From Zero to Herero

Recently returned from marketing research trip to northern Namibia with client NEO Paints, visiting Oshikati, Otjivarongo, Oshikango - guess you haven't heard those names since we sent our boets off to deactivate landmines in the '80s... "You can't do any marketing," my Windhoek-based client told me, "until you have seen the north."And how right he was.

All the signage and billboards you see in the region are masterfully and charmingly hand-painted, making most of the commercial photographic billboards look as if the people who designed them haven't been there.

Bypassing Etosha by a whisker, we headed for the wildlfe of Oshikango, commercial hub of the North.

China is in the mix here - throwing up huge slabs of concrete studded with aircon units. Massive trucks leaving all the time for the new booming Angola, laden with stuff - I mean stuff.

But the local people are so stylish, not even the nasty merchandise can diminish their beauty. At one point we toyed with the idea of opening up a modeling agency called From Zero to Herero - Oshikango today - Milan tomorrow [name courtesy of associate Mike Souter]. www.makaraba.co.za

It rained the entire week we were there, causing the scenery to often look like a far cry from the [stereo]typical landscapes one usually sees on the postcards, and even turning one local hardware outlet in to an Offroad Experience. Now there's a new concept for someone - Extreme Retailing - I'm loving it - give all those superfluous SUVs a bit of a workout.