Punjab University is holding its traditional book fair after a break of 2 years. This break was due to the plight of the state of security in our country and a contention between IJT and the University administration. At the end of the day, the University administration won the battle and it is now holding a grand book fair seemingly quite successfully this year.
If the university administration was to take the solo flight at all, there was no harm in taking the IJT’s advertisement specialists on-board before going for it. If there were some political issues there, the admin should have consulted the marketing experts teaching in its institutes like IBA and IBIT.
We have seen that the much coveted and much awaited book fair of the year has not been properly advertised in the city and beyond. We don’t see any posters, hangers and flex banners displayed around the city. The IJT used to campaign it very effectively. It used to use all the advertisement means i.e. from the word-of-mouth to print media and from banners to posters. Looking at the lukewarm advertisement, we fear that this book fair may not experience the traditional high turn-out this year. And if it happens, it will be a great disappointment for the publishers and book-lovers, and a matter of embarrassment for the PU administration. Though the ambience, facilities and on-corridor preparations are commendable, yet the importance of advertisement cannot be overlooked.
AHMAD HAMMAD
Lahore
