Photoshop is better than skinlightners

The Féria hair colour ad in Elle had tongues wagging recently.
Is that gorgeous coffee and cream colored hottie on the left really Beyoncé? For that matter is the golden mane of hair framing her face really her own?’

No of course not.

She prefers to wear Caucasian-style wigs.

The chairman of the media-monitoring committee of The National Association of Black Journalists weighed in with a particularly ‘insightful’ comment.

“Magazines need to be sensitive to perceptions that light-skinned African Americans are more acceptable.”

The story even made the New York Post under the headline "O, RÉALLY?"
In which L'Oréal reps deny any knowledge of image manipulation.

Beyoncé can choose any tone she likes as long as she avoids those damned dangerous skin lightening creams. And, if you choose to buy a hair colour that is best demonstrated by a wig then so be it weirdo.

What a load of bollocks.

A short note to Morgan Tsvangirai

12 August 2008

Dear Morgan

I heard that the talks between you and Bad Bob Mugabe are in a sticky phase right now. But, I guess, we all new it wouldn’t be easy.

Morgan, I’m sure the old bastard is trying to wear you down with his unique brand of bloody-minded intransigence. One can’t expect anything less from a demented and crazed egotist.

Please mate, stand firm and don’t give him half an opportunity. I trust him as much as I trust mambas.

I’ve added a few cartoons of him to help you toughen up your resolve to take him down.

Go for it !

In case you haven't noticed; the power’s with the people

I am part of a team working towards creating a communications fingerprint for a rapidly-developing brand across diverse markets in Africa and the Middle-East.
My primary task is the development of an image library that will help underpin the integrity and values of the brand within a highly competitive environment.
Critical to the process is the need to engage with the brand’s incumbent advertising agencies and instill a very clear understanding of the brand, its purpose, as well as how it should style its communications. All this is to take place across markets with significant differences in culture, sophistication and levels of communication and marketing maturity.

(When I worked for Saatchi & Saatchi on GUINNESS and Orange I was partially involved in a similar situation. However, then my role, was more as a conduit for the process than an agitator for it.)

There is a lot of truth in the statement that you have only one opportunity to make a great impression. And, now that developing markets are becoming increasingly competitive, this is ever more the case.
Marketers and advertisers simply cannot afford to show less than wholehearted commitment to capturing the hearts and souls of consumers. And, while one cannot be impervious to their need to hit profit targets, their dogged chase after the money frequently occurs at the expense of developing affinity for and the charisma of the brand itself.
Sadly this almost immovable focus is directed on to the advertising agency and their ability to deliver help hit the numbers is a critical measure of their performance. The very existence of agencies, especially in developing markets, is at the behest of their clients’ demands and this is often reflected in the work they produce.
Why, just the other day I passed comment on an agency’s work that I felt was barely adequate enough to pass muster. However, a bad ad, if coupled with a really good price offering will recruit consumers to the product in droves. Suffice it to say, I was quickly copied on at least half a dozen emails between the agency and the client congratulating each other on their mutually splendid performance. The reality is that, while the product offering may be very attractive at the time it is certainly not immune to a competitor matching it within a week. In the longer term the ad probably does more damage than good to the overall perception of the brand.
Great and timely price offerings, special promotions and ongoing product innovation is table stakes to being in the market in the first place.
The ultimate measure of the brand lies in the depth of the relationship that it creates for itself with consumers.
Kevin Roberts (CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide) calls brands that do this properly Lovemarks.

Relationships (the good ones) are minimally built upon honesty, openness, respect, understanding, commitment and passion. These six points are a great place to start when embarking upon any meaningful form of engagement with anybody.
Reciprocally, I believe that people are more readily to engage with brands and brand imagery on these terms than any other.
Audiences/consumers are a lot more finessed than ever before.

They know more and, more importantly, know what they want more.

This is a fundamental truth and must be respected.

Stereotypes and assumptions around who people are, what they want to be and what they want from life is the kiss of death for any brand in the future.

The word advertising has really become a misnomer.

It is tacky and in a world where people are increasingly demanding transparency and respect the stereotypes that advertising images often present have become more turn-off than turn-on.

(I've included a few examples of advertising images. Please ask yourself, if these images were representative of brands, which ones would you like enough to want to engage with?)

Unfortunately a few of the bad examples (no names no packdrill) are hot off the press and are representative of some pretty powerful global brands. Why do they fail to realize that the developing world is not 20 years behind western markets, that consumers are not stupid and that they also not any less sophisticated than their western counterparts?

