Understanding consumer journey will determine where advertisers need to be – Elsa Mungiria
By Abimbola Mohammed
Elsa Mungiria, Digital & Data Manager, Saracen PHD Advertising, Kenya has urged advertisers to understand the consumer journey, which she noted will help them to understand their (consumers’) need as well. She pointed out that consumers spend a lot of time on social media, emphasizing that they spend twice as long on social feeds than on media websites.
The digital expert disclosed this at the just concluded two days International News Media Association (INMA), a virtual Africa Media Summit with the theme: “Surfacing the Best Practices of Africa’s Fast-evolving News Industry: Integrity, Trust, and Transformation in Turbulent Times”.
While speaking on adspend, Mungiria said more than 60% of advertising is shifting away from legacy publishers, adding that what advertisers are looking for and not finding is the way media houses are set up. She said big tech companies are adapting to what consumers are going through and actively looking forward to meeting consumers’ needs.
“As advertising is following adspend, we can see that adspend follows the consumers. So advertisers’ adspend is centred on the shift in people’s choice because people are the ones with the voice. We can see three main things we want to look at which are Access, Preference and Conveniences.”
She compared how past consumers had limited access to communication channels to receive content, mostly television, radio, or print and how today, the consumer has multiple channels to receive content, including through many different digital platforms and subscriptions.
Her words: “In the past the media and communication channels were limited, but right now consumers have over one thousand media channels to choose from. When we talk of preference this is where we really see a big shift in terms of needs and consumers’ desires going into what they prefer.”
Basing her argument on the Africa setting in the past, she said: “In the past, we had structure programming especially when it came to TV and, for most of us in Africa settings, parents were the ones controlling the TV. But now we have access to anywhere on demand – people can now access information anytime they want it, however they want it.”
Speaking on convenience, she said: “We are experiencing mobility, unlike in the past where you had to go home to watch TV or if you didn’t have radio you wouldn’t have access to any of those channels. In those days, if you couldn’t get to legacy publishers and have their publications, you would not be able to get information. But now you can get information instantly on the go.”
She continued: “You need to look at your consumer for the general space. What kind of space are they in right now or where are they operating in? Consumers are looking for creativity, hence the need to be creative in terms of getting to them. We need to think about the kind of content we are promoting on our brands from the advertising perspective.
“Looking at the society, shifting our mindset, consumption and technology have become very critical parts of our lives. Like we have Metaverse which is a user defined virtual space, where you get to see the replica of consumers routines, interest from the online perspective, this means that we already deciding the next space, we are already mimicking their everyday life and a digital twins of their everyday world. It is important for us to understand our consumers from where they are right now and how they are represented out there.”
Speaking on shifting of consumer behaviour and the need for advertisers to maintain relevance, Mungiria said: “Behaviours are shifting, and we need to also make sure that we’re relevant to our consumers. In the past, you could see how adtech was targeted towards a mass audience. But now we are looking for an opportunity to make sure we’re relevant to our consumers.”
She continued: “Understanding your consumer also helps you understand what they need; consumers spend a lot of time on social media, spending twice as long on social feeds than media websites.
“Publishers are looking at the money. Advertisers are the voice of the consumers. We want to make sure we get the most efficient strategy to get to our consumer at the best price. Data helps us get the real facts and information that we can process, and the insights we get help us get to a strategy.
“The focus is no longer reaching a large mass of consumers at once but understanding the audience in segments and what type of content they want to see.
“Understanding your consumer helps you to know where you need to be, we have seen how we drifted from how we look at things to how we are right now. We can see that over 75% of publishers are now prioritizing subscriptions.”
Rounding up her session, Mungiria said the future of media is in audience experience, expanding in formats. “Proactive omnichannel approach is important for publishers to understand moving into the future. This is moving beyond solely television reach, it can be social media advertisements and integrating with television advertisements.”
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