Unit 8 – The practice of

advertising in Namibia
By Antonette Kakujaha-Murangi
Advertising, marketing and branding
• Advertising, marketing and branding are little understood in the
African and Namibian market space in terms of their core purpose
due to historical and structural reasons.
• Mastering these three disciplines would deliver something that since
1990 the government and Namibia have been seeking:
Industrialisation and first world status.
• Yes, these three disciplines are that important. Used correctly they
could employ every able-bodied Namibian in a well paying job and
eliminate the need for Ministry of Poverty Eradication.
• So why are the principles on these three disciplines so little
understood?
Advertising, marketing and branding
• Historically, Africa was never meant to compete in the world of
manufactured goods.
• Africa from the start in the colonial era was designated for one
purpose to provide factories and production lines in Europe and
America with raw materials to make things for the home, the factory
and in between.
• All the infrastructure in Africa from rail to road to port was designed
for one-way traffic –n out of Africa and into the West.
• This lack of manufacturing in Africa meant that Africans never learned
how to advertise, market or brand at professional levels.
Advertising, marketing and branding
• Look around Africa and the major advertising, branding and marketing
agencies are mostly extensions of European and American brands that
have come to Africa following their clients from their home markets.
• Omo, Rocoffy, Surf, Colgate and Coca Cola are not African brands and never
have been.
• Because Africa entered the industrial age at this late juncture, we are
terribly handicapped, in that we have assumed, because these things are
made to look unimportant compared to accounting, medicine or
engineering, that they are indeed so.
• What we do not realise is without advertising, branding and marketing, no
nation can develop nor grow its exports beyond the commodity export
phase.
Advertising
• Advertising deals specifically with a medium carrying a message.
• Advertising is a vast industry that makes use of multiple parties to create
advertisements that are attractive, informative and impactful in the most
efficient way.
• These are people like the talented Namibian Art Director Gabriel Naftal, or the
film maker and animator Inna Goroh and Oshiveli Shipoh.
• It requires high level of skill and hard work. TV and movies have made people it is
easy. It is far more difficult. One can compare advertising’s demanding
requirements as being similar to those of a lawyer, a CA or even a medical doctor
– yes advertising is a very serious and important profession.
• It is also very costly in terms of time and materials. A typical TV ad recently
produced for VIGO, amounted to over N$1 mil plus market space. In fact for a
serious global ad, costs are in millions of Nam dollars not tens of thousands.
Advertising…
1. Must inform about what is being sold.
2. Must convince people to buy the product.
3. Must identify clearly who is selling the thing being sold.
• In the end it deals with driving people to try, to purchase or
repurchase a product or service..
• This is why even though Coca cola is one of the biggest brands on
earth, it continues to advertise because people not exposed to
advertising for a specific product eventually start purchasing less of a
given product over time.
Advertising, Marketing and PR expertise in
Namibia
• There is a large and developing marketing, advertising and PR industry in
Namibia. In 2011 the international Internet Marketing Conference (IMC) was held
in the Namibian capital Windhoek.
• As well as a number of local firms including In Touch Media, there is some
presence of the leading international firms in the country with five subsidiaries of
WPP in Windhoek.
• DV8 Saatchi and Saatchi dissolved its partnership at the end of 2012 and the firm
now operates locally as DV8 Namibia. The international Sub-Saharan outdoor
advertising company Alliance Media also works in the country.
• The main industry body in the field is the Advertising Association of Namibia, a
voluntary self-regulatory body which promotes the development of the industry
and compliance with International Code of Advertising Practice.
Advertising, Marketing and PR expertise in
Namibia cont…
• One institution in the country is affiliated to the Chartered Institute of
Marketing (CIM) and offers CIM qualifications.
• Along with a number of other institutions, the Namibia University of
Science and Technology (NUST) also runs several undergraduate and
postgraduate courses in marketing and The University of Namibia also
offers advertising and PR courses.
• In terms of supply and demand indicators, Namibian marketers offer
a service which is slightly below world averages according to the
World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report (2012-2013).
Advertising, Marketing and PR expertise in
Namibia cont…
• For extent of marketing, Namibia scores 3.7 out of a possible 7, below
the world mean of 4.1 which places it 94th out of 144 countries
worldwide.
• In this scale 1 indicates that companies use sophisticated marketing
tools very little and 7, that they use them very extensively.
• This moderate level of sophistication of advertising techniques is
reflected in demand in the Namibian market; buyers place almost
equal emphasis on price and product performance.
• Namibia scores 3.5 for buyer sophistication, equalling the world
average of 3.5 and in 65th place out of 144 countries (Nexus Common
Wealth:2020).
