Pakistan Blog Awards by Nokia Pakistan

Last week the premier event for Bloggers in Pakistan was held , the First Pakistan Blog  Awards , organized by CIO Pakistan and Google and main sponsor being Nokia along with Dell and others as secondary sponsors.

The awards were divided into 41 categories and some 300 participents were there to attend the program ,  the evening was not all about bloggers gathering at one place but it was also a place for ‘networking’ with industry and media professionals who get to know the bloggers and which ones to align with to promote their products on the blogosphere which I believe is useful for both the bloggers and brand alike ,  I myself  met Nokia Pakistan’s PR agency Syntax Communications at the first Pakistan Blogger meet up , although there is no money involved ( all my work is for gratis)   Nokia Pakistan provides me with phones to play with and the recognition I’ve gotten through them satisfies me .

Event proceedings  aside Nokia being the major sponsor played a very important role in hosting the awards , I don’t know how much they contributed towards the cost ( we bloggers were charged nothing ) but having the largest logo in the background and being mentioned again and again it shows that they contributed towards much of it.

Nokia Pakistan had always been in the forefront of social media promotion in Pakistan , they are the trend setters in Pakistan to introduce their products first to the blogger community and get their feedback before going to the mass launch such as they did with N97 beside that Nokia is also the pioneer in Pakistan in giving out their phones to the bloggers to play with and review , the trend which is still only being followed by a handful of people .

What I like about Nokia Pakistan is their unbiased approach towards bloggers ,  we  can sing praises for N97 Mini and E72 or completely thrash the X6 and  they still support us by giving us the required information and inviting us to all their major events . The same commitment was reiterated by Mr Adeel Hashmi -  Communications Manager Pakistan and Afghanistan who was at the occasion and said that the Bloggers in Pakistan show the technological progress and awareness  in Pakistan and Nokia is always there to enhance their exposure and committed to be at the forefront off digital drive in Pakistan .

Mr Imram Khalid Mehmood although not at the occasion has also repeated it many times that his vision is to have  internet and email access for everyone  in Pakistan and he wants the ‘unconnected’ to have their first internet experience on a mobile device which is not only inexpensive but also accessible .

Nokia also kept 3 prizes of E63 for those who could answer three of their questions , I could have won them all but there was a ploy working against me and I was invited on stage to ask the questions and hand over the prizes .

At the Q&A session I felt Nokia needs to reach out more to the people , at the event where the top technology l bloggers  of Pakistan were present , very few were able to raise their hands and give the right answer .  Although Nokia is reaching out to bloggers but they still have to increase their information mind share , the bloggers here know the Nokia phones but very less about Nokia and it’s OVI services . Here Nokia has to play an important role in making people aware of their company , products and services .

In my opinion , Dell Pakistan has done a marvelous job to increase their mind share .  With no official Dell Pakistan web page , they have created a Facebook fan page , with 26,000 plus fans  and a large Twitter following they have proved that social media marketing Pakistan could be a success , now they are holding contests and promotions all through their social media platforms and reaching out to their target market . This activity have won their Marketing Manager , Miss Nubla Iftikhar , MVP ward at DEll .

So Nokia Pakistan could also make a OVI Pakistan page or Nokia Pakistan page and surely they can increase their reach and approach towards the people .

( Photographs courtesy CIO Pakistan and @Jamash /  Jamal Ashiqain )

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Tagged as: DELL