Andrea Gevers, CEO and Founder of Ask Afrika
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Over 100 top business executives, marketers and brand experts recently gathered at Zonki Shebeen in Muldersdrift, Johannesburg to gain an understanding of some of South Africa’s most fascinating consumer markets, at Ask Afrika’s Kasi Star Brands and Youth Brands conference. Not only did they get insider insights into consumer lifestyles and preferences for these target markets, but they were introduced to a revolutionary new geospatial data mapping tool, GeoScope.

Andrea Gevers, CEO and founder of Ask Afrika, said in her opening address, “What is Kasi? What does it mean to be a South African? This is all heart stuff, it is the type of togetherness that we felt at the time of the Fifa World Cup. Kasi makes us feel South African, happy and at home. All of us contain multitudes within us and all of us contain an element of Kasi. This conference is our best programme yet.”

Ricardo Braz, Key Accounts Manager at Ask Afrika, unpacked the possibilities of GeoScope – the market research tool of the future and Sarina de Beer, MD of Ask Afrika, explored the future of brands through the Youth Brands benchmark. Marketing expert and CEO of Minanawe Marketing, GG Alcock, provided insider insights into the township market and Maria Petousis, TGI Director at Ask Afrika, shared top-line insights from The Kasi Star Brands benchmark.

 

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A revolutionary new data mapping tool

Ask Afrika launched their new geospatial product, GeoScope, at the conference. Target Group Index (TGI) has had the capability to map demographics and density, but this new tool is revolutionary as it allows you to show all data spatially, to visually and geographically represent any dataset. Even psychographic data can be mapped, all lifestyle statements that are included in TGI can now be plotted.

“It allows marketers to visually map consumer behavior and see the bigger picture once we overlay different sources of data. GeoScope is a granular geospatial view providing spatial depth and peace of mind by allowing key business decisions to be made within minutes,” says Braz.

Brand owners can pretty much ask any brand related market research question they can think of and then be shown the response geographically. This changes the game for someone wanting to launch a new product or open a franchise, for example, they can determine exactly where their target market would be most receptive and get geospatial insights into their competitors. It shows brands where they need to be in terms of access and convenience. GeoScope will revolutionise executive decision making in the Retailer, Banking, FMCG and Advertising industries, amongst others. The best part about it is that very reasonable packages are available, making this incredibly useful market research tool accessible to companies that normally would not have been able to afford such comprehensive tailored research.  

“GeoScope is a key decision making tool where you can visually plot, view, and overlay research data combined with census information and psychographic descriptions available in TGI, making it the richest dataset currently available to marketers and brand owners,” said Braz, “It will blast consumption assumptions out of the water.”

Youth Brands are all about the experience

Today’s South African youth market consists of 29 million consumers and has 55% of the spending power, which is more than the previous generation’s consumers at the same age. Less than 20% of advertising budgets are directed at these young consumers in South Africa, while the youth spend over R100 billion per annum. Approximately 20% of the youth between 25-34 years are heading households they are also making household purchasing decisions.

“Business has never had a more talked about or researched generation than Millennials, yet brand owners still don’t get them,” said de Beer, “the biggest mistake is to either oversimplify or get too complex. Marketers often tend to focus so much on the difference between generations that they miss the commonality.” The youth spans 25 years and a range of demographic and psychographic anomalies, each life phase within the youth will be different, as will a Kasi compared with a suburban youth.

Ask Afrika’s Youth Brands benchmark takes a deeper look into loyalty in the youth market and what it means for brands. The Youth Brands survey explores South Africa’s future and loyal brand usage amongst youngsters aged 15-34 (inclusive of sub-sets of this range), irrespective of background or living standard. The youth therefore includes part of Gen X, Gen Y and part of Gen Z. The Youth Brands winners will only be publically announced in September, but the topline insights from the survey were shared for the first time.

The youth support brands that stand for something more than bottom line, 37% will pay more for a brand that supports a cause they believe in. 80% want brands to entertain them and 69% say they crave adventure. 40% want to participate in the co-creation of products and brands and 70% feel a responsibility to share feedback with companies after a good or bad experience.

The main loyalty drivers in the youth market are an increased emphasis on individuality; constant engagement and interaction; digital platforms that create opportunity for increased self-expression; emphasis on a strong and authentic brand personality and looking for innovation and change. All of this requires a need for brand agility. The youth are loyal to their favourite brands until a newer and more innovative product or brand is introduced. Sustainable loyalty requires building a relationship with them. The youth have opinions and want to provide feedback to a brand, which they expect a brand to take seriously and be willing to change.

De Beer provided a nine step guide to creating effective media and marketing strategies for the youth:

1.       Experiential marketing

2.       Two-way communication

3.       A unique brand story

4.       Disrupt the market through innovative products that appeal to the youth

5.       Recognise evolving lifestyles

6.       Align your brand with a cause

7.       Allow customers to contribute

8.       Solve a need for the youth and have a credible marketing message

9.       Go where the youth are – social media and mobile

 “This broad youth segment is, however, not a homogenous group and should be divided into smaller age segments.  Individuals within the broader youth segment find themselves in different life-stages, such as school, university, marriage, parenthood and so on. To fully understand the youth and how their age impacts their behaviour, emphasis must be placed on the different life-stages, consumers find themselves in coupled with the life values and brand loyalty drivers behind choice,” said de Beer, “We will drill down in the life values, lifestyle and brand loyalty drivers for each segment. There are many synergies between the segments, yet unique differences to which brand owners must be sensitive”

The differences between Kasi Star Brands and Youth Brands were explored broadly and within youth segments, in essence Kasi Star brands are all about being functional and consumption driven and Youth Brands are about the experience, tangible, authentic experiences that create meaning in their lives.

