Can you tell us about your activities?
BrindiD's main mission is to support advertisers in auditing their communications, designing and implementing communication strategies with strong and lasting impact, and finally transferring certain skills to the advertisers' teams.
We have noticed that in communications, both in the private and public sectors, campaigns or one-off actions aim to promote a product, brand, service, or behavior. As a result, consumers often feel like they are seeing the same things over and over again. Companies copy and paste, mistakenly believing that if it works for others, it will necessarily work for them.
Given the investments that are being made, at BrindiD we believe that communication should be able to induce purchases or encourage behaviors in a more subtle and effective way. This starts with a comprehensive audit, clear objectives, and an original strategy that aims above all to distinguish the brand, product, service, or behavior.
What do we mean by the word "digital" in advertising?
It's true that the word "digital," which is increasingly used, boils down for many advertisers to having social media accounts with more or less relevant content. To get to the original meaning, the word itself evokes, in the common sense, everything related to digital technology. In reality, it's much broader than that.
I would define it more as all the marketing and communication opportunities that enable a brand to create an experience for its targets and prospects using all available technologies.
Today, the rapid evolution of these technologies is leading to the emergence of "phygital," which is nothing more than the link between the physical and digital experiences. This shows that digital is no longer just a medium, but a real virtual world. Initially parallel to and ultimately completely intertwined with real life.
The example of the many marketplaces on the web demonstrates this. New retailers start their businesses by creating a virtual store before having a physical address, and end up with two types of markets that are constantly changing. "Digital" customers, with good digital marketing, become physical customers, and physical customers, with a good experience, join digital communities.
What role and importance should be given to social media, search, and banners?
Social media are good tools for bringing a community together around areas of interest, but if they are misused, they can produce the opposite of the desired results. For example, depending on the market and segment targeted, advertising that is too flashy can put off the target audience, who may feel bombarded or harassed. Although the brand may succeed in establishing itself in their minds, the desired behavior will never be achieved. Some even go so far as to create banners when the site you are redirected to when you click on them is not functional or does not relate to the information in the ad.
This brings us back to the fundamental importance of strategy before jumping in blindly. It is necessary to define objectives, targets, and, above all, relevant content that serves the brand by providing an experience for prospects and customers.
Can advertisers do without digital?
Today, doing without digital when you want to deliver messages is a big mistake. Studies show that consumers spend more time on their smartphones than on any other media, whether TV, radio, print media, etc.
Is digital alone sufficient today, or is it difficult to do without traditional media?
The choice of communication channels depends on many parameters that are defined in the strategy. The virtual world and the real world are so intertwined that the experience you want to create for your target audience justifies the use of certain channels. According to the Delta method developed by PSI, for example, the typical daily journey of the prospect profile defines the channels through which messages must pass.
Fifteen years ago, advertisers targeted young people through print media, among other channels. Today, that would be absurd. It is therefore necessary to constantly reflect on the complementarity between digital and traditional media, so that the user has the best possible experience.
What is the average budget that needs to be allocated to digital media to run a successful campaign?
As with the choice of media, the budget depends on several factors. Of course, there will always be advertisers who take a simplistic approach, correlating the budget invested with the expected impact, and there will always be agencies that want to get you to spend more by promising the moon, but impact is much more a question of strategy than budget.
Depending on the sector, the targets, the objectives, and the proposed concept, a big-budget campaign without a good strategy can have the same results as a low-cost campaign with a good strategy.
Can you tell us about a relevant campaign that you have seen?
I'm not going to talk about the campaigns I've worked on, but if there's one that caught my attention because of the relevance of its strategy and communication concept, it's the Kirène Group's "Let's commit to living better." In terms of the communication concept, they were able to instill in consumers' minds their avant-garde approach to issues such as ecology and health, making them forget that these are products packaged in plastic bottles. In terms of strategy and campaign deployment, they have succeeded in positioning themselves as defenders of consumer well-being and the environment.
Africa is a young continent! Today, if we look at Senegal, how do young people consume communication and advertising?
Young people are evolving very quickly. A few years ago, you had to reach them through digital media. Shortly after, you had to reach them by creating communities. With all these campaigns, young people today are sensitive to the most subtle advertisements when they come from afar. You can almost hear them saying, "Advertising, yes, but only if it is enriching, subtle, and really brings something new."
Digital technology allows borders to disappear. Through different types of content, young people can now consume an original advertisement from the United States or Europe, and a few seconds later find themselves watching an advertisement for local broth. The difference in quality may lead them to dream of the foreign product while devaluing the local product.
Are advertisers increasingly integrating the codes of the younger generation?
Yes and no. Of course, some advertisers are constantly learning about their target audiences in order to better reach them. For others, however, the codes of youth boil down to posting a viral video on TikTok for a few days. The problem with the latter is that they will never win the hearts of their target audiences.
It is this need to build a lasting identity among target audiences that inspired the name BrindiD, which can be understood as a strand of ideas, a strand of ID (referring to the brand identities we create), but also as "branded" in English.