COMMERCIALS NEWS

African advertising and Cannes

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:40

Anton Crone writes… In a year when the South African film award tally at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity was at a low, I asked a variety of advertising folk about the potential for distinctly African advertising to wow judges and consumers alike.

The respondents were two local creative directors, a local film director, a South African creative director working overseas and a Nigerian marketing manager.

Y&R’s Graham Lang and Liam Wielopolski attended this year’s Cannes Lions and had this to say: “Some may point to a lack of authentic African advertising, but the idea that ‘local is lekker’ doesn’t win international juries over. For instance, work entered by India and Thailand often leaves judges baffled. Local references and nuances need to be explained and since judges are time-strapped, they don’t refer to creative rationales for context. Advertising should make sense straight away.”

Though there’s a plethora of typically African advertising created, many play on stereotypes, representing all demographics in a safe and sterilised manner. These campaigns should break free from conservatism and push creative boundaries.

It’s been said that South Africa’s diverse culture is indicative of a world in one country. This presents an opportunity for our advertising to speak to a cosmopolitan audience. Ideas that are relevant and understood globally are those that take home metal.

Human truths are universal and since awards juries have global representation, the way to earn their attention is to develop ideas that trade in a global village.

Local award winning campaigns are based on a core idea, dressed up in style rather than culture. Casting and music choices are less important than the execution and effectiveness of the idea.

In South Africa it’s more difficult for us to compete, because for every handful of entries our overseas counterparts submit, we can only afford to enter one. So what we put forward has to be innovative with a hint of South African flavour, relevant to the brand and a global village.

Mpho Twala, director at Velocity Afrika, has found Africa his muse since returning after a five-year stint with Caviar Productions in Belgium.

Twala and his team operate from a strategy or consciousness that people may live in a global village but they don’t all live the same way in that village, and in their work, they try to treat people with that respect.

As he told the publication, Cannes Lions Daily: “Nigeria, as an example, is quite a tech savvy country and people between the age of 20 and 35 can see if a commercial has been shot somewhere else. When that happens you’ve lost points immediately.”

Twala believes someone needs to tell the African story and that enveloping oneself in the community puts one in a far better place to know that story and to tell it well. Returning to Africa after five years, Twala was reinvigorated by people’s positive attitude, despite their hardships. He quotes his daughter when asked what inspires him most: “You are never fully dressed without a smile.”

He and his team have worked on eight jobs since joining Velocity Afrika a year ago, most of them for West Africa. Their latest success is a recent campaign for Vicks in Nigeria that has grown to become a model for the kind of advertising P&G want in Africa and has resonated incredibly well with West African consumers.

Leon Jacobs, creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi Geneva and previously S&S Hong Kong and Cape Town, attended this year’s festival where he and his team picked up a Film Gold Lion for Swiss pharmaceutical firm, Novartis.

Jacobs understands how hard it is to stand out from the thousands of entries in Cannes. “If you try and emulate whatever you think is the best, you have no chance of winning or developing. African agencies should find their unique voice, using the unique brand of creativity that is true to the continent to create standout,” says Jacobs, “It’s time for the world to see what African creativity is all about.”

Jacobs believes that production values and budgets can make a good idea great, but a winning entry will always have a great insight and idea – and if it is made with love, honesty and simplicity it will cut through and attract attention.

Finally I heard from Amaechi Michael Okobi, marketing manager for Smirnoff, Nigeria. Okobi works in the largest, most diverse market in Africa, a good vantage point from which to understand the cultural and economical differences that make up the continent.

He looks to consumers for answers and understands that quality and aspiration are vital for a brand like Smirnoff. In this market segment the desire is for a global feel, therefore many of the commercials are produced by South Africans and other international companies.

Lower income groups are discerning in another way because they respond to communication that relates to them and upholds their identity – an important factor in a nation as proud as Nigeria. If one looks at products as vital as washing powder, as common as soft drinks or the burgeoning cellular communication market, one must take the importance of African identity very seriously.

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