The online advertising market in South Africa is currently competing very well against other emerging markets - but there are several opportunities in the online space for savvy brand-builders to use new technology to grab consumer hearts and minds.
In fact, says Microsoft Advertising and Online Lead, Nazeer Suliman, South Africa is leaning towards being more of a first-world competitor in this space, with 30% year-on-year growth in online advertising spend being recorded over the past few years.
“However, we are missing opportunities in the online space from a local perspective, and this is due, in point, to general inertia on the part of advertising agencies. Fortunately, we have identified that what agencies need to do is to evolve alongside the market.”
Suliman was talking at this year's Brand Summit event, which was hosted by Microsoft and Kagiso Media this week.
He says online technology has enabled new levels of innovation, a fact that has been underscored by recorded statistics that include the fact that, in the UK over the past year, digital spend has eclipsed TV advertising spend.
“This is an awesome movement and one that inspires what we do even further. What agencies need to get is their audience in this space, and they're going to have to start targeting their channel directly to these readers and listeners. They can achieve this by creating online spaces, like Howzit MSN, where pages have been created with specific, South African audiences in mind - be these mothers, sports lovers or art fundis.”
Howzit MSN is a work in progress, says Suliman, and the future looks bright, with very specific African content or pages being created right now that will enable it to reach out into the African markets.
“MSN Video is now a reality; Microsoft is in the final stages of launching this locally and believes it'll become a viable YouTube competitor due, in point, to its local relevance.
“Where the online space is concerned, South Africa is becoming a 'glocal' force to be reckoned with; they know exactly how using the online space can help them connect their brands with their intended consumers - and with Howzit MSN, we've given them a really cool platform from which to do this.”
Other news announced at Brand Summit was the local availability of MSN Mobile, and while Suliman says mobile advertising adoption is growing, albeit slowly, this is a market advertisers do not want to ignore.
Launched in 2010, Brand Summit 2011 served as a platform for these peers to share information and interact with one another and, with speakers like Julia Coulson, from Compubrand, Alexandre Michelin, MSN EMEA's executive producer for Microsoft EMEA, Lumko Mtimde, DEO of the MDDA, and even David Tlale, founder of Davide Tlale and Couturier, who spoke to building the individual brand, delegates left the event knowing very well where they'll be this time next year.
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