Advertising in Namibia: Big opportunities and
challenges
• Media update (2017) According to those in the know, Namibia’s
advertising industry showcases a vibrant creative landscape that is
moving with the times, even in tough economic conditions.
• media update’s Adam Wakefield spoke to Ogilvy & Mather Namibia
managing director Rozanne van der Merwe, Weathermen & Co
managing director Leon Crous, and Dynamic Mobile Solutions
account executive Tuli Shivute about advertising in Namibia and how
it is evolving.
A sparse population but a competitive industry
• A facet of Namibian life that both Van der Merwe and Crous highlighted is the country’s low population
density. Namibia is comfortably among the top five nation states with the fewest people per square
kilometre.
• There are also 13 recognised national languages, with English the country’s only official language.
 So how do demographics affect the creative industry?
• “We live in a country where the population density is extremely low overall, averaging about three people
per square kilometre, but trust me this has no effect on business or competition whatsoever,” says Van Der
Merwe.
• “Competition is good and we are always up for it. It keeps us going.”
• According to Van Der Merwe, competition among agencies with 15 or more staff, such as Ogilvy & Mather
Namibia, Advantage Y&R, Weatherman & Co, TBWA Paragon, and Adforce Namibia, is “fierce”.
• Crous says that competition is driven by a number of competitors working in a small market under financial
pressure, given the current poor economic climate in Namibia and clients looking to cut costs.
• “There are a large number of competitors, both local and from South Africa, in the form of freelancers; small
to large traditional advertising agencies; media owners; and publishers integrating backwards,” Crous adds.
A sparse population but a competitive
industry cont…
• “These differentiating factors are enabled by talented and
experienced staff that are, in general, in low supply in the Namibian
advertising industry,” he says.
• Due to Namibia currently experiencing negative economic growth,
Crous suggests the industry’s growth outlook in the medium term
appears “negative”.
• Conversely, perhaps as a result, Van Der Merwe believes the creative
freelancing industry in Namibia is booming.
Traditional media remains king, but digital is
growing
• According to Crous, traditional media is still relied upon in Namibia but the status quo is changing.
• “The Namibian media landscape is quite conservative in comparison to South Africa, amongst others, and
overwhelmingly relies on traditional media such as TV, radio, print, and outdoor as communication
mediums,” Crous says.
• “A notable difference in the marketing industry value chain in Namibia is that media owners drive sales
directly to clients and do not follow the traditional value chain of working through advertising agencies to
sell media space.”
• Crous is seeing the use of digital media growing but, even though this growth is slow, it holds great
opportunities for marketers to build their brands.
• “This has created a need for guidance and support from agencies with regards to digital capacity,” Crous
explains.
• Van Der Merwe suggests the current recession in Namibia is causing a spike in rural migration to Windhoek,
impacting the shape of the market.
• “Urban influx definitely has an effect on the services and resources that are available in cities, but this could
also create opportunities for brands within cities.”
Mobile helps join the dots, but infrastructure is a
challenge
• Namibia, unique in its own right, does share one similarity that advertisers
and marketers are taking note of: the power of mobile.
• According to Shivute, with mobile the “most widely used communications
tool and standing to gain even further reach, advertising should be far
more mobile centric and mobile engaging”.
• “This would include QR codes, mobile coupons, and using mobile centric
adverts to drive traffic to mobile websites for education marketing
extensions or for lead generation,” Shivute explains.
• “SMSing keywords are commonly used in insurance billboards – eg: sms
QUOTE – and is a great example of mobile creeping into and embedding
into traditional advertising mediums as a response and lead generation
mechanism.”
Mobile helps join the dots, but infrastructure
is a challenge cont…
• Aiding mobile’s rise is Nambia’s lower mobile costs, including data,
compared to its neighbour, South Africa. For Namibian $32 (R32), you are
able to buy 100 minutes of airtime, 700 SMSes, 1GB of data, and 500 MB of
social media data from mobile operator MTC.
• Van Der Merwe says research remains a key factor in developing local
campaigns. Campaigns should be conceptualised so they can adapt to
changing consumer buying behaviour.
• “Consumers are holding on to their money and clients are cutting budgets,”
Van Der Merwe says.
• “As for brands, try to maintain your marketing spend, because once the
economy improves, your brand will be top of mind.”
Sources
• Namibia Creative Industry guide 2018
• https://www.commonwealthofnations.org/sectors-
namibia/business/advertising_marketing_and_pr/
• https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/marketing/141221/advertising-in-
namibia-big-opportunities-and-challenges
Thank you