29
English football is a popular draw for the sports-crazy people of Africa. Papazisis explains: “In Nigeria, there are many who hold dual NigeriaUK passports, and have family and friends in London, and the UK Premier League is very big in Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.” In addition, marketers can draw on S. Africa’s strong, patriotic interest in its country’s rugby developments.
Boosting ARPU Sponge was also able to assist Etisalat, a newcomer to the Nigerian mobile telecoms market. Having launched in 2008 to provide telephone, TV and internet services to the country, Etisalat was keen to make a sizable promotional splash in an already cut-throat telco pool. Sponge devised a multi-level campaign that included at its core a $1m prize giveaway, to be hosted live on Saturday night national TV. Over 7m Nigerians entered the main promotion, with over 1,000 contestants attending each of the associated, regional game shows. As a result of the contest, Etisalat not only made it clear that it had arrived on the scene with style, but also recorded 800,000 new SIM registrations during the period, boosting participant ARPU by 400 per cent. These activities have given the mobile marketing specialists additional insights into the workings of the African market. Papazisis concludes: “The only way to reduce churn is to continuously offer different types of promotions, and to give your customers breathing space, so that you don’t cannibalise your user base – it can be sensitive. It’s also important to reward the consumers in some form. Africa is very different to Europe in terms of brand loyalty, and it is common for Africans to hold multiple SIM cards, and to try to get the best deals from each. Even if con-
February 2011 MM Issue 5.indd 29
test participants don’t win ‘the big prize’, they should receive something for entering, such as ringtones, wallpapers, or free SMS bundles.” The future for mobile marketing in Africa appears bright. An optimistic Moraitakis describes Africa as “ripe and receptive”, commenting: “Africa is now crossing the growth-by-acquisition phase and entering the loyalty and retention phase. What will be important is the ability of operators to retain the juicier
parts of the customer base and manage to sell them a wider variety of services. Given the fragmented, or ineffective media in most countries, and the unusually high responses to mobile marketing campaigns, it is certain that mobile marketing will play a big role in this.” Velti’s Papazisis agrees that the market is not yet mature, but certainly heading in the right direction, though Sponge’s Parker concludes: “It would be wrong to view
Africa as an immature market, or as being ‘just like the UK, x years ago’. It is a hybrid of the most modern technologies and ideas, combined with some mobile cultures that are reminiscent of an early stage market, and many things that are uniquely African.” Familiarisation with this diverse blend of influences will prove a critical requirement for mobile marketers hoping to run successful campaigns in this territory.
Rising stars Africa’s heavy hitters, in terms of growth of number of mobile subscribers (in millions) between 2008-2010, and predicted future expansion Egypt Ghana Kenya Nigeria S. Africa Tanzania Uganda
2008 44.4 11.7 16.3 63.0 49.8 13.0 8.5
2010 70.6 17.1 20.8 87.4 56.9 20.1 14.1
2014 forecast 106.6 25.6 32.0 123.4 68.6 28.7 28.3
(Source: Portio Research)
www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com 27/01/2011 05:58