WHY AFRICAN IS THE FINAL FRONTIER FOR GLOBAL BRANDS
The dynamic of the global economic are shifting apace. With uncertainty in developed markets such as the UK, the US and Europe, many brands are looking beyond their traditional customer bases in search of new opportunities and sources of growth. Africa, the world’s poorest continent but also the most untapped by consumer brands, looks set to benefit.
Africa is of course a huge landmass with massively varied conditions across its countries. Where some parts remain ravaged by war, famine and poverty, others are experiencing accelerated economic growth, urbanization and a rising middle class. There are estimated to be more than 2,000 languages spoken and individual countries and regions have their own distinct cultures.
The world bank’s African pulse report in September noted that some countries had registered sharp “slippages in economic growth” last year due to factors such as low commodity prices and domestic political problems. At the same time other countries such as Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania “have continued to post annual average growth rates over 6%”. Meanwhile, the Brookings Institution reports that the number of urban residents in Africa nearly doubled between 1995and 2015 and is projected to almost double again by 2035.
Within this economic climate many western brands have been growing their presence. According to a recent report by African Business magazine, non-African brands have increased their share of African consumer markets in recent years to reach a dominant 84% in 2017. Non-African brands account for 84% of the top 100 most admired brands in Africa, and 99.3% of the most value, it adds.
Starbucks, H&M, Facebook and Business Insider are among the brands to have launched or opened offices in African in the past two years, while western marketing group have also grown their footprint on the continent. Lats year WPP launched the WPP Africa Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa, a talent development project that helps WPP’s African subsidiary companies to access training programmes. As brand turn their sights to the African markets, they must strive to understand a continent of diverse people and conditions that is becoming increasingly confident in its own creative self-expression. Translating brands.
US media giant Viacom, which own channels such as MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, has had a presence in Africa for 12 years but its continually evolving how it communicates with ana African audience. Last year the company hired Fort, an African owned and run creative agency, to create a new visual identity for its MTV base channel in Africa,
Previously the channel had drawn upon imagery and logo designs used at global level. The brand refresh involved overhauling the visual identity to ensure it was entirely focused on the local market. To do this Fort created numerous versions of different channel idents that mix vibrant custom-designed patterns with real life photography.
The channel imagery is designed to provide MTV with the flexibility to express itself in different years across African markets and to match itself to different fashion trends, music styles, urban at forms and local cultural trends. The people photographed for the idents include Viacom and Fort employees as the project aims to represent “a diverse Pan-African Spectrum”.
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Dillon Khan, vice president for Comedy Central African and creative services at Viacom International Media Networks Africa says the refresh was driven by a need to move away from western forms of marketing and ensure the MTV brand was more in sync with Africa’s flourishing cultural movements. “In the northern hemisphere the idents) would perhaps use neon or retro colors looking back at the 80s as an inspiration point, “he notes here in Africa those colors don’t necessarily translate as well. What does translate is what’s happening in the fashion scene here. You ‘re starting to see African print from across the continent and the wide scale of patterns and colors coming through, so we wanted to utilize the fashion and lifestyle aspect of our audience and reflect it back”
Khan argues that African design is a growing source of inspiration in the northern hemisphere. “Whether it’s Beyonce using it in some of her music videos, or fashion labels that are also looking at African, it’s a way of further championing (MTV in Africa) as a music and lifestyle brand”.
MTV base has relaunched in Africa with a new, locally-inspired identity mobile first the channel imagery was produced in multiple formats, including video stills and gif animations, meaning that it could easily translate across TV and mobile. Given the lower barriers to entry and advances in network coverages in recent years, mobile ahs leapfrogged other forms of technology to the extent that many African consumers only engage with the internet on mobile device. Research published last year by GSMA found that the number of smartphone connections across African continents had almost doubled since 2014 reaching 226 million. Having a strong mobile marketing strategy is therefore vital for any brand approaching the African market. “it’s the fastest growing youth population on the planet and market to them you need to be on both linear and digital platforms)” says khan.
MTV has TV channel penetration across continent, including free-to-air deals in some countries and a presence on pay-tv platform Dstv in sub Saharan Africa with offices in South Africa and Nigeria, Viacom shoot programme content on the ground and also host annual MTV African Music Awards.
