Kenya and Nigeria cautiously optimistic in their marketing endeavours
Covid-19 has turned the world upside down for almost every industry. The marketing industry is no exception. Globally, close to half of marketers have reduced their marketing activities for the meantime, aiming to increase them to full capacity again in the future. From a Sub-Saharan perspective, we see Kenya and Nigeria following this trend, while the South African shows more polarization: On the one hand some marketers have reduced their activities altogether while some on the other hand have actually increased them during the evolution of the pandemic.
Naturally Covid-19 has impacted on most marketing budgets around the world. Of the Sub-Saharan countries, Kenya appears to be hardest hit with two-thirds of its marketers claiming to be working on a significantly reduced budget.
Marketers reflect their consumers’ reliance on social media
It comes as no surprise that marketers world-wide are choosing to focus their spend on digital publications, social media and websites, with South Africa being firmly in-line with this spend choice. Kenya and Nigeria are focussing even more heavily on these online platforms, than the global average, reinforcing the huge reliance on these mediums that we saw in our previous consumer report.
these three, social media is unanimously agreed to yield the best returns, especially strongly driven by Kenya and Nigeria. All digital channels are felt to yield the best results at a global and Sub-Saharan level.
Don’t throw out traditional media entirely, warn marketers
South African and Nigerian marketers, while embracing of digital media, do feel that it is attracting a predominantly younger audience. Nigerians do have cautions around this channel, expressing more strongly than the global average, that traditional media still has a relevant place in the industry landscape. Kenyans on the other hand are more gung-ho about digital, with a high proportion believing that it is the only channel on which to focus one’s efforts.
While all countries surveyed (including all Sub-Saharan countries) agree that lockdown has increased the world’s reliance on digital means, few believe that lockdown has actually eradicated traditional media. This speaks to the findings we have seen before, regarding the reliance and trust that consumers have in traditional, especially broadcast media.
Sub-Saharan marketers open to new marketing channels
More so than the rest of the world, we see Sub-Saharan marketers welcoming the advent of new marketing channels, most notably augmented reality, Smart-TV/ OTT marketing and programmatic advertising. At a global level digital marketing and social media stand head-and-shoulders above the other channels as the future of the industry.
As the pandemic continues to shift the marketing landscape, this much is clear: That brands who can adapt and keep up with the rapidly pivoting world, will continue to thrive, by retaining a communication with their consumers via both new can dynamic channels, whilst not forgetting about the tried and trusted channels too.
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