The Black Middle Class: An Aspiring Market

The black middle class in South Africa is arguably one of the most important markets, offering endless potential and continuous growth. A market that has grown from 1.7 million to 4.2 million in less than 10 years,  as more consumers strive for better jobs and lifestyles. This is a market that is admired for their aspirations more than the money they spend, despite the black middle class having average annual spend of over R400 billion.

Marketers have noticed this significant growth which has lead to an increase in adverts being blatantly targeted at unsuspecting consumers. The brands that have started targeting the black middle class range from cereals to banks to premium alcohols. The advertisements are made specifically to target this market's aspirations of being in the top end of the market and thus portray the lifestyle that is associated with it.

The new Amstel television ad tells the story of a young, black man who washes dishes at a premium restaurant with the hope of becoming a chef. The tale shows how this man realises his dream and opens his own restaurant, to then celebrate with an Amstel. This ad is a classic example of a brand targeting a market who have huge aspirations of success and how Amstel is the easiest way to show how successful you have become or plan to be, "Fake it until you make it".Click here to see this ad.

Another alcohol brand that has targeted the black middle class is Oude Meester premium brandy which has blatantly said that drinking this premium brandy is a symbol of "making it", being wealthy and successful. Like Amstel, Oude Meester is creating aspirations of being successful and the way to show this to society is to drink expensive brandy. Click here to see this ad

Why won't Steve join FNB already?

FNB have been using Steve in their radio ads for way to long. The annoying telecomm salesman from 'Beep Bank' was consistent but was always shot down. However every single person I spoke to was so sick-and-tired of the adverts that there was even talk of killing Steve if they could. Well now FNB has let go of Steve and introduced a whole bunch of impersonator celebrities to take his place, including David Beckham.

However FNB's commitment to this campaign could cause more damage than good, which is contradictory to the point of paying a lot of money to run an advertisement. The public has got to the point where they can no longer listen to the advert but despite this, FNB continues to furthering the campaign and now has competitions whereby the public must talk about the future of Steve.

I want to know if FNB does any market research before it pays for yet another ad. Despite the annoying factor, consumers have also started to notice the tacky low-blows aimed at competitor Absa bank. I mean everybody loves a bit of competition, look at Nandos and Santam taking a dig at each other, it was all above the belt and ended up being a challenge between the two brands. The Steve ads are just tacky, take Tessa's advise and can him.

I am your father...

This post is dedicated to the never ending Star Wars obsession, George Lucas is rolling in it (especially after selling the rights to Disney for $4 billion this year), and it's all thanks to several Sci-Fi movies. After more than 30 years since the first Star Wars movie was released, marketers are still using it as way to reach consumers and sell their product. We are all aware of the endless clothes, gadgets and games that are available, but I am talking about cars starting to use it.

First VW aired an advert for their new Passat during the 2011 Super Bowl. VW had a little boy dressed in a Vader outfit walking around trying to move object with his mind. After standing in front of the new Passat for a while, the headlights turn on, thanks to the father who turned on the lights from the kitchen with the help of the car key. This ad was extremely successful because of that feel-good moment that makes every viewer feel all warm and fuzzy inside, without rubbing the cars features in your face. VW were also able to target the right age group with this advert, as the Passat is a car for a young family, the father probably grew up watching Star Wars and this will resonate with him. This VW advert was the year's most viral ad campaign, 60 million views to be exact.Click here to watch it.

Now Nissan has jumped on the Star Wars band wagon and has just released a Star Wars advert for the new Nissan Juke. Admittedly this ad does not come near being as cool as the VW one, it's actually quite creepy and strange. It does make sense considering the market that Nissan is targeting and the message they are trying to communicate. Firstly this Juke is targeted at the Japanese who are huge Star Wars fans (surprising, but true... look it up), and secondly they are trying to emphasise how the Juke is customisable and does not need to come in one colour and look like every other car/ Storm Trooper out there. The idea behind this ad is below average and it seems Nissan are purely relying on the "Star Wars Factor" to make it cool.Click here to watch it. 

Either way this Star Wars epidemic is far from over, especially with Disney bringing out a new movie soon. All it means is that more age groups will be aware of Star Wars and consequently more age groups will be marketed.

Hello and Welcome...

This first post serves as an introduction to the author, yours truly, as well as to give some insight as to what you can expect to see on this blog.

My name is Chad Otto and having been interested in art all my life, I decided to go into a creative field of study. I did not want to go study Fine Arts as I had the perception that it was something with limited option, namely; be a poor artist and become famous when you croak, or become an art teacher. Neither option seemed very appealing to me and therefore opted for advertising. I went to study a BA in Creative Brand Communications majoring in Visual Communications at Vega Johnnesburg. That is quite a mouthful, but what it basically means is I created all the imagery, graphics and concepts associated with a brand and its campaign. This includes logos, business cards and signs, print ads, TV ads, clothing, flyers, packaging etc etc. Having that background I decided to do Post Grad Marketing at UCT to be able to stay in the same field but have the ability to move around, preferably up.

This brings me to the contents of this blog; as you may have assumed by the title, I will be discussing all that is advert and brand related within a South African context. Thus I will talk about some of my most hated ads, my favourite ads and some cool ideas in between

DISCLAIMER: This blog is purely based on my "educated" opinion and therefore is not based on facts, so do not engage yourself in heated arguments about something you may have read on this blog as it may lead you be very wrong and consequently look like an idiot.

That being said, I will try keep everything interesting, so stop by regularly and try enjoy it.

Just Joking- it’s Chad