Comments on: Interactive Marketing in Africa

By: ameera

ameera — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:59:29 +0000

hi, my question is what are the causes of low usage of online advertising by advertising companies in nairobi? please someone be kind enough to email me their views and give info.

thanks a lot

By: Researchist

Researchist — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:01:40 +0000

Quite rightly – presumably with an objective and research insights like this – http://researchist.info/; hopefully, companies in Africa will have to be pushed to rethink.

By: Leo Faya

Leo Faya — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:29:27 +0000

We need several interactive Agencies in Kenya to manage the education part. I believe this is currently in the works as I read some emails from Lowe. Secondly we need to work on local business models and stop applying US Ad initiatives on local markets. ROI on display advertising is still an area of concern in the US markets, why would we focus on expanding that area of advertising in Kenya? Similarly – we also don’t have a significant amount of portals that conform to IAB standards – there is a lot of work to be done…

How are we working with Mobile networks? Are there any mobile Ad networks? How is targeting being done on Mobile vis a vis the web to connect the dots? This fibre thing is a smoke screen – I say it over and over again, NETZERO in the US had a business model based on AD revenue only – before they started subscriptions. You want to tell me immediately we get cheaper internet, and easily accessible internet – we will adopt these technologies?

One area I am keen on and I totally agree with Joshua is the Creative development. Kenyans dont need 40 page websites, Kenyans just need internet presence of any sort. LANDING pages will be the key to cracking the local internet in East Africa or Africa as a whole. Building Utilities around landing pages – Louis wrote something about this on this blog ( http://louismajanja.blogspot.com/2009/05/restful-apis-and-sms.html and on http://louismajanja.blogspot.com/2009/02/information-utiity.html) There is a need to bridge the gap between information and technology. And until Kenyans realize that there is a need to have information available then the whole website thing will just be what it is today… ” where I need a website just because everyone is getting one”

Kenyans access the internet to get foreign content – Kenyans dont access the internet to get local content. So it would be difficult to convince Unilever to invest in online advertising considering half the page requests will be made to sites outside Kenya – Maybe Pamoja can buy inventory on these US portals and Geo target them for local users 🙂

I dont know am just saying!!!

Nice post though I enjoyed it.

By: Marketing in Africa « Africantech’s Blog

Marketing in Africa « Africantech’s Blog — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:12:22 +0000

[…] « Doomedo: Text the world Marketing in Africa June 15, 2009 An interesting topic from whiteafrican about interactive marketing in […]

By: Douglas Kimani

Douglas Kimani — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:22:47 +0000

This is definately a great conversation and thanks Hash for the post.
I have been fortunate enough to see most of whats is being talked about from start and now flourishing while ofcourse overcoming challenges like anything else in life. Pamoja Media have been extremely helpful to our company so am very optimistic and sure of the direction they are headed. As for educating the market, that will must happen inorder to penetrate that market. Most of us have a very limited application for the web and espcially when it comes to businesses. The better understanding the customer gets, the the higher the ROI per customer since one will be able to convert revenue from multipe revenue streams.

Looking at MPESA; they came up with a prosduct which basically been on fire for the last 3 years and still growing. Thats the potential I see for Pamoja Media and ofcourse many others will leverage their efforts and as whole the continent wins.

With Fiber landing, I would expect Kenya and the greater East Africa to tripple the web usage in the next 1-3 years which by itself shall provide enormous opportunities as badwidth cost comes down.

By: Benin

Benin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 02:41:51 +0000

Rob, great advice. I think that we have always had a clear vision as to where we wanted to go. But you are right, we have faced some challenges in terms of how to get to where we want to go. And to me this is ok, because sort of like how you have done in S. Africa we find ourselves at the start of a new industry in Kenya and the other countries that we are doing things in. The best analogy that I can use is this: running a company that operates in mostly unchartered territory is probably a lot like being at the helm of a ship that's travelling in unmapped ocean territory. In the beginning, one may think that they have things figured out and that they know where they are going and which route to take; but only after the storms and waves have hit do the shipmates really begin to know the temperament of that unchartered territory. This is when the captain and the shipmates are in the best position to map the way forward. And having hit a number of bumps very early in our journey to the point that we are now seeing some straight away road just ahead of us, this is where I'd say that we are right now. BTW, congrats on being one of the key people to pioneer the interactive marketing industry in S. Africa. You guys at Quirk are doing some great things. Finally, let me say that I have just posted a response to this blog article on my personal blog.

By: Arugaw

Arugaw — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:17:48 +0000

Great article

By: Rob Stokes

Rob Stokes — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:56:53 +0000

Hey Erik, great post and thanks for your time last week – it was really useful.
I’ve just arrived back in JHB and I’ve gone from poor internet too poor electricity. Such is life in Africa 🙂
I must say that trip was really eye opening. I need to put a post together, but the honest truth is that the gap is huge. That said, there appears to be a real desire to close it and of course that’s the most important thing.

@Joshua I think as an agency you need to decide which way you want to focus and build that into the way you do business. 10 years ago I had no choice in SA, but to try and explain SEO and the like to every marketing manager in the country – not an easy task back then!! But the knowledge has grown substantially over the years and we rarely need to have those conversations any more. I see East Africa going through the same cycle and I want to be a part of that education process again.
Would be great to meet up next time I’m in your city 🙂

By: Benin

Benin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:53:58 +0000

Thanks for pointing that out, Joshua. That’s a very profound observation.

Once someone gets over the hump of understanding the web and at least some basic understanding of how customers can be engaged on line then we are able to speak the same language with them, which makes it mutually enriching experience both for our clients and for us.

Thanks again Hash!

By: Joshua Wanyama

Joshua Wanyama — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:32:10 +0000

Thanks for the piece Erik. You covered some key things happening within the market. I once talked to someone who was part of developing Yahoo in their formative years and they were of the opinion that it is not the job of marketing firms to educate potential clients but rather those already with an inkling to get online. You will have to teach such clients how to work effectively online, but you won’t have to educate them on what is the web and how one can use it.

I think there is a distinction between the two. The moment we direct all our resources to start teaching everyone about the web, we become too overextended as growing companies. Pamoja Media seeks to work with companies who understand that there is great value with being online, they want to discover what are the possibilities and are ready to commit to a specific strategy and execute on it. Hopefully, there are enough such companies in Africa as those will lead the development and relevance of the web within the continent.