SIMPLY SAKA!

The new advertising/branding word in vogue now is "cool". Every brand wants to be seen as cool! And the definition of cool in this case, is usually, "an A list nollywood actor/actress" , "an A list music artiste...preferably male, between 18 and 30....already made...an aspirational figure and a role model for the hordes of Nigerian youths whose mantra in life is INSTANT GRATIFICATION..."

Nobody looks at the real influencers anymore!

Who are these influencers?

They are the household names that your 6 year old son knows by face and by voice, the household names that the provision store woman down the road smiles and pauses for, temporarily diverting her attention from you for, when he/she comes on the TV screen placed at the corner of the shop....the household name that you jocularly call every okada rider, suya seller and mai gad that you have a soft spot for!

Mind you, these household names are more likely that not, average or struggling people economically, they are usually above 40, have been doing their stuff for donkey years, (of course without recognition!) and live around somebody you or your colleague know.

Most likely, they can always be found moving from one audition ground to the other trying to get one role or the other.

Sometimes, they get flash in the pan roles that bring talkability to the brand they represent, they are mostly handed short term, generic, waka pass model contracts, and are therefore expected to fade off with the expiration of the tactical campaign....Why? You may ask.

Simple! They usually are cast in the mould of SAKA!

Simply Saka!

One of the acronyms that struck the fastest to my memory was KISS....Keep It Simple and Stupid!

Simplicity is a winner anyday.

I was at a training a couple of days ago when the facilitator put up a couple of tests on the board to prove to us that, in the bid to provide beautiful results, brand custodians miss out on simple details right under their noses. He put up five letters....O T T F F S, and asked us what the next letter should be.

We all went into verbal and quantitative reasoning mode to get the answer, coming up with all kinds of rationales to buttress our answers, some said it should be O as a  new start, others S because letter T and F had appeared twice...and i don't want to get started on what the statistics majors came up with....the facilitator simply smiled and said that the next letter is S!

Simply because each of the preceding letter was the starting letter for numbers....hence O..One..T...Two..T...Three and so on till the missing next letter...S...Six!

Same thing applies to our brand advertising.

We tend to get so aspirational, that we forget the  real movers of our volumes, only occassionally remembering them during Q4 volume depletion promotions!

The Saka masterstroke is simply a clarion call to simplicity! Simple ideas don't cost an arm and a leg....but brilliantly executed, they sure break more than an arm and a leg!

The use of Saka in the MTN portability ad simply nailed it!

How could Etisalat not see how the character of Saka connected to the viewing audience? (TA or not).

How could Saka have been on a contract that allowed him to so easily "port" to competition?

Marketing Lesson: Always keep your eyes on the ball, create in KISS mode and execute superbowl style ....and never underestimate brand icons with mass followership and appeal.

MTN Well done!

And Saka....Shine On!