End of the Phenom : Zidane took retirement from Real Madrid : Puts everyone is Deep Sorrow.

Zinedine Zidane, a 45 years old football Phenom, just took his retirement from Real Madrid Football Club. This news was a shocking element for the football fans and other teams. He put his resignation just after 5 days when his team won from Liverpool in Champions League final by saying that "it is good for the club that they now need a change". This news was shocking for Florentino Perez, the President of Real Madrid football club, as he stated that Zidane did not put me in confidence when he made up his mind. According to him, the legend will come back and join again. Zidane left his position in his prime and with grace. Zinedine Zidane reportedly said that I don’t want to leave this club as a failure I want to leave it as a memory where people can link me with the victory.

He was always famous for making the spontaneous decisions, as we had witnessed in 2006 world cup. Having a controversial world cup after a headbutt to Materazzi in 2006 and there he announced his professional national football retirement. His success is all around the world where he first won his world cup in his home country France as a team Captain. Zidane was also known as Zizou, was named the player of the year 3 times. He then grasps the opportunity by becoming the assistant manager of Real Madrid under Carlos Ancelotti. He was profound of his natural charisma and strategic planning in the pitch. He was the only coach in the Real Madrid history to win 3 Uefa Championships in a row.

His annual salary was 4.6 million euros which he took from Madrid He was the primary endorser of Adidas, Orange, Kanakia Group and earned almost 9.5 million euros each year.
He was just not a coach or a professional football player, he is a philanthropic worker as well. He worked and raised millions of dollars under the name of "Soccer Aid" and AID’s charities.

Zidane said that he will be taking a break from football and he puts his retirement from football forever. He said he wants to do some charity work all around the globe and portrays a good image regarding football all around the globe. He is an ambassador to UNDP programs in Africa.

Rumors are there that Antonio Conte will be taking over as a club manager from Chelsea Football club. He seems to be very passionate about carrying Zidane legacy and continue to win Champions league.

Don't invest until you see clarity : A delusional effect of a Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and the Dark Web Transactions.

What is a Cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency, a concept which was first invented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 in his research publication, where his main purpose was to change the behavior of transaction people do all around the world. He imposes to have a digital currency where data (money) is transferred between peer to peer in an encrypted form. Till this date, there are almost 1600 cryptocurrencies which are working on different platforms like Litecoin, Ethereum, and Ripple. The most famous is Bitcoin which was launched in 2009 at a price of $0.08. In 2017, its price skyrocketed till $19000. Till this date, its price is closed at $7300. Nakamoto invented 21 million bitcoins in totality and only 4.2 million bitcoins are left to be mined.

What is the hype regarding the Blockchain technology?

This invention was very difficult for the people to understand, that how does cryptocurrency work?. The backbone of cryptocurrency is known as the Blockchain technology. Since in tradition transaction, we have a trustable entity known as the "Bank" between sender and the receiver, in cryptocurrency, there is no bank. People who are transacting with each other they have a digital ledger where they write each and every single transaction going on in that medium. For example, Alex sold 2 bitcoins to John, this information will be floated in cryptocurrency ecosystem where every single one will write 2 bitcoins are being transferred to John and they will maintain that ledger. Again, there is no Bank involved, so how to make sure there is no fake transaction.  Some people might write 3 BC or 1 BC, here comes the part of the blockchain technology. We will see the common transaction written in everyone’s ledger and through these common transactions, we will create a chain. The longer the chain the most trustable it is. This will tell newcomers or other investors that which one is the legitimate chain.  Everyone in the ecosystem has a wallet which contains two keys; a private key and a public key.

How does the blockchain technology work?

But creating blockchain is not an easy task. You need special expert people with the fastest computers to create a trustable chain. This concept is known as cryptocurrency mining. The blockchain is based on an algorithmic software known as SHA 256, where the miner will have to solve a query with a probability of 256 outcomes. The fastest your computer is, the easier for you to mine. But in return what will the miner get in return.? Once they have solved and build a trustable blockchain, some bitcoins or any other cryptocurrency will be created from nowhere and transfer it to their digital wallets. So miners are basically providing services to build the blockchain.

Usage of Cryptocurrency? 

Cryptocurrency was launched so that people can do illegal transaction off the radar from the federal government. People usually transact in dark webs where you want to hire an assassin or do drug dealing. From this concept, it has become a Fad (short trend) where people bought it for the sake of fashion and then it became a digital reality. The more people buy, the higher the price will go. Corrupt politicians and non-tax payers top management converted their black money into cryptocurrency. There is no money trail or tax to pay for it. No earning records so investigating authorities have no trail to follow.

