Branding – A Different Perspective

When it comes to the influence of Western marketing and brands in Tanzania, some are more recognized than others. Phat Farm, Heineken, Coca Cola & Nieviea are well known. Dairy Queen is not.

My seminar professor came into the room last seminar wearing a polo shirt. The logo caught my eye. It was a Dairy Queen uniform shirt. I had a hard time taking him seriously after that. Growing up in a town where the dairy Queen is the local hangout and the ridicule of teenage employees I have a different perspective on this brand.

Some companies pour major dollars into advertising in Tanzania, namely beverage, tobacco and telecom companies. These are the respected and known. Had my professor known what logo he was wearing, my guess is that he wouldn’t have chosen that shirt from the market…or would he.

There are some things that I’ve seen on clothing that amaze me. People buy whatever they can afford and what they like in the market. There are some things that get printed on clothing that shouldn’t be allowed outside of the US. So many of the things that our pop culture puts out ends up on bodies here that have not idea what the shirt they are wearing really says. Most of these things end up here in the second hand clothing market.

Advertising avenues can be really bold in Tanzania. Businesses are panted in telecom company logos and colors. Temporary fences are plastered with ads. Bus tickets even have mini ads for beverage companies on them. Ads are everywhere but not in the same way as home. There are fewer billboards and variety of ads on television. There are only a few companies that advertise on television. Most of those are telecom are beverage companies and they have a broad client base and can appeal to those with more money to spend on luxuries like upgraded phone service and imported beer. The average round of ads is those plastered up at dala dala stop shelters and painted on buildings. I find the ones in the middle of the clock towers most interesting. It’s basically proclaiming, “The current time is XX:XX and go buy a Coke.” It was shocking to see at first because I expected the clock tower to be some sort of monument. In reality it’s a clock with an ad on it.

Advertising here as loud and colorful as it can be seems less intrusive because I have few brands being shouted loudly. The brands that can afford to advertise have respect with people and obviously are well known. Watching TV at home or reading a magazine, I see ads for hundreds of different types of products and they are all vying to catch my attention. Reflection on this I think they do because there are so many choices. Here it is easy to ignore ads because they are usually for Zain, Vodacom, Tigo, Coca Cola or some sort of beer. With little variety in product there is rarely something new to look at.