An AAN–IAA workshop in Kathmandu examines how lasting brand value emerges beyond visibility and campaigns.
In an era where messages compete relentlessly for attention, the difference between being heard and being remembered has become increasingly important. Nepal's evolving marketing landscape reflects this tension. Brands communicate more frequently than ever, yet meaningful and lasting impact often remains uneven. Against this backdrop, a recent industry session hosted in Kathmandu by the Advertising Association Nepal (AAN) in collaboration with the International Advertising Association (IAA) focused on a deeper question: what truly connects advertising to enduring brand value?
Led by Ujaya Shakya, founder of Outreach Nepal and author of Brandsutra, the workshop titled "The Synergy of Advertising and Branding" challenged a common misconception at the heart of modern marketing-the belief that advertising and branding are the same. Instead, advertising was described as a force multiplier, capable of increasing visibility only when a clear brand "soul" already exists. Without that foundation, even highly visible campaigns risk becoming noise rather than influence.
The difference between advertising and branding became clear through a simple contrast. Advertising operates like a sprint. It is campaign-driven, seasonal, and designed to create immediate awareness across ATL, BTL, and digital platforms. Branding, however, unfolds more like a marathon. It develops gradually through customer experience, emotional connection, and long-term trust.
To shift attention from media spending to meaning, the session introduced a thought provoking idea known as the "zero-budget test." Participants were asked to imagine a company suddenly losing all advertising resources and consider what customers would still say about the brand. The exercise highlighted that genuine brand value can exist even without promotion. Reinforcing this point, Shakya revisited a classic marketing insight: Kodak did not simply sell cameras.It sold memories. The example illustrated how enduring brands connect with human emotion rather than just functional products.
The workshop also explored how meaningful customer insights are discovered. Beyond formal research and analytics, participants were encouraged to rely on conversation, careful observation, life experience, and common sense. These are sources of understanding often overlooked in data-heavy environments. Well-known taglines from global brands such as Nike, Lux, and Dove were discussed to evaluate whether their messages truly resonate with intended audiences or merely circulate as surface-level communication.
At the centre of the discussion were two essential strategic questions:
Who is the brand speaking to?
And what is it really selling?
These questions reframed advertising from an effort to gain visibility into a discipline focused on intention and meaning.
Cultural storytelling added another layer to the conversation through scenes from the television drama Mad Men, where persuasion, symbolism, and emotional positioning demonstrate how memorable campaigns grow from insight rather than decoration. The reference reinforced a central theme of the session: effective advertising begins not with aesthetics, but with understanding.
Participants then applied these ideas in practice. Working in small groups, they developed short advertisement scripts for industries ranging from cement and tea to health products. The exercise showed how quickly generic promotion could transform into purposeful communication when guided by clear insight. This was evident in the room as groups refined their ideas under time pressure.
More broadly, the session reflected a continuing shift within Nepal's advertising community-from volume toward value, and from exposure toward experience. As AAN and IAA extend these conversations through the ongoing "Upgrade to Grow" series, scheduled at regular intervals to strengthen professional thinking, the focus moves beyond a single workshop toward sustained learning across the industry.
The closing insight remained simple yet powerful: Advertising tells a story, but branding is the story.
In a marketplace crowded with messages, the true advantage may belong not to those who speak the loudest, but to those who create the deepest meaning.
Ayer is a BSc Business Management student, Embark college (University of Roehampton)
