Money is mobile |
Digital Prints
Thursday, 12 July 2018
The Future is Here
Thursday, 1 March 2018
New Word Alert; Adverdiversify
Black history month is an American concept. The release of Black Panther in February was probably strategic, but the wave's ripple effects are beyond what many could have imagined. A Namibian indigenous tribe was showcased in the blockbuster movie. Allow me to vent.
Namibia is easily amongst the countries with the fewest people per square kilometre.
Also, a good percentage of Namibia's consumer spending is mainly influenced by blacks.
Yet, it is pretty striking how much the Namibian advertising Industry is controlled by a handful of white people. Lol, like everything else.
Pause and ask, how many black advertising leaders do you know? We are flooded with ads on radio, television, newspapers and billboards, yet how many of our people run these campaigns? Unlike xenophobic South Africa, diversifying should not be difficult in Namibia with just 2.4 million people.
Most would say that blacks don't know much about careers in advertising.
Do not get me wrong, and there is no disparity in the workforce; the main issue lies in the gap in the trust to push creative ideas, the lack of black advertising creative directors. Forget how unfair that might sound, but it isn't good for business as well.
Diversity brings a mixture of ideas, which the industry has been crying out for since the great millennium—good luck naming a great ad or campaign that was or is headed by a black creative.
Recently, ad agencies have partnered up with fashion icon Loux The Vintage Guru on several campaigns. These seemed to have appealed to the masses because fashion in Namibia is enjoying an upward curve. A darkie behind the concepts? I hope so because the work was appealing and was speaking the language of a specific race.
The thing about unpacking demographics and looking into purchasing power is that a spirit of arrogance is needed when doing the actual creative work. So much of what should happen in advertising is to examine how people behave, and I believe that saying things like "I know these people; I know what they like and what they consume" should be a natural requirement. And that's why Black Panther was a success.
My interest in advertising started over six years ago, and I have probably read more than 30 pieces titled in the lines of "THE DEATH OF ADVERTISING", yet the great industry continues to thrive.
Advertising will never die. Wipe out the entire black race, and then we might see the death of advertising. The age of consumerism started to blossom when blacks started getting a seat at the table, and with consumerism on the rise, advertising will sneak in to hold its hand, so they walk side by side.
There's a new wave mixed with so much beautiful tension, which I suspect is due to a new generation of people coming toe to toe with archaic systems, be part of it!
Monday, 1 January 2018
An Open Letter to the Namibian Creative Industry
Sunday, 6 August 2017
Why I Read
“But mainly, I read because I love words, wherever they are.”
Thursday, 10 September 2015
The Art of Writing
Man, the timing was so bad as this was the time that my information intake was on a high.
I was reading 5 to 8 articles a day on Flipboard, a blog post or two or I would be opening and leaving half-read links on Twitter. I was on a roll, well sorta, till I lost my phone.
Man, that withdrawal phase that one goes through, the hallucinations of feeling a phone vibrate, the hasty decision-making process of getting cash to purchase a new tech companion.
The loss of my mobile phone had left me feeling more heartbroken than in my previous relationship.
I lost a couple of nudes I had recently received, draft blog posts, ebooks, bookmarks and most importantly, my contacts. I was so naar.
So it has been a few months since my last post, which is understandable as I felt demotivated, but it should never have been the case as I own a laptop. I lost my phone when I had high expectations to start a habit of blogging more often. I didn't know there was a difference between blogging and writing.
Starting a writing habit is more challenging than I anticipated.
While it felt good to start blogging, I thought that the quality of the work I would write when I only owned a tamagotchi would be poor, and I would fail to communicate anything to my reader.
I missed being addicted to my screen. I was out of touch with the world. The only info I was taking in was from the traditional old school print of a newspaper.
It was during this time that I had more and more blog post ideas flooding in. I couldn't wait to get my next smartphone. But one mistake, I never wrote any of those blog post ideas down.
Anyway, I found the motivation to write this today, exactly a month after getting a new phone. The funniest thing is it took me a month to post something I thought I would have posted within hours of getting a phone.
Yes, screens are central. We spend 40% of our day on them. But creativity, at its central, is still at the core. That old school ink to paper does wonders.
I admire people who have it in them to blog often. Not all their posts may be gold, but that doesn’t deter them. When people see that I have posted something new, I want them to trust that it’s worth reading. This can only be the case if I write regularly.
Wednesday, 22 July 2015
A Cliché. But Local Really is Lekker
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
M-commerce is Taking off in Namibia
I just love how connected Namibia is becoming digitally. I mean, can our president's Twitter and Facebook pages get verified already? Ok, fine, I'll have a bite on that topic in future.
Today I scribble on FNB's e-wallet, mobi-pay and Ebank.
Namibia is soo moving in the right direction. Turtle pace? Definitely but this probably has the potential to be the single most significant innovation. The establishment of the above-mentioned mobile payment platforms in Namibia has provided solutions for people without bank accounts.
Ebank, which is linked to the first lady, has a unique approach, targeting Engen Service Stations, and in doing so, they are hitting potential target audiences such as cab drivers. However, Engen Service Station isn't the bank's only affiliate; Agra, Woerman n Brock, Cymot and Spar accept deposits and payout on Ebank transactions.
Mobipay is the first company that lured MTC into the mobile payment market. MTC, the telecommunications company, had 2.2 million prepaid mobile subscriptions by December 2013 (according to CRAN 2014 market report). The partnership has resulted in MTC Money, a payment solution that allows MTC subscribers to conduct money transfers, make withdrawals, and deposit money. The service also allows for buying airtime, payment for utility bills and POS payments at any MTC Mobile home, and transferring funds between people, as long as they have a mobile number.
However, in my humble opinion, I believe FNB's eWallet is the sweetest slice of the pie sowaar. This USSD option allows customers to send money to anyone with a valid Namibian cellphone number. The money is transferred instantly and can be used to withdraw cash from FNB ATM'S, buy prepaid airtime and send money to another cellphone.
All 3 players provide really delicious services. We will hopefully only find out whether the market is reacting to them in the 2015 Market report.
In 2011, Google launched a phone to replace credit card transactions. 4 years later, this has become a reality in Namibia for the past year thanks to mobile phone technology and innovative nation-building partnerships. The local consumer is fed with options that could mean that banks will have to be innovative in retaining and engaging new customers, FINALLY!