NAIROBI – BBDO, the New York-based advertising agency, has touched off a fierce battle for talent and advertising business in East Africa’s corporate market with the opening of a subsidiary in Nairobi to serve the region. Its chairman and CEO for Africa, Middle East and Asia Chris Thomas says BBDO, named after the initials of the four founding partners, will be banking on its global expertise in developed markets to growth its market in Africa.
He said East African economies were growing at sustainable rates and presented growth opportunities for advertising business. “The rise of Africa cannot be ignored,” said Mr Thomas. “We understand that if you can’t win in Africa, then fundamentally, you can’t win.” Africa is the second most populous continent in the world with nearly one billion people and a recent IMF forecast predicted that sub-Saharan growth is expected to exceed 5 per cent in 2012 despite challenging global economic conditions.
It is this growth that has given BBDO the confidence to open a fully fledged office in East Africa, which will be based in Nairobi. “The deeply-ingrained Kenyan culture as well as the developing economy made it obvious for us to open our East African hub in Nairobi,” said Mr Thomas, adding that their secret has been blending the local culture in advertising.
Advertising spend in Kenya, for instance, increased 52 per cent in the first quarter of this year, as businesses raised their marketing budgets to woo consumers in a resurgent economy. Total ad spend stood at Sh18.3 billion in the three months to March, from Sh12 billion in a similar period the previous year, according to data from research firm Ipsos Media. BBDO East Africa will be managed by Monty Dhariwal, who was appointed as Executive Director.
The East Africa launch followed Lagos in Nigeria as the company seeks more presence in the sub-Saharan region. Mr Thomas said the East African market is crowded with ad agencies but “there’s still room for the best.” BBDO, which has 289 offices in 80 countries across the world, says its experience with global brands in key markets gives it a competitive edge over already established firms. Some of its clients operating in Kenya include Pepsi, Diageo and P&G. Others include HP, Blackberry, Mercedes, Jeep, FedEx, Bayer and Wrigley’s.
It is believed that BBDO will seek to serve these clients locally and thus snatch them from their current ad service provides, promising a war for clients that will see a major realignment in market share. BBDO’s entry into East Africa closely follows American advertising agency TBWA which set up local presence in East Africa in February. TBWA is owned by the Omnicom group in New York and is listed on the NYSE. Kenya’s advertising has been growing driven by improving economic conditions in the country, which has also seen firms increase their advertising and communication spend.
Whereas most networks run their operations from European markets, BBDO is aligning its Africa operations more closely with Asia and the Middle East, based on the belief that there are lessons learned in the vast cultural diversity, retail environment, emerging middle classes, urbanisation and rise of mobile from these emerging markets that can be applied to Africa. “BBDO is defined by what we call the work, the work, the work; producing the best and the most compelling commercial content on behalf of our clients. We work with a phrase ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’, meaning that we are impelled by the power of the brand and the power of the culture of the people.”
He noted that there is a gap in creativity in advertising in East Africa which BBDO is seeking to fill. “East Africa has a room for entrance, considering that there is an undersupply of distinctive advertising which has creativity to sell a brand,” added Thomas. BBDO will have a special focus on digital and social media which have become critical communication channels through which companies can build rapport with customers. South Africa’s BBDO Group CEO Keith Shipley East African operation will share from the Southern Africa success.
“In South Africa BBDO produced the best radio commercial advert in the world and we want to bring this to Kenya and penetrate the East African market in terms of creative advertisements”, said Keith. Mr Monty, who now head BBDO East Africa, said that the firm wants to build a network of talent in East Africa that can compete on the the global front. “I am excited to bring BBDO to East Africa, begin building an office of world class talent and for our clients to start experiencing the high standard of work that BBDO is known for around the world.” BBDO plans to open branches in all countries in East Africa to increase market share and become the market leader in advertising in the region.
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