Z-Card examines prospects in Africa

“When deciding on a new African market we first appoint a local distributor to contract sales. Once we have the volume, we look at local production,” she explains.

ZAMI has found that there are clusters of African countries that work together, making production more viable in these areas, for example. “ZAMI ensures that its distributors are local, as they speak the local lingo and already understand the market in which they operate,” says Davis.

PocketMedia applications have been used across various industry sectors. “The telecoms and financial sectors particularly, both enormous growth sectors in Africa, have enjoyed tremendous success utilising Z-Card applications,” says Davis.

A high number of Africans own cell phones, opening up opportunities for PocketMedia to communicate a variety of information from user guides and product ranges to mobile services, ring tone and music downloads, prepaid air time, SMS competitions, Mobile TV, coverage maps and roaming etc.

Africa's banking sector has also seen growth, however, according to ZAMI, with only 20% of the continent now having their own bank account the potential for further growth is huge. As this figure continues to increase, the need for handy communication applications also rises. “Marketers will have to communicate with inexperienced banking consumers, to create awareness and educate them about various banking procedures,” says Davis.

“ATM user guides, cell phone banking instructions, how to open an account, the benefits of having a bank account, different services including credit and cheque accounts offered by banks or financial institutions are just a few of the topics marketers and advertisers are able to explain via engaging PocketMedia applications,” says Davis.

“Gone are the days where a traditional brochure is all you have on offer. Consumers change with the times, as must the methods that marketers use to communicate with and engage them.”