Smarter targeting and creative intelligence fuelling the future of activations in Africa

The future for activations is fascinating and constantly evolving fuelled by creative intelligence and smarter optimised targeting of consumers. Don’t get me wrong there is still space for brand ambassadors and community sampling activations especially on the continent but social media is revolutionising the advertising industry. The power of mobile phone in shoppers’ hands is a powerful ally for agencies.

Mobile has blurred the lines between customers’ physical and digital worlds. Every search for information from directions, academic research, recipes, to flights, products and services is navigated mainly online on smart phones. Data is now the new lead allowing activations on social platforms to cut through the demographic and geographic clutter. This is a marketers’ dream as so much information can be harvested from that data.

Recent developments from social media platforms like Facebook allows for a direct link between advertising and offline sales activity. This adds a new dimension which catapults shopper engagement to a new level. This is ground-breaking given the ultimate litmus test for a successful activation is to engage the consumer in dialogue resulting in a purchase. Now more than ever agencies will be able to demonstrate results and maximise profits for brands.

Marketers can now study and recognise unique buying trends which happen offline and use the information to help tailor-make campaigns accordingly as it’s now easier to attribute sales in a given period directly to the advert put out. Campaigns can now be custom made according to a shopper’s location as well.

With mobile and smartphone penetration on the continent scaling rapidly, the merging of digital, creative, strategy and new age thinking heralds Africa’s new growth frontier. This is where the next surge of expansion for most brands is happening. With data being the new lead, brand engagement has just become even more interesting and exciting