“Glitz, Gimmicks, and a Glaring Disconnect: Why Coke Studio 15 and Velo Station Flopped in a Changing Pakistan”
Coke Studio Season 15 and Velo Station Seasons 2 and 3 have, by most accounts, failed to resonate. Once considered cultural cornerstones of Pakistani music branding, they now feel like echoes of a time gone by — misplaced, misunderstood, and mistimed.
But is it the death knell for Pakistani pop music? Not at all.
Platforms like Spotify continue to hum with the fresh sounds of new, experimental talent. From technically polished indie musicians to bold genre-benders, Pakistan’s music scene is alive and evolving. So if the music itself isn’t the issue, what went wrong?
Marketing Misfires: The Root of the Problem
The answer lies in marketing’s inability to evolve alongside the audience. The Gen Z and millennial audiences are not just scrolling — they’re sifting. They want authenticity, relevance, and timing. Instead, they’re being served a dated mix of superficial Gen X tropes, loud visuals, and misaligned launches.
In the case of Velo Station Season 2, the campaign collided directly with Pakistan’s political earthquake: the ouster, arrest, and agitation surrounding former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Social media feeds were flooded with charged political discourse — an unmissable sign for any half-aware marketer. Yet, Velo moved forward. The result? Silence. The content was drowned in political noise, not because it lacked quality, but because it lacked contextual timing.
Season 3 repeated the mistake. Once again, the team failed to understand that today’s consumer doesn’t just consume pop culture — they contextualize it. They don’t just ask “Is it good?” but “Is this the right time? Is this relevant?” Marketers ignored the growing overlap between pop culture consumption and the socio-political mood of the nation.
The Coke Studio Misstep: Bad Timing, Worse Optics
The Coke Studio Season 15 launch was perhaps the most tone-deaf of all. Amidst a global boycott movement against companies perceived to be complicit in or silent about atrocities in Gaza, Coke chose to unveil its flagship season. The timing couldn’t have been worse. Imagine scrolling through gut-wrenching images from Gaza only to see a glittery, upbeat music video pop up. The backlash wasn’t just predictable — it was deserved.
This wasn’t just a PR blunder — it was a failure to grasp the emotional and political temperature of the audience. In today’s hyper-connected, hyper-aware world, brands that can’t read the room are doomed to flop, no matter how much they spend on production.
A Lesson from Allied Bank’s Recent Debacle
This isn’t limited to music. Look at Allied Bank’s recent campaign featuring Adeel Hashmi. At a time when Indian poet Javed Akhtar was vocally denigrating Pakistan, social media users instantly dragged the campaign through the mud, sharing photos of Adeel at Akhtar’s feet during a previous Faiz Mela. Again, zero situational awareness and a glaring failure to anticipate public reaction in a sensitive political climate.
What Marketers Need Now: Political Economy 101
The core issue is clear: Pakistani brand marketers and agencies are ill-equipped to navigate the shifting dynamics of cultural consumption. They still function in silos, disconnected from the broader political, economic, and social realities that shape modern consumer behavior.
Music marketing, like all brand storytelling today, requires a multidisciplinary understanding — part anthropology, part sociology, and a whole lot of empathy. You can’t dazzle your way through with drone shots, neon backdrops, and a star-studded cast anymore. Not when your audience is worried about wars, inflation, censorship, or displacement.
In Conclusion:
Coke Studio and Velo didn’t fail because the music wasn’t good. They failed because their timing was wrong, their messaging was tone-deaf, and their marketing was lazy. It’s not the end of Pakistani music — far from it. But if brands don’t smarten up, they’ll continue to miss the mark in a country that is rapidly outgrowing outdated branding formulas.
Music still matters. Audiences still care. But first, you have to meet them where they are — emotionally, politically, and socially. Until then, even the best songs will fall on deaf ears.