Why you should not invest a dime in a Cryptocurrency?

Now some of the reasons why you should not invest in any cryptocurrency. The prices are not being regulated by any authorized entity, that means its prices are fluctuating without any reason. You might face a huge amount of risk associated with your investment. Cryptocurrency is neither a commodity or a currency, again, you cannot touch it or spend it anywhere in the real world. Some countries like Pakistan has started to ban this digital currency because of no money trail. Most people are investing in Bitcoin just out of fashion, they don’t understand the real deal in it and how does it work.

Tech war between Apple, Google and Samsung 2018, Samsung loses $539 million over Copyright Infringement

Copyrights and patents are the major issues in today’s technological era. There are two types of patents. The first one is utility patent (protection of machines and new upcoming innovation) and other is design patent which includes the curves and edges, the way the product will look and the way they perform. Since the level of innovation in Mobile technology is very thin so companies are mimicking their direct or indirect competitors.

The same case happened between two worlds biggest tech giants; Apple and Samsung. A case which was started in 2011, when Apple Inc. sued Samsung for illegally copying some of the feature and design from them. Initially, they demanded $2.5 billion, but the settlement reached at $539 million dollars by the court's jury of California. Samsung has illegally infringed 5 different types of designs which include “slide to unlock screen” which was invented and patent by Apple. Another infringement was an "auto-correction" and "background syncing" which was again a property of Apple. Six of the Samsung devices including their flagship products like Galaxy S2 and S3 were embedded with infringed technology. Apple’s major emphasis was on “915 patent” which is “Pinch to Zoom” and they said this feature was patent back in 2011, which Samsung used in their flagship products in 2012.

Samsung also put their lawsuit against Apple. As a South Korean company accused Apple of copying their face to face technology which Apple afterward named it "FaceTime" and other was "organizing folders". But their decision is pending to review. Samsung recently filed a “writ of certiorari” which means they want to move this case up to the supreme court. Samsung repeatedly said they did not infringe any technology, they adopted the accused feature from Google Android. At the moment, Google did not respond with any statement regarding their war, but some analysts are now pointing out that Apple.Inc might come after Google by infringing some parts of IOS to Android. By just highlighting Google in Apple and Samsung’s war, Google’s stock price took a nosedive up to 1.4%.

Yet again, Samsung till this date loss this case and have to pay the infringement money to Apple. Due to which their brand image is in danger and their stock price plummet to 1.1% in wall street and 7.5% in South Korean stock exchange, which means around $12 billion loss in just one week.

Chapter 6 : Integrated Marketing Communications

This chapter talks about creating and using Integrated marketing communications. But first, we should know about marketing communication. The main purpose is to inform, persuade and give your customer a nudging reminder about your product and services.
IMC is basically a technique where you combine different tools of communication and find the optimal mix so that your desired message can easily reach to your target market. In the previous chapter, we had discussed digitalization, so mainstream marketing techniques are cliché and companies are using digital marketing as their primary source of communication.

The first and the most renowned tool of IMC is the advertisement. The vital element which differentiates advertising from the promotion is in advertisement sponsor is identified. The controversy and the limitation of advertisement is that its effects cannot be quantified. For example, I poured 100,000 rupees on one advert, I don’t know whether and when my investment on this ad will give me revenues. Normally people see the ad and do not buy the product.

For Ideal ad campaign, your ad should be displayed at the right time to the right audience. For example, food ads before lunch and dinner. While creating an ad, make sure your product is not undermined by any celebrity or an endorser. Your ad should be easy to interpret and the customer can actually understand the intended message in it. In the end, your ad should not be only for awareness but its goal should be to make a sale. The strategies of advertisement are ATL, BTL, and TTL.

Sales promotion is a short-term tool in IMC, where you go trail of your product outside malls and stadiums. Kanas, a brand of Tehzeeb foods, when it was launched they put sales promotions in Safa Mall, Chilman restaurant and every outlet of Tehzeeb bakery.  Sales promotion are of two types; Consumer promotion, the scenario mentioned above and Trade promotions its basically b2b.

Event marketing and sponsorship is basically where companies try to create a good image out of themselves. Pakistan Tobacco company is banned from doing advertisement, so they arrange Golf Tournaments to have a good exposure for their customers. Redbull arranges sporty events and tries to endorse their brand using sports activities and celebrities.

