Global communication practices witnessed a massive setback during Covid. However, the pandemic has also taught us to initiate innovation and effective ways toward creative communication. It forced every organization to realize how creativity can be a lifesaver in a broader and holistic sense. Amid the post-pandemic yet challenging war-torn times, creative experts worldwide have been running communication and advertisements thoroughly. Therefore, the theme of this year’s Communication Summit was “Creativity in Challenging Times”. The summit highlighted and provided a platform to discuss the new dynamics of creativity and effective communications.
This year’s summit was attended by more than 500 professionals. It brought together global & leading industry professionals, decision-makers, thought leaders, and communication industry enthusiasts under one roof. They exchanged and shared their experiences on different aspects of communication. It also provided a multidisciplinary forum to present and discuss the most recent trends, strategies, challenges, and solutions in the field.
The summit was followed by “The 11th Edition of COMMWARD, Excellence in Creative Communications”. The accolade honoured the creative excellence of brand communications in the country.
The day-long summit housed 05 Panel Discussions, 04 Keynote Sessions, 02 Case Studies, and 01 conversations. Renowned Brand and Communication Professional, Kaniska Chakraborty hosted the summit.
Opening Speech
In the opening speech, Shariful Islam, Founder & Managing Director of Bangladesh Brand Forum, said, “We are going through a massive economic challenge now. We need to rise amid this and create amazing communication for our clients now. That’s the whole notion, we would like to discuss in the 11th Communication Summit.”
Keynote Session with Dave McCaughan
Dave McCaughan, Thought leader and Storyteller, BIBLIOSEXUAL & Co-founder, Marketing Futures conducted the first keynote session of the summit. His thorough presentation was focused on how marketers and brands should approach understanding what matters the most to customers.
He introduced his famous Brad Pitt Effect to break down the idea. People are quick to forget what matters. So brands should constantly remind them of their preferences and choices. People or customers usually care about communication and information. Therefore, one of the brands’ utmost responsibilities is to provide the right channels to pass information and properly communicate. Marketeers prioritize consumer needs by talking to them and figure how to provide information to highlight the only things that matter the most to them. What matters to people can be factored into three things; easy to reach, easy to buy, and easy to get a little magic in life. Only great brands think about what matters to people. So, in order to uplift brand values, the basis of every market research should be “what matters to people and not want matters to you.” To know what matters to people, you need to be insightful, creative, disruptive, and genuinely think about what matters.
Keynote Session with Sumanto Chattopadhyay
Sumanto Chattopadhyay, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, 82.5 Communications & Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy, South Asia, introduced the #FlipIt approach in Indian creative communication and advertisement.
This approach helps creatives and ad makers’ flip’ a standard statement that is culturally relevant and turn it into something bizarre in concept but effective in reality. All the world’s best campaigns can fall under this framework to boost creativity and entertainment in communication. Sumanto, through his presentation, showed how this #FlipIt concept has boosted the shock factor of a creative. Overall utilization of that shock value to gain maximum top-of-the-mind awareness through the light of various campaigns can be made through a simple framework. The #FlipIt framework shows how easy it is to change the creativity of an entire communication from the core ideation level if we can just think a bit out of the box, no matter how crazy it seems.
Keynote Session with Syed Gausul Alam Shaon
Managing Director and Country Head of Grey Group Bangladesh Syed Gausul Alam Shaon conducted his anticipated session on the “Reborn with Purpose” theme.
He started with the big question, “does the world really need the brand we are hoping to create?” It is one of the fundamental questions to building and enduring a brand.
Another vital point regarding branding is its purpose. Brand purpose is a deep dive into our heritage, culture & story. It is our strengths and passions and how they are of service. The building blocks of brand purpose are a combination of brand purpose, vision, and mission. However, the purpose is not always a discovery. But it is a search within your vault of truth and sometimes the culture.
Keynote Session with Tay Guan Hin
Tay Guan Hin, Group Chairman, BBDO, presented his revolutionary ‘Collision’ in the final keynote session of the Communication Summit.
The essence of the idea was that when two things collide, it creates something new. He brought the same idea to creative communication. As he said, “You need to find two conflicting views to create a collision, which leads to kickstarting your creativity. You have to find different approaches to surprise people and collide is a way towards that approach.” The Collision model consists of three major principles.
The first principle of colliding is to form new inventions after mashing up two or more old ideas. Therefore, one has to mash up two familiar things to make something unfamiliar. The second principle of colliding is to go in the opposite direction to break conventional thinking. The focus should be on creating work completely opposite of the category or the industry. The final principle establishes a conflict between the different ideas to spark bold perspectives.
Tay Guan Hin further remarked, “When you make any content, make sure to make it imperfect. The more imperfect the content is, the more consumers will relate to that content.”
