I Make Idea, You Cook Campaign

Guerrilla marketing is in simple words, an unconventional way to market/promote your brand or service. It has proven to be accessible and doable for small and medium businesses around the world, and of course the corporate giants are leading the way.

You use your natural surroundings and adapt them into your campaign that not only turns heads, it shakes the very ground your competitors stand on.

Here are some amazing and inspirational Guerrilla marketing examples for you to look at.
http://designtutorials4u.com/40-of-the-most-interesting-and-creative-guerilla-and-ambient-advertising-campaigns/


It might be more difficult in Pakistan as we do not always have access to such opportunities, however, I urge clients and agencies alike to start treading towards this technique. Simply because we are in dire need of some creative excitement.

Limited budgets can prove to be a small barrier here, but I have discovered some 30-40 Guerrilla techniques for businesses with not-enough-funds. And am currently considering whether to try them or not, but knowing my rebellious nature I probably will.

Many clients I have urged towards the Guerrilla technique all seem unsure of how their target market would react, how other brands or agencies would react. Simply said, no one wants to be the first sucker to go and try something entirely different.

Could it be under-confidence? Could it be peer(market) pressure? Or simply the fear of the unknown

I think CTL360 is in the perfect position to work out trial and error because we really have nothing to lose. Call me crazy, but no one gets ahead following norms.

As creative thinkers, designers & strategists, it is our God given duty to develop ideas, test out new methods and report back to you with results. The job of any design is to be noticed and remembered by the target audience. Creating a buzz centered around your product is extremely important if you want the word to spread. 

Guerrilla marketing is THE technique if you to want to ensure the above

Sometimes it might be shocking, sometimes appalling to some, sometimes just plain fun and spot on, but one thing you know for sure, it will ALWAYS be remembered.

Creatives for a Cause

Some would imagine superheroes in colorful spandex tights and a cape, going from place to place saving human beings and animals from dangers that befall them. Superheroes signify a certain strength that lies in each one of us, the power to help those in need.

We sit in our comfortable homes, clothed and fed...and more often that not tend to forget that we are a tiny percentage of the world's fortunate ones. You don't need to devote your life to helping others but there are ways to do your part. Ignorance might be bliss, but it is evil.

I do not speak simply on behalf of CTL360, but I appeal to all creatives and clients to be a part of Creatives for a Cause. On an average we all can afford to take out 20% from our profits to donate to the ones who need us most. We have been given our gifts (powers) to use for good.


One of mankind's favorite sins is greed, we hoard money, food, property and more just to satisfy a cardinal hunger for the finer things in life. Why do I need a huge house? or 5 cars? or 50 pairs of shoes? The more we take (because we can) the less someone else gets. How? Well, it is a known fact that barely 9% of the people in Pakistan pay their taxes and guaranteed that those who DO pay up on a regular basis probably can't afford most luxuries in life and like the average man, have to work almost 24/7 just to fulfill the basic part of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, the bare necessities. The people who do not pay taxes, well they're the ones doing the hoarding...for every house they buy, would instead have saved a small village.

If you have been given the talent of creativity, whether it be in web design, advertising, copywriting, architecture, art, 3D ...you know you can afford to help those in need.

On behalf of CTL360, I pledge 20% of all profits to be donated to the following charities

- The Citizens Foundation Flood Relief
- PAWS Pakistan Flood Relief (www.pawspakistan.org)
- Karachi Vocational Training Centre (www.ccure.it)
- Mother & Child Care Trust (www.mcctrust.org)

You can either get work out of us in return for your donation or you can donate anyway. So open up those cheque books
and start-a-scribblin :)

for more information please contact me on information@ctl360.com

Blow Out Your Candles & Make a Wix!

As you might have gathered from my previous entry, I started my own advertising & creative agency here in Karachi, Pakistan. However, for an agency to work (duh) the need for a super attractive website was as important as oxygen or my morning coffee for that matter.

In my first few weeks of planning I attempted to search for the most “cost-effective” solution as far as making a website went and it made me crazy that I did not possess the skill myself. I cursed my luck and lack of know-how as people sent in gigantuan 5 and 6 figure price quotes to me after hearing what I had in mind. But you know what they say, when there’s a will there’s google.

So I set out on my cyber journey and stormed the google results like a pirate in search for age-old treasure. I came across many website solutions like Weebly, Jimdo, Webstarts and countless other such useless “easy website makers” – however they all had a few catches;

1.  Limited designing space – layouts NOT customizable

2.  Have to PAY for an account in order to make ONE website on it

3.  Limited Space, Limited Bandwidth

And the list continues, but let’s not make this a snooze fest.

So as I browsed through disappointment after disappointment it dawned on me that perhaps my only way out is to dish out the big bucks and get it made. And like a beacon, when all seemed lost…it appeared.

