9 minute read
AFRICA OVERVIEW
2020: a year of endings, a year of beginnings
SOLLY MOENG looks back on the successful execution of the first hybrid Africa Brand Summit.
2020 was one long emotional roller coaster of a year for many people. We moved from consternation when the coronavirus pandemic was fi rst arrest harmless citizens taking lonely walks on beaches or jogging alone in deserted areas, with no risk of bringing harm to anyone. As organisers of the annual Africa announced, to trepidation as casualty Brand Summit, we remained calm as numbers grew and people close or known we watched the evolving situation quite to us became affected – some of them closely, staying in regular contact with subsequently dying from it – then hope bodies such as SA Tourism, the South when the curve fl attened and casualty African Association for the Conference numbers began to stabilise and drop, Industry, and the Tourism Business followed by the progressive easing of Council of South Africa in order to inform lockdown restrictions. a decision to cancel, postpone or modify
There was also a lot of anger at the planned 2020 event. government for imposing a blanket It was supposed to be hosted in lockdown, with some of its June as a traditional, full-on movement and trading face-to-face summit in restrictions not making Cape Town. Cancellation any sense in the fi ght and postponement against the spread of Solly to 2021 were the virus. This anger Moeng right at the was further fuelled bottom of by the conduct our list of of some senior considerations, politicians, who and would behaved as if the only have been restrictions were triggered if we not meant for were convinced them, and by that conditions the overzealous for hosting the drive by some event in any members of the form during security forces who 2020 would have were too eager to been negative.
A CHANCE FOR SOMETHING NEW
Throughout the time, we were also driven by a desire to do something new and positive during a year that we knew would be spoken about for many decades to come. While 2020 will be classified alongside 1918, known for the Spanish Flu that took many lives across the globe, we wanted to remember it as the year during which we pushed back against giving up and embraced new, innovative platforms for hosting an African event of global proportions.
We announced during March that the 2020 Africa Brand Summit would be postponed from the first week of June to the first week of October, then continued to assess the evolving situation before deciding on what format the event would take. Not long after that, we announced that it would be hosted as hybrid summit, with a maximum of 50 delegates attending the face-to-face part of the event in Cape Town while others would livestream from across the world. The fixing of delegate numbers at the face-to-face venue was done in line with published health and safety protocols such as temperature checking, regular hand sanitising and the need for physical distancing.
During the two-day event, speakers, panellists and delegates livestreamed from South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Hungary, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Finland, India, the United Kingdom, Canada, the USA, Botswana, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Benin, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Malaysia and more.
THROUGHOUT THE TIME, WE WERE ALSO DRIVEN BY A DESIRE TO DO SOMETHING NEW AND POSITIVE DURING A YEAR THAT WE KNEW WOULD BE SPOKEN ABOUT FOR MANY DECADES TO COME THE RAISON D’ÊTRE OF THE AFRICA BRAND SUMMIT IS TO IDENTIFY AND STUDY THE ROOT CAUSES OF THE PERENNIALLY NEGATIVE PERCEPTIONS AROUND AFRICA
LOOKING BACK
In hindsight, deciding to go ahead with the 2020 Africa Brand Summit was a brave decision when considering the costs and difficult funding environment in which many businesses had been forced to halt their trading and go for months without being able to generate revenue.
Many, especially in the broader hospitality and informal sectors, were crippled forever and forced to shut down and let go of many employees, which led to the destruction of millions of livelihoods and rising unemployment. Some of the summit’s past sponsors also found themselves in rather difficult financial situations, having been impacted by poor trading conditions and forced to prioritise internal needs, especially the support of their own employees, ahead of supporting the summit.
The decision to proceed was seen by some people as brave and admirable, and by others as almost reckless. In the end, however, we managed to host a successful hybrid event with livestreaming and technical teams co-ordinating speaker and delegate engagement from Cape Town and Chennai, India. There were minor co-ordinating glitches on day one, the sources of which were quickly identified and corrected to avoid a repeat on day two. With strict health and safety protocols in place at the venue, not a single case of Covid-19 was reported during or after the summit.
PULLING UP THE ROOTS
The raison d’être of the Africa Brand Summit is to identify and study the root causes of the perennially negative perceptions around Africa, at home and abroad, and to recommend changes that must be made over time to progressively eliminate these perceptions while enhancing the positive ones. The summit also identifies areas where Africa performs below its potential and proposes ways to change this.
