VOA慢速英语2015 非洲广告公司很赚钱

AS IT IS 2015-04-22 African Advertising¹ Agencies Cashing In 非洲广告公司很赚钱

Western advertising and public relations agencies are increasingly joining with African advertising companies. They are working together to attract international businesses that want to advertise products or services in Africa. The continent has been considered the last frontier, or undeveloped territory, for consumer markets.

Advertising agencies are now helping² international companies become well known in Africa.

Western public relations companies in Africa are sometimes known for cleaning up the image of a head of state or a government. Even a company started by a former advisor³ to the president of the United States has been linked to Nigerian president-elect Muhammadu Buhari. During the recent election campaign, Mr. Buhari promised change. American David Axelrod founded the company, strategy group AKPD Message and Media. He once served as a political adviser⁴ to U.S. President Barack Obama.  

Now, the job of advertising agencies in Africa is changing.

Engage Joe Public Johannesburg officeEngage Joe Public Johannesburg office

Communications and public relations agencies are still advising African leaders. But many are also looking for international businesses that want to do business in Africa. After all, the continent is home to six of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world.

Keri-Ann Stanton is managing director of Engage Joe Public, a public relations agency. She says global communication companies have bought or partnered with many African agencies over the last two years.

The growing number of mobile devices has helped the growth of locally-owned digital agencies in sub-Saharan Africa, countries south of the Equator. Keri-Ann Stanton says these agencies are creating their own niche⁵, or specialized⁶ market, and winning plenty of praise.

“We are an emerging market so we know that a lot of people are trying to get into Africa and a lot of people have failed terribly. So, it’s very much like there’s a shift - the first world is watching Africa for innovation.”

Africa claims to be the “mobile continent” because so many people use wireless⁷ technology there. There are predictions that the ability to connect to high-speed Internet will increase 20 times over the next five years. Studies have found there will be an estimated 930 million mobile users in Africa by the end of 2019.

The American public relations agency Grey opened an office in Johannesburg, South Africa. From there, the company will work with clients in Nigeria, Mozambique, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and Botswana. These are fast growing markets, says Paul Jackson, managing director at Grey South Africa.

"We have seen a lot of multinationals⁸ not getting the returns in first world economies and looking to the third world markets and emerging markets for additional returns. Obviously it is lot riskier…obviously these are markets that they don’t understand. But they know that Africa is the place they have got to be."

Many overseas companies have little experience dealing⁹ with Africa.  They do not know much about the culture or the way things are done on the continent. Also, there is a lack of information to help with the marketing¹⁰. So having employees who are experts in the area and culture is helpful for companies.

"So it’s really important any client and/or agency understands the various markets that they are targeting, those various nuances, the different cultures, the key insights that is going to make a product move in a very tough landscape. You have got to have on the ground representation; you can’t fly by remote control."

In October, a London-based company, Weber Shandwick, announced it was combining with its South African sister agency, McCann PR. This will give the company a big increase in its number of South African business clients.

Fraser Lamb is chief executive officer and Africa Chairman of McCann Worldgroup. He says poorly informed advertising campaigns can be costly¹¹. He says a MasterCard campaign designed for Africa but developed in Dubai did not work.

"The work we found was a ‘disconnect’ from the reality. For instance, in our truth about Africa we put a slide there that talks about a number of countries who actually have safari¹² versus¹³ the perceived number of countries. So, the artwork that came from abroad was largely about safari and we said ‘well, you know if this is for Kenya, it works, whereas in Nigeria - it’s (safari) scarce’. It was a campaign that had to be adapted.”

Mr. Lamb says better research showed that Nigeria’s MasterCard holders¹⁴ knew more about Harrods, London’s store for high-priced goods, than elephants and lions.

1 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

6 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

7 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

8 multinationals   

跨国公司( multinational的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These local companies are only small fry compared with the huge multinationals. 同那些跨国公司比，这些当地的公司不过是小鱼小虾。
• Some people believe that the multinationals have too much power. 有人认为跨国公司的权力太大了。

9 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

10 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

11 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

12 safari   

n.远征旅行(探险、考察)；探险队，狩猎队

参考例句：

• When we go on safari we like to cook on an open fire.我们远行狩猎时，喜欢露天生火做饭。
• They went on safari searching for the rare black rhinoceros.他们进行探险旅行，搜寻那稀有的黑犀牛。

13 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

14 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。