Public relations and publicity, a concept which is synonymous to a layman person, yet they are poles apart. Public relation, a concept where companies try to defend their image by showing the positive side only. Press conferences and press releases are few tactics of public relations.  On the other hand, publicity is dual in nature where it can be positive or negative. Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy recently put a publicity stunt to get on the trending list, same goes with Misha Shafi and Ali Zafar’s using #metoo as a publicity stunt.

Marketing communication guidelines are critically important for companies because it helps them to develop their optimal marketing communication strategy. We will start with, you have to be analytical and deeply understand the consumer behavior model. Since everyone is different from each other so your managerial decision should develop a well-executed and researched communication strategy.
Only one-time value is not enough for your customer, you need to be curious about their changing need and demands, keeping your strategy aligned with market trends and competitors.  You cannot reach and customize your ads to the whole population.
Be single-minded and focus on your actual target market rather than focusing the whole mass. You have to be integrative which means you have to be consistent and keep reinforcing your message to your target audience. Showing one-time ad is not enough you need to keep showing them again and again until it jumps to the recall point in your brain.
Break the clutter and be creative, because a creative ad can easily be remembered because it has the element of uniqueness in it.
Observe your competitors and see what they are doing, how customers are responding to their strategies. Keeping the budget in mind, be realistic about which tool should be used and when. Lastly, be patient and trust your communication strategies. Success won’t come overnight.

Chapter 5: Marketing programs: Types of Personalize Marketing.

Marketing paradigms and parameters have changed with the passage of time. Companies are changing their marketing tactics and strategies. Through the concept of digitalization and more connectivity, the world is now shrunk due to the internet and companies are doing businesses offshore. In Pakistan, some of the U.S based companies are working because of cheap labor and fewer taxes.
Digitalization has prevailed so much that companies are now interacting with the customer directly and excluding the middleman. For example, Bahria University wants to buy Hp laptops for the faculty, they will directly contact the manufacturer rather than involving vendors and distributors. But again re-intermediaries ensure trust. E-BAY, a customer to customer e-commerce portal included Paypal, a digital bank, which ensure trust between both customers. Through digitalization, two concepts also evolved customization (you can alter a product through some extent) and customerization (where the customer can modify the whole product to his limits, for example, tailor suits or customized cakes).

The market is cluttered with non-sense ideas and conservative techniques. Firms are using a lot of "out-of-box" techniques to capture the attention of their potential customer in a very unique way. The customer wants the ownership of the products.
Remember the Global campaign by Coca-Cola “share a coke” where different names were labeled in their packaging. This was the concept of mass customization and customer felt the ownership. Because that is how you create a relationship with your customer.

Experiential marketing, a concept with a boom in the industry, talks about create an ultimate experience for the customer that they will never ever forget about it. London Olympics 2012, Samsung installed their stalls outside the stadium and they displayed their latest mobile phones so that people can experience the product before their purchase.

One to one marketing is basically you engage the customer to create value for your product. You interact with them in an individual level and engage them. But for good engagement, you first need to identify your prospect customer and treat them individually. The second step is differentiating them by segmenting them in their belonging class. Interact with them in an efficient manner and try talking to them about their need and wants. Customize their need and behavior according to your firm’s requirement and try to create value. Lastly, build a strong and everlasting relationship with your customer and try to make him your brand evangelist.

Guerilla marketing, again a new way of marketing where you advertise your product in an unconventional way where normally people were not expecting it. Like Colgate partnerships with a local ice-cream manufacturer to have their sticks shaped like toothbrush so that children can remember they have to brush their teeth after having this ice-cream.

One of the most important technique is Permission marketing, a concept given by Seth Godin. He talks about not to irritate or invade customer’s privacy and stop doing interruptive marketing. His major focus was on to develop a deep and meaningful relationship with the customers. He said we need to engage and encourage the customer to participate in a long-term marketing campaign and the customer will be given some sort of reward for it. Reward or compensation is compulsory because it can enhance the level of concentration of your customers. Permission marketing revolves around to offer an incentive to your customer so that he can concentrate on your brand. Make him understand your product. Keep giving him incentive so that his concentration level is maintained. Lastly, once his concentration is permanent, change it into sales and earn profit through it.

Retailers are customers too. Since retailer is the middleman between company and customer. The cooperative advertisement is a partnership between retailers and the company. You have seen multiple time Coca-Cola fridge in a small retail store and with their main board (brand name) you can see Coca-Cola’s name with it.

