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MILESTONE MARKETING
strapline which stresses its long history in Celebrating a high-profile and unique In summary PHOTOS: SUPPLIED
the local industry. Now the payoff line is milestone such as this is an ideal way
‘Over a century of caring’. for enterprises and brands to generate Careful planning is important in order to
marketing sizzle. make the most of milestone marketing
Given that Doves dates back to 1902 strategies. Marketers must come up with
and most competitors were established Attracting the right talent clear objectives, such as boosting sales
as recently as 1995, its marketers have a by a specific percentage. Then set a
unique selling point which no competitor Winning awards for being an outstanding budget that will enable the campaign to
can lay claim to. employer helps enterprises to attract star roll out flawlessly and agree on the criteria
talent. For example, one of Zimbabwe’s to be used when judging the success of
Telling a brand’s history leading security companies, Securico the campaign.
Security Services, was adjudged the
Studies have established that 80% of country’s seventh Best Employer in 2010 When basing a milestone marketing
new companies founder along the way. and 2011 by the National Annual Quality strategy on awards, it is important to
Every anniversary is, therefore, a reason Awards (NAQA). clearly state the award and correctly give
to celebrate. One way of doing this is the award category. The Superbrand
to tell the marketplace the brand or Whenever the brand interacts awards have many categories and omitting
corporate story. with the market through print media this makes the mention meaningless.
marketing messages and staff bus livery, Securico always gets this right.
When Delta Corporation celebrated it includes this fact, together with other
its centenary in 1999, for example, the accolades such as the Africa Award for If using anniversaries as a milestone
then conglomerate issued a publication Entrepreneurship, which it won in 2011, marketing strategy, clearly state the
which chronicled the history of its and the Security Sector Superbrand of the age of the brand or company by indicating
various subsidiaries such as Pelhams, Year award which it won in 2012 and 2013. the year of establishment and the current
OK Zimabwe and Zimbabwe Sun year. Saying the brand is 70 years old and
(although it later sold these off in order to Awards indicate was established in such-and-such a year
concentrate on its beverages business). endorsement by is more meaningful to the market
This presented the company with a special a neutral party than just giving its age. Creating a
opportunity to inform the market where it commemoration logo also makes the
came from and where it was headed. Although being ranked seventh is not anniversary more memorable.
something that many large organisations
Similarly, when Seed Co, a such as Delta Corporation or Econet Involve key stakeholders in celebrations
Zimbabwean seed company with interests Wireless would proudly display, to – people such as customers, staff, suppliers
in several other African countries, Securico it is an achievement given its and regulators – to show that the company
celebrated its 75th anniversary in February size and relatively short history. This is appreciates their contribution to the brand’s
2015, it used the occasion to run a print especially so in a market where employer long and successful existence.
media supplement in The Herald national rankings are rarely exhibited.
daily newspaper. This narrated its history Tendai Maguwu is
and explained the company’s strapline, One of the issues that security industry Chief Service Officer
‘The African Seed Company’ through customers worry about is the quality of at Hwamanda
stories describing its operations in the the security guards who are assigned to Communications,
various African countries. This enabled protect their assets. Securico’s display a branding,
the market to understand that the payoff of its employer ranking thus helps to brand-building
line was not just a wish, but a reality. It assure its customers that the company and customer
also fostered better understanding of treats its staff well. Employees who are service consultancy
the company and brand. not properly treated usually vent their based in Harare,
frustration through shoddy service, Zimbabwe. He holds
Creating marketing sizzle which mars the customer experience. a BA in English and Communication
Studies from the University of Zimbabwe
An example of participating in true global Like us on Facebook: and a Group Diploma in Advertising
brand sizzle occurred in 2015 when Coca- Strategic Marketing from the London Chamber of
Cola and its bottlers throughout the world Africa Magazine Commerce and Industry.
marked 100 years of the iconic contour
bottle. In Zimbabwe the celebrations For daily marketing
were marked by a sales promotion named news updates, go to
Coke Fever Fridays, during which 100 www.africanmc.org
people won U$100 every Friday, plus
other prizes such as mobile phones
and T-shirts.
48 strategicmarketingafrica Issue 4 2016
