July 6, 2022 | by Anyan
I got my first expat offer in 2019. They offered $10k to become Exec Creative Director in a major agency in Kenya. In contemplating my career, I always knew a day like that would come but when it did, I wasn’t ready. Staring at the email, reality dawned on me. Saying yes would mean being separated from family and my…
March 18, 2021 | by Anyan
Roman is one of the most extraordinary clients I’ve had the pleasure of working with. For some years he was the head of the Nescafe Business Unit across the entire West Africa. That’s a very powerful and important role to occupy in the Nestle world. That’s why Roman’s easy-going, super-friendly super chill, super cool and super inclusive style of leadership…
February 18, 2021 | by Anyan
Once Upon A Time... Globally, Publicis is NESTLÉ’s Agency Of Record. The relationship is a very strong one forged decades ago at the center of both businesses in Vevey. Even though NESTLÉ in local markets can decide to rope in other vendors for other specialized tasks, it’s a very unlikely thing that they’ll do away with Publicis altogether unless perhaps…
February 8, 2021 | by Anyan
My first Creative Director opportunity came from a relatively smaller agency. But what they lacked in size they compensated for in their offer; the role and the package. The most attractive thing was the greater opportunity and prospect; I had done years at a big traditional agency and this new smaller one was a digital one. I relished the experience…
January 18, 2021 | by Anyan
The most notorious client mantra I’ve heard goes; “Activation, not masturbation!” The thinking is; let’s be ruthless in ensuring that no decision is made for our pleasure and for the sake of feeling good at the expense of efforts that actually and truly reflect the sentiment of our clients. This ties in to the my most brutal feedback, which came a few…
January 5, 2021 | by Anyan
My first shoot was for a $10k commercial in Accra a few years back. I’m thinking about it now on a $500k set in Joburg and realizing how quickly time flies. Even though it’s my 9th time in Africa’s Valhalla of production, the attention to detail and slick techniques never gets lost on me. Travelling is something every young creative…
November 20, 2020 | by Anyan
You’ll be amazed the speed with which companies make decisions based on evidence that you are changing or will change your buying considerations. We pore through Brand Health Trackers (BHTs) and Consumer Reports looking for trends, connecting dots, decoding new developments in how you’re now choosing to spend your GHC 1. The Wazobia Effect The most significant learning, which has…
November 18, 2020 | by Anyan
Every now and then, someone posts a grainy ad from the 90s with great adulation. They arouse nostalgic feelings and everyone starts talking about the good old days when ads were so much better and more memorable. I think it could be because of these two reasons; The Media Landscape; Then vs Now. We’ve come from a non-24 hour one-tv…
October 18, 2020 | by Anyan
I love helping out SMEs, but it’s hard work. Hair-pulling work. Count 1-10 before answering work. What makes it worth though, is when there is willingness to understand. I recently did some work for a client who came back with his fourth round of reverts. As I took time to explain best practices, I saw how this could be beneficial…
October 18, 2020 | by Anyan
Many businesses looking for creative communication solutions act like caterers at a low budget Ghanaian wedding; so precious about the food with a false sense of omnipotence. “Answer this poorly written pitch brief in three working days. I’m not able to answer most of your questions in detail because it’s not my job to make your job easy and I don’t…
October 8, 2020 | by Anyan
In the beginning, it was just a cool way of letting someone know that you enjoyed their post. Aggregated, it has become proof that a person is indeed popular. The people who need this most are ‘Influencers’ who make a ton of money because brands believe they have the ears of their precious consumers. The fact that more than 75% of…
October 2, 2020 | by Anyan
The biggest advertisers in Ghana are Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies, followed by telcos. Even FMCGs that don’t spend on advertising agencies have huge media budgets. There is a much greater desire to reach consumers than to reach them with effective creative communication. Also the professional association for advertising agencies (AAG) doesn’t have the power to regulate the quality…
September 18, 2020 | by Anyan
We have a rich heritage of storytelling. Before behavioral change became a thing, we cracked that code, leveraging the insight of superstition to create ‘taboos’ that compel desirable behavior. This kind of background should have been the unfair advantage that made it easy for our advertising to gain global recognition, and yet a creative work from Ghana is yet to…
September 18, 2020 | by Anyan
A major setback to advertising in Ghana is that some of the most talented creatives would rather freelance than work in an agency. This is at the same time when agencies are ready to pay top dollar for top talent; something is definitely not adding up. Being creative director at a major international agency with many freelancer friends does give…
September 9, 2020 | by Anyan
I’m paid to use creativity in solving business issues. To be creative is to be empathetic and emotional. It’s much easier to create compelling work when you can feel what it’s like to be your target consumer. Certainly, this emotional disposition also makes you vulnerable. Couple that with advertising as a high-pressure terrain dominated by ridiculous timelines, impossible clients, frequent blunt –and…
September 2, 2020 | by Anyan
I am in a weird position; benefitting from a system many friends are frustrated by. I’ve been given opportunities by the same management they are disappointed in. And for a few years now I’ve been part of management teams and also great friends to people who distrust management more than a shattered romantic distrusts her silver-tongued ex. It is uncomfortable, but…
August 25, 2020 | by Anyan
Last week, I was part of a meeting discussing major advertising activities my client should invest in across the region for the rest of the year. It was an important meeting with key stakeholders in attendance; one was a new management team member who had just joined from another region on the continent. When the client announced she doesn’t plan…
August 18, 2020 | by Anyan
The Dream When you see the rate card your agency sends client, and compare it to the salary you make at month’s end, you don’t even know what to think of your employer anymore. What kind of Cinderella step mother syndrome is this? And you think, maybe I should start my own shop and rake in all that cash, after…
