights, wars, love, betrayal, drama, excitement, for the throne was it all really worth it? Or not? Because the biggest enemy of all has just arrived and that means more of our favorite characters will be dead soon. Guess we will see that in April 2019 once the final season premieres.

Written by: Sharooq Naeem

Changing trends in fashion

Recent decades have seen the significant changes. Beginning from the glamour business to the method for dressing of a person there have been radical changes. With the start of the 21st century the Fashion Trends have changed exponentially. Characterizing style and making it a combination of the clothing types with the modern and cutting edge look has been the significant switch for the business.

It has been the time when the business of fashion has experienced with most extreme number of movements in regard to the patterns. In spite of the fact that this industry doesn't just deals in clothes yet additionally frill and styling have been a standout amongst the most vital and important focuses that one needs to take care about it. Apparels have constantly won the crown with regards to Fashion. Attire may run from skirts to wraparounds going to shalwar kameez, sarees or whatever one can imagine in his or her life.

Due to the changing demands in the on-going occasions these attire have styled themselves according to the needs of the people. It isn't that important any longer to tie to the regular style of attire. It's anything but a "you have to wear it this way" kind at this point. It relies upon your requirements and desires what you need to continue with. Everything is style today. In spite of the fact that the sort of attire you pick is the main thing you have to focus on.

Taking the greatest charge to characterize this industry life currently has turned out to be commitment to wear the best sort of garments in the market. Attire have assumed control over the whole business and as the present age and generation has gone with the trend to make it an accomplishment and success in the desire of looking the best.

Written by: Asad Munir

Social media and the age of criticism

In the last decade or so, social media has gradually undertaken a more and more prominent role in our stratosphere. It brings with it many positives; among which include a mobilization of information for the main-stream and a concise and simple way to appeal to a generation with sharply declining attention span. However many would also argue that the pitfalls are far more worrying. The phenomenon of fake news would never have been possible without the existence of social media. It’s also fair to say that freedom of speech has gained a brand new paradigm under social media. Because on social media everyone has an opinion. Whether that opinion holds any weight hardly matters, it could be written by a politician, a celebrity or simply a teenager with too much time on his hands. If that opinion gets enough retweets, likes or shares – our modern-day instruments of endorsement – then that opinion reaches the masses.

What’s particularly alarming though is the power these opinions have come to possess through social media. American president Donald Trump has continually used Twitter as his mouth-piece. Through it he has communicated everything from his foreign policy to his domestic policy objectives and for many Americans it remains the prime method of communicating with their President.

Coke Studio has gone down-hill this season

Criticism has also grown more wide-spread than ever through social media. Companies ensure to respond to the customer complaints as promptly as possible because they are fully aware of the possibly irreparable damage that negative word-of-mouth could bring to their business.  Most recently, Coke Studio’s rendition of Ko Ko Korina, a song that is considered by many as a classic received wide-spread hate and criticism on social media, most of which was directed towards singers Momina Mustehsan and Ahad Raza Mir. And while the criticism itself is understandable the magnitude of it felt excessive.

Social media also has this terrible habit of turning things into a circus. As certain things or trends start gaining more attention, well-known people start joining in the conversation which itself gives seemingly irrelevant things an unprecedented level of traction that they often do not even deserve.  Pakistan’s Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari for instance brought even more traction to this whole Coke Studio issue; first through her scathing criticism of the new song and then subsequently through the war of words or rather the war of tweets that erupted between her and Momina Mustensen.

All this ofcourse is neither to criticize Shireen Mazari nor Momina Mustehsen but rather the platform that enables them to act like children. People are obviously free to share their opinions, as hateful as they may be and will continue doing so. But is it not even a little bit scary to think that a single message written in 280 characters or less possesses the ability to destroy a career and a livelihood that took years to cultivate?

Written by: Rafia Shakir

Trendaholics: Is Kiki challenge really a challenge?

Drake has twisted the social media, lunchtime conversations and people’s nap time with his music and videos as well as ascending towards the hill of the hip-hop/rap industry. The Canadian superstar’s single ‘’In My Feelings’’ released in July of this year has created...or shall we say innovated yet another dance challenge in 2018. Here is everything you need to know about the Kiki Challenge:

Instagram comedian Shiggy generated the challenge, he indirectly asked the people to do the Shiggy with him. Dancing in a Reebok tracksuit outfit, Shiggy is filmed dancing happily in the middle of the road to the song. Guess what happened? Shiggy made the people Wiggy. He interpreted the lyrics “are you riding” by pretending to steer a car. Most importantly he makes a love heart with his hands as Drake sings, “Kiki, do you love me”. Drake was delighted so he thanked the comedian in person, and tweeted a picture of their meeting. It’s now developed to an international level mantra and people are taking their dance challenges to the level which is next to the next level, well thank you very much Shiggy. Pilot Alejandra Manriquez did hers out of a plane, Yes a plane.

