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thenetworkone: Africa the second collecon of essays from independent African agencies www.thenetworkone.com
thenetworkone: Africa
the second collection of essays from independent
African agencies
www.thenetworkone.com
if you are a marketer and would like impartial advice on how leading independent agencies could help you, contact
Julian BouldingTel: +44 (0)20 7240 7117
If you own or work for an independent agency in Africa and would like to connect with great partners in other countries, contact
Paul SquirrellTel: +44 (0)20 7240 7117
thenetworkone: Africa
Africa’s age ofdiscovery
Parents often sighttheir offspring’steenage years asamongst the mostchallenging to dealwith. As childrentranscend into
adulthood, they become lessdependent on their parents andmore able to express their ownviews, needs, wants and desiresclearly and articulately.In a similar fashion as Africa races towards a brighter, more economically viable future,the sub-Saharan region appears to beexperiencing its own ‘teenage angst’.
Since we published the first collection ofAfrican Essays, a good deal in the sub-Saharan region has changed.
Whilst (to some extent), still dealing with theregional scars of the terrible Ebola epidemicthat swept across West Africa and, a notabledrop in oil revenues, the Nigerian economyhas continued to perform well and Nigerian’shave (for the most part), seen their standardof living continue to rise.
Across the continent, Kenya is grabbing theattention of not just world leaders eager toshare in the country’s new found success butalso, numerous global technologycorporations keen to explore the “SiliconSavannah” for new talent and, customershungry for an online, connected lifestyle.
And in South Africa, the country did notdescend into anarchy following the passing of‘Madiba’ and today, despite the challenges ofload shedding and reduce economic growth
(although still greater than in many Europeaneconomies), the country continues to spreadits influence across the sub-Saharan regionand remains the initial ‘home market ofchoice’ for many international brands eagerto explore sub-Saharan Africa.
But perhaps the most significant regionalchange is Africa’s growing ‘sense of self’.
For years, Africa’s leading economies havebeen mostly built on the extraction (ortourism), and the sale of vast naturalresources to the rest of the world with,western lifestyles, products and social valuesseen as aspirational by many Africans.
However, political stability, the movestowards an African Free Trade Zone andincreasing economic prosperity have lead to agrowing and educated middle class across theregion – a middle class that’s re-discoveringand exploring what it is to be Ghanaian,Nigerian, Kenyan, etc., ahead of being ‘African’.What’s more they’re driving change throughwhat they consume – not just goods andservices but also entertainment media - anincreasing amount of which is home-grown.
Like a teenager, many of Africa’s sub-Saharancountries too are finding their place in theworld and, also like a teenager, it is notnecessarily a smooth path to the future - but there is a definite inevitability to thisjourney.
Copyright: thenetworkone Management Limited 2015. No part of this document maybe reproduced without the writtenpermission of thenetworkone. The views expressed are those of contributing authors unless otherwise stated and notnecessarily shared by thenetworkone. thenetworkone would like to thank all those who contributed to this publication.
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Contents3. Africa is wide open but this time we know it
4. Brands need to rethink their strategy from thebottom up to win in Africa
6 Kenya – facing a new revolution!
7 If African countries could just think like brands!
8 Working in communication @ Angola
9. Egypt - your springboard into Africa
10. We don’t limit your creativity but...
11. Unwarranted fear of the unknown
12. Future of media in Africa - from Rome to ROMI
13. Afropolitan tastes
Africa is wide open but this time we know it
5ive Africa Kenya
We’ve always played second fiddle. On a continent with themost rich and diverse inspiration, the most vibrant experiences,with music at its rawest, with art stripped of everything but itsessence we still have always looked outward for inspiration andapproval as a default.
“How do we make what they are doing work in this context?”
We have let our definition of creativity almost exclusively besculpted by a Western perspective. External inclinations infashion, in art, in film or in music come and gently settle down -stream in the sediment of what other cultures deem trendy.
The interesting thing though, is that this mindset had settledeven in our attitudes towards each other on the continent. Africalooking outwards, the rest of the continent looking at South Africa,marketing directors wanting a campaign exactly like someoneelse’s because it worked for them, the yearning for an internationalaward for global approval over local relevance and the lengthsthat agencies would go to stay in the running for the same.
But something is changing.
We’re no longer content with just being seen as the kid that yousoft ball because they are ‘trying as hard as they can.’ When itcomes to advertising, we are stepping out to shed the hand-me-down role that we had so easily allowed ourselves to settle into.
“We’re no longer content with just being seen asthe kid that you soft ball because they are ‘trying as hard as they can.’”
There had been a crisis in our creativity that was hinged aroundthe notion that if there wasn’t a measure of appropriation (in apurely advertising context), then there wouldn’t be relevance ona global scale. Crossover success, even at the expense of theeffectiveness of the work, was aspired to almost in a mannersimilar to what it is in the music industry. Yet if you look aroundyou’ll start to see how for markets that become aware of it, notonly did they step out of the shadow of predetermined successbased on external parameters, but started to lead and evendominate the industry.
For this you don’t have to look any further than the work comingout of Brazil and the shops that have moved there to tap intowhatever is in the water.
Forecasts project that most African countries will reach amiddle-income status by 2025 and the subsequent collectiveglobal interest in both Africa and Asia is palpable. Even while noone can question the brilliance of work coming out of SouthAfrica and North Africa, everyone is priming themselves to getinto East Africa through Nairobi and West Africa through Lagoswith the opportunities for business extremely evident. Growingeconomies and a savvy middle class with increasing spendingpower mean investing in the region is now common sense.
What most don’t get though is that we understand that. In acollectively aware state, we are stepping away from our creativeStockholm syndrome and preparing so that when you comeshopping, we will be found far from oblivious.