Panel Discussions
Redefining Creativity: The Path to Here Won’t Take Us There
Moderated by Shariful Islam, Founder & Managing Director of Bangladesh Brand Forum, the panel featured Nazim Farhan Choudhury, Managing Director, Adcomm Limited; Sarah Ali, Managing Director, FCB Bitopi – Integrated Marketing Agency; Iresh Zaker, Managing Director, Asiatic Experiential Marketing Ltd., and Ajoy Kumar Kundu, CEO, Mediacom Ltd. Bangladesh – Member of Square Group.
The insightful discussion revolved around prospects of the future of our creative agencies and the aspects of media and agency engagements. Creativity changes globally so do media. Therefore, the holistic integration between creativity and media is growing exponentially as it optimizes the efficacy of the content. Moreover, The media is changing, but the essence of communication and the message we are trying to preach is not. When you had streamlined media like print and television, people had a finite amount of options for choice. Therefore, advertising was streamlined as well. Now, as the internet and social 
media are booming, people have limitless options for choice and thus creating complexities to provide a streamlined advertisement.
The discussion also reflected light on the rise of the influencers market in Bangladesh. Influencer marketing is going to be bigger, but brands need to generate a conversation between influencers to bring effective synergy.
The Core Existence of Brand is to Solve Problem and Deliver Joy
The second-panel discussion of the summit, “The Core Existence of Brand is to Solve Problem and Deliver Joy”, was moderated by Ashraf Bin Taj, Board Member, Marketing Society of Bangladesh (MSB); Managing Director, International Distribution Company Bangladesh Pvt. Ltd., The panellists for the sessions, were Shammi Rubayet Karim, Head of Communications & Marketing Services, Nestlé Bangladesh Ltd.; Md. Shadman Sadikin, Marketing Director, Home Care, Unilever Bangladesh Ltd.; Nafees Anwar Choudhury, Director, Marketing, Grameenphone Ltd.; Allen Ebenezer Eric, Marketing Director, Marico Bangladesh Limited.
The pandemic taught brand practitioners to manage the present, anticipate the future, and take action in terms of the future. It developed a culture of not investing in the future nor detriment the future. The price of products and services remained a focal point of this session. Due to Increasing raw material prices, brands cannot come up with a solution that will help to decrease the price. It must ultimately lead to increased prices. However, for the customers, brands are giving some services depending on the right time. And to maintain product quality, brands are bound to make linear changes.
Namkora Nari- in the World of Communication, powered by Rin in association with Asiatic MCL
The distinguished panel was moderated by Tanzila Bahar Chowdhury, Director, Brand Communication, Asiatic Marketing Communications Limited./ Asiatic 3Sixty. Renowned experts like Geeteara Choudhury, Chairperson, Adcomm Ltd.; Sara Zaker, Co-chairperson, Asiatic Marketing Communications Limited./ Asiatic 3Sixty; Tropa Majumdar, Director, Expressions Ltd.; Ayesha Farzana, VP, Client Service, Grey Group Bangladesh.; Sharmin Rahman, Head of Corporate Brand and Engagement, Grameenphone Ltd.; Rashika Osman, Head of Planning, Adcomm Ltd., enlightened the discussion. 
The discussion highlighted the role of women and their inclusion in brand practising and creative communication. Women’s inclusion is the first thing we lack. Unless we have inclusions of women in a writing team, no one can know about the pain women face during their period days. Nowadays, Opinion doesn’t depend on the person giving it be it a woman or man. Instead, it is considered that if the opposite person is able to understand and acknowledge the topic or not.
The Long Game: Doing Campaigns for Communications’ Sake or Doing Campaigns to Solve a Problem
Moderated by Rasel Mahmud, Executive Creative Director, X – Integrated Marketing Agency, this session included Md. Quamrul Hassan, Business Director, ACI Limited; Zakia Zerin, Senior Manager, Marketing Communication and Engagement, Nestlé Bangladesh Ltd.; Salahuddin Shahed, Chief Operating Officer, FCB Bitopi – Integrated Marketing Agency; Ishraq Dhaly, Director, Accounts & Servicing, Magnito Digital, as the respectable panel members. 
The discussion revolved around the aspects of effective communication and engagement with customers. Trust is the key to attaining connection with customers. If there is trust and commitment, consumers will be more satisfied and more connected. Besides, media is evolving. Nowadays, campaigns based on consumer demand has taken the place of serial wise campaign run on radio and newspaper, respectively. Agencies often don’t focus on proper communication before creating a campaign. So, a proper communication method or process should be figured out before approaching.
Brand Activism in a Hypercharged Society
Moderated by Risalat Siddique, Chairman, The Man of Steel, Analyzen Bangladesh Ltd., the discussion had Nusrat Jahan, Marketing Director, Reckitt Bangladesh; Khandaker Shamim Rahman, General Manager, Social Marketing Company; Kazi Mohiuddin, Senior General Manager, Brand, MGI; and Drabir Alam, Chief Operating Officer & Director, X – Integrated Marketing Agency discussing the activism and responsibilities of brands in a hyperchanged society.