Will Smith doing Kiki Challenge

Many social media users, starting from celebrities such as Kevin Hart, Ciara and even Will Smith to almost everyone have been posting footage of themselves doing the dances which no one ever imagined to the melody for the unknown Kiki. In the US, Spain, India, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, police warned people that Kiki is dangerous and people performing the challenge will be charged as criminals, so many were. Well this challenge is something.

However, a challenge was initially defined as a call to prove or justify something. It was to make your life’s supreme objectives those which you dreamed of. Converting dreams in to reality is a challenge. Where Kiki converted reality in to a nightmare and made a challenge. Being a person following hot and wall breaking trends is not something defective but we all need a ‘ME’ time to think over the actions we perform are those worth the time. Challenge yourselves so you can unlock your full potentials from which you can develop something immense, enormous which will one day make people follow you for a bigger cause.

Who is Kiki anyway?

Written by: Farasat Khan

How Pepsi invested in Pakistani pop-culture

If you ask anyone what is the biggest Cola brand in the world the answer will be fairly simple: Coca-Cola. Globally, Coke has almost always had a clear upper-hand when it comes to dominating market share while their brand ethos and marketing has almost always resonated more deeply with customers as compared to that of Pepsi. However in Pakistan the dynamics are starkly different. Not only does Pepsi currently dominate the Pakistani carbonated drinks market with a 65% share compared to Coke’s 30% but their dominance has been the template for nearly the last three decades when Pepsi controlled nearly 80% of the market.

The reason for Pepsi’s dominance in Pakistan goes beyond taste or quality. They began focusing on the Pakistani market during what can be seen as a very culturally intriguing time: The late 1980’s. Not only was the music scene really starting to liven up thanks to the introduction of talented new pop bands but cricket was also more popular than ever and for the very first time was beginning to threaten the popularity of Pakistan’s apex sport: Hockey. Pepsi saw the cultural boom coming and invested in it big-time. They brought on Pakistan's biggest cricketer Imran Khan as their brand-ambassador, signed on to become the sponsors of the Pakistan Cricket team – an association that continues till today – and provided up and coming pop bands like Vital Signs with lucrative record deals. Through these various associations Pepsi found a way to embed themselves in Pakistani culture and brand the rapidly emerging pop-culture landscape. They continued this through the 90’s when the popularity of both cricket and music was arguably at its peak and though these were still largely simpler times Pepsi made sure they made their presence known through advertising campaigns and endorsements that cemented their prominence in popular culture. Above all, it seems Pepsi understood the fact that to truly resonate as a brand that had to speak to their younger customer base and pop-culture provided them a gateway to do exactly that.

Imran Khan as Pepsi brand-ambassador

Pepsi expanded on many of the same elements through the 2000’s. The eruption of mass-media allowed them greater exposure and a larger audience. Strings was the band they invested in next as songs like Hai Koi Hum Jaisa and Chaaye Chaaye became anthems for a generation of young Pakistanis. Through the former they even found a way to exploit their association with cricket on account of the song being the Pakistan’s official song for the 2003 Cricket World Cup and through the decade not a single match in Pakistan was played where Hai Koi Kum Jaisa wasn’t playing in the foreground between overs and breaks. In 2002 they started Pepsi Battle of the Bands, a professional platform through which they provided young bands a chance to showcase their talent and just the first season saw the emergence of bands like E.P (Entity Paradigm) and Aaroh. Only when Pepsi abandoned the music scene during the mid to late 2000’s did their influence in the Pakistani market begin to fade and for the first time in decades they began losing major market share to Coke, a brand that was using many of its global customer-inclusive marketing strategies in Pakistan.

Pepsi Generations

Only recently did Pepsi start to once again focus on music through the revival of Battle of the Bands in an attempt to rekindle their tried and tested formula for success. Their Pepsi Generations marketing campaign from last year was and is still imminently successful. Through the introduction of various limited-edition variants of cans and bottles from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s they’ve tried to drudge up the nostalgia factor. Something that is also visible in the advertisement that sees Fawad Khan travelling through different time-periods; from sharing retro dance moves with Zoheb Hassan to witnessing Pakistan lift the World Cup and finally handing the torch to Kashmir – the winners of the 2017 Battle of the Bands, whom Pepsi is greatly marketing as the voice of the new generation. The entire ad forges a strong association not just with cricket and music but also with the past, present and future and by embracing these unique passion points once again Pepsi has in-turn re-established its long-standing association with Pakistani pop-culture.

Written by: Khalid Rafi