The change might not be immediately perceptible looking fromthe outside in. We know that it’ll take time and we arecomfortable with that.
There are the obvious stories. How in Kenya for instance weskipped the debit/credit card monetary transition and became aglobal reference point for the adoption of mobile money by howwe wholly took to it. You might not know however about howmany local incubators are mushrooming to serve the evergrowing number of techies, about how coding is starting tobecome just as expected as Photoshop proficiency for artdirectors and designers, about the slow but steady erosion ofthe business traditionally linked to the large globally affiliatedagencies by the steadily proliferating independents, about howdominant a force Kenyan twitter is regionally, about the demiseof the infallible ‘foreign creative director’ and the suddenlyobvious notion that local insights come from locals.
We are starting to love our own music,our own art, our own culture and ourcontinent. It might not sound like muchbut it’s the starting point from whichmuch sought creative revolutions begin.Owning of our situation and the culturethat evolves from our context.
Some things will remain the same.
An entitled creative eventually will make way for a driven one,an overly tentative client will lose their place to a hungry one. Ifyou are an agency owner you will hold the individual aspirationsof your team members. Said members will be responsible for themetamorphosis of their careers or the lack of the same, theprestige that comes with the titles on their cards and whether ornot it means anything for them to have it under your logo.
“For an industry that has no place for mediocrity,we have tolerated it a lot in Kenya”
For an industry that has no place for mediocrity, we havetolerated it a lot in Kenya. We need to be able to get rid of thewriter that doesn’t, the art director that can not reinvent andthe client service person who is relegated to a bottom accountbecause they are comfortable being there with the same fervorwith which we look to bring on brilliant and passionate membersto the team. Add to that our good old crab in a barrel mentalityor the collective masturbatory effort of the few crabs that havescuttled high enough to be out of reach and it might look like theindustry is still plodding along here, waiting for the injection thatwill launch us into what’s next with guidance from those whohave already achieved it.
But scratch the surface and you’ll seewe’ve stopped waiting for approval andit’s beautiful. We are suddenly the onesopening the windows for others to lookin and it will not be surprising if thepeople that have to catch up when theyfinally get here are the ones that havealways been ahead of the curve.
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Brands need to rethinktheir strategy from thebottom up to win in Africa
34 DegreesSouth Africa
Global brands are starting to realize that Africa is not onecountry but an incredibly diverse continent of 53 individualcountries speaking over 1500 official languages. And brands thattailor their marketing strategies by country will enjoy more ofthe economic growth that is up for grabs.
Across capital cities in the formal trade, large retail chains haveseen the potential and have been quick to take up theopportunities. Formal retail shopping malls are emerging in keysuburbs and they are jam-packed with all the big retailers, fromgrocery to coffee shops, restaurants, clothing stores, electronicstores and banks.
Brand owners with good relationships with buyers of these retail chains will reap the benefits of their aggressive growththroughout the continent. The big watch-out for all brands isthat this will only solve up to 40% of a brand’s sales objective.The remaining 60% comes down to what you do in theestablished traditional trade.
We believe that brands need to understand and embrace thefollowing 4 key areas:
1. Understand the nuances of the traditional tradeSadly this is not a one-size-fits-all programme - which wouldmake things decidedly easier - as every country’s traditionaltrade set-up is different. In Lagos, for example, the markets aremassive with streets dedicated to specific categories. Whilst inLusaka there are many smaller nodal markets, which oftensurround the nearest commuter point.
2. Implement a flexible wholesaler-retailer programmeThe informal retailer is a critical player for brands wanting toachieve total market distribution and effective price points thatwill translate into increased sales. What is amazing is that thelocal brands are getting it right more often than the globalbrands. Work with the retailers to understand what will make
the difference, beflexible and workone node at atime, identify thekey retailers in thenode, and thenget them onboard; generallythe others areforced to follow.
3. ShopperInsights willexpose realpackaging, pricingand distributionopportunitiesIf you think yourexisting brand/pack mix that hasbeen developedfor the modern
trade can simply be replicated in the traditional trade, you’ll missout on a significant slice of this emerging middle class. Shopperscan only buy against the physical cash in their pockets. Moreoften than not, this is only $2 a day. Here people shop to satisfyan immediate need. If that need is a cup of tea, then they areafter 1 teabag, not 50. If their child needs a nappy change theywill look for 1 nappy for that afternoon only.
4. Think differently about the path to purchase to be moreeffectiveThe key points of influence along the path to purchase need tobe understood and effective communication applied to cutthrough the clutter. Street vending for example is a large part ofthe informal distribution process found in the traditional market.Some brands have utilised it as a seeding ground to captureconsumers who are, more often than not, idle and sitting intraffic on their daily commute.
Being effective in the traditional trade is the harder piece of the marketing puzzle. Brands just need to be committed tounderstanding the way people shop, why they buy, when theybuy and what they buy. And those brands that can be moreflexible and street smart across their entire marketing mix will be those that enjoy the greater share of the total market.
Grant Hillary is the MD of 34Africa. He spent 16 years at theSouth African Breweries in a variety of trade, sales and brandroles culminating in a role as national brand activationmanager across the portfolio prior to joining 34.
34 is a results-driven TTL agency helping our clients buildbrands and drive sales. Brands we are currently working with include Castle, Carling, Samsung, Lindt, Bos, Huggies, Safaricom, Unilever, Kellogg’s and Makro.
www.thenetworkone.com
Kenya – facing a new revolution!
