MANASE: The Best Erections In Botswana

So uhm..yeah..THE BEST ERECTIONS IN BOTSWANA. I think everyone whose been in and around Gaborone will agree to have seen this phrase on cars, walls, signs e.t.c. Well this is a citizen owned company that has been in business since 1998. Yes I checked their website. Manase is a well renouned fencing company. And they they have the best erections in the country!

The first time i saw this slogan was sometime last year. The combi had approached a traffic jam and i notices this car beside us. the first thing i noticed about it was the guy being electrified. i thought, alright this is some kind of electri fence company...Booooring! Then BAM i see the slogan. After that Manase was no longer just some fencing company. It was THE fencing company.

All i can say about Manase is that "I like you guys. YOU'VE ALSO GOT BALLS!"

APEX "We Sell Fatcakes" advert

Just a few minutes from the bus rank, among the clusters of warehouses of Haile Selassie Road  that one wouldn’t care to look at while passing by, lies APEX. To be honest, I don’t believe many of us would be aware of the APEX building if it wasn’t for their attention grabbing idea. They painted a huge phrase on the AVIS building wall facing the main road saying “We sell Fatcakes”, and in small letters beneath it they squeeze in “Not really, but we move property so fast it feels like it”. Then beneath that they list the services that APEX offers, which include valuations, Sales, Lettings, Management, Development and Advisory services.

APEX is not new to the Botswana market. Infact they've been at it for close to 8 years. But they havent been "visible". And now they want that attention. They did what most companies ought to do when they enter new territory. They marked themselves present!! I believe in marketing the most important thing to do as a "new entrant" is to do aggressive marketing, where you demand the attention of your market. This campaign was a very good effort I must say. First of all we must understand what kind of company APEX is. They deal with Property, not Fatcakes.

“Then why would they write that, in huge letters for that matter?!” This is what a middle aged lady in a combi from Game City said to me when I tried to correct her. It all started when the combi passed this APEX building, it caught the eye of most of us and we all turned as the combi sped past. To my utter amazement, this lady at the backseat who we had all been listening to while she went on about the events of her day to her friends said “Gatwe magwinya a ha, a cheap mo go maswe”. Translated to English this becomes, “I hear the Fatcakes here are very cheap”.

You could hear sniffles of laughter throughout the entire combi. What followed that was what I would call, a revolutionary commosion. The whole combi started a heated conversation about it. Few supported the middle aged woman’s notion that APEX was a fatcake factory. “Why else would they write that?” they argued. They rest were confused as to how anyone in their right mind could miss the whole point of the advert. Obviously APEX was trying to grab the passer by’s attention by writing a phrase that even though untrue, would get the job done. Batswana love magwinya (Fatcakes), everybody knows that. So ideally we would glance in any direction that promises Fatcakes. Even those who are indifferent about Fatcakes will get curious and look. Once the attention is on the advert the reader may now proceed to read the rest of it and ultimately learn what the company is all about. That is the whole point of the advert.  

As for the combi debate, it did not get resolved. We all agreed to disagree. Which is a shame really, because one day that woman is going to walk into APEX, requesting to buy Fatcakes.

UB "Finding your G spot" advert

This was an attempt by the Young Women's Leadership Club in UB to get more ladies to join the club. I dont know about you guys but IM AT A LOSS FOR WORDS!...ppsst! no im not.

How do you objectify women AND invite them to your women's club at the same time? "Finding your G spot" , "are you cuming" ! What is that?!

Im sorry to say this but this is one of the worst adverts i have ever seen. It defeats the purpose of attracting women into your club. When i first saw the advert i thought it was for a "gentlemen's club", you know which ones im talking about, or a sex addict support club. I did not in any way relate it to a women's leadership club. This was during Women's Month by the way.

And what's with the arrows pointing to the woman's navel? Furthermore, what's with the circles around the navel? I keep wrecking my brain trying to figure out what it all means, and still...nothing.

Guys adverts are not supposed to confuse your audience (or maybe im getting ahead of myself here, am i the only one that got confused?). It is possible for your advert to get a lot of views but not entice people enough to actually contact you after they have read it. Many people make the mistake of thinking they only have to ATTRACT a lot of attention with their advert. But after they read it...what? Because i am sure as hell NOT going to attend such a meeting after seeing this ad. The purpose of this advert is to recruit people into the club or get existing members to be present at the meeting right...? Then give the audience the relevant information to help them make a decision.

On the flipside, I commend the makers of this advert for their boldness and for lack of a better word..creativity. Some people might get curious and think "maybe i should swing by Block 139 at 2pm and see whats happening".

  

This is a good site that shows how to design an effective advert:

http://www.marketing-made-simple.com/articles/advert-design.htm#axzz1toAU0gFq