- thus, future customer base will likely
be made of older people. This is already
prominent in the western world compared
to Africa but in the years to come, this
trend will catch up with us here in Africa
as well.
This has a lot of implications on how
existing products are innovated or new
ones are developed. Customer assistance,
pre & post sale will also be re-defined
- in short, the customer journey will
continuously be re-shaped.
Very briefly, the other big trends worth
observing according to the list are; the
growth of mega cities and the challenges
that this will bring to governments’ social
and environmental agenda, the rise of
individual choice and how we would
need to personalize things to individual
level, healthier and sicker population
and how NCDs will be a big challenge
in the coming years, cultural convergence
To me, the 3Cs are
like our traditional 3
- legged stool - miss-
ing one of the legs
would lead to imbal-
ance 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 com-
pletely. It is not easy.
and how public conversation topics will
broaden beyond what we have known.
Finally, there is increasing connectedness
and decreasing privacy - very related to
the technological trends.
Content
Without going into too many details,
taking into account some of the
contextual points above would help a lot
in developing the second C - Content.
Content here simply means how we
express 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
context is likely to perform better than
any that does otherwise.
The other day, my colleagues and I
were reviewing the content of some of
the latest local videos that have really
gone viral within a short while - we all
agreed that they had to do with the
context (very local, authentic, relevant
social settings) and well supported by
equally local, co-created, simple, relevant
content. Typical example of this is the
wamlambez song - as the debate goes on
about its interpretation (especially from
moral lens), it continues to gather varied
expressions and accumulating millions of
views online.
Connection
This brings us to the last C, Connection.
With context taken into account in
developing content that is well linked
to the context, it would be critical to
then facilitate the content to connect
consumers - in short, use the expressions
to build impressions. Impressions go
beyond the rational and touch the heart.
Any marketing mix expression that is
well aligned to the first two Cs does yield
great consumer connection – consumers
enjoy using the product or service, they
see the benefits as value and beyond just
mere usage, they talk about the product to
others, they recognize and enjoy watching
the product’s advertisements, they avoid
using competition’s offers - in a way, they
become an additional marketing arm
for you - connecting you to additional
business opportunities - growth.
In the world of increasing digital
connectedness and decreasing privacy, this
will become even more crucial - the type
of consumer connection we build online
against the alternative connections will
partly determine how we win. Otherwise,
there is chance that customers will actually
be stolen online!
Bringing the great 3cs together in a
seamless manner starts by having a
structured learning plan for insights -
starting from understanding the context,
building content that is backed by deep
consumer truths and finally, designing
a connection plan that will allow the
expressions to travel and connect with
consumers beyond the rational point
- but rather at the emotional point
where impressions carry more value and
opportunities to grow.
Enock Wandera currently serves as
the Chief Client Officer at Ipsos
Limited. You can commune with
him on this and related matters on
mail via: Enock.Wandera@ipsos.
com.