ExclamationKenya
Kenya’s growth is on a trajectory socially, economically andpolitically; to illustrate, June and July saw numerous high profilevisitors to Kenya including, Oscar winner and Kenyan darlingLupita Nyong’o who showcased some of the country’s wildlife,Sir Richard Branson led a group of global billionaires to meetPresident Uhuru to discuss investment opportunities whilst ex-British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, the Italian Prime Minister andUS Secretary of State, John Kerry visited the country!
On the health front, 30 first ladies led by Kenya’s FirstLady Margaret Kenyatta, converged in Nairobi for ananti-cancer conference whilst symbolically, the bombedWestgate Mall reopened, demonstrating the country’sunited resolve not to be deterred by terrorists.
What is the BIG deal? Well, here is a little bit aboutKenya.
Located on the equator, it is home to the long distant runningchampions, the big 5 (wild animals), snowcapped Mt. Kenya, theGreat Rift Valley, part of Lake Victoria and sandy white beachesby the Indian Ocean. Kenya boasts one of the great Wonders ofthe World, courtesy of the famous wildebeest migration. All inall, Kenya is the financial, business, tourism and transport hub inthe Eastern and Central Africa region and it is no wonder that itis receiving a lot of global attention.
The climax for the year was the historic visit by President BarackObama to host the 6th Global Entrepreneurship Summit.Obama, also known as a son of Kenya goes down in history asthe first sitting US president to visit the country. This visitfocused the global spotlight on Kenya with 200 internationaljournalists following the world’s most powerful man for 3 daysand exposing the country as the new land of opportunity tobillions of people abroad. The visit showcased the immensepotential awaiting the country to realize tangible economicimpact and a boost to tourism.
“Technology giants are tapping into homegrowntech solutions in the Silicon Savannah…”
Things can only get better. Many international brands havesniffed the potential for business and set up in Kenya.Technology giants like Microsoft, IBM, Samsung and Huawei arepresent with many of them tapping into homegrown techsolutions in the Silicon Savannah. On the retail front, Frenchretailer Carrefour and South Africa’s Massmart’s subsidiaryGAME are coming to battle it out with the already expandinglocal supermarket chains – Nakumatt, Tuskys and others. FromClarks to Bossinni, Visa to American Express, Subway to KFC, topglobal brands are scrambling to have presence in themushrooming large shopping malls in an effort to have a shareof the Kenyan consumers’ shilling. Airlines that left years ago arequeuing to jet back to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.Germany’s Lufthansa Airline is a case in point.
Not to be left out, universal beer brands like Carlsberg andBudweiser are now fighting for “share of throat” with renownedlocal king of the beer - Tusker. On the oil and gas front, all roadslead to Turkana in North West Kenya, with Tullow Oil taking a lead.
To cater for the growing luxury and business travel, global luxury hotel chains such as Radison Blu, Dusit D2, Kempinski,Marriott, and more are setting up shop. With all thisexcitement, communication agencies are waiting with batedbreath for the advertising budgets to be unleashed.
In the digital sphere, Internet penetration in Kenya is at 58% whilst mobile penetration has risen to 83 %. Local telcoSafaricom’s mobile money transfer service dubbed “M-pesa”,that revolutionized mobile money globally, has over 14 millionusers and counting. The scene is bound get even morecompetitive with the launch of Equitel slim sim by another giant- Equity Bank who are already targeting to bag 5M users by endof the year. As the two giants fight for share of the digital wallet,things can only get better for ad, PR, activation and digitalagencies! With the deep pockets and huge egos that the tworivals have this will be an interesting battle to watch.
Not to be outdone, authentic Kenyan brands are outgrowing thelocal market and expanding outwards in Africa to face off withmultinational brands. Financial service providers like KenyaCommercial Bank (KCB) and Equity Bank together withsupermarket heavyweight Nakumatt are good examples ofcompanies that have expanded their footprint by investing inother parts of the continent. Their financial muscle and appetitefor Pan African growth can only spell sumptuous creative andfinancial opportunities for communication agencies.
The public sector is also evolving. Government has become abig consumer of communications services. With devolution ofgovernment in Kenya, every county is seeking a communicationsand/or digital agency to help it stand out from the rest.Moreover, digitization of public services has transformed Kenya,making it one of the most rapidly developing countries in theworld from a digital standpoint. The taxman is avidly reachingout to the public to pay taxes online. Local authorities arepublicizing their online payment platforms so that citizens payfor services at their convenience. Additionally the 2017 generalelections are not too far off and, aspirants have startedstrategizing on their communication campaigns to woo voters,and the local advertising industry hopes to bag exceptionallylarge billings of shillings. In essence, everyone is advertising –online, below-the-line and above the line.
All the vibrant things happening in Kenya and the digitalnetworking era offers indigenous agencies good opportunitiesfor real time collaboration with global independent networks tobuild scale so as to offer services to global brands. As for the bigad networks, everything is cut out for them. The opportunitiesare real. There are local, regional and global consumers to targetin the huge continent of Africa where the middle market isgrowing exponentially. Global brands are increasingly beginningto see the benefits of engaging local agencies to meet localcommunication needs, and recognizing that talent is talent,whether sitting at an international organization over seas or atlocal entity. Kenya’s star is shining. Africa is indeed rising!
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If African countries could just think like brands!
IMS AdvertisingNigeria
If you think of The United States of America, what comes tomind is a country that is defining modern culture across theglobe. Germany is the nation where everything works efficiently,even the German national football team is referred to as the‘’machines’’. Then mention China, and you instantly feel they canbuild anything imaginable in record time. These perceptionsundeniably affect the way the rest of the world think andultimately determine the decisions to visit, invest in or purchasegoods and services from any country.
Nations have been able to successfully brand themselves bycreating a common national philosophy which drives the goals,aspirations and perception in today’s world just as mostsuccessful global brands have done.
