MAP: The Marketing Body That Lost Its Own Identity

Pakistan’s Marketing Association of Pakistan (MAP) faces an identity crisis as internal politics, dual bodies, and stalled membership processes damage marketing activities, frustrate professionals, and hinder the growth of aspiring marketers nationwide.

Imran Malik – MediaBites – Opinion

In a country where marketing professionals build empires, shape brands, craft narratives, and rescue sinking corporations, one would imagine their own professional body to be a model of vision, clarit,y and unity.
But Pakistan’s Marketing Association of Pakistan (MAP) stands today as a strange paradox — a marketing institution that couldn’t market itself.

For years, MAP was considered a premium professional community. Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad chapters worked actively. Annual conferences were the highlight of the marketing calendar. Membership mattered. Seminars elevated thinking. Learning, networking, and mentorship flourished.

But today, MAP is stuck in an identity crisis so deep that even seasoned professionals can’t figure out which MAP is real and which is fake.

Yes, two MAP bodies are operating simultaneously in Pakistan.

And marketing professionals, ironically, the very people who position brands, build reputations, and solve identity problems, are now watching their own house burn under internal politics, power struggles, and ego-driven battles.

The MAP That Forgot Its Own Map

As someone who has spent decades in media, marketing, and sales, I tried twice — with both bodies — to become a MAP member. A simple, straightforward process that should inspire professionals… turned into a dead end both times.
No clarity. No communication. No process. No welcome.

If a senior media professional can’t navigate the membership maze, what hope is there for young aspirants?

Marketing activities that once defined the association have shrunk dramatically. Where there were once high-impact conferences, cross-city seminars, learning forums, and industry collaborations, today the calendar is filled with… annual dinners, high-tea selfies, and coffee meet-ups.

• Networking has replaced learning.
• Events have replaced purpose.
• Politics has replaced marketing.

Two Bodies, Zero Direction

Both groups claiming to be “the real MAP” spend more time countering each other on social media than uplifting Pakistan’s marketing ecosystem.
They issue press releases that defend their legitimacy.
They criticize, mock, and undermine each other publicly.

And caught in this crossfire are the real marketing professionals who want nothing to do with politics — they only want a platform to learn, grow, connect, and contribute.

A Humble Appeal

To those who currently claim leadership — whoever you are, whatever side you represent — the industry requests one simple thing:

• Set your personal differences aside.
• Remember the purpose MAP was built for.
• Rebuild the marketing community that once connected Pakistan from Karachi to Islamabad.

1. Thousands of young marketers want to join.
2. Senior professionals want to contribute.
3. The industry needs guidance and collaboration.

But MAP, as it stands today, is not serving them. It is failing them.

And if the marketing professionals of Pakistan cannot fix the marketing of their own association, then what message does that send to the brands they influence?

MAP must find its identity again, before it loses the trust of an entire generation of marketers.

We respectfully request the heads of both MAP bodies to share their official version on the current situation. We will publish their statements on our forum to ensure transparency and present all perspectives fairly.