How did this catch-up occur?

I believe mobile phones and world connectivity have everything to do with it. Adopt, adapt and apply is really the order of the day and while markets nuance concepts in different ways, the language of interaction remains the same. Every young person with a mobile phone is a photographer and the style and tone of traditional advertising photography is more often than not lampooned and ridiculed.

You-Tube and mobile phone video capability have exposed the over-styled 30 second commercial as a parody of life and the notion that people’s aspirations are always of a material nature has become very, very embarrassing. Previously ordinary people share ideas and concepts across continents and young interactive folk become self-styled publicists and communicators in their own right. They are the trendsetters we learn from and the harshest critics of the bad and over-clever stuff we call advertising.

I presume brands and their agencies will still manage to get away with the drivel for some time to come. But, they will only manage to meet their targets while the price and offer is right. This means that costly price and promotion wars will rage on. However, where brands compete on brand value alone, the loved ones will flourish and the laggards will undoubtedly die.




Good riddance!

What’s a brand if all you know is a configuration of different shapes?

For those of you who don’t know MTN is the biggest mobile communications brand in Africa and the Middle-East right now.

It’s an exceptional brand since it’s only been around since 1999. And already it has changed the lives and futures of millions of people.

A lot of this is due to the fact that it has always been in the right place at the right time doing just the right things. One cannot help admire its chutzpa. It was one of the first companies to invest into Africa when others were way too cautious to consider the prospect. It had the guts to be the first into Rwanda after the genocide and, if that isn’t enough, it has also set up shop in Afghanistan, Iran and other less popular destinations.


MTN represents all that is new, uplifting and progressive in Africa and other emerging markets.
And Yemen is no exception.

Some pretty progressive economic reforms have recently seen the country begin to emerge from a fairly isolated past.
However, it is still mockingly referred to as ‘Happy Yemen’ by its neighbors.

Why?

Well, it’s a laid-back green pasture in the middle of a desert region and the population has always been a little less than energetic. Yemenis are peaceful, uncomplicated and simply ‘happy’ with their lot in life.
The habit of chewing khat (a flowering plant that contains cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant) also does its share to keep the mood mellow.

Anyway, I trust you have got the general idea of where we’re coming from.

Now, enter MTN.

A western-type brand with a logo that visually doesn’t describe what it is, what it does or even what it stands for.
It is none-Arabic, not translatable and western typography is nothing more than a collection of abstract shapes to the average Yemeni.

This is where it really gets interesting.

Besides being an airtime and mobile services provider, MTN has brought a vision of modernity to the region which hasn’t been there before.
And, along with that has come a sense of Yemen’s emergence into the world of progress and material things.

Naïve and more than half funny as it may be, one can only admire the manner, innovation and entrepreneurship that Yemeni’s display when they take the MTN brand and position it as the prime/symbol brand to be associated with across such incredibly diverse segments of endeavor.




By pure association MTN is the now the hip and happening brand in Yemen.

The world is indeed interesting.


PHOTOGRAPHS:

1. THE SOCIABLE CUSTOM OF CHEWING QAT
2. MTN FASHION SHOES
3. MTN SADDLE CLOTH
4. DESIGNER TAXI
5. SUIT MADE FROM PRE-PAID AIRTIME CARDS

Elmina Castle Impressions

Virgin bride.
Chaste edifice
Purity in sultry wretchedness.

Elmina, Elmina
You hot, wet, wicked, wretched lovely.
Rage with shame.
How many victims have you shed you misguided madonna?

I walked your slippery empty halls and smelt your torrid wetness
I suck for breath.
Was it weeping I heard?
What else.

Oh well, I am quite small in all of this.

Invest in the future before it becomes a crisis

DDB Lagos celebrates 20 years this year and I was particularly delighted to read that they would be celebrating this milestone by funding a long-term project to empower creativity in students from secondary schools in the region.

In the time that I have been associated with global advertising networks operating in Central, West and East Africa there has been a hell of a lot of hyped-up babble around ‘OUR RESPONSIBILITY' to uncover and grow young creative talent on the continent.
Especially since our clients, operating in these regions, demand that their agency networks work closely together with their local affiliates to pro-actively ensure touchingly relevant communications created from the ever-evolving African environment.

Sadly, as far as I am aware, nothing of any importance has been put in place to date.
Why? Because cost always seems to get in the way of investment into the future.

