Today’s advertising agency must embrace both creative skills, strong IT and data skills – Mangesi
Now Available Africa, a pan African advertising agency based in Accra, Ghana recently entered in business relationship with Syracuse, a digital agency based in Lagos, Nigeria to help serve its existing and potential clients better in the Nigerian and West African market. In this interview, the CEO of Now Available Africa, Kofi Mangesi who spoke other issues on advertising said the partnership brings the combined experiences of the two agencies in traditional, creative, digital productions, social and media buying together for better synergies in the vibrant Nigerian advertising market. Excerpts
You recently entered into relationship with Nigerian digital agency, Syracuse could you explain what informed this partnership?
Having worked in Nigeria over the last five years from our base in Accra, Ghana, we thought the time was right to set up shop fully in Nigeria and Syracuse provided us the perfect synergistic fit that was required to better serve our existing clients and new business opportunities.
Why do you think that Now Available Africa and Syracuse are perfect match for this relationship
The advertising agency of today is the one that has not only the best of creative skills but also strong IT and data skills to serve the increasing complex media space we have today. That is what this partnership is about, combining our unique strengths to provide a better offering for the clients.
Affiliating with companies in Europe and West is the current trend in Africa, why did you choose to keep this partnership between Ghana and Nigeria?
At the core of our company culture is the believe in what we call “Afropean”, that is the fusion of European skills and local African knowledge, so for us this partnership is just a realisation of that culture, which brings our European heritage to join local knowledge of the Nigerian market.
How long do you expect this relationship to last and what does Now Available in Africa hope to achieve in this partnership?
We are in Nigeria to stay.
Tell us your major success story in recent time.
NAA recently won a Creative Award from Twitter for its “African Portraits” campaign for Nescafe Africa. The campaign was to highlight and celebrate the achievements of young Africans across the region, and inspire others to chase their dreams and make them a reality.
What is Now Available Africa’s core value and operational philosophy?
We believe in Neutral advertising, which is to say, as an agency our philosophy is to approach the brief from a platform neutral perspective. This approach to creativity allows us to best find the right mix of the target insight, with the best strategic medium through which the message will be delivered. This permeates every thing we do at NAA.
What would you say is a competitive edge for Now Available Africa?
In advertising as in many service businesses, it’s all about the people. We have some of the most talented and dynamic people in advertising today that this continent has to offer. Our diverse team of young and talented professionals are creating world class campaigns.
What are the current challenges and prospects facing advertising practise in Africa?
Marketing managers have to understand the consumer today is more sophisticated than ever before. They have access to a plethora of channels to choose from and gaining their attention requires more innovative approaches in both media and format.
African countries hardly win international creative awards like the major Cannes awards, in France, what do think is the challenge.
There is no challenge, a lot of good work is coming out of Africa and what we need is more recognition of this.