My Star: Publicity Stunt or is Sid going Loco

Botswana’s local music show My Star has been in everybody’s lips these past few weeks thanks to one of its judges, SID. First of all Sid has always been the centre of attraction when it comes to My Star shows. The talent has not been that...enticing. From the beginning, when the show was still called “Pop Star” Sid was regarded as the “Simon” of the show. He terrified contestants and shocked the audience with his comments and even made others cry. He kept everybody on their toes. Yes, the show was not to write home about, but it was a local show and we loved it. Gradually the show became boring, Sid lost his touch, he started saying nice things, he started smiling, and therefore people started losing interest. The show adopted its new identity- “Botswana’s local comedy show”.

Now it seems they have found a new way of gaining back that attention: Publicity Stunt! This is a planned event/situation designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. A few weeks ago Sid came into the show with one long pinky nail painted in bright red. When I first saw it I was taken aback a little. Started thinking is Sid trying to make some kind of fashion statement that im not aware of? The following week he had painted 3 of his nails different colours (Heedu! di smarties). This time me and im sure everyone who was watching that show that day could not dzeal!  The only logical thing to do then was to call other people to come watch the show with you.  At that point I started thinking, is this niggar trying to “come out” on the show? Is he having a midlife crisis?! What the hell is going on?!! I went straight to tweeter only to find out that the topic is SID SID SID #MyStar, #ComedyShow. The following day at the office the topic is My Star. But what I did not know was this was only the beginning! The Sundays after that one have been nothing but an adventure. Now those who dont normally watch the show set their clocks to Sunday 6:30!  Even the audience that we see on TV has doubled!

A lot has been said about this sudden change of appearance. This is what some people had to say about it on twitter,

Someone from Lapologa Mag- “Its official! Mascom has found a comedic way 4people to pay attention to its brand #mystar. And its working. Hope they paying Sid alotta $$”

One of our local hip hop artists- “@SidFmStation just Gaga'd Botswana's audience, provoking a response with what seems to be a social psychology experiment *grabs popcorn*”

Fellow tweeple- “ #Deathby Nigerian-Magician @SidFmStation hahaha... #MyStar”

Asked to comment, this is what Sid had to say about his new look- “@ChawaShoe it was not inspired by anything in particular, I just found myself doing it...”

But what does that say about the show? Most people regard it as an outrage and should not be entertained. But some people (like me) think its a great attempt to gain the much needed attention for the show. However I also believe this is very bad for Sid’s own reputation (But thata story for another day). We will never know if this was planned by the producers of the show, or if the sponsors (Mascom) approved it, because those behind these stunts never reveal the truth. It has become an international trend for celebrities to create negative publicity stunts to attract attention. E.g. Janet Jackson and her boob, Kim Kardashian, Miley Syrus, Paris Hilton sex tapes e.t.c.

Yes more people will watch the show, but how many will actually vote? That’s the question! Well let me tell you a story about my experience. I have two friends. They both HATE My Star. With a passion. But ever since these escapades have been happening they have been watching the show religiously. Mind you, they only watched to see Sid. Now they both have favourites among the singers in the show. And yesterday one of them voted. Twice! Now isn’t that two more votes gained by the show? I rest my case.

The Making Of Guardian TV Ad

I recently got to be part of a team from Pristine Mag (local online magazine) who were invited to see the making of Botswana Guardian TV advert. And me being the advert finatic that i am could not wait! Ne ke segetswe kafa lefureng, as some would say.

Spent the whole day with the crew, asked questions, took a few photographs as you can see. I even wrote bout my experience, you can check it out here----->>  http://pristinemag.com/the-making-of-botswana-guardian-newspaper-tv-advert 

Now im waiting for the final cut advert to show on TV so i can write a review on it. Because i know how you guys just love my reviews. :) Watch this space!!

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

Bangisto: Touch Up

Bangisto: Touch Up: The Importance of Branding My Latest epiphany was when I learnt of re-branding.. So I officially changed my Blogs Name to be more Exclusive...



SNEAK PEEK AT WHAT IS IN STORE

What Apex put up on their buiding. Sorry i cudnt get the photo properly, i was in a moving car.
but it says "WE SELL FATCAKES", underneath that they write "not really but we move property so fast it feels like it". something like that. I m going to go back there and take a proper picture. I really love their creativity. GO APEX!!

I saw this one in one of the newspapers, that's why the quality is not that good. Sorry about that, im planning on going the Gabs Sun (where the advert is located) and take a better picture. Wow..do you see the tyre marks on the ground, and the shade that looks like a car crashed into it? that's part of the advert! Cant wait for you guys to see my review on this!

             

Im sure you guys are already familiar with the "GET TRIMMED"or "ROLA KEPESE" phrase. Yep that's the advert that they used to get men to get circumcised. Apparently the campaign is working. Oh and look at how similar our advert (and by OUR i mean Botswana) is to this other one which was used in some other country. Lacking creativity are we Botswana?... any-way..let me save my comments for my review coming up.