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MOBILE MARKETING
Indeed, it was one of the world’s
mobile marketing leaders. “In 2008 South
Africa was third behind the US and India
in terms of mobile ad volume,” notes Rick
Joubert, CEO of Yonder Media, a mobile
marketing specialist.
More recently, though, a number
of factors have worked to erode SA’s
standing, not least high mobile data costs. One campaign was
“Today South Africa ranks perhaps 30th
at best,” says Joubert.
However, it has not stopped mobile
marketing entrenching itself as a force in
SA’s advertising market. Annual ad spend
is about US$2,2-billion, of which mobile
ads account for around US$220-million,
according to Joubert. Based on research
by mobile industry association IAB Europe,
this figure represented almost 60% of
total mobile ad spend across Africa and
the Middle East in 2015.
Growth elsewhere
While South Africa remains out front in the
evolution of mobile marketing in Africa,
there are other countries where mobile
12 strategicmarketingafrica Issue 4 2016
marketing is enjoying strong growth off low
bases. “Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Zambia
are excellent markets, but still very small,”
Joubert tells Strategic Marketing Africa.
The four countries have one particular
similarity: use of English as official
language or lingua franca. This is significant, be accessed through the phone.
receiving 5 000
calls every hour
believes Patrick Palmi CEO and founder of
mobile marketing agency Justpalm.com.
“The culture in English-speaking
countries plays a big role,” says Palmi,
who hails from the French-speaking
Democratic Republic of Congo. “It makes
it more likely they will pick up on a new
technology far faster than consumers in
the francophone countries.”
For the greater part, mobile
marketing in Africa still rests heavily on
Left: Connected in
Malawi. A billboard
for a local service
provider in the city
of Lilongwe.
Right: Some
marketing
campaigns enable
consumers to
get free airtime,
providing they
first listen to a
pre-recorded
advertising
message. Far right:
Patrick Palmi,
CEO of mobile
marketing agency
Justpalm.com
SMS and related USSD (unstructured
supplementary service data) platforms.
USSD enables mobile phones to
communicate with the mobile service
provider’s computers. In turn, this enables
services such as mobile money services
and menu-based information services to
In an era where Internet-surfing
smartphones have sprung to prominence,
this technology may appear archaic – until
it is remembered that the first use of SMS
advertising dates back only 15 years in
Europe and South Africa, and 14 years
in the US.
Simple economics, argues Palmi,
dictate the delivery method of mobile ads.
“The majority of consumers in countries
across Africa live in or near poverty,” he
notes. “Disposable income is limited, so
they are highly cost conscious [and cannot
afford data usage].”
“Text ads (SMS messages) are still
the most appealing,” observes Joubert.
“Vodacom has an appetite to further
extend its text ad services in Africa.”