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Why Focus Groups Aren’t Enough: A Surprising Lesson in Marketing Insurance in Africa
Building a customer-centric company naturally requires engagement with end users. But as digital insurance provider Inclusivity Solutions discovered, sometimes just speaking to customers is not enough. Tyler Tappendorf discusses how the company combined customer feedback with more quantitative data, after focus group input conflicted with real-world results in marketing campaigns in East Africa.
- Categories
- Inclusive Fintech
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The Downside to Being Nice: Why is the Social Sector Allergic to Comparative Advertising?
Unlike retailers and manufacturers that use advertising to build their brands and generate sales, the nonprofit and social business sectors are curiously allergic to spending money on advertising – and, more specifically, to saying, "We're better than our competitors, and this is why!" According to Charlie Bresler, former Men's Wearhouse president, this is a major mistake: Now executive director of the nonprofit The Life You