Brains for Africa

About the importance of perception

2008-01-09T15:55:00.000+03:00

This can be an interesting casestudy : we have developed massmedia campaigns for Orange in Madagascar. Orange has its own communication territory with many corporate constraints. Some commercials were quite far from being basically understood by Malagasy people and this wasn't a problem at all. Concurrents (Celtel and Telma) have agressive promotional communication and strong graphical guidelines but a low tone of voice. What remains is that Orange is considered as an innovative, modern and aspirational brand and that's the most important : Orange is considered not as a mirror of everyday people's reality but well as a trendsetter who brings a country and its people higher.

Do you have any message to post ? Do it here adding a comment (commentaire). Thx.

2007-11-26T08:48:00.000+03:00

Low production budget

2007-11-23T13:50:00.000+03:00

This is a recurrent problem, especially when the client references are Hollywood blockbusters. But when there's no way to use 35 mm, 3D & SFX operators, great actors and directors, we have to think differently. Usually, when we try to make a copy/paste of western commercials, the result is badly poor. Technology isn't a bridle, the only bridle we have is the one we put on creativity. It's possible to make great films with a strong concept without much money. I'd even say we must have huge ideas to counterbalance the lack of finance. We have to work on simple but highly effective ideas anticipating the fact there won't be the opportunity to compensate differently the lack of production quality. Rough instead of clean. Spontaneous instead of built. Simple instead of complex. We have to change many people perception : quality and efficiency aren't a matter of money. Simple rough spontaneity is a real style. For this we all - advertising agencies and clients - have to dare other ways. We also have to be very persuasive if we want to be followed by clients who don't have necesseraly the same priorities.

guerilla marketing

2007-11-17T09:46:00.000+03:00

We're often stuck in traditional medias. A way to enhance an average concept is the use of unconventional support. Guerilla marketing is an effective way to communicate and can be deeply impregnated by African culture, following people in their social life. Any person, any object becomes a media and this can greatly stimulate creativity.

speak Chinese to Chinese

2007-11-09T16:27:00.000+03:00

Most of today's managers are stuck in their highschool knowledge and feel unable to take new risks, their main purpose being to secure their business plan. In this case they need to be very rational and pragmatic. Emotion is a territory in which they feel uncomfortable. It's hard for them to understand another language than reason. And this even happens in some advertising agencies. The worm is in the apple ;-) If we want to bring emotions, we need to talk their language : rationality. We have to bring strong arguments to demonstrate the power of emotions. If one goes in China, the best way to meet people, to understand and to be understood is to speak Chinese, it's not more difficult than that. For Saatchiers, it's an easy game with Lovemarks. Over this consideration, do people really need to understand an inspirational ad (I don't talk about promo) ? I'm not sure at all. The most important is that they feel emotions, even unconsciously. The ways to bring emotions are infinite, it's a huge field for creativity. Put emotions and rationality together in a shaker, mix vigorously and you get an explosive cocktail : genius ! I'm waiting for your numerous comments.

media in rural areas / médias en zones rurales

2007-11-02T14:41:00.000+03:00

Quels sont les médias à forte visibilité dans les zones excentrées lorsque les réseaux d'affichage font défaut, que la tv, la radio et la presse sont quasi inexistantes ? A part les roadshows, quelqu'un a t-il déjà expérimenté d'autres moyens ? Des campagnes indirectes ont-elles déjà été élaborées ? En touchant par exemple des personnes qui se déplacent régulièrement de leur village vers les zones urbaines - et inversement - et qui pourraient s'avérer ainsi de bons relais. When there're no tv, radio and newspaper in some far-away rural areas, which media with high visibility - except roadshows - could be strongly effective ? Did someone experiment campaigns with colateral impact (for example reaching people who make the link between their village and big urban zones) ?

Océan Indien

2007-10-27T08:19:00.000+03:00

l'Île Maurice, Madagascar, Mayotte et Seychelles, bienvenue également.

Be creative

2007-10-26T17:03:00.000+03:00

I've checked on Ads of the World, there's no African ad except one from Kenya and Egypt, without considering South-Africa which is a bit apart. That's not much. So it's high time to bring new creative ads and innovative media from Africa.