It was an impressive start to the African Cristal Festival in Morocco, kicking off with a panel discussion and debate around the issue of ‘Brands and Cultural Diversity: Threat or Reality?’ The Media Online’s publisher, Sandra Gordon, reports from Marrakesh.
Unsurprisingly the panel agreed that cultural diversity across Africa presents a significant challenge to brand communicators. Language diversity is less of a challenge as French and English are widely understood and spoken . However ethnic differences are and will remain challenging.
If you are based on the African continent, involved in creating and producing appropriate pieces of communication daily, the diversity barrier may appear insurmountable. Sitting in the audience surrounded by dozens of communicators from across Europe, The Middle East and Africa, it was apparent this is not a uniquely African one.
Los Angeles, that bastion of content creation, continues to grapple with an influx of people from countries representing different languages and cultures. Spanish is recognised as the second language and Mexican and South American cultures (add to this thousands descending on LA from every country across the globe) creates a virtual melting pot of consumers, a golden pot of opportunity if tackled sensitively and packaged correctly to meet the needs of a burgeoning and youthful audience demanding high levels of engagement and delivery.
At the risk of using a platitude – it’s about the content stoopid!
This to my mind, is where the opportunity to make a difference really sits. Consider those African creatives faced with a blank canvas and a brief to fill it with relevant content, packaged enticingly with a touch of entertainment, memorable and appropriate messages, able to reach millions of consumers irrespective of cultural persuasions.
It could well represent an African creative renaissance.
The Media Online is the official South African media partner of the African Cristal Festival.
Image: Wikimedia / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