While attending a marketing summit last year in Atlanta my cabdriver in the usual chatty fashion, wanted to know the capitalcity of Africa. I smiled and took time to educate him that thereare 54 different countries in Africa, I could see the dumbfoundedlook on his face as I spoke , but if you think it is only cab driverswho think Africa is one big country of dark-skinned people thenyou should think again. Many global investors have very littleknowledge about the countries in the continent.
I see this as a huge opportunity for African countries to begin tothink like brands, embrace the opportunity to createdifferentiation, celebrate their individual identities and socio-cultural diversity to influence more positive perception andpatronage. So if Africa is the mother-brand, each country canbecome its line extension.
“So if Africa is the mother-brand, each country canbecome its line extension.”
Strong global brands like the Virgin Group, Sony and RalphLauren have shown that due to the brand awareness andconsistent good performance the parent brand name enjoys, it iseasier to sell the message of patronage for the sub-brands.
There is no better time for Africa than now. The Continent’s corebrand equity is on the high compared to other regions of theworld. The African brand name is now strong enough to supportprogressive sub-brands (countries) in different economiccategories.
With an ever-increasing knowledge about its diverse countries,the good story is, the buzz is shifting from famine, wars, disease,crisis and poverty to more positive references like ‘’the continentof the future’’ or ‘’place to be an investor right now’’ and ‘’theregion with some of the fastest growing economies in theworld’’.
Today, Africa is not only known as the land richly endowed withvast minerals resources and arapidly growing middle-class, butalso a continent with sustainedeconomic growth, adapting hightechnology and communicationsin a unique way to its needs.
It no longer makes economic sense for a country to be knownfor just one commodity, the more diverse your economy, thebetter. Far from the days when Nigeria was only known for oil,South Africa for gold, Ghana for cocoa, Kenya for tourism andEthiopia for coffee, now we see other vibrant sectors taking abigger share of these African economies. With the rapid growthof our service industry, infrastructure and manufacturing, it isjust a matter of time and several countries will create singlecurrencies and regional free trade agreements that will blur thelines of our economic diversity.
“It no longer makes economic sense for a country tobe known for just one commodity…”
This is why we need to start thinking how best to leverage eachnation’s strength and position it for global economic advantage.
But first, we must define our national philosophies by finding,promoting and expressing the core values each country wants tobe known for. Distilling deep insights into our history, ourstrength, our aspirations and how we should project this to theworld as an advantage. This is not about identifying naturalresources or creating slogans to boost tourism, this philosophyhas to go deeper into the core fabric of every aspect of nationallife. The discipline with which brands create distinctdifferentiation for its line extensions across brand guidelines,messages, packaging and experiential activities needs to beapplied here.
It is only when the national brand philosophy is understood bythe people and reflects in their culture that it becomesbelievable to the outside world. Then, it is through this nationalbrand philosophy that a national brand proposition emerges.That single, carefully selected statement that embodies what thenation and its people stand for.
With this proposition fully internalized, an appropriate nationalbrand personality is formed. And this personality helps todevelop a broad national brand guideline that will form the basisof all action, national laws, messages, global representation ofthat country.
Internalizing a strong philosophy to drive a national brandidentity is sure to make the African people and our governmentsmore sensitive to the demands of projecting a shared commonvalue that will reflect positively on the national brandperception.
www.thenetworkone.com
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Working in communications@ Angola
Lift ConsultingAngola
Most of the international brands who approach Lift Consultingabout doing communication activity in Angola are surprisedwhen we inform them that Angola has its own ‘special way’ ofworking. Even when these clients are from other Africancountries like South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique or Namibia,they don’t quite understand what we mean.
Let me introduce you to Angola…Luanda is the most populated province with around 6.5 millioninhabitants, representing 27% of the country’s total population.About 56% of these people are under 30 years old.
In the last few years, Angola’s economy has experiencedsignificant growth but we should not forget that this is still arelatively young economy recovering from a long period of civilwar and (in many ways) different to its neighbours.As a result of all this recent economic growth, many highlyskilled and educated Angolans are returning to their country.Increased investment in education is helping to create anemerging middle class – which is step by step, becoming morenoticeable in society and demonstrating its great purchasingpower.
… And what about the Angolan media?As a consequence of increased journalistic freedom ofexpression, the Angolan press and media scene is very differentfrom the past in terms of structures, liberalization andintervention.
Today Angola’s media scene is booming with around 60 mediachannels including nearly 40 newspapers and magazines, 3TV stations and more than 15 radio stations (including the localones).
So, the communication market is growing rapidly. Often newmagazines and newspapers come to market quickly, and as theAngolan audience becomes more discerning and selective, mostdisappear equally as quickly.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that only a small number ofAngola’s journalists are experienced and therefore ‘seasoned’.However, this situation is changing with media ownersrecruitment from big global communication groups and withlocal training courses producing new local talent.
“… most newspapers continue to be sold in thestreet by newsboys who make the most of thetraffic jams.”
In terms of distribution and points of sale, most newspaperscontinue to be sold in the street by newsboys who make themost of the traffic jams. The formal distribution channels are stillrelatively small but the situation is improving and magazinesand newspapers can be regularly found in some hotels inLuanda, big supermarkets and in a few bookstores.
TelevisionThe television market in Angola has seen an impressive rise overthe last decade. This industry has profoundly affected therelations between people, changing traditions, habits andlifestyles.
New TV channels encourage foreign business investmentinto Angola and increasing competition across the media sectoras viewers and advertisers see their options increase.
Newspapers and magazinesIn the last five years written media, particularly newspapers,have witnessed a huge increase in popularity. With differentpublications covering multiple issues, Angolan readers nowhave a wide choice of reading materials to choose from.
