Over the past 12 months we have seen a dramatic move away from the big creative ideas with a leading creative agency to drilling down into interpreting the data that we are able to mine via the multitude of social media platforms. Shinka has over 10 million active users per month and through this interaction we are truly able to tell you more about your current customer or prospective customer than anyone else in the market place.
A bold statement, yes, but it’s based on our true expertise in the market place that is beyond our one platform that you know well – Mxit.
Over the past few years we have grown exponentially and we now have two very clear divisions within the company: an exclusive sales house on behalf of key publishers and our technology solution division.
In the sales house we “sell digital” space on behalf of a select number of publishers that we have carefully selected. Not only do we “sell space” on these properties to our massive client base on behalf of the publishers, but we also develop and assist in the creative, messaging and functioning of the clients campaigns across these mediums.
On the technology side we continually developing and invest in technology layers that are able to mine information and profiles of the users who interact within the various properties, In a nutshell, we are able to give you the most accurate client profile information at any given moment on any specific category.
For example, if you are launching a new fragrance to market and you are targeting the product to the female sector between the age of 19 – 22, our technology based software is able to scan through our data-base of millions, and we are able to drill down to exact numbers in specific regions and tell you how this market segment are interacting throughout our various properties, how long they remain connected, where they are connecting from, what other products/services/life style offerings they are interested in.
Can we predict what will happen in the market in the next six months?
- Client/customer services will become more and more automated, thus allowing the ‘technology men’ to further drill down and truly interpret the data – giving brands a much more accurate and holistic view of the consumer.
- The days of cold-calling and trying to sell space/advertising will soon disappear – now the consumer will come to you and tell you what they want, where, when and how, and you will be able to provide them with relevant contextualised and customised advertising.
- The term advertising will change to IN-FO-TISING and this new medium will provide consumers with the information and engagement they want and will all be opt-in based. Thus making advertising much more relevant, with the lines between information and advertising completely merged.
- Advertising campaigns and entertainment will blur into one and be called Adu-Tainment – Advertising integrated into storylines.
- Networking between brands and consumers will become even closer and in many cases will be driven by the consumer and not the brand. Brands will adapt to the consumers need and not the other way around.
- The term “selling” will slowly be replaced by the term “engaging”.
- Google will continue to lead and innovate in the marketplace and soon the current standard of cost per thousand impressions will be a thing of the past. With their continued development of “attention matrix” – social media data on consumers will become far more detailed and accurate giving brands a greater understanding of their consumer.
- Digital and mobile are set to boom over the next few years; with mobile now constituting 7% of all marketing spend and is set to rise to 20% by 2016. Africa and more specifically South Africa and other countries in Africa with high levels of mobile penetration are perfectly positioned, since the reach of mobile and digital vs. traditional mediums (radio, print & TV) has become more and more fragmented making digital a strategic brand choice.
For the creatives and brand managers out there, we have been around for years, but now is the time to sit with us and allow us to enhance your creativity by being able to provide you with the best and most accurate “consumer data” before you embark on a multi-million rand advertising campaign. We can now tell you when, where and how your prospective client will be interacting.
Paul Stemmet is the founder and CEO of Shinka.
