1

Report On Asiatic

Submitted To: Bitopi Das Chowdhury Course Instructor Dept. of Business Administration University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh

Submitted By: Zakia Binte Jamal (043011020) Imran Ahmed (043011009) Abu Sufian (043011011)

Dated: 13th April, 2008 University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh 13th April, 2008 Bitopi Das Chowdhury Course Instructor Dept. of Business Administration University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh Subject: submission of report Dear Madam: We are very glad to submit the report on Asiatic. We have tried to show you how practically advertising agencies are working in Bangladesh. We are very grateful to you to give us the opportunity to make this report. Making this kind of report will help us to gather practical knowledge about our working field. We hope that this report will be able to serve the purpose of making report. We will be thankful to you if you have any kind of feedback because your satisfaction will make us delighted. Thank you again for your kind cooperation and valuable directions. We are looking forward for your response. Sincerely Yours, 1. Zakia Binte Jamal . 2. Abu Sufian

. 3. Imran Ahmed

Acknowledgement We are very much grateful to our Almighty who gives us the opportunity to make the report. We must acknowledge explicitly our advisor Ms. Bitopi Das Chowdhury, Dept. of Business Administration, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh. Without her cooperation and direction we will not be able to make this report. She gives us the right direction and helps us to overcome the problems which we have faced during making the report. We are also very grateful to the management of Asiatic. Without the help and support of Asiatic authority it was not possible for us to make such kind of report. They give us the permission to visit their organization and get practical knowledge about the activities of advertising firm. Finally, we like to thank Ms. Bubaiyat, the project coordinator of Client Service department of Asiatic. She briefs us the activities of Asiatic and gives us the answer of our queries. We also like to thank Mr. Neville who has helped us to get the appointment. They give me their valuable advice, suggestion and all kind of necessary supports. We are very thankful to them.

Content Title Page No.

1. Introduction................................................................................................................. 07

The total communication company..........................................................07 Management...............................................................................................08 Creative Philosophy..................................................................................09 Planning......................................................................................................10

2. Asiatic Social....................................................................................................12

3. Asiatic Events..................................................................................................13 4. MRC-MODE Limited.........................................................................................14 5. Moitree Printers...............................................................................................16 6. Nayantara Communication.............................................................................16 7. Asiatic Mindshare............................................................................................17 8. Activity Flow Chart.........................................................................................19
9. Recommendations......................................................................................................20 10. Conclusion................................................................................................................21 11. Bibliography and References..................................................................................22

Executive Summary
Asiatic is one of the biggest Marketing Communication Company it is dealing with all kind of activities related to promoting a product or brand. Asiatic MCL is not only working for the making of the advertisement but also in doing changes in the procedure of reaching to the customer. It is not only Asiatic MCL who is working lonely to make an advertisement and it is not solely making of an advertisement only but also a branch of work that they are doing with their associated partners like MRC Mode Ltd., Asiatic Social, Nayantara Communications, Asiatic Mindshare, Ddhoni Chitra Ltd., Asiatic Events Ltd. those together working for development of the marketing communications. For developing an advertisement the agency has to go through a lot of processes including the research, customer dealings, planning, Creative planning, production and all the things that helps the organization in shaping the integrated marketing concept. The range of Asiatic services transcends the frontiers of Advertising to cover Social Communication, Events, Public Relations, Corporate Relations, Direct Marketing, Formative Research and Media Planning and Management, Marketing and Product Planning.

Introduction
The total communication company:
Asiatic MCL has been operating in the Bangladesh business environment for the last 30 years. The relationship that Asiatic has developed with the leading business houses, industrial undertakings, NGOs, government bodies, industrialist, entrepreneurs, businessmen, marketers, executives and bureaucrats is unmatched. Aly Zaker, Asaduzzman Noor, Sara Zaker, the executives at Asiatic, are not only well known media figures, their reputation as top business people is also very high. Asiatic has been involved in production innovations, brand building, brand launches, market entry strategy etc. for most of the top industrial and marketing companies of Bangladesh including Unilever Bangladesh limited, Pepsi, BAT, Sanowara etc. Asiatic has not only been an advertising agency for its clients but also provided strategy planning service to most of them. Over the years, Asiatic has evolved from an advertising agency to multi-dimensional communications company providing proactive and total communication solution to a multitude of local, regional and international clients. The range of Asiatic service transcends the frontiers of Advertising to cover social Communication, Events, Public Relation, Corporate Relation, Direct Marketing, Formative Research and Media Planning and Management, Marketing and product Planning

