Point Black’s Managing Director - Phil Chard was recently featured an in-depth article on the future of Digital Marketing on the African continent. The article which was written by Aurelia Mbokazi-Kashe and Mike Simpson features conversations with 4 Digital Agency heads such as Tendai Luwo, Head of Strategy at David & Langton (SA), David Gorin of Marnox Media, Khalid Baddou - President of the Moroccan Association for Marketing and Communications and Phil Chard of Point Black Africa.

An excerpt of the conversation can be found below with a link to the full article

But what is the situation in Africa, where the advertising and marketing dynamics are different to those of the developed economies? Strategic Marketing for Africa spoke to several local experts to get their input.

In general, they report that, while digital advertising showed impressive growth during lockdowns, it did not dent traditional platforms, particularly broadcasting and out-of-home.

Phil Chard, Managing Director of Point Black, a boutique digital marketing agency based in Zimbabwe, says his clients’ budgets are usually 80%-20% in favour of traditional marketing. At the height of the pandemic, there was a slight shift in the balance to 70%-30%, but with radio and television remaining the most chosen platforms.

He credits the slow uptake of digital mediums to the high cost of mobile data, limited access to first-party data and lack of trust in digital marketing as being among the reasons why traditional advertising has remained buoyant on the continent.

“Digital marketing was at its peak within the first fiscal year of the pandemic. Clients had budgets allocated for traditional and experiential marketing efforts that needed to be spent and these were diverted into digital channels,” Chard explains.

He cautions that pivoting to a digital-first approach in most African countries requires massive changes in company structures, budgets and activities.

Despite the challenges, Chard believes there is room to grow digital ad mediums across markets on the continent.

David Gorin of Marnox Media, which is an advertising representative for some 250 media across 16 African countries, says the swing to digital media has not occurred in Africa to the same extent as in highly developed markets.

“Certainly, digital media have taken significant ad-spend share from TV, radio and print. But, with the general exception of print, traditional media have at least held their own, overall. And, in many countries, the explosion of OOH formats has seen increased allocations to that form of traditional media – long a stalwart for delivering reach and awareness,” he observes.

Whether the year ahead will see an uptick in advertising spending in Africa – traditional or non-traditional