A glance at the Mozambican ad industry

Mário Manuel dos Santos Ferro

After the proclamation of national independence in June 1975, advertising agencies closed their doors as the centralised economy caused a drastic reduction in consumption and, the number of available media was at a minimum.

The government soon invested in its advertising and promotional activities and created a state department of publicity, which acted as a PR agent and marketer. Later, the government created a company called Intermark. It was a state enterprise of advertising, public relations and promotion, which for several years maintained a monopoly in this field.

In the'90s, when economic reforms were introduced in Mozambique, the government tasked Intermark with opening the market to private entities. In a short period of time, the government granted almost 50 licenses to advertising agencies.

Given the rapid growth, a number of agencies felt the need to create an association that would defend its interests with all partners, including government and media owners. Twelve years later, after several meetings AMEP was formed. AMEP's aim was to develop various measures to promote the credibility and prestige of advertising in Mozambique.

Purpose of AMEP included:

• Proposing a Code of Advertising conduct in Mozambique, approved by the government as laws governing the advertising industry;
  
• Launching a forum involving investors, media owners, ad agencies and producers;
  
• Conducting seminars, workshops and conferences;
  
• Implementation of training technical and professional staff of associates;
  
• Implementation of the Maputo International Advertising Festival.

The evolution of the advertising market also contributed to significant growth in the media industry and therefore to the diversification of the right to information and opinion. For example, currently, there are four channels in open signal Mozambican television, one public and three private. The number of radio stations and newspapers and magazines grew significantly. There are currently at least eight daily and three weekly newspapers, in addition to a dozen electronic newspapers.

There is a high standard of quality, as a result of competition created by the growing volume of advertising investors. At the top of the list are mobile companies, mcel and Vodacom, followed by banks such as Millennium BIM, BCI, Standard Bank and Barclays Bank.

Moreover, AMEP has contributed to the creation of CPPLP - Advertising Confederation of Portuguese Language Countries, which includes the national associations of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique and Portugal. The idea of creating a confederation in Southern Africa, incorporating the member countries of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) was also explored but AMEP has planned to put more focus on the Maputo International Advertising Festival this year.

At the first festival, agencies and producers from Angola, Mauritius, Mozambique and Reunion/France participated in the event. Cape Verde, Namibia, Portugal and Kenya joined these four countries in the third festival. In its fourth year, the organisation of the festival has received interest from new countries such as South Africa and England.

Agencies participating in 2009:

• Orion (Angola)
  
• Executive Center (Angola)
  
• McCann Erickson (Portugal)
  
• SabiOne (England)
  
• Joe Public (South Africa)
  
• Goal (Mozambique)
  
• Circus Advertising (Mauritius)
  
• Ogilvy (Mozambique)
  
• Link Pnk Saatchi & Saatchi (Mauritius)
  
• Ogilvy (Namibia)
  
• Redhouse (Mauritius)
  
• DV8 Saatchi & Saatchi (Namibia)
  
• Djombo (Portugal)

This year, the festival will last three days. The official opening will take place at the Instituto Camões. An exhibition will be open to the public displaying pieces submitted to the competition.

A discussion on "Advertising vs. the Financial Crisis" will take place at the Polytechnic University with the participation of all national advertisers and foreigners involved in the festival, teachers and students and representatives of major advertising investors.

The President of the fourth festival is John de Sousa, one of the oldest Mozambicans in professional communications. The President of the jury is Angolan, Nuno Fernandes.

Members of the jury:

• Gabriel Borges (Brazil)
  
• Daniel Duarte (Brazil)
  
• Nadia Jussob (Mozambique)
  
• Kok Nam (Mozambique)
  
• Dries Badenhorst (South Africa)
  
• Pepe Marais (South Africa)
  
• Israel Sundays (Mozambique)
  
• Luis Cardoso (Mozambique)
  
• Allan Nixon (South Africa)
  
• Luis Marinho Falcão (Portugal)

Reserves:

• Falcata Miguel (Portugal)
  
• Louw le Roux (South Africa)