There are two main daily newspapers in Angola: Jornal deAngola (generalist) and Jornal dos Desportos (Sports) – all otherpublications are weekly. Jornal de Angola has the biggest shareof the daily newspaper market (53,6%) and Caras (lifestylemagazine), has 35% of share of magazine market with a high ‘A’and ‘B’ readership demographic.
The high social demographic tiers in Angola represent the largestreadership groups for newspapers and magazines in a countrywhere 40% of the population do not consume this kind of media.
RadioAs in many other African countries, radio is the strongest mediabecause it’s accessible to practically everyone. Be it a local or anational radio station, radio’s advantage is that a single devicecan be heard by several people at the same time – in theirhomes, cars, public transportation, online with computers andeven mobile phones. Latest statistics claim that 75% of Angolanslisten regularly to radio.
InternetIn Angola the internet is here to stay andrepresents the main media for changingconsumer habits. Internet growth in Angola isfast! For example Facebook recognized Angolaas the country in which it has seen the mostgrowth – 1 million Angolans now have aFacebook page!
Most of the internet users live in big city centres, belong to thehigher social classes and whilst every age is represented, thelargest group is from 14 to 35 years old.
In summaryIn many ways it is not easy to provide communication services inAngola - especially if a brand wants to communicate on a dailybasis, as there aren’t enough and specialized media to carry therange of content on at the same time.
Angola is a young country that has witnessed huge political,social and economic change in the last 12 years, withcompetition increasing in every market sector.
Like many African nations, infrastructure continues to beproblematic – the internet is very slow and "fragile”, traffic isterrible and, Luanda is considered the most expensive city in theworld in which live. Nevertheless, Angola’s economy continuesto advance steadily and provide a wealth of opportunities forthe communications industry and those ready to deal with allthe daily challenges.
www.thenetworkone.com
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* Survey of Marktest Group 2014
Egypt – your springboard into Africa
Mortimer Harvey.South Africa & Egypt
This is Egypt’s moment! And Mortimer Harvey seized theopportunity to play a role. In line with our strategy to expandbeyond the borders of our home country, South Africa,Mortimer Harvey recognised Egypt’s potential as the secondlargest consumer market in Africa, after Nigeria and is an ideallocation to grow its business in the region at large. The companymade headlines in September 2014 by announcing theestablishment of its regional office in Cairo in order to betterserve our clients in the fast growing markets of Egypt, Africa andthe Middle East. We bring a full go-to-market service includingbusiness consulting, brand and integrated communications andadvertising, as well as digital, direct, data and CRM marketing.
“There is but little room for doubt that Egypt led the way in the creation of the earliest knowngroup of civilizations which arose on both sides ofthe land bridge between Africa and Eurasia (…)” (James Henry Breasted – Archeologist).
Lately the country of the Pharaohs has taken significant steps toenhance its status as a springboard into Africa, opening thegates to 25 other African markets and leading the way to 632million consumers.
Last June, the tripartite agreement, COMESA-EAC-SADC, signedin Sharm El Sheikh Egypt, created a free trade zone coveringmore than half the African continent and two thirds of itsconsumers and GDP, laying the basis for a common marketspanning from Alexandria to Cape Town.
This represents a unique opportunity, not only for local andinternational companies already established in Egypt, but foranyone willing to benefit from Egypt’s large manufacturing basis,numerous and skilled workforce and unique location at the tradecrossroads between Africa, Europe and Asia. This agreementseeks to make the most of the tremendous growth andeconomic development witnessed across Sub-Saharan Africa forthe past decade and which is set to continue for at least another20 to 30 years.
It is true that many investors fled Egypt following the ArabSpring revolutions, plunging the country into a prolonged periodof political instability. These worries appear to be dissipatingnow, and the IMF expects Egypt’s growth to double to 4.3percent through the coming fiscal year. A high profile investorconference in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El Sheikh,attracted hundreds of millions of USD commitments from bigmultinationals such as Coca-Cola, Siemens and BP earlier thisyear. Fiscal reforms aimed at accelerating economicdevelopment are starting to pay off, and Egypt is becoming a
hub for African fund management to enable local and foreigninvestment to get more exposure on the continent.
Enhancing ties with Africa is becoming increasingly important.Foreign direct investment into the region rose by 16.2% in 2014,and the continent as a whole is expected to grow at an averagepace of 6.1% this year. To the amazement of Egyptianindustrialists, Africa has now replaced Europe as the mainmarket for locally manufactured exports.
With the opening of its regional office in Cairo, Mortimer Harveytook an active stance in the African market integration process,and brought its unique offering covering the entire commercialdelivery chain from strategy to sales and distribution, with astrong emphasis on implementation andon-the-ground delivery. The combinedstrength of over 24 years of experience inmore than 20 markets across the region, adedicated workforce of more than 120employees and an extensive network oftested and trusted local partners, putsMortimer Harvey in a unique position toaddress investors seeking a high return ontheir investment in some of the world’smost dynamic and challenging businessenvironments.
Succeeding in today’s Africa requires a deep understanding andexperience of African-continental consumers, their diversity,local cultural needs and taste. This includes adapting to theongoing mobile digital revolution where Google became thebrands’ comfort zone, Twitter the expert opinion forum andFacebook a selling platform. Ready-made marketing shippedfrom outside, conventional pricing methods, expensive TV-adsare not an option anymore.
Mortimer Harvey believes helping ourclients succeed in this new world is ourmission. As the outsourced corporatemarketing department of large locallyowned businesses, Mortimer Harvey playsa key role in making Egyptian companiesfit for global competition and ready toexpand South. We support at every step ofthe business development and investmentjourney from Europe or China to Egypt,within Egypt, and from Egypt to Africa.