Whether you’re going through ups and downs in an economic cycle there’s always opportunity here, its very entrepreneurial.
Dillion Khan, Viacom International Media Networks Africa, Khan Argues that besides the “main epicenters” of economic growth such as South African , Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana, there are signs that markets are maturing in countries such as Cameroon, Cote d’ Ivorie and Angola. He notes that marketing to the whole of Africa is a “great challenge” and argues that brands must pick the right local partners when launching on the continent. Whether your are going through ups and downs in an economic cycle there’s an always opportunity here its very entrepreneurial, he says.
“the market is great for new opportunities to grow and I think lifestyle and culture is coming out of Africa more and more. Whether its fashion or music, Africa as a continent is and has been on the rise for a while and the opportunity for Viacom has been here for 12 years. We’ll continue to be here as we serve consumers of all ages, whether its Nickelodeon, MTV or Comedy Central. All ages need catering too as that middle class grows.
De colonizing the creative economy. This notion of African self-expression is a core ethos of MTV’s partner agency, Fort. Earlier this yar the agency launched Create Movement, a campaign that aims to encourage and develop home-grown creative talents across Africa. The Campaign includes a video featuring African musicians, celebrities and social media influencers see below) and is apart of angoing effort by Fort to build a network of creatives across the continent through workshops and training programmes.
The cause is close to the heart of the Fort CEO Shukri Toefy, who started the agency with Amr Singh in Cape Town, South African in 2006 when they were friends at university. One of the stated arms of the Create Movement is to “decolonize the African creative economy” from excessive external influence- a provocative phrase that Toefy hopes will encourages people to reassess interpretations of African marketing and creative expression.
The majority of advertising marketing companies (in Africa) are foreign-owned, “he says,” I can count on one hand, and we’re included in that , the number of locally owned companies that are actually real players that can win big brands and big tenders. Th rest of them are all publics, WPP(or) Omnicom-owned agencies.
“in South Africa, you drive down the street and at universities they ‘re tearing down statues of Cecil John Rhodes and all these colonial leaders, but then you drive further and there’s Ogilvy and Saatchi & Saatchi. Those are colonial relics and that’s a form of neocolonialism as well. I’m not saying we should take to the streets and start taking down signs, but there’s not even a consciousness around it,and I think that’s what’s interesting about what we’re doing with Create Movement.”
I can count on one hand the number of locally owned companies that are actually real players Shukri Toefy, Fort. Following recent signs of resurgent nationalism in certain parts of the world including Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, Toefy believes there is an opportunity for African to become more assertive on global stage. This includes ensuring brands are not simply imported direct from overseas, but rather have an “afro-centric approach” that resonates with local audiences.
We’re saying that yes, we need to be very grateful for foreign direct investment and grateful for the skills and knowledge we can learn from other markets, but that there needs to be consciousness around bringing it hoe and making it real within African context, “ he says Fort, which also works with Unilever and SABMiller, urges brands to think carefully about their approach to market research when launching in Africa as the “last Frontier” for capturing new consumers, given they have often already entered emerging economies such as the BRIC nations Brazil, Russia, India and China),
“Be open to finding that African insight and being driven by something that’s non-traditional, “he advises. “redefines strategies that are more in line with African audiences and with the complexities that make up Africa.” Cultural sensitivities. Drinks group has reaped the benefits of investing in African strategy. The company’s latest financial results show that Africa now accounts for 12% of total group sales and that net sales in the region rose by 4% in the six months ended 31 December 2016.
A breakdown of this activity reveal the challenging trading conditions facing brands, but also the opportunities for fast growth through new products launches in new markets. For example, while beer performance was impacted by significant increase in beer duty in Kenya with Guinness down by 22% sales of the Satzenbrau range rose by 108%.
Diageo has identified African as an important source of further growth and has brought African themes to its advertising in the UK, as well as African markets. Smirnoff’s latest We’re open campaign features Jeffrey Jewell, a Congolese French Dk with albinism who is aiming to break down prejudices about conditions in Africa. The advert is currently running in both Nigeria and the UK and is to be rolled out across African countries during 2017.