In 2020, the anchor discussion was the Food Value Chain Space, from agriculture through agro-processing, logistics, cross-border transportation, storage and retail. It falls under the broader Integrated Africa Economic Development umbrella. Africa is a net importer of food crops, a totally unacceptable situation given the potential that lies in the continent turning into a more self-reliant net exporter of food crops.
We asked: “What investments, technologies, skills, policies, and leadership are needed to help turn the situation around?” The outcome of this and other discussions is summarised in the formal report of the 2020 Africa Brand Summit.
This discussion was also taken to Zambia at the end of November 2020, where I was invited by the Minister of Information and Broadcasting to lead a discussion on territorial and country branding, with a focus on Brand Zambia to help the country reposition itself.
Solly Moeng is an experienced holistic brand manager and media professional specialising in reputation management, stakeholder engagement strategies, strategic communications, PR and media relations. As a destination brand management expert, Moeng founded and currently convenes the fast-growing Africa Brand Summit. Moeng lived and studied in France (where he obtained a French master’s degree at the Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon) before working in Canada and the US as SA Tourism’s marketing manager and country manager.
A diamond in the rough
As things get tougher and tougher here in South Africa, isn’t it time to give these often neglected African markets a bit more serious consideration, asks MARK KNOCKER?
Irecently came across a graph with some information I had not seen before. It revealed that in addition to the Botswana Pula being a stronger currency than the South African Rand, they also have a higher per capita income than South Africa. (See tweet on right)
I am often told by the retailers I have worked with over the years that the first store they opened in Botswana outperformed any other single store based in South Africa.
Many of these retailers have since opened multiple stores in Botswana.
I see opportunity in Botswana for brands and retailers to boost their sales in this often neglected market.
Botswana offers a market with 2.33 million people who have money to spend. From an advertising and a media perspective, it’s a fairly easy market to get your head around, understand as well as cover comprehensively.
Simplified, the market looks something like this. There are two home grown freeto-air television stations offering national coverage. One station belongs to the
Botswana government and the other to a privately owned media group. There are four commercial radio stations, one of which is government owned. Again these will give you comprehensive coverage of Botswana.
The other misconception is that clients often think they can’t afford to be on television if they only have one store in Botswana. But look at what your money buys you: a prime time 30-second television spot will cost you less than R5 400.00 on BTV and only R2 500 on the privately owned YTV. Radio will cost you no more than R900.00 for a 30-second prime time morning slot on any of the commercial radio stations and only R540.00 on the Government-owned RB2 radio station.
There are also a number of great print publications on offer in Botswana. The Government publishes a Monday-toFriday tabloid-sized newspaper distributed nationally, which is free of charge.
Its main aim is to communicate daily to all the government employees (income earners) with tender notices and government posts as well as the news of the day. That’s 80 000 copies of this newspaper reaching a desirable target market.
A half page full colour advert would cost you no more than R6 800.00. There is also a weekly publication you will see around town in any office you visit, especially on a Friday, called the Botswana Advertiser. It prints 95 000 copies each week and is distributed widely across the country free of charge.
I am told that the President as well as his ministers and other important Business people receive their hand delivered copy each week. Its handy A4 size ensures it has longevity.
One of the retailers I work with, uses this publication frequently because it works brilliantly for them. Both these
publications offer sizeable reach for a population of two million when compared to print orders in South Africa vs population size.
Any product available on the shelves here in South Africa in any of our big four retailers are also available in Botswana, as these retailers all have stores there as well.
The point I am trying to convey is that not only Botswana but Lesotho, Eswatini and Namibia are all rand-linked economies offering similar opportunities to Botswana.
Not all brands are easily able to quantify the number of units they have sold in these markets. From my experience that is because these brands know how many units they sent to the export departments of retailers A B or C or D but don’t actually know what was sold at these stores or informal markets in Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini or Namibia.
Often markets like Lesotho or Eswatini don’t even feature on an advertising schedule when brands do their annual plans.
As things get tougher and tougher here in South Africa, perhaps its time to give these often neglected markets a bit more serious consideration? A good idea is to find a partner who can help you get the best from your media investment in these countries!
Mark Knocker is the founder of Marnox Media.
At a glance, Botswana’s media penetration
