The future of marketing is in storytelling- Moses Kemibaro

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 4 – Discussions on digital marketing are very key for most businesses whose dependent on social media and digital platforms is inevitable at a time when most consumers rely on digital platforms for nearly everything.

In the first of the thirteen series of marketing podcasts done under a partnership between Capital FM, Diageo-owned East African Breweries Limited, and  Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK), Head of Media Futures at EABL, Waithera Kabiru talks to Moses Kemibaro, Founder and CEO of Dotsavvy, Kenya’s first digital business agency and he is among the earliest adopter of technology who provides deep insights on e-commerce opportunities.

The Podcast discussion features among others, the growth of digital marketing, digital trends, challenges in digital marketing transformation and eCommerce opportunities.

Kemibaro was the Regional Manager for Opera Ads in East Africa, the Commercial Manager for East Africa at the Perform Group, now known as DAZN and Perform Content, as well as the Sales Director at InMobi for Africa where he led sales in Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, and Ghana.

In the Podcast with Waithera, he provides essential tips for marketers in the dynamic digital space and gives a forecast of the future of digital marketing which he predicted would be focused on storytelling.

Here is Kemibaro’s insights on some of the challenges experienced in digital marketing transformation today:

A lot of clients in the early days and today need is education, being digital is always evolving and changing, sometimes quite dramatically, now people talk about web 3.0, we are now beyond 2.0.

For instance in the early 2000s, when we (Dotsavvy) were more of a web agency, we were focused on building websites, and then fast forward to 2008, social media happened and we were completely unequipped to deal with the transitions.

So what I have learnt is that there is the element of educating the client but you too must be a practitioner and learn what the new platforms and methodologies are.

From a marketing standpoint, what I am learning more and more is that as opposed to before, when you would find senior managers delegate duties within digital space..we need to be practitioners across the board, learn the inner workings of what we do in this digital space so that we can be able to effectively lead it into the next practices.

How do you stay on top of the digital trends

For me, its more from doing, right now when you look into, say the podcasting space, you need to create the podcast and learn how it works.

I believe you have to learn, there are many resources online for instance podcasts, youtube, free programs where market leaders share insights.

What are some of your favorite podcasts?

GaryVee(Gary Vaynerchuck), Steve bartlett, and Digiday.

What does marketing in a digital world mean to you?

Marketing is not mutually exclusive-we need to bring everything to work together.

Traditional media has its place…But we now have a digital-first consumer who was created during the COVID-19 pandemic

The modern consumer is more competent, what it means is that we need to use digital in a very interesting way, with that perspective, marketers need to evolve their approaches,

For instance regarding privacy- we have laws in Kenya and the issue of consented data and platforms like Google, Facebook and Apple are changing that game, we should be digitally aware whether we are crossing the right lines or not, for the first time almost globally, digital has become the centre of everything.

You were an early adopter of eCommerce, What do see as an eCommerce opportunity in Kenya, Africa

It feels reel, we were evangelizing e-commerce back in 2000, meaning it’s happening at scale. In the context of social media posts, it is also a form of eCommerce.

We need to pay attention to its importance, I see an opportunity whereby as data becomes the main way of engaging consumers, first-party data gets more important, you need to have someone’s phone number, email address, and direct connection.

The use of Cookies is going away…

While it feels important to build e-commerce on other people’s platforms, having a platform when you sell directly to clients has never been important.

You have talked about direct selling to consumers. How feasible is that?

It has become a lot easier, there are many companies providing building blocks.

For instance, Sendy and DHL provide logistics, Wells Fargo offering e – enabled products that allow you to integrate directly to your website, and PesaPal, DPO, and Cellulant provide payment options.

What should market leaders think about today about the possible uncertainties in the future?

There needs to be more experimentation, try new things of practices that can transform businesses.

What the pandemic shows is that you should be ready to change even if you are not ready, you transition your model and practices very quickly.

Marketers should be willing to try the new as opposed to the ‘tried and proven’ because sometimes it can be the basis of survival.

When Covid-19 struck, businesses that were resilient are surviving and thriving while those that were not ready for the transition are not.

The bottom line is the idea that you make sure you are willing to change but also use a data-driven lens to try and understand what works and what does not.

Also, the heart of it is being able to experiment with different variations of creatives to be able to connect with this kind of digital consumer out there and try to connect with them in new creative ways- the magic of art and science.

How do you grow relationships with clients?

In advertising, we says a good campaign does not come out of a good strategy but a good relationship between a client and agency

We need to have honest authentic conversations and be able to tell the client when an idea does not make sense and be able to have those difficult conversations.

A good relationship is everything- it lets the creativity, ambitions, and budget comes through.

With good relationships, any media, marketing agency that works within digital context will always find excitement and there is risk-reward.

What campaign, in the last 12-18 months has captured your attention locally or internationally?

Localization of the Spotify campaign, I like the way they brought the concept of their campaign in a colloquial language, they brought home the concept in a Kenyan way

What are your favourite songs?

I am an Afrobeats kind of person, maybe its appealing to my African nature

I like Burna boy, Tems, Adenkunle Gold, Wizkid…

I could say Burna boy’s on the low is my favourite song.

Let’s talk about mental health for entrepreneurs. How do you pick up yourself up after failures?

That is kind of tough, a lot of work comes with coming up with digital concepts, things that are not conventional (new, different dynamic), and not everyone gets it.

Sometimes when you bid for work and your agency don’t get picked even if you think you had the and strongest concept

For me, What I always realise especially here in Kenya, East Africa, I tend to see that the glass is half full, meaning we have not exhausted the potential. Even if the rejection is nine out of ten, What it means is that there is a massive upside or potential market out there.

For me, it’s a mathematical game of saying fine, we didn’t win but we got to keep the momentum, for one that you didn’t get, there is much out there.

What have you learned from your father who was also an entrepreneur?

That If you put in the work and love what you do, then the reward follows eventually..

What would you say is the next evolution in digital?

What I am seeing is one simple thing- the story- Everything is about the story,

Social audio- clubhouses, Twitterspaces… is changing radio spaces

More importantly, I am seeing a strong convergence between content and commerce,  if you look at what is happening globally, most of the content platforms are building native commerce platforms

That is going to be an interesting moment for brands, if the story is strong and you combine with commerce and overlay it onto digital, the brands that tell the strongest stories are going to drive the best commercial outcomes and that is going to be huge.

For me that is huge, you will see a media house become a major player in selling retail, you will see retail players investing in the content business.

The convergence of content and commerce is going to be massive!

Click to listen to the First Episode of Moses Kemibaro’s Podcast hosted by Waithera Kabiru, the Head of Media Futures at EABL

This Podcast is a partnership between Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK), EABL and Capital FM

About Moses Kemibaro:

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