Kasi and Keri-nomics

GG Alcock, author of ‘Kasinomics’ and autobiography, ‘Third world child’, is the son of white activists who during the apartheid era decided to move to Masinga in KwaZulu Natal to live like the locals in protest to the regime. Masinga was at the time both the poorest and the most dangerous place to live. Alcock grew up in a mud-hut with no running water or power, as one of the local rural village kids. He grew up to become a political activist and then a capitalist and successful marketing expert focusing on the Kasi market, his mum still lives in her hut in Masinga, fetching water from the river each day.

He provided delegates with a snapshot of the ‘Born Frees’, which make up half of the total population, starting with some startling stats. One third of youngsters aged 15-19 live in households in which no-one has ever been employed. Of the youth of working age 67% of the males and 75% of the females are unemployed. Two thirds of university students are black, yet this is only 16% of black people aged 20-24 and only 38% of students starting university get a degree. There are 45 000 Born frees in prisons at any one time and 1/3 of prisoners are 14-25 years old.

Alcock used the term Kerinomics to refer to the youth market segment stemming from the term “ikeri” for the pocket money that children “carry” to school. Kasi primary school students bring a “skaftini” or lunch box coming from the military term “skof tin” to school and get a small amount (R2-R7) of “ikeri” to buy snacks, generally unbranded from a ‘mama’. High school kids don’t have “skaftini”, but use “ikeri” (R10-R15) to buy “kotas” (quarter loaf with filling), vetkoeks, and branded drinks and snacks. They will often buy a “kota” rather than a burger or fried chicken and chips, because that is what they prefer, even if the burger is cheaper. The township food market is worth R85 billion a year.

“Clubbing together and sharing is key. Sharing and local community are hardwired into township youth behaviour. Adverts that communicate sharing are received very positively by this market,” said Alcock, “All the youth save money religiously everyday (save R 1 – R 3 or more a day) and lower income save more than the higher income groups. Feeding schemes are, however, an anomaly – lower income youth do not use the feeding scheme if they have money. No one wants to look poor, they spend pocket money and buy brands in public as social capital. They save for airtime, data, hair styles, clothes and outings (like going to the mall or Gold Reef City),” said Alcock.

Township youth are responsible and culturally and spiritually active. They wash their own school uniforms. Teens take responsibility for younger siblings. Children are sent to shop by their parents and teenage girls often do the bulk shop or are very involved in writing the shopping list. They go to church on a Sunday, have a sense of pride about their church and religious and cultural beliefs, and participate in church activities.

Township youth speak a different language, for example they will say the prices are more better or more lower, but will never say something is cheap. Marketers need really “get” and understand this market and not try to get it. “There is nothing more uncool than trying to be cool,” said Alcock.

How to understand the Kasi consumer

“Kasi Star Brands are brands that are used most loyally by South Africa’s township consumers. These are brands that define a common experience, often on a daily basis to which South Africa’s township consumers are committed to in a real sense. The majority of these consumers put their money where their mouths are, to demonstrate this commitment. Kasi Star Brands are woven into the fabric of our vibrant South African townships,” said Petousis.

The Ask Afrika Kasi Star Brand benchmark is a powerful return on investment (ROI) tool which demonstrates loyal usage of brands amongst township consumers. It compares brand usage across 142 categories and ranking 2 996 brands and only 36 Kasi Star Brands and 59 Potential Kasi Star Brands emerged.

Petousis spoke about the 2016/2017 Ask Afrika Kasi Star Brands that were first revealed in the Daily Sun in May and then highlighted the key differentiators between Kasi and Non-Kasi consumers. Petousis said that within the Kasi market, “Kasi consumers have a repertoire of loyalty amongst select brands and their purchase choice within that is influenced by price and special offers. In turn brands must deliver quality and if the brand can do this consistently, at the correct price point, it will be used by Kasi households.”

“Kasi consumers are proudly South African and love local products, they are loyal to their cultural heritage and as they become more affluent they modernise, but they don’t westernise, they become Afropolitan. Even though every cent is accounted for, they will pay more for quality brands because of the reliability and assurance they provide, they can’t afford another brand if the first one does not work. Investment in brands is a cheap price for aspiration. Kasi consumers are hybrid shoppers they shop on the high street and on the dirt street, marketers will make a huge mistake if they have one campaign for the city and another for the township. It is vital for marketers to understand the Kasi culture and lifestyle,” said Petousis.

Putting it all together

Ask Afrika can provide consumer understanding for any target market, for unparalleled marketing and media strategies. Ask Afrika research reports provide powerful tools for marketers to measure return on investment (ROI) in various market segments. They share a complete view of consumer behaviour and unpack what is driving loyalty. Reports can be tailored to media and marketing strategies for Kasi, youth and for all South African consumers.

To find out more, or to order Ask Afrika Kasi Star Brands, Youth Brands or GeoScope research reports contact (012) 428 7400 and speak to Dr Amelia Richards (amelia.richards@askafrika.co.za ) or Mariëtte Croukamp (Mariette.Croukamp@askafrika.co.za ).