Wix.com – the savior of my business, the pure satisfaction of designing it ANY way I want and the result? A pretty great looking website that I could control myself on my own terms. Sounds pretty awesome doesn’t it? Although I won’t tell you it doesn’t have its own limitations because Wix.com enables you to create a website via a flash developer tool without knowing any form of programming what so ever, thus pretty much anyone can take the time in learning it and perfecting it.

The beauty of Wix.com lies in many many features it offers (see listed below)

1. You make your account for free

2. You can design your own website from a blank template OR choose from dozens of pre-designed templates

3. It is compatible with Google analytics

4. It is SEO friendly

5. You can use your own domain for either $9 or $14 per month with unlimited hosting included.

6. NO Wix Ads with the Premium Packages

7. With One account you can creates as many websites as you like!

8. Extra storage space

9. The perfectly easy way to create a dynamic, beautiful website.

10. Once you get the hang of it – create websites literally over night and get paid – charge less and let the demand begin!

Let’s get to the Cons

1. Loading time can take very long if the person browsing has slow internet speed (especially in countries like Pakistan)

2. A Flash website proves to be heavy on most machines which are  not optimized for such high performance

3. Even while designing it takes its sweet time – thus you need to be a very patient person to get through the learning process

* learning tip: break something, preferably not valuable during the learning process so that you can concentrate.

4. Everything loads individual via the Wix.com server as you can only use your domain via domain forwarding which again, leads to a longer loading time the first few times around.

Personally if I had a choice of paying a 100,000 and wait to see my website up and running after 2 -4 weeks Vs. Overnight delivery of an aesthetically pleasing easy to browse website via Wix.com and pay merely 15 or 20 K (just to be clear, I am talking in Pakistani Rupee) – which would I choose? Sure many skeptics don’t consider Wix.com as a professional way of conducting the web design business and perhaps it is unsuitable for a major corporation. However, for small and medium businesses, it is perfect.

Nowadays everyone is on the web and if your website looks like a piece of junk, they will move ON.

All in all my experience with Wix.com has been quite a pleasant one and for those of you out there who want accessible portfolios, music galleries or pretty much anything else…I recommend you try their services at least once. Because I can guarantee you’ll keep on going back for more.

CTL360 is not an official representative of Wix.com, but we have designed 15-20 websites on the wix platform and are close to perfecting innovative, customized designs to get your business or brand up and running in a hassle-free way!

So spread the word and let us make your wix come true!

I'm not an Idiot! I'm a Magenta.

Starting my own agency was a huge step I literally leaped on to. Only some years of experience, a vision beyond sight and a serious love for the advertising/creative industry.

With empty pockets, a foolproof plan & a panel of skeptics criticizing my every move, I set out to start something new. Recession is not an issue; it’s a fashion statement in the world of advertising. Who gives the best deals, who has the most promotions, who slashes their costs by 50% or more. So I silently observed as the big fish played their little games back and forth, with some fantastic yet others, laughable campaigns. And it dawned on me, why is the advertising world limited to the big brands and big agencies? What happens to the small and medium businesses who have great things to offer but no one to bring forward their brands or services? Although one would think, which idiot would pay any attention to a client who isn’t reeling in the big bucks and not making a name for themselves in the market with giant names to back them up. “Why bother” is the attitude generally, if there’s nothing in it for the advertiser or creative house.

As I sat in my chauffeur driven car looking aimlessly out the window, a van pulled up next to me and on it was the worst creative design I have ever seen in my 20 something years on this planet. The bulb in my head went off like a KESC power-surge moment, and I knew at that time the above-mentioned idiot I spoke of was going to be me.

I got my first job at HeadLion Group where Neil Christy was my mentor. I was new, inexperienced but with a fiery passion for advertising, as creativity spread like wildfire and engulfed my soul. Where I quickly realized, THIS was my calling.

May 6th 2009 I parted ways with my Lion family, and set out to Create The Line. Cost-effective creativity, where we set the standards and defy the norms, we create the concepts, we bring ideas to life, and we encourage our clients to take creative risks and dare to be different despite what the trends might suggest. Our benchmark? Some local but mostly international ads and concepts that just make one think, make one go “ what the…” and I believe getting a reaction out of the people is better than being ignored.

Endless hours developing promotional strategies with my team, by the end of which we realized we have absolutely no budgets. So we settled for facebook, which proved to be sufficient enough to reach all sorts of clients around the country.

All in all I am humbled by the great response we’ve received so far, and with our heavily limited budget in promoting ourselves. However, we truly hope we continue to get the much needed support, understanding and acceptance from the small and medium (and some large) businesses and of course our facebook fans!

CTL360's Corporate Color - Why Magenta?

Many of you have questioned and many of you are wondering, WHY magenta?

