by Craig Page-Lee (@cpl_ignite) As certain individual African countries achieve GDP growth rates in comparison to the US and the Eurozone, and as more and more countries fall into the middle-income bracket, one can expect consumer spending to increase exponentially across the continent, making Africa a real destination for global investment.
So what does this mean for advertisers, the media industry and agency groups alike operating out of South Africa and what are the genuine opportunities?
Media gold-rush
Before we chart a course and head north across our borders, seeking out a new media gold-rush, we first need to understand the sheer scale and enormity of the continent’s land-mass, we need to come to terms with the multitude of seemingly insurmountable political and social challenges, and we need to learn to navigate the complexities of dictators and disasters — while seeking out the lucrative opportunities brought on by ever-increasing urban populations which are being exposed to more and more brands in some of the world’s fastest growing economies.
Doing things differently on the continent is important — not for the purpose of trying to be different, but for the simple reason that the continent does not operate off a “one-size-fits-all” media template and understanding that the relationship consumers have with brands and media on the continent is only the start of the conversation.
Africa is HUGE: flight times from Cape Town to Lagos — seven hours; from Cape Town to Nairobi — five-and-a-half hours; from Nairobi to Lagos — five hours. So, too, are the opportunities and finding the markets with the right level of economic freedom is another part of the conversation.
Well-established and robust
Africa has a very well-established and robust media environment, with governments playing less of a role in the direct control and broadcast arenas.
- Out of home (OOH) is obviously huge in Africa but with very little legislation in place to control it. It is therefore a huge challenge yet an opportunity at the same time, as we endeavour to help clients win in a very cluttered and weakly regulated environment.
- Radio is very popular and a very important medium as it has huge reach and can be dialect-specific and -targeted, catering to a particular region only. Using radio in this fragmented way does, however, make it an expensive medium.
- When combining the power of reach from radio with the always-on nature of out-of-home, advertisers benefit from the effectiveness of these two broadcast media more than any other on the continent.
- TV is still a popular medium, but high set-top box costs are driving audiences away, which should signal an opportunity for other platforms.
- Mobile, as we all know, is huge and continues to grow across all the markets on the continent, with with many consumers owning two, or even three handsets to cater for different networks. Estimates put mobile subscribers at +1 billion by 2015. This surely requires that agencies need to understand the true power of mobile when developing campaigns. Mobile will enable broader insights into consumer behavior and mindset
- As much as internet penetration is fairly high in certain areas, the cost of internet access is still prohibitive for the majority of consumers, which has in turn resulted in print retaining a healthy share of spend on the continent. Print is being kept alive by the rapid urbanisation and increasing middle class in Africa.
Strive to drive
A major challenge remains for agency groups working on the continent as we strive to drive consistency across the different markets. Understanding how to navigate legal issues and governance — at client, supplier and industry level — is another challenge. Developing working relationships and structuring legally binding and mutually beneficial entities require an in-depth understanding of legislation around national vs foreign ownership and these regulations change from country to country.
Working through centralised, globally aligned co-ordination roles will go a long way to ensure improved accountability and efficiencies.
As daunting as the challenges may seem, don’t forget that the continent has a collective GDP in excess of US$2 trillion and that the continent hosts a collective population in excess of 1 billion people and boasts over 1000 languages. These surely are opportunities but not for the faint-hearted, though!
Craig Page-Lee (@cpl_ignite) is the group MD of Posterscope South Africa. He has over 21 years of working experience across the disciplines of architecture and retail design/brand communications and marketing management/advertising and media, across 11 pan-European and six pan-African regions. Craig’s monthly column on MarkLives, “Beyond Borders”, will focus on doing business in various African markets. Also remember to tune into his #eBizRetail slot on www.ebizradio.com.
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