The core purpose of a brand is to retain its brand value. Brand value is deeply interlinked with customer trust. If you don’t have the right value of the brand, you will not get the trust of your consumer. So, a brand has to start from the bottom, set a target to build a campaign, and reach the destination step by step.
Case Study 
Good Growth- Business to restore Cosmos
Tusnuva Ahmed Tina, Executive Director, Mindshare, conducted the first case study of the summit. She delivered an insightful presentation on how brands grow in the contemporary world in line with consumer behaviour and changes.
She stated, “The growth of brands is directly dependent on the power of the people.” However, managing people is a challenging task too. When we speak about brand growth, we must keep in mind that Growth has two kinds of impact; social impact and environmental impact. Consumers like to be involved in social causes. They want more transparency, more authenticity, and more action from brands. Therefore, a brand must intentionally use its media to enhance its campaigns and attract audiences.
Creativity during Challenging Times: Content Strategy to Connect with Youth- A Coke Studio Bangla Perspective
Rajbeen Abeer, Marketing Lead, Bangladesh, The Coca-Cola Company conducted a mindful case study on how Coca-Cola Bangladesh established a digital connection with their young consumer base with Coke Studio Bangla.
He started, “Coca-Cola is 135 years old, but still young.” The medium of connecting with consumers has had changes over time. Since teens are the top consumer base of the beverage, it needed to shape its communication to reach the teens in the most engaging way. Teens are spending an average of 8+ hours on digital. Not to mention, they are more connected than ever. But the over-exhaustion of digital connectivity often results in a lack of meaningful connection due to the upside-down reality. Therefore, Coca-Cola Bangladesh wanted to redesign content marketing for the youth to create a meaningful connection. So, they launched Coke-Studio Bangla on Youtube since YouTube is the largest video streaming platform on the internet, of which 74% of the total video views by the target audience were music. There was an insightful finding that Gen Z interacts when they are loved. It worked effectively for Coke Studio Bangla, as the audiences appreciated the project. Digital content doesn’t have to stay digital, and Coke-Studio Bangla proved it through the power of music and love.
Conversation
Ms. Messy is Vulnerable
Nazia Andaleeb Preema, Visual Artist, Director & Creative Editor, Bangladesh Brand Forum; Founder, Bangladesh Creative Forum; President, Women in Leadership- WIL, conducted a conversation on her vast experience and insights on creativity.
“Being creative is the art of practising who you are,” Preema articulated the nature of a creative persona thus.
Art and creativity are about calculation. It’s about getting out of your comfort zone and challenging yourself. Everything deals with criticality. Therefore, an artist should be in a critical situation to break that criticality and unlock his/her true creative potential. Additionally, creativity embodies both community and individuality. So, it is about unity and uniformity between community and individuality. We are learning through evolving. And by evolving, we unify our strength of being a collective while embracing each other’s individuality.
Sharing her own experience, she said, “Vulnerability made me more aware. It gave me more opportunities to get out of my comfort zone and reinvent myself.” She further expressed her firm belief that one can do anything and everything in the name of art.
11th edition of “COMMWARD: Excellence in Creative Communication
The 11th edition of one of the most prestigious advertising accolades in Bangladesh- COMMWARD: Excellence in Creative Communication honoured creative campaigns through an auspicious award gala following the summit.
In the opening speech, Ms. Nazia Andaleeb Preema, Visual Artist, Director & Creative Editor, Bangladesh Brand Forum & Founder, Bangladesh Creative Forum, said, “We are here to celebrate Gen Z. Because it’s time we passed the mandate to the next generation to carry it further,”
The award ceremony was attended by more than 700 communication and marketing enthusiasts. The awards were given across 24 categories, in four ranks –Bronze, Silver, Gold & Grand Prix.
This year, a staggering number of more than 1331 nominations were submitted for the award. The campaigns launched and run during the period of June 01, 2021 to May 31, 2022 were eligible for nomination in COMMWARD 2022. Among these, 40% of nominations got shortlisted, and 193 nominations were selected as the ultimate winners after rigorous judging by 136 jurors who were split into 12 shortlisting jury panels and 07 grand jury panels. The winning campaigns were further scrutinized by 7 jury presidents to ensure the proper ranks.
The 11th edition of COMMWARD had 9 Grand Prix winners, 31 Gold winners, 59 Silver winners, and 93 Bronze winners.
The 11th Commward, as well as the 11th Communication summit, was an initiative of Bangladesh Brand Forum in association with The Daily Star and in collaboration with Cannes Lions – International Festival of Creativity. Bangladesh Creative Forum (BCF) & Roaring Lions were the Strategic Partners of the Initiative. The Knowledge Partner for the event – Marketing Society of Bangladesh (MSB), Creative Partner – Preema Arte Foundation, Technology Partner – Aamra The Power of WE, Hospitality Partner – Sheraton Dhaka, Online Media Partner – Channel i Online, and PR Partner – Backpage PR.
Author- Mohammad Sifat