“A family is like a forest, when you are outside it is dense, whenyou are inside you see that each tree has its place” says anAfrican proverb. Egypt is the door to enter the African family. LetMortimer Harvey guide you through it!
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We don’t limit yourcreativity but...
OP AdvertisingBotswana
Botswana is a stable, peaceful jewel in the middle of SouthernAfrica. With an economy historically driven by diamonds andbeef the government has always tried to push for diversification.Botswana having gained independence in 1966 is still a youngeconomy with a lot of learning to do. Botswana also importsalmost everything from materials to food stuffs from SouthAfrica, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Challenges of population.Botswana has a small population of 2.1 million people with mostof the purchasing power of the economy centered around thecapital, Gaborone. Of this small population, not everyone has aneconomic stake or contribution and the country has an unevendistribution of wealth.
Challenges of the economyThe economy as a whole has seen a large scale slow down andretrenchment in many sectors with marketing budgets being cutby corporates.
Challenges of the market.One of the major challenges faced by agencies in Botswana isthe small market or pool of corporates that are willing to pay foragency services. Swimming this small pool of corporates are alarge number of older established agencies, new agencies andfreelancers or briefcase agencies*. There have also been anumber of cross border agencies fishing in the local pool.
Challenges of creativity. Corporate clients all want the same thing, “creativity” withoutfully understanding what it means. Whenever pitching for acampaign clients will use the same example, “We want Nando’sstyle of creativity, but our budget is….” I’m not saying a creativecampaign should be hugely expensive, but in a way you getwhat you are willing to pay for.
“We want Nando’s style of creativity, but ourbudget is...”
Another common phrase in our industry is “You are the creativepeople, come up with something…” and after days of wrackingour brains, tossing around ideas and coming up with our idea ofa creative campaign, the client will come back with “We hadsomething else in mind, maybe just copy XYZ campaign and useour colours, but don’t restrict your creativity.”
The reason I am going to stay on creativity is, when I started indesign, we did not have access to the Internetand used what we saw on TV and in magazinesas our guide to what was fresh design. We alsolearned from other designers in the industry, ifsomeone managed a cool effect we wouldcontact them and ask “How did you do that?”and designers were eager to share what theyknew. We used to use the eraser tool inPhotoshop before one of our local designersshowed a few of us how to deep etch an image.
Has the internet made us creative or creative copycats?Ever since the advent of easily available Internet, designers haveGoogled rather than created what was needed by a client.Whether it is looking at an international example and copying itor ‘YouTube-ing’ a how to video, overall designers in Botswanahave lost the ‘connection’ we used to have.
It is one thing to benchmark an international campaign andanother completely to copy it word for word.
One of the first examples we had in Botswana was the beMobilelaunch campaign for which most in the industry thought “Wow,that was creative.” Only to find out that it was a launchcampaign from Europe that had been copied in its entirety. Morerecently a local university launched its new logo with a creativerationale and huge hype about the brainchild behind the logo,only to find it on Shutterstock with ‘your text here’ where thename of the university was put, not even the colour had beenadjusted. My third and final example is a recent road safetycampaign by our local breweries, which was on the website ofthe agency that created it. Again thinking “Wow how creative.”Only, it was copied from an image in a South African ad all theway from the clothing, seating position of the model, even theposition of the shoelaces on his feet.
Every local magazine uses Shutterstock images and with thelimited number of African faces on the stock photo site the sameimage may appear in several magazines as well as on advertisersartwork, to the point that a client said to me “We are so tired ofseeing the Shutterstock characters everywhere.”
What’s the solution?Firstly, I find design studios currently far tooquiet and way too corporate, not aconducive creative environment. At the firstdesign studio I worked in we wore shortsand t-shirts and talked and learned fromeach-other all day. We also learned fromthe factory side what worked and didn’twork for the various printing machines,usually by being told off by the machineoperators. I would encourage more conversation in studio.
Secondly, when I started working in the industry as a designerwe would start by sketching roughly what the client briefrequired. From the sketch we would photograph the elementsand put them together in Photoshop to create the effect theclient was looking for. Bring back sketching as a starting pointinstead of running blindly to the Internet.
Once you’ve sketched, then use the Internet to see example andre-create, re-shoot, re-draw or re-design giving your own flavorto the design. If as an industry we just copy and paste from awebsite lets call ourselves what we are, “Creative copycats.”
*briefcase agency – A registered company with no registeredoffices, individuals driving around with their office in a briefcase.
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Fran
cis
Gle
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, Ow
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Unwarranted fear of the unknown
PromiseSouth Africa
For American and European agencies alike, expanding into Africacarries with it fear of the unknown.
Since the world changed in 2008, investors do not havediscretionary funds to “experiment” with forays into riskymarkets. They need to know that the risk to their investment isminimal and that they are in safe, trustworthy hands.
Apart from China, we believe Africa is one of the mostmisunderstood and mistrusted continents in which to dobusiness. The below visual, for the less knowledgeable, prettymuch sums up many Western views!
The truth of the matter isthat despite the risks ofdoing business in Africa,there are just as manyupsides. This means thatAfrica has the distinctionof being only marginallymore risky than most othermarkets, considering thepotential rewards for success.
So what’s that different about doingbusiness in Africa?
The truth is that unlike risk parity in the50 states of the USA, Africa is made up of54 individual countries that are immenselydifferent to each other ideologically, politically and economically.The differences between the South African and Zimbabweaneconomies are incredibly vast, yet we are close neighbours.
What the continent as a whole can offer is relatively low levels of competition and tremendous opportunity for expansion.Average GDP growth is expected to reach 5% in 2016.
