All my life I laughed at billboard advertising. 2 weeks ago I tried to book one and every single billboard I wanted was already taken.
Let me tell you what happened.
I run a tech company. Digital marketing is literally what we do. Meta ads, Google ads, LinkedIn, funnels.
And for years, whenever I passed a billboard, I had this thought: “Who even markets like this anymore? Yeh purany zamana ka tareeqa hai.”
Then Uptech Institute needed to reach local families.
And suddenly digital wasn’t enough. The people we needed to reach aren’t clicking ads. They are at home. In PWD, Pakistan Town, Soan Garden.
So for the first time in my life, I am doing offline marketing.
Look at these maps. This is today.
Two teams. 8+ hours each. 57 km and 77 km covered. Door to door, street by street, flyer by flyer. Every red line is someone walking through the same streets I used to drive past. And the billboards I laughed at my whole life?
I went to book them. All taken. The good locations have waiting lists.
Turns out the “purana” marketing I looked down on is so effective that there is no space left on it.
Here is what this is teaching me:
I judged something I never understood. Billboard advertisers weren’t behind the times. They knew something I didn’t, that some customers you can’t reach through a screen. You reach them on their street, at their gate, on their daily route.
I built my whole career on digital. And now digital is teaching me its own limit.
We are learning offline marketing from zero. Making mistakes. Figuring out which areas respond, which don’t, what a flyer needs to say to not go straight in the bin.
I will share what we learn, as always.
But today’s lesson is already clear:
The market doesn’t care what you think is “modern.” It only cares about what works.
And sometimes what works is a man, a bag of flyers, and 77 km of walking.
Umar H.
Originally posted on Facebook on 17 July 2026.
