madcomments

Oh how the market changes

Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Mel Varley, Latest reporters' blogs April 8th, 2008 by Melinda Varley

“South Africa is a third world country with a first world mind”, is what the locals say down there, but its marketing industry would suggest otherwise.

South Africa is the 25th largest country and its population of vast small townships to huge cities certainly support this. But advertising is sparsely recognised.

After living in London where we are constantly inundated with advertising, whether it be on bus sides, billboards, tube stations, the tube itself, people outside tube stations handing you stuff or even the internet, the lack of advertising in South Africa certainly surprised me.

South Africa is a fresh breath of air and rarely is there an advert in sight. The centre of Johannesburg displays some interesting ads on its office blocks, huge high rise buildings with 200 meter posters for sport brands and one interesting billboard on the highway out of town for a car brand that featured a real car. But aside for those, there really isn’t much else.

The radio adverts, which I had to listen to during the nine hour drive from Pilansberg to Durban, were very simple and sounded as if they came out of the 80s with their cheesy one liners and simple dialogue – but I wouldn’t be able to tell you what these ads were for!

To say the least, advertising in South Africa is simple and sparse, and the population doesn’t seem too biased by it or pulled in favour of any particular brands. I wonder if the country had more advertising if the economy would be a little better.

Inflation in South Africa is rising at a rate of nine per cent and utility costs just rose a massive 53 per cent as wages remain the same. The situation is so dire that electrical companies can’t handle demand and for tow hours each day everyone’s power is cut, so I so rudely found out while in the middle of dinner on Saturday night.

The East coast of the country is peaceful without advertising, but it’s easy to see that the market is emerging and advertising can play a role in both educating the country and boosting the economy.

There are a number of advertising agencies in South Africa and brands should be looking to take advantage of this.