As anywhere else in business globally, achieving success in Africadepends significantly on who you choose to work with. Promisehas delivered advertising and marketing solutions in Ghana,Botswana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Mozambique, Senegal andTanzania. Every country presented its own challenges, but thepassion and eagerness with which our work was received wasbrilliant and highly fulfilling to the team.
Best of all, we’ve been paid in full, every time. What counted inour favour were the clients we worked with – clients based largelyin South Africa, with markets in various African countries, withwhom we have existing relationships based on trust and sharedhistory.
Once we started work in some of these countries, we wereexposed to new clients in the regions, which ultimately led tonew relationships with no South African connection.
Obviously basic risk assessments should be done beforeinvesting in an African economy. Some may include but not belimited to:
• Supply of electricity• Development of telecommunication networks• Political risks• Social risks• Cultural/Colloquial understanding• Employment levels• Quality of education
Despots such as Muammar al-Gadaffi and Robert Mugabe had a“United States of Africa” dream. This will never become a realityin our lifetime (or the lifetime of our children) because of theabove stark differences in the various countries. Not even Sudancan handle a split, with simple religious ideology getting in theway of peace. But no matter how serious the problem, economiclife continues on for Africans!
Notwithstanding tremendous oil and gas discoveries, there aremany countries with huge potential that could theoreticallybecome unlocked overnight. All that is required is a change inpolicy. The people of Zimbabwe are well educated and hardworkers – that country has incredible potential and our team arewatching it closely, having executed a number of campaignsthere. Our trips to Harare havebeen astonishingly enlightening fora number of positive reasons.
Unlike countries such as Greece,which feel helpless, turmoil inAfrica usually carries the duality ofopportunity and advancement.
As in any developing economy, there is a chasm between upperincome consumers and the poor. South Africa is burdened withthis widening gap, yet there is a growing middle-class. There areopportunities in both these markets.
What we are seeing in South Africa with data (fibre-to-the-home) really supports the adage that “change happens in amoment”. Up until a year ago, homes in South Africa only hadaccess to slow and old data technology (ADSL over copper). Nowwe are seeing the rapid deployment of FTTH to dozens ofsuburbs – pure speeds of 100MB/sec for just $100/month.
Netflix, Apple TV, Hulu Plus and HBO Go are in line to replacetraditional ATL media channels and, like Kenya, we have thebandwidth to enjoy this change.
The quality of advertising and marketing agencies on thecontinent is generally not considered to be quite as high as thosefound in South Africa. South African agencies are amongst thebest globally, with a high standard of creative and strategy.Digital is booming.
The big advantage to doing business with South African agenciescomes down to our cost/quality ratio. The exchange ratebetween the Rand and Euro/US currencies makes it very costeffective to outsource marketing to South Africa. Also, due toEnglish being the language of business, there are no languagebarriers. Finally, we align comfortably within the WesternEuropean time zones and catch the morning and eveningtailwinds with the United States.
Our advice is to replace fear with curiosity, and start to unlockvalue from a continent that is nowhere near saturated withcompetitors. Choose the right partners and you will be A-OK!
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Mar
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atso
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Jam
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(CEO
)
Future of media in Africa - from Rome to ROMI
RMS MediaSouth Africa
Like Pliny the Elder1 most marketers keep looking to findsomething new from Africa, but it’s not always easy to find thekey to measurable ROMI, even in a temptingly under-marketedand under-supplied African market.
At the core of this, seemingly lies the lack of access to robustmedia and marketing data, and marketing insights. In therecently published WFA2 Marketing in Africa 2015 report 50% ofmarketers indicated that accurate ROMI analysis is “impossible”.Interestingly though, if we probe the data further, we discoverthat 55% of these same marketers indicate that “media audiencemeasurement is sufficiently robust and reliable” in theseregions.
So if robust and reliable media audience data is available inAfrican markets, why then is ROMI impossible to measure?Where is the disconnect coming in?
At first glance one might be tempted to default to the time-honoured practice of “blaming the agency” for the impasse.After all only 24% of marketers in Africa believe that their agencypartners are “keen to bring ROMI measurements to their work”but that too is symptomatic, rather than causative.
The real problem lies in what many marketers and mediaagencies, who are not familiar with the dynamics of advertisingin Africa, believe constitutes robust audience measurement.Global advertisers have become progressively reliant onquantitative data analysis that reaches its predictable zenith inbig data and programmatic planning.
Media research has been increasingly aligned to delivering onprocurement KPI rather than on proving in-market mediachannel efficacy. Unfortunately if advertisers emphasisediscounts and measurable ‘savings’ on measured mediaexposure then that will mitigate against the media agency takingresponsibility for real in-market ROMI. If the media audiencecan’t be reported in GRP’s and CPP’s then how can the agencyprove that it’s delivering on the buying KPI?
Of course, through the primary AMPS database and the RAMS3
diaries and TAMS4 Peoplemeters, advertisers in South Africahave come to believe that this level of access to data andscrutiny represents the minimum level of effective reporting andview the absence of such detailed data in Africa to be a barrierto entry.
“But the absence of an algorithm or access toprogrammatic planning should not imply theabsence of logic.”
But the absence of an algorithm or access to programmaticplanning should not imply the absence of logic and measurableROMI. Where readership, listenership and viewership datadoesn’t exist in the same manner as it does in national surveysaround the world, old technology and boots on the ground canstill provide valuable audience insights.
You don’t need sophisticated GPS tracking data to determine thebest position for OOH signage covering traffic to and from JomoKenyatta International Airport. What you need is for someone toactually inspect the Mombasa Road to make sure that themarabou storks haven’t built a communal nest in front of yourbillboard.
That’s also effective media planning in Africa.
