My myth of positioning and the demise of advertising

Advertising is like an adolescent. It is misunderstood, mistrusted and abused. Of all the modern scientific marketing management disciplines, it is probably the least trusted by those it is supposed to help: consumers. Now, advertising is going to go extinct and superman David Ogilvy is not here to save it. The severe economic recession of 2007-2009 had cataclysmic effects on business; advertising was not spared. Revenues plummeted and earnings shrank. One of the first places corporate bean counters look when threatened by a cash drought is the marketing department. They begin to think that all the efforts to attract consumers is not really improving the so-called bottom-line. This may not be so smart. It is only logical that when consumers have to scrimp down to every Cedis, you have to advertise more to attract them, right? Wrong. There is a better way to attract and keep customers.

Can You Live Without Your Mobile Phone?

Mobile phones are no longer a preserve for the elite in society. Almost everyone owns one. They are now part of people’s everyday lives. Life without a mobile phone, for some people, is like life without oxygen; an electrical appliance without electricity; the world without light or a football match without a ball.

The International Telecommunication Union has estimated that about seven billion cellular phone subscriptions would be recorded mid 2013 worldwide. Over 50 million people own mobile phones in Africa. Out of this number, 15 million do not have access to their own television at home.