Apart from the fact that is a vibrant, eye-catching color - it was chosen after weeks of careful consideration & research, when we at CTL360 discovered that it is the color of the creative, artistic people. Who knew?


"perfect" we thought to ourselves as the color called out to us like a bright shining becon of hope, success & a promising future...given below is the theory behind magenta...the theory behind us...the theory behind CTL360 - and how it all falls in to place with absolute precision. Enjoy!
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In psychology, people with a magenta aura tend to have the ability of "the third eye" - translation: the ability to see the future - Clairvoyance

Magentas see life from a different perspective and consider following the crowd to be boring and conformist. They are intelligent and innovative, oftening manifesting as inventors of bizarre or controversial objects. Their imagination has no limits. However, because they are a physical life color, Magentas enjoy taking physical objects and stretching them into new forms in unique ways. Most people don't have the nerve to live a Magenta lifestyle. Magentas do not join groups, organizations, or anything else that will confine them to a set of rules.

Magentas measure success by how much freedom of expression they have. If they are experiencing a good deal of joy and are presently pushing society's standards to the limit, then they feel they are living a successful existence.

Because they are outgoing and creatively edgy, Magentas are great in unusual settings. They need a flexible job that allows them to be inventive and artistic. Occupations include: artist, comedian, actor, writer, inventor, set designer, art dealer, costume designer, photographer, publisher or anything else in the creative field.

What Da Font is Wrong with YOU?

BREAKING NEWS
* disclaimer * not for the easily insulted.

So it turns out there ARE plenty of fonts besides Comic Sans, Times New Roman, Curlz MT, Edwardian Script ITC & of course your regular Gothic fonts.

Shocker. I know.Let’s break it down, plain and simple. I do not plan to make you yawn by going through each and every typeface in the world wide web but lets do an analytical breakdown of what your choice of font says about YOU (& your brand)

The font you use, first and foremost must complement your logo with ease and precision. Secondly, you must realize that SINCE you cannot personally represent your company at all times, your font + logo does it for you. Imagine a bad font to be like a really crappy pair of pants...or shoes?!

Thus I appeal to you, no wait, I BEG YOU..Please steer clear of the Serif family, they just bug people. Sans-Serif on the other hand is a family of fonts that is a treat to the eyes and/or my sanity.
Let’s go through some fonts – starting with really bad to SUPER bad.

1. Times New Roman:
Ok, so this font is probably the most overused, uninteresting font – simply because it is by default every operating system just seems to LOVE. Honestly, using it for marketing materials? Boo. And for your LOGO? That just makes me want to cry.

What it says about you: amateur / clueless
What it says about your brand: no planning involved.

2. Monotype Corsiva:
Headache anyone? Anyone who makes their clients read paragraphs of this font should by default offer a free lifetime prescription to Advil (or Maxillon for the weak stomachs) Commonly used on business cards, invites and anything else that desperately tries to look “FANCY”.

What it says about you: amateur / clueless / trying too hard
What it says about your brand: “I wanna put the fency in fencypents”

3. Brush Script:
Mono type Corsiva’s evil fat twin brother. Annoying, difficult to read and personally I think it should be banned or sent to rehab.

What it says about You: NOTHING
What it says about your brand: NOTHING

4. Papyrus
What I don’t get is why people want to oh so desperately get the perfect hand written font? Yes I’m sure back in history handwriting on Papyrus scrolls was extremely similar, and yes you’re oh so rich in culture and history. Here’s a Scooby snack. Du- uhh.

What it says about you: Trying to be all scholarly-ish
What it says about your brand: You really didn’t think it through did you?

5. Comic Sans (by far the WORST font in the history of fonts) *drum roll*
Known to be used by clueless executives and company owners who think it makes their brand and e-mail signature look fun and fresh. Also overly used and reused and then used again by event management companies. Want your brand to seem friendly? There are tons of creative fonts available for free, so WHY, WHY Comic sans? Detest-worthy.

What it says about you: You need to get a clue and a crash course in Don’tbeDumb 101
What it says about your brand: CRAP!

Bonus Crappy Font of the Day:
Curlz MT:
Curlz MT picks up exactly where Comic Sans left off in terms of forced casualness and gives you a big sack of illegibility. Even in the beginning when this font was overused it was still bearable in small doses. Anyone who uses this font today for ANY purpose is totally nuts. By using this font you’re saying “Look at me, I’m so super cool and artsy! Don’t you just looooove how even a boring flyer about something no one really cares about could be made to look FUN & FANCY?”Verdict: Curlz MT is not really a font, it’s a cry for help.

Predicted History: a crazy person in 1756 went nuts with crazy string, some shreds of paper & art scissors and
lo n behold: emerged Curlz MT (see how it’s CURLZ and not Curls – the ZZZ sound signifies how he was put into a straight jacket and sedated)