HOW OUR FUTURE IS BUILT ON OUR HERITAGE
For us at MultiChoice, as a proudly African business and Africa’s best-loved storyteller, the baseline of our storytelling is linked to our heritage. But our heritage is more than the tangibles – the food, the fashion, the customs. It is who and what we are at our core, imparted to us by those who came before us. Intangibles that resonate with our ethos such as the spirit of Batho Pele…. the principle of putting others first. And it is through storytelling that this heritage is nurtured and perpetuated, and ensures the transfer of knowledge from generation to generation. We believe in telling stories that not only touch lives and celebrate our continent, but that also impart key nuggets of our culture, diversity and heritage.
Every year, we create thousands of hours of original local stories across the continent. We ensure that these stories are rooted in our audiences’ life experiences, while examining what informs these experiences. For example, Mzansi Magic’s Gomora, is a series that explores the socio-economic struggles faced by ordinary South Africans and how they react to such struggles, thereby illustrating and celebrating the deep spirit of survival and resilience inherent in our culture. We use the power of entertainment to bring people together around a shared passion.
We do this by showcasing compelling local and international stories, and by creating and securing the rights to phenomenal content from all over the world. One of our many success stories has been the localization of international formats. When we adapt these formats, we make sure that the tonality of the shows truly reflects who we are. We remain authentically African, allowing our viewers to see themselves in the shows’ characters and their journeys. Fine examples of this are SA Idols on Mzansi Magic, My Kitchen Rules SA on M-Net 101, and Boer Soek ‘n Vrou on KykNet. Some great localised International formats to look out for in the next few months are: Wie Word ‘n Miljoenêr on KykNet – planned for October 2021, BBC Lifestyle’s Come Dine With Me South Africa – planned for November 2021, and MasterChef South Africa – planned for January 2022 on M-Net 101.
These are our stories. And that is how our heritage determines and shapes our story as a business. As an advertiser on DStv, the question you need to ask yourself is “How do I fit into this story?” There is a number of considerations to be explored when answering this question. Let’s review them:
- The tone of the story Tone is all about the language of the story. It’s the genre of music used, the setting of the story, the different types characters depicted. To gain and maintain integrity, brands need to fit seamlessly into the tone of the story, ensuring relevance to the viewer.
- Environment – the world of story Environment is about the theme of the story. This talks to the landscape of where and when the story lives (timelines, geographic settings etc.). Advertisers must ensure that they don’t show up in a theme that doesn’t resonate with their brand principles. Contextuality Is essential.
- Brand/Product fit: An example of a perfect brand/product fit was the inclusion of Tiger Brands products in the first season of Food Network’s Street Food In Africa – a perfect pairing – Look out for Everyday WOW with Chef Katlego and Celebrate! with Chef Nti – both planned for March 2022. Brands do, however need to think beyond the obvious, and find creative ways of being a part of any story that meets their objectives (e.g. audiences) – an example of this is the integration of VW (car brand) in Master Chef SA S3 (a cooking show).
- The partnership must be more than just a transaction A winning partnership between brand and story includes various aspects of the relationship – from PR to on the ground activation support.
- Total video is the way to go! Brands need to follow the story across the various platforms in our ecosystem for consistency and longevity. You need to be anywhere, everywhere and on every platform to get your message across to your target audience.
As the advertising sales arm for MCG, we at DStv Media Sales are committed to giving our advertisers the best value across all platforms available in our ecosystem – ensuring that they reach our audiences anywhere, anyhow, and anytime. Our digital transformation journey is in full swing, confirming the evolution of our business from a Television ad sales business to a Total Video ad sales business. In line with this, we’re building a media consortium, comprised of publishers (MultiChoice-owned and operated, as well as third party networks), technology partners, industry bodies, and our advertisers.
This development will allow us to take our partners along on our transformation journey as we expand our product sets across our audiences, platforms, devices and territories (in compliance with consumer data privacy acts and laws of the land across the continent). Another exciting innovation to look out for is our Over-the-top Dynamic Ad Insertion (OTTDAI) solution, which will enable addressability capability by inserting separate ads into the same programme at the same time on different platforms (specifically setup box and DStv App). Game-changing in every way. We are committed to enabling an effective touch-point for our advertisers and to keep telling the African story that empowers and excites our audiences, reminding them of our beautiful and colourful heritage.
