EDITOR-IN-CHIEF’S NOTE

Dear Readers

Come March and its’ time that MARCON marches on. This year MARCON returns to Karachi after being held in Lahore last year. Each time this eagerly looked forward to event grows bigger than before and I am confident that MARCON 2012, the 9th MARCON, will be the biggest and best yet! Thus this first issue of Marketing Review for 2012 aptly serves as a forerunner to MARCON, giving you a sneak preview as to what to expect.

The MARCON theme this year is “New Trends & Insights in Creating & Sustaining Competitive Advantage”. This is a subject that will be of great interest to all marketers, irrespective of the sector, a good idea even a few months ago may seem quite unproductive today. The need to stay current, indeed try and stay a couple of steps ahead has never been felt as much before as it is being felt today. It is not only that competition has become intense. Consumers too have become increasingly demanding and even skeptical of brand claims. Add to this the ever increasing number of choices before the consumer, not only of competing products but also of alternative products that more or less give the consumer the same benefits or experience. The cumulative result is a virtual battlefield that marketers need to traverse to be seen, heard and believed.

The concept of competitive advantage itself, as we know, is not a new one. Marketing has focused on it as a goal for long. But the changed market realities mean that new thought, even radical new ideas are needed to create and sustain a competitive advantage that translates into growth of the business and a healthier bottom line.

A galaxy of high-quality speakers and presenters will take MARCON participants on a journey of self-discovery to unleash one’s own potential and strategize to establish competitive advantage. With speakers like Ehsan A. Malik, Chairman & CEO – Unilever Pakistan Limited, Sakib Sherani, CEO – Macroeconomic Insights and Afnan Ahsan, CEO – Engro Foods Limited, it is going to be an exciting event, with plenty of learning on offer for those who care to absorb it. Miss it and you will lose out. Of course you can read about it in the next issue of Marketing Review, but it’s not really the same thing, is it? The energy and vibrancy that MARCON creates needs to be physically experienced!

Aside from MARCON 2012’s preview, the current issue of Marketing Review includes articles by industry experts on relevant topics such as, ‘The Vital Ingredient for Marketing Success’, ‘Digital Marketing in Creating an Effective Brand Identity’ and ‘The Pakistan Opportunity’.

And please do oblige us with your writing on your experience for the Q2 issue of the Review. We firmly believe that sharing experiences, information and knowledge works for the benefit of all and even of the person sharing it. For when you put down your thoughts into writing, you are actually sorting these out in your own mind first and reaching a higher level of inner clarity.

To end, here’s welcoming all our readers to MARCON 2012, which we promise will give you a totally new outlook on what competitive advantage is all about.

Sincerely,

Masood Hashmi
Editor-in-Chief