by Erna George. One of my pet hates is those global brands who arrive on our shores thinking they can fill a gap in any market in Africa without altering their product, packaging or communication. While possibly an acceptable position in 1995 when our country was making its way back into the global economy, this has been a no-no for some time.
Category archives: Columns
Ad of the Week with Oresti Patricios – Yawn for a Cuppa Joe
For many FMCG products, the best way to win customers is to let them experience the brand directly. To interact with it, taste it, touch it and hopefully to watch as people come away with an enjoyable, happy memory of the experience.
Brand activation in the form of in-store promotion—if done correctly—has been shown to work well in consumer research. So much so that these activations can even convert customers from entrenched or established brand allegiances. However creating activations is labour intensive – much more work than creating a commercial that is flighted for maximum reach and penetration, and is therefore more financially lucrative for the agency.
That said, real world experiential branding can have a limited reach, so it must be part of the broader marketing mix. It also works if brand activations are in themselves creative and clever, and can drive social media campaigns that broaden their reach and engagement.
One way to extend the reach of an activation exercise is to make the experience fun and memorable enough for the conversation to continue beyond the original event. In DouweEgberts’s recent activation, conceived and produced by Joe Public, the ‘zinger’ was the addition of technology that allowed users to interact with the brand in a fun way.
A coffee machine with DouweEgberts branding was placed at OR Tambo International Airport. But there was no coin-slot: all the tired travellers had to do was what comes naturally after a long and exhausting flight: yawn.
Mike Abel: The Inconvenient Customer
by Mike Abel. As marketers, our lives have become far harder. In developed markets, the “lift pitch” we call advertising has fewer floors to travel with the customer.
Ad of the Week with Oresti Patricios – When Vampires Attack!
We’ve passed the winter solstice, which means that summer is not too far off. For most South Africans it’s the season of fun in the sun. There’s so much to look forward to: longer daylight hours, braais, swimming… and then there’s the mosquitoes. Well, everything good must have a downside, or so they say.
But the reality is that those whiney bloodsucking vampires are incredibly annoying! Somehow they always find the most annoying place to bite me – like on my knuckle, my ear or my elbow. The worst part, though, is the whining sound as they start to dive-bomb, about twenty minutes after I turn out the light… or just as I’m about to drift off to sleep.
Tabard has established itself very solidly over the years as a household name in South Africa, and several other African countries, due in part to its easy application and not-too-unpleasant scent. But mostly because of its effective ability to banish the blood-sucking scourge that’s the mosquito.
Given that that the Tabard brand is familiar and well entrenched – owners the Acorn Group say it is Africa’s “most trusted insect repellent” – what’s important to the brand is that it remains relevant.
Hermaneutics: ‘Blackface’ ad faces international backlash
by Herman Manson (@marklives) Cape Town agency Lowe + Partners and client Cape Town Fish Market has been strongly criticised for using ‘blackface’ in their latest TV commercial. The ad has even been featured on Al-Jazeera who reported that the it had sparked ‘outrage among South Africans.’
In American history especially, ‘blackface’ was used to create stereotyped caricatures of black people. Today it is still sometimes used as social commentary or satire but it is generally considered politically incorrect.
The ad in question references a stereotypical ‘African Dictator’ – with an actor in blackfaceand wearing an Afro – diverting funds into his “expense account.” The ad, which consists of various vignettes, features the same actor also playing a prostitute, a dodgy doctor, porn director and rental agent.
Mvelase Peppetta blogged that he found the ad seriously offensive and suggested lack of transformation in the ad industry might have played a role in the ad getting flighted in the first place. “People far smarter and more experienced in SA’s marketing industry than me have time and again explained how the lack of diversity in our ad industry leads to these kind of horribly offensive and stereotypical ads,” wrote Peppetta.
Attrition, Talent, & Transformation in the Digital Industry Part II
Having pointed out the elephant in the industry yesterday, Prakash Patel now explains why he doesn’t just see it as a problem but also an opportunity for the industry to motivate staff, and give them a purpose in their jobs.
Attrition, Talent & Transformation in the Digital Industry: The Elephant in the Room
Prakash Patel, CEO of Prezence, looks at attrition, talent and transformation — the “elephant in the room” — in the marketing industry in this first of a two-part series.
Ad of the Week with Oresti Patricios – “The Chef”
Amstel Lager’s main brand differentiator has been the promise that it is “slow-brewed”, which allegedly produces a better tasting product. This beer has always been a little more expensive than the other mainstream brands, and has traditionally occupied a prestige space that is somewhere between the imported and the local brands.
The concept of taking time to achieve true quality has been re-interpreted in the latest campaign, which tells realistic life stories of ordinary people who have to pay their dues to achieve their goals.
Humans are storytelling animals: telling a story has been proven to be the best way to engage an audience, be it in a presentation, a speech or a commercial. This campaign has used that to draw in its audience and make a very definite impression.
Tech Law: Is your marketing strategy diabetic?
by Paul Jacobson (@pauljacobson) It occurred to me that what most marketers are doing is analogous to what I did for years. I see the big contributor to my diabetes onset as being unrestrained consumption. In a sense, this is what marketers active on the social Web are doing too. They work in a fascinating and engaging space and often do so with little regard to the legal consequences of their campaigns.
We’re living in the digital golden age. So, what are you doing about it?
We’re living in the digital golden age. So, what are you doing about it? by Fred Roed (@fred_roed) I have an unshakable belief that we’re living, right now, in one of the most crazy awesome times in human history. I believe that in 100 years from now, people will look back at the turn of the 21st century and say “Dayam, I wish I lived then!” – sorta like we do now thinking back to the 60’s, or the Enlightenment, or the industrial revolution, or the 80’s. Na, just kidding – the 80’s sucked.
Think about it. We’re living in a time where digital communication is changing everything. You know that right? Of course you do. The question really is, what are you doing about it?
So, running an agency, as I do, the question becomes even more critical. I’m at the forefront of all this stuff. We get updates daily, hourly, every minute, on new shit that’s getting done. Innovations, inventions, disruptions: these are the things that mark this amazing pocket of time called the digital age.
And what am I doing about it?