Until now it seems.

Briefing the press at a special dinner held in Lagos to mark their anniversary, the Managing Director of DDB, Enyi Odigbo announced they would celebrate this milestone by committing themselves to discovering and nurturing new creative minds. “Today, we are merely reinforcing the long held interest given that our business thrives on freshness of ideas and uncommon creativity, found mostly in young people.
“We have chosen the occasion of our anniversary to fund a sustainable scheme for unlocking the wealth of creative power inherent in our youth.” Odigbo further observed that, “creativity is the soul of our business, and indeed every business.”
Negotiations with Manhattanville College of Arts, New York and leading Arts Schools are underway to ensure student facilities for the winners. The envisage cost of this project will exceed USD 4 million over the next 10 years.

As a cautionary I hope that the ongoing study process outside Nigeria, whilst it adds enormous value, does not undo the keen connectivity that creative people need with their audiences. It is far too easy to fall under the spell of what the developed world deems to be top creativity at the expense of work built upon beautiful insights, local relevance and the true texture of the region.
However, these things can be overcome and I truly applaud this wonderful initiative.
* From an article by Sola Fadare in the Nigerian Tribune

Romancing the Letterbox

The Weldy Man. Bothasig December 2007

I love the ways in which people use their creativity to showcase their individuality.

It’s natural that people desire to leave their mark in one form or another.

This personal preening (and its not boastfulness) is extraordinarily interesting since it varies from race to race, country to country, culture to culture, region to region, vehicle to vehicle and personality to personality.

Some, predictably, do it through flaunting wealth. And others through more traditional cultural, religious and artistic means.

You name it. It's out there.

But, thank God, there are those who do it with unbridled, spontaneous honesty and reverent dedication. I call them the Untainted because this is where the the very kernel of human truth lies. These are people untouched by trends or vogue and they pursue their creativity with an intensely personal passion and astonishing ingenuity.

For this piece, I’ve decided to take a very small peek at how the Untainted in South Africa express themselves through their letterboxes.

Why?

Because, South Africa is historically connected to post and letters. The Cape of Good Hope was the way station and post office for seamen on the spice routes since before the 17th century. Furthermore South Africa is known worldwide as the country with the most varied range of official mailbox designs. 20 in total.

AND, sadly, I predict that the culture and future of the traditional letterbox is under threat from new communication mediums. Hence my urge to capture this unique spirit while it is still around.

When it comes to untainted folk the letterbox stands as an iconic symbol of its creator and what he/she stands for.

Just like a man was judged by the brand of cigarettes he put down on the barcounter, so the entrance to the property is dominated by the letterbox. And it tells so much about who the homeowner is.

Do yourself a favour and look at a letterbox and imagine the houseowner behind it. You’ll see it is quite entertaining to build a picture and a story of the person who created it.

Humour, nostalgia, and a sense of familiarity with memories and fantasies are often familiar themes.

Perhaps people draw comfort from them.

Of course, in many instances, you can tell who wears the pants in the house from the letterbox at the front gate.

The Culture of the mailbox is universal and The United States is by far the leader in the art of pimping the letterbox. But Australia, The United Kingdom and Europe all have their exponents as well.
A visit to http:// uglymailbox.com and Sam’s Mailboxes at: http:// sblom.com/mailbox clearly reflects this.

However, in most of the examples I sense that it’s done for gimick value or quirky effect rather than from deep-rooted genuine expression.
It also appears all too easy in an environment where abundance and short-term value is so much the norm.

I could be subjective here and ask you to judge this view for yourself.

The photographs I took for this piece come from only 4 streets in a suburb called Bothasig in Cape Town. Cyclist box from Sam's picturea USA

In instances where I was obliged to ask permission because I needed to enter the property to take a photograph the people were incredibly hospitable.

One gentleman told me how his letterbox had been stolen in the middle of the night and how, through his own detective work, he tracked it down to another neighborhood and quietly stole it back.
I suppose many cultivated and educated people view these things as perculiar to a certain group of people. They probably think them funny, curious, silly and even stupid.

Whatever way they are viewed they cannot be ignored because they are so relevant to the texture of life and we would be poorer without them.

I salute the Untainted because they are truly authentic human beings.

In future I want to meet the untainted flower arrangers, the wedding cake bakers and icers, the toymakers, the dressmakers, the knitters and the needlepoint experts. These are traditions will definitely disappear if we don’t continue to celebrate and appreciate their value.