Advertising & Promotion (MKT621) Fall, 2021

Assignment No.2
Due Date: February 22, 2022
Total Marks: 10
Weightage: 03
Topic: “Power of Publicity”
Learning Objective: The core objective of this assignment is to acquaint students with the
significance of Publicity in realm of advertising & marketing, its advantages and disadvantages,
and the importance to have control over publicity as compared with advertising.

Learning Outcomes: After attempting this assignment, students will be able to comprehend that
how the firms can use publicity campaigns and activities for the growth of their brands.

The Case:
Organizations adopt several strategies to promote their products/brands, and publicity is one of the
major promotional tools. Publicity is any promotional communication regarding an organization or
its products where the message is not paid for by the organization benefiting from it. With the growth
of digital media, and rapidly changing customer behavior, companies like Coca-Cola looked for
novel ways of promoting their brands. The latest trend was to engage people through music.
Coke Studio is now a household name in Pakistan. Started in 2008 as an annual television music
show, it has now become the longest running music show in Pakistan. Coke studio promotes all
genres of music from the traditional Classical, Folk, Sufi, Qawwali, Ghazal, Bhangra, to Hip Hop,
Rock, and Pop music. Coke studio is successfully showcasing the talent of artists from across the
country, and in all languages of the region.
Back in 2007 when Nadeem Zaman, Marketing Head of The Coca Cola Company, adopted this idea
from a concert like platform in Brazil, and planned to launch a Pakistani version of the show, he did
not have the clue how successful this would become. Now Coke studio is celebrating its 14th season,
and the Coca Cola Company believes that they have come a long way since they embarked on this
challenging journey, fourteen years ago. They believe that Coke Studio has been able to achieve so
much, in terms of bringing virtually unknown or little-known musicians into the national limelight,
re-introducing music genres like Qawwali and Sufi music to the youth of Pakistan, and helped their
brand standout from the clutter.
Requirement:
Coca-Cola has created a concept of the Coke Studio in order to connect its brand emotionally with
the public, and especially to its customers. From a marketing point of view how do you rate this
Publicity drive? Has Coca-Cola been able to emotionally connect with the fans through the concept
of Coke Studio or not? Also, please explain 03 advantages which Coca Cola Company has drawn
from the Coke Studio, and at least mention 01 disadvantage which could be caused by this publicity
activity.
*Note: Students are advised to read the case carefully, analyze the relevant handouts & course
material, and then answer the required questions.

Marking Scheme:
This assignment is of 10 marks which will be awarded as; 02marks for your opinion on the success
of Coke Studio, 06 marks for explaining the advantages, and 02 marks for discussing the
disadvantage. Avoid irrelevant text/material while answering the question.

Important:
24 hours extra / grace period after the due date is usually available to overcome uploading
difficulties. This extra time should only be used to meet the emergencies and above-mentioned
due dates should always be treated as final to avoid any inconvenience.

Important Instructions:
 Students are advised to study the whole text carefully.
 Try not to include any irrelevant material in the solution.
 Try to come up with precise and original answers.
 Assignments reaching after the due date would not be considered.

Other Important Instructions:

DEADLINE:
 Make sure to upload the solution file before the due date on VULMS.
 Any submission made via email after the due date will not be accepted.

FORMATTING GUIDELINES:
 Use the font style “Times New Roman” or “Arial” and font size “12”.
 It is advised to compose your document in MS-Word format.
 You may also compose your assignment in Open Office format.
 Use black and blue font colors only.

Note related to load shedding: Please be proactive.

Dear students,
As you know that Post-Midterm semester activities have started and the load shedding problem is
also prevailing in our country. Keeping in view the fact, you all are advised to post your activities
as early as possible without waiting for the due date. For your convenience; activity schedule has
already been uploaded on VULMS for the current semester, therefore no excuse will be
entertained after due date of assignments, quizzes or GDBs.

“GOOD LUCK”