Chapter 4 : Brand Element : Choose your brand elements wisely.

In this chapter we will be discussing about brand element and the criteria of selecting brand elements. The worth of apple logo is  $39.9 billion, this worth is not created overnight. A team of well-established logo architects and designers put their mind in the creation of this logo. But again logo is a brand element, but to select this brand element we need to see the criteria’s as well. Keller defines criteria of selecting brand elements as the selective filter which is applied on each brand element. He categorized these criteria under 6 filter.

1) Memorability (Your brand element should be attention grasping and can be easily identified, for example, Mcdonalds, A big yellow “M” can be spotted miles before and can easily trigger recall and recognition.
2) Meaningfulness (brand element should be meaningful in terms of detail description of your product and benefits. Like Fair and lovely, they describe their product as a whitening cream and they put challenge in their advertisement that in just 10 days you will have fairer skin.
3) Likeability (Your brand should be aesthetically sound and appealing. Color combination used in the creation of any elements creates a big difference. See which color and design have associated feelings with your brand.
4) Transferability (You cannot stick with your brand with only one product, for more profits companies diversify their portfolio. Your brand name, logo and other elements should be made in a way that they can be easily transfer to other products in your portfolio.
5) Adaptability (Again very important because you need to adapt and adopt your brand elements with the taste and culture of your target market and continuously try to improve your brand elements by keeping in mind the element of technology.
6) Protectability (Select the brand elements which can be protected internationally in terms of copyrights and trademarks. In Pakistan, we register our company and brand under the umbrella of SECP (security exchange commission of Pakistan).

Moving towards the tactics of brand elements. These tactics are made and developed by the above-mentioned criteria’s.
The first tactic is selecting the Brand name. Since it is not easy to select a brand name. There are certain criteria’s which needs to be fulfilled like it should define your objectives, through these objectives, generate a list of brand names, screen them out on the bases of favorability and then research the final candidate nationally and internationally as well. 
Second is URL (uniform resource locator) a web name for your digital campaigns like Daraz.pk, where Daraz means closet. People normally put logo and symbol under one category, but yet they are poles apart.
A logo is a term derived from logotype which is the written part and symbol is graphics part, for example, Starbucks (the written part is the logo and the naked siren is the symbol).
Characters are the symbolic and rememberable personalities associated with a brand for e.g. Colonel Sanders of KFC, Reynold McDonalds of McDonald's.
Packaging is an important brand element because it can influence the taste (orange juice), it can change the buying behavior (orange juice as a normal drink).  And Lastly, Slogan and Taglines, the difference between both of them is slogan is for a short marketing campaign and tagline is for the company and it remains constant forever.

Save the world, Save a life : Innovations from Apple, Amazon and Tata Group.

Competition in electric cars domain is increasing day by day. The world is moving towards the concept of "save the world and save the lives". Apple incorporation has announced that their upcoming project will be totally different from their current portfolio. Rumors are there that Apple is currently working on a project known as “Titan” an Electric car. Some of the internal employees stated that a heavy force of technical employees are working on this project. Apple had identified the current market niche and do not want Tesla Motors and Tata motors to enjoy their full share in the electric cars category. They want to be the first mover in the electric car market of a self-driven car. Since the majority of the countries are now focusing on the removal of petrol and diesel cars. Scandinavian countries are putting emphasis that no car will be operated on Gas until 2030. Indian technological giant Tata group announced that they will be launching their electric car named as "E-Vission".

Amazon is world’s biggest giant in terms of e-commerce and cloud computing. Jeff Bezos was named as one of the most influencing and richest CEO. Rumors are there that Amazon by the end of 2018 will be entering into the pharmaceutical business. Their main aim is to reduce the element of intermediaries. They want to eliminate pharmacist between the doctors and the pharmacy. They want to do innovation through putting a QR (quick response) code on doctor's given prescription and you just need to scan that code through your mobile phone, money will be deducted through your linked bank account and medicines will be delivered to your address.

Another important innovation which is just around the corner for commercialization is Alexa of Amazon. Alexa is a digital voice search engine and a voice-powered digital assistance. Since you have seen Google has recently launched its Artificial intelligence voice-operated assistant. It can help you set appointments and plan your day. They will call on your behalf and set appointments for you. Again innovation is the key to success, Amazon and Google keep on innovating themselves on different platforms.

Furthermore, Amazon is now expanding and continuously improving their domain of grocery. They have this digital card, from which you don’t need to check out, you just need to pass through a scanner and money will be deducted from that Amazon card.