PERSPECTIVE
The Great 3Cs: Context,
Content And Connection
Wins
By Enock Wandera
T
he business environment is
increasingly
becoming
very
challenging to navigate - this
is an almost obvious point I am making
- we are all seeing traditional business
models being disrupted, value chains
are being re-defined and by extension,
commercial opportunities are shifting to
areas we never ever thought about. There
are interesting times ahead as what others
might want to call the fourth industrial
revolution characterized by technological
developments sinks in.
Having the 3Cs well synched could
partly help manage the negative effects
of making decisions with zero or little
consideration of all of them together.
To me, the 3Cs are like our traditional 3
- legged stool - missing one of the legs
would lead to imbalance and in a sense,
have the same effects as not having any at
all. One would have to work very hard to
stay in balance in case one of the legs was
missing or worse still, fall over completely.
It is not easy.
Context
The first of the Cs, Context is all about
in-depth understanding of the setting in
which the business is operating in and
going beyond that to take into account,
all important contextual notes in planning
the execution of the marketing mix.
This, without a doubt, would involve
conducting a PESTEL analysis. To
simplify this for now, it would first involve
taking into account what is happening in
the political scene. Political developments,
Content here simply means how we ex-
press our marketing mix - what type of
product we develop, what problem the
product needs to solve, how we price
and position it in the market and also,
how we distribute it. All these determine
what content we pick when developing
advertising communication - advertising
content that takes into account the con-
text is likely to perform better than any
that does otherwise.
26 MAL31/19 ISSUE
be they local, regional or global need to be
considered in planning to win.
Earlier this year, we had lengthy
conversations around the political
developments in UK and the Brexit
process and its potential effect on the
global economy and so and so forth. Let’s
keep watching where this is heading as the
leadership changes in the UK. We can also
not fail to mention the US-China trade
tensions and the effects thereof.
Closer home, we also know the dynamics
between Kenya and Tanzania and the
efforts being made to ensure the diplomatic
relationship is not strained. Economic
trends are also key when structuring how
to influence consumers in a particular
economic environment.
Simple example is when consumers are
feeling strained. A familiar situation in
Kenya now - and we see varied brands and
businesses trying to ‘empathize’ by running
lower price offers, bundled up products or
even running emotional communication
to reassure consumers that they are ‘with
them at all times’.
In social context, it would be key to look
at what is changing in terms of population
dynamics and other metrics related to the
customer base. Ipsos has documented a
list of some global trends that are likely to
influence the future - simply because they
are megatrends that are being observed
across the globe already.
Shifting population dynamics mainly
characterized by people having less and
less children and also, living much longer