Management
Mr. Aly Zaker, the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Asiatic Marketing Communications Ltd. Asiatic is one of the largest advertising agencies in the country. Asiatic Marketing Communications Ltd. handles Marketing Communications Assignments for many leading companies/organizations of the country. He is also Chairman of MRC-MODE LTD, one of the largest Marketing & Social Research Companies of Bangladesh and also Chairman of Asiatic Mind Share, one of the leading media strategy & investment companies in Bangladesh. He is a Director of Asiatic Events Marketing Ltd, a leading event management company in Bangladesh & also of Ddhoni Chitra Productions, a reputed production house of the country.
Asaduzzaman Noor,

the Deputy Managing Director of Asiatic

Marketing Communications Limited, one of the largest advertising agencies in Bangladesh. He began his career as a journalist in 1972, joining the largest circulated weekly The Chitralee. He did not pursue that job too long. The following year he was appointed as the Press Relations Officer at the Soviet Embassy. After having worked in that position for several years Noor joined East Asiatic Advertising Limited (now known as Asiatic Marketing Communications Limited) in 1980. At the same time he also worked in managing MRCB (now known as MRC-Mode Limited) a market research organization. Sara Zaker she joined and has been working at Asiatic MCL as the Director of Social Communication and as a Human Resource Director. She also holds the position of an Executive director at this company. Sara Zaker has upheld the role of a project head of Nayantara- a co-production house of Sesame workshop New York

since its inception in 2004. She is also the Director Of Asiatic Evens Marketing Ltd and the Managing Director of Ddhoni Chitra Ltd and MRC Mode Ltd.

Aim To help growth of scientific communication and marketing where service/product benefits are married to consumer needs to bring about desired behavioral change or to build great brands. Asiatic Philosophy:
A communication consultant must provide solution that are comprehensive, ideas that are enduring, campaigns that are effective, and create environment that is sustainable and brands that become institutions. At Asiatic MCL we believe that an advertisement should not only stand out from the others but also be memorable and should stimulate the target audiences/consumers mind towards a positive action. We also believe that a strategy or an advertisement, however attractive, will fail in its purpose unless delivered with appropriate marketing considerations.

The Asiatic Edge:

More Creative: Art with a marketing consideration. More planning: TTB and Thompson way are ingrained in our approach. More understanding: We were born here. This is our world. More commitment: The people who own the business work it. More Attention: Devoted servicing for each brand.

Creative Philosophy:
The question we ask ourselves.. Have you listened? Do you have something interesting to say? Do you have a vivid way of saying it? Can you keep the conversation going? Is your conversation happening at the right time and in the right palace?

Of all the conversations your consumers have, will this be the only one they tell friends? Finally, are you still listening? The two rules of Asiatic Servicing: 1. The client is always right. 2. If the client is not right, do not refer to rule 1. tell them so.

Media service:
To complement overall corporate philosophy we have introduced: A number of cost effective service that help our clients optimize media exploits Every monitoring of BTV and Radio Analysis to help inter-media selection Extensive planning.

Planning:
The process of planning is an idea genet\rating combination of rigorous analysis, thinking and imagination resulting in campaign that is both innovative and internally coherent, a combination of wisdom and magic.

Partner and subsidiaries:

Internal Affiliation Our overseas affiliate, j. Walter Thompson, is in of the top global advertising agencies of the world with 246 offices in 83 countries.

10

Asiatic has multi-dimensional communications company-

11

Asiatic Social (the catalyst compound)

A catalyst for social change Asiatic Social is not an advertising agency, it is a potent catalyst compound that creates chemistry between program and target group. Comprehensive The range of Asiatic Socials activities transcend the boarders of advertising to over comprehensive communication strategy development, public relation, event management, formative research, participatory rural appraisal, social mobilization, Media monitoring and project consultancy. Sensitive Our sensitive to social issues and human needs is not only reflected in the communication we develop but integral to the way we think. Pedigree A subsidiary of Asiatic MCL is the leading communication company of Bangladesh. Asiatic Social has been involved in the field of social communication since its inception in 1984. The Power of program: Program has the potential to change lives; be it education, health or family planning, environment or sanitation, child rights or women's welfare. Program makes changes to the social, economic, environmental and cultural fabric of the people. The final goal of a social project/ program, of course, is attitude or behavior change. Thus, every program is dependent on the participant group/ partner/ audience's response. And we all know that this response is a result of programmatic stimuli. The Power of social communication: One of the most important stimuli for social response is social communication. It is said that good communication leads to longer marriages. The reason is simple, better communication leads to greater understanding of the other's views. Thereby it aids in attitude and behavior change. And sometimes, in avoiding the seven-year itch.

12

Communication empowers people with knowledge and helps them make informed decisions about issues that affect their lives. Challenges in social communication: - Reaching a mass of illiterate, media-dark audience - Communicating to each individual - Communicating the complexities in understandable language - Localizing communication to appeal to target audience's sensibilities - Involving the target audience in communication development and delivery Program Partnership: Many multinational and local companies have social welfare agenda. Worldwide, Shell has hundreds of such programs. Asiatic can help establish symbiotic alliances between Government / NGO sector and the private sector.

