Zeeshan Haider
I grew up in a small town called ‘Jand’ located at the border of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in Pakistan. The town had a mix of both Punjabi and Pukhtoon cultures dominated by the Punjabi culture.
Well, this has nothing to do with the subject matter. However, this town is where I witnessed the Wall Chalking for the first time in my life.
Being one of the Mad Men (referring to the Orthodox Marketing Practitioners), I always considered Wall Chalking as ‘a desi version of the Outdoor Media inspired by Graffiti Art performed on the walls by large-format Calligraphers’. These calligraphers were called Painters, Khush Nawees and Khatat back in Pakistan.
Wall chalking used to be (and still is) an affordable advertising media for a lot of businesses, products and causes including but not limited to: Politics, Religion, Educational Institutions, Beauty Salons, Marriage Beurues, Paints, Pedestal Fans, Whitening Creams, Herbal Medicine Practitioners / Herbalists and Practitioners of Spiritual Incantation.
Often directed at sensitive issues like skin whitening, passing the exams, marrying the love of your life, sectarianism, and reproductive health, the Wall Chalking used to be every traveller’s companion on all the major highways. With a reach of hundreds of thousands of viewers every day, the Return on Investment (ROI) of such campaigns used to be massive.
Over time, other outdoor advertising media like Cloth Banners, Flex-Billboards, Hoardings, and Digital Screens tried to snatch the market share from Wall Chalking. However, all of them combined were unable to put even a small dent until the government and the civil society came to their rescue. A lot of civil society campaigns and government regulations restricted the use of Wall Chalking as an advertising outdoor media. Some of the reasons behind these restrictions were illegal painting, lack of regulations and provocative and unethical messaging.
One of the beneficiaries of this low-cost-high-return outdoor advertising media were Herbalists known as Hakeems selling ‘performance-enhancing herbal drugs’. Recently, I came across a similar Sponsored Ad (in Urdu) of a Herbalist on Facebook with very nostalgic messaging i.e. Taqat ka Khazana (Treasure of Power) directed to the audience in the United Arab Emirates. To my surprise, the entity has social media channels and a working website. Well, I personally considered such business to have perished with the demise of Wall Chalking. Touche! So, I shouldn’t be surprised if I see such businesses doing Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for their website, bidding on keywords to attract more traffic and to boost sales (SEM), and are having verified accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
This ad and its copy made me think: Is Social Media Marketing going to be the Wall Chalking of the digital age? So I asked myself a few questions.
· Is Social Media Marketing budget-friendly? Yes. Is their target audience on Social Media? Yes. Is the reach of Social Meda Marketing good enough? Yes.
Does Social Media Marketing provide a good ROI? Yes. Is the viewership of Social Media involuntary? Yes. Is there a way to completely avoid Social Media ads. No.
The digital transformation in the advertising industry and the globalization of marketplace are real and they equally impact all businesses from Fortune 500 to a Traditional Herbalist from a South Asian country. An epiphany moment, isn’t it?
Moral of the story is that Digital Marketing is the need of the hour. It is the new low-cost-high-return advertising media catering to the needs of companies with literally ANY advertising budget.
The writer is Hybrid Marketing Strategist.