Simple geo-segmentation and small scale studies using diaries oreven anthropological snapshots will provide significant insightsinto media usage patterns. These learnings can then be overlaidonto similar geo-communities and most importantly againstsales. In terms of African consumers we need to first find outwhat media actually works (real ROMI) and then put in place themeans to measure the scale of the exposure so that we cancompute the less significant media savings.
The WFA report critically highlights the need to create a deeperunderstanding of consumers, and the right insight into whatdrives purchasing behaviour as a fundamental pillar of winningbrands in Africa. Real insights rather than general assumptions.That implies investing in local and relevant creative messagingand in many instances, surprisingly, the need to stop drivingshort term promotions and price off discounting.
Winning agencies in Africa will be agencies with the mostinsightful and usable consumer insights.
Perhaps in looking for the answers we need this time to look toPliny the Younger who could teach the average marketer a thingor two about communication when he noted 2000 years ago …
“There is no lack of readers and listeners; it is for us to producesomething worth being written and heard.”
Some things don’t change over time.
1. ex Africa semper aliquid novi2. World Federation of Advertisers 3. Radio Audience Measurement Survey4. TV Audience Measurement Survey
www.thenetworkone.com
Rob
Smut
s, F
ound
er &
CEO
Afropolitan tastes
Yellow Brick RoadNigeria
The term Afropolitan has been bandied around since Taiye Selasiused it in a 2005 article. At the time, she was using it to describeyoung, upwardly mobile, multilingual, sometimes multi-ethnicAfricans in the Diaspora. They were citizens of the world with ashared African identity. We have tended to use it a littledifferently. In conversations with clients, we use Afropolitan inthe sense of African + Cosmopolitan; to describe a trend we’venoticed in Nigeria over the last few years (Naijapolitan just didn’thave the same ring to it).
The Afropolitan trend seems to be the result of two things; theincreased exposure of Nigerians (through travel, media, theinternet or international brands entering our market) toproducts and experiences from across the world and a renewedappreciation of local content.
Exposure to international brands, retail, media and evencommunications are shifting consumer expectations about thequality of presentation. From packaging to the experience atpoint of sale, affluent and mass affluent consumers aredemanding a more ‘polished’ approach. At the same time,Nigerians are ever more enamoured with things Naija. Go to anyclub, 90% of the music you hear is local, KFC serves jollof rice,kaftans are the go-to Friday ensemble for most professional men.
All this has resulted in the up scaling of Nigerian content. From fashion to music, from food to film, ‘Made in Nigeria’ is the new luxe.
‘Made in Nigeria’ is the new luxe.
Locally designed fashion is no longer simple Ankara dressessewn by a tailor in a street side shop, it is couture that’s evenbeing worn by FLOTUS herself (Michelle Obama and Solangehave both been photographed wearing Nigerian designer OdioMimonet). Nigerian fashionistas are spending big bucks to rocklocal labels, mixing Chanel and CLAN on the red carpet (the rightpiece from a local designer is as sought after as something froma big international fashion house).
Our musicians are reaching out to big name American artists forcollaborations, but still singing in their local language, like WizKidfeaturing Drake on a remix of Ojuelegba. It’s instructive thatDrake is arguably the most popular rapper in the world at themoment, but Wizkid does not change the song to accommodatehim – the hook stays in Yoruba and the Afrobeat influenced trackremains. The production values of the music (and the musicvideos) coming out of Nigeria continue to improve and ourartists’ international appeal is broadening beyond Diasporacommunities. Walk into any shop on Oxford Street, you are aslikely to hear WizKid as you are Ed Sheeran.
Even our local food is getting the treatment. Companies likeTupelo & Green are presenting traditional dishes in a mannerthat would rival a Michelin star restaurant. Upscale sushirestaurants in Lagos are including local flavours in their signaturemaki rolls and even chin chin, until now mostly sold inunbranded bulk, is getting pretty packaging. The best example,though, may be Orijin. Launched last year by Diageo, Orijin is abitters-based flavoured alcoholic beverage. Bitters have longbeen popular, though seen as somewhat down market. Stylishpackaging and a cool marketing campaign made it one ofDiageo’s most successful brand launches in recent times.
The days of the ‘local champion’, brands that catered to localtastes or preferences but offered inferior quality, seem to beending. Nigerian consumers crave (and will soon begin todemand), their traditional tastes and textures delivered withcontemporary sophistication.
Nigerian consumers crave… their traditional tastes and textures delivered with contemporarysophistication.
Despite ever increasing exposure to the rest of the world,Nigerians are now less likely to simply adopt wholesale anythingWestern. It is important to us to hold onto our culture, customs and traditions.However, Nigerian consumers will nolonger accept poor presentationbecause something is locally made. Asthe new school of Nollywood filmsprove, we can retain the themes thatare important to us while giving theshiny Hollywood flicks a run for their(production value) money.
Local brands, particularly in the FMCG space, increasingly have to compete with international brands at the shelf, forcingthem to upgrade their packaging. International brands, as theycome in, are learning that they have to cater to local tastes,Domino’s Pizza’s Nigerian shops are some of their busiestglobally, a fact that is helped in no small part by their jollofchicken and suya pizzas.
As we often say to clients, many Nigerians now have ‘New Yorksheen, but a Lagos state of mind’ and they are looking for brandsthat do as well.
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thenetworkone: Africa
With agencies in 16 African nations (and growing), thenetworkone has a significant creative resource
across the African continent. To know more about how we could help you please contact, Paul Squirrell
[email protected]+44 (0)20 7240 7117
thenetworkone: Africa
thenetworkone Management Limited3rd Floor, 48 Beak Street
SohoLondon W1F 9RL
+44 (0)20 7240 7117
www.thenetworkone.com
http://thenetworkoneafrica.wordpress.com
thenetworkone: Africa