Asiatic Events
Asiatic Events is an established company in the field of events management and marketing. It is a sister company of Asiatic MCL. Asiatic group believes in total communication. From this philosophy, the idea of an events marketing and management company was conceptualized and finally established in the year 1997. Events marketing are an important part of any integrated communications plan, because it extends the impact of the other promotional elements by creating a dynamic, interactive environment that makes key messages more relevant and personal. The company introduced the concept of managing and marketing of an event through a planned strategic process. It was the first company of its kind in Bangladesh. Experience: Our experience transcends a variety of activities starting from doing commercial projects such as organizing concerts in the capital city with stars as big as Adnan Sami to doing social awareness campaigns which require rural activation skills.

13

Advantages of the unit: The variety of experiences we have gives us a cutting edge over the rest of our competitors. This is not all. We also have a well coordinated process through which we carry out most of our work which is called the events cycle.

The various steps of the events cycle are as follows: 1. The art of brainstorming 2. Site management 3. Assistant coordination 4. Marketing 5. Exploring Avenues 6. Execution 7. Public Relations 8. Feedback We also make sure that we put extra effort at some of the challenges thrown at us. Some challenges being rural activation, providing the best security possible, media management and public relations. All these add up to make us one of the best event management companies in the country.

MRC-MODE Limited
RC-MODE initially started its operations in 1975, as a research unit for the East Asiatic Advertising Ltd. By 1981, evolving market trends and a need for extensive market research led the company to establish itself as a full-fledged, independent research organization called MRCB. In 1991, the company entered into a joint collaboration with one of India's most premier research organizations - MODE India Private Ltd. At the same time, the organization extended its operations into the field of social research, realizing the growing demand for research work in the arena of social and public welfare issues. MRCMode Ltd. emerged as a result of this evolution in the company's operational goals, missions and objectives. MRC-MODE: MRC Mode is one of the largest research organizations in Bangladesh, with extensive experience in conducting qualitative and quantitative research, concerning a multitude of issues in both the marketing and social arena.

14

Marketing Research Experience: MRC-MODE has built up an extensive body of experience in market research over the past two decades, handling projects for prominent market organizations like Unilever, SMC, and BATB. Our work in this field has also been complemented by the experience we have acquired through our social research work, which has taught us that marketing problems also need to be viewed from a social perspective if reliable and accurate research outputs are to be delivered to clients. They also did1. Brand Development Research 2. Simulated Test Marketing (STM) 3. Pre Launch testing 4. Advertising Research / Advertising Evaluation and Monitoring 5. Concept test 6. Copy test 7. Habit and Attitude Study etc. Social Research Experience: For a diverse bag of clients covering the UNICEF, CIDA, ILO and other NGOs and International bodies, MRC-MODE has stepped into all possible sources of social and public education related fields. As a research firm, MRC-MODE has taken part in several social and market-based research projects under the commission of prominent organisations like UNICEF, ILO, SMC, DFID, CIDA, VSO Bangladesh, ACTIONAID BANGLADESH, CONCERN, CARE Bangladesh, FHI and BCCP. The involvement of our field and research team with these projects has provided our personnel with extensive experience and insight into a variety of issues.

Moitree Printers
Moitree Printers was established in 1992 but it merged with Asiatic MCL and came to be known as a private limited company in September, 1994. Whether it is one-color or multiple-color printing, color copies or even simple black and white copies, Moitree printers has got the equipment, experience and talent to turn materials into masterpieces. Our experience coupled with state of art equipment ensures quality products that meet our client's expectations. Moitree Printers is involved in all the different facets of paper printing. This includes posters, banners, buntings, mobiles, desk and wall calendars, diary, school books and

15

magazines, wedding and invitation cards etc. Moitree Printers is also involved in cutting and packaging book covers, files, folders and medicine packs. All different forms of laminating are carried out over here, which include glossy laminations, matt lamination, spot lamination and UB printing lamination. Once the printing is over, the binding process is carried out by Moitree Printers as well. The different forms of binding that we engage in are spiral binding, ora binding, glo binding and stitch binding. Clients of Moitree printers: -Unilever Bangladesh Limited - Singapore Airlines - UNICEF - IDLC - Save the Children - Pacific Pharmaceuticals Ltd. - New-Zealand Milk (Bangladesh) Limited - Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) - ICDDRB - Asiatic MCL - Ddhoni Chitra Limited - MRC-Mode Limited - Transcom Beverage Recent works of Moitree printers-

