by Herman Manson (@marklives) Independent ad agency, Ninety9cents, is opening its first office outside of South Africa in Lusaka, Zambia. The agency follows key clients, Shoprite Holdings and Ackermans, into the country. Both are focusing upon growing their offering and market-share there.
Ninety9cents is a full-service, integrated advertising agency headquartered in Cape Town, and is one of SA’s largest independently owned agencies.
Has always held an interest
According to Ninety9cents MD, Andrew Brand, the rest of the continent north of SA’s borders has always held an interest for the agency. Initially, it eyed Nigeria and Angola as possible launch pads for its expansion but, due to the collapse in oil prices affecting local economies, coupled with less business friendly legislation, the agency settled upon Zambia instead.
“Africa holds enormous potential for us as an agency; firstly, because our values-driven model is very much aligned to Africa’s need for delivery and real business impact at affordable rates, and secondly because our experience and expertise in the retail and FMCG space will translate well in other markets,” he says.
Brand expects the new office to help his agency create more-strategic work for clients operating in Zambia. Ninety9cents has partnered with Simply Black, a pan-African specialist media agency already operating in the country. Understanding media and where to find value is key to success in the rest of Africa — and very different to media strategy and buying in SA — hence its partnership with the media agency.
Share physical space
The companies will share a physical space close to Shoprite’s Lusaka office. Initially, Ninety9cents will employ local DTP operators in its new office. As it wins local business, it will expand its local staff count.
He hopes the agency will be able to offer a more strategic service in the Zambian market; already suppliers to Shoprite’s Zambian stores are starting to engage the agency on possible in-store and shopper marketing. Eventually, the offering will grow into brand work.
Local management will also be put in place over time, says Brand, who is spending time immersing himself in the local marketplace and eyeing local talent. The chasm between the promises and the actual offering of the multinational agency networks has come as something of a surprise to him, who notes that a lack of infrastructure and investment into the local market creates an opportunity for independents such as Ninety9cents.
Learning before further expansion
Lagos and Luanda remain on the agency’s radar but Brand wants to learn what he can from entering Zambia before extending the agency reach into more markets.
Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com. He was the inaugural Vodacom Social Media Journalist of the Year in 2011 and has, over his 20-year-plus career, contributed to numerous journals and websites in South Africa and abroad, including AdVantage magazine, Men’s Health, Computer World and African Communications.
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