Time for change to embrace creativity in Kenyan ad firms

For those of you reading this column in Nigeria, Ghana, Namibia or any of this continent’s national newspapers, I make no apology today for writing about Kenya.

For in Kenya a significant change has happened. I believe it will improve the marketing and advertising environment. So let me tell you about it, because it’s a movement we might want to make pan-African.

After nearly 40 years of marketing and advertising, Kenya is a relatively mature market. It is well-resourced in terms of ad agencies, marketers and big brands.

But until now, Kenya has followed a practise for selecting ad agencies that goes back to the beginning of the global industry.

The advertising pitch or, as many of us know it, the “dog and pony show.” A process whereby in a short period of time, based on an often-vestigial brief, a group of people who have never met the client or been involved in his brand are expected to produce a proposal to cure all ills.

Nowadays ad agencies are also supposed to perform this miracle for very little money. And, if successful, to employ a team of Nobel Prize winners who will dedicate their lives to the client’s brand. For the sort of money you would pay someone to tend your garden.

So you won’t be surprised to hear that, over time, there has been a decline in the standards of creativity and business impact in Kenyan advertising. Fewer people wish to work in ad agencies. There’s less investment in the country’s creative capital: filmmakers, digital wizards, photographers and illustrators.

Radio stations now employ writers on modest wages to produce sausage strings of samey radio ads. And consumers often switch channels during commercial ad breaks on TV because many ads look so awful.

The nature of client-agency relationships is strongly influenced by what happens at the traditional pitch. Many feel pitching is not the solution.

It may be better to nurture a long-term partnership with your ad agency. Big marketing companies like Nestle and Colgate believe that it’s not about finding an agency that will be cheaper, but an agency that will partner with them and invest behind them. So they have adapted their procurement objectives accordingly.

This month, the professional association that represents ad agencies in Kenya, the APA (The Association of Practitioners in Advertising) decided to reform the pitch process as it applies to its members.

From now on, all requests for competitive pitch involving APA agencies will be channelled through the association. It will make mini-credentials for member agencies, and guidelines on best practice, available on its website. From this, the association recommends limiting the pitch shortlist to no more than four agencies.

To encourage this, and to ensure adequate recognition for the work that goes into pitches, the APA will levy rejection fees payable to agencies whose pitch is deemed unsuccessful.

The APA, to fund training and development, shall retain a proportion of these fees. It aims to run continuous training to improve both the business skills and encourage the creativity of Kenyan ad-men and women. There is even talk of reviving the APA Creative Awards in 2012.

And preparations are in place to defend misuse of intellectual property. Pinching advertising ideas from pitches without paying? Perish the thought.

For more information on this initiative you can contact the tireless APA secretary, susan.makau@redsky.co.ke

APA chairman Monty Dhariwal of DDB says; ‘in a market where there are many more clients than ad agencies, we need to ensure that every pitch counts. If it requires more groundwork, better briefing, and more focus from marketers then we are convinced the benefits will justify that.”

This year the APA has opened up membership to digital and specialist media agencies, to keep in step with developing trends. Lenny Nganga of Media Agency Saracen says: “Marketers who simply want media strategy and a buying capability can focus on that requirement, without the distraction of evaluating other outputs.’