Cartoon Book cover

Unilever Corporate Magazine

Nayantara Communication
Nayantara Communication is the project that produces Sisimpur, the Bangladeshi adaptation of children's television series Sesame Street. It combines creative genius with

16

excellent animation to create an educational show of the highest quality. It started its journey from the 1st of April 2004. Nayantara Communication is the twenty-first coproducer of Sesame Workshop in the world, and is the first of its kind in South Asia. USAID provided the financial assistance for Nayantara Communication. Nayantara Communications work1.Studio Films: Sisimpur: Sisimpuris the heart of Nayantara Communication. It is the 25 min. television series of theBangladeshi version of Sesame Street, that focuses on pre-school education of children aged between 3-6 years. Inaugurated on April 15, 2005 on Bangladesh Television (BTV) it is now regularly aired every Friday at 9:05 am and Saturday, Monday and Wednesday at 2:05 pm. Sisimpur features Bangla speaking muppets in studio films.

2. Animation Films: 25 animators work to make animation films. 3. Live Action Films: 6 live action directors work to film the real lives of Bangladeshi
children. Along with them Nayantara Communication also trained 4 under privileged children from rural areas to film live actions of children to get the children's own perspective objectively.

Asiatic Mindshare
Asiatic Mindshare started its operation in Bangladesh in June 2001. An affiliate of Asiatic MCL, Asiatic Mindshare is a complete media planning, buying and research company. The vision is to secure competitive advantage for clients in a media world which is changing beyond recognition, and which is defined by the fragmentation of mass media and high levels of media inflation. This demands creativity, rational thinking and smart buying power. Mindshare - One stop media solution - delivers all. MindShare - Global Touch MindShare was founded on the merger of the media operations of JWT and Ogilvy & Mather. It is poised to become the first global media investment management company with billings in excess of $18.7 billion (source: RECMA). The network consists of 90 offices in 65 countries employing over 3,600 media professionals throughout the USA, Latin

17

America, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific. MindShare is a GroupM Company. The other assets of GroupM include Mediaedge: cia Worldwide and MAXUS.

Asiatic Mindshare in brief - Origin: MindShare World, WPP, UK - In Bangladesh: A group company of Asiatic MCL, one of the leading ad agencies in the country. Achievements: - Media Magazine Asia Pacific Media Agency of the Year 2003 & 2004 - AdAge Global Media Agency of the Year 2003 & 2004 - Recognition by NTV as one of the leading agency's of the Year 2004-2005 - Recognition by BTV as the lead agency in terms of revenue contribution for 2004-2005

Clients of Mind share: - Unilever - Pepsi Co - DHL - Gillette - Sony Ericsson - Kodak - The Daily Star - UNICEF - Save the Children (USA) - Marie Stopes - IRG (Nishorgo Eco Tourism) - BCCP - TIB - Ibrahim Cardiac Centre etc. Services of MindShare: -Strategic Media Planning - Media Investment Management - Product Management Consultancy

18

- Events Solutions - Media PR Management

The standard work strategy for quality assurance at AMCL is depicted in the diagram below:

19

Communication Strategy

P E R R IF E R Y

Media Plan

Implementation Plan

P E R R I F E R Y

As per plan

Not per plan

Go ahead

Rectify and go

Check the Media & Implementation Plan

Recommendations We have been able to track some lacking of the Asiatics activity. According to our observation the recommendations are-

20

Too much dependent on global clientsFor their worldwide activities Asiatic is quite dependent on their global clients likeUnilever, BAT, PEPSICO etc. They should also give same kind of emphasize on other local companies. Not affordable for small companies For their global standard they are charging high for that reason some popular products or brands of small capital cant go to Asiatic for their campaign or ad. Encourage woman in advertising industryAsiatic is such a big company it should take some social steps. Women are not interested to come in this sector like- directing, ad firm jobs. They can take initiative to encourage woman to come in this sector. We think that, the aforementioned recommendations will help to Asiatic to do their activities successfully to achieve their desired goal as well as women empowerment.

Conclusion Asiatic has proficiency and experience in shooting on 35 mm format, 16 mm format, beta cam, umatic as well as VHS documentation.In the past they have done many audiovisuals for clients like- Lux, Pepsi, Close up, BATB and others. Asiatic MCL has developed

21

over 1050 TV commercials, 1400 radio commercials, 100 documentation, 80 dramas, 1000 jingles, 150 animations, 300 subtitles,60 magazine programs. Asiatic is serving over 170 clients over the last 34 years. The number speaks for them.

22

Bibliography and References:

1. www.asiaticgroup.net
2. Asiatic MCL report 3. Advertising Principles & Practice by William Wells Part-3, Chapter-8, Media planning and Buying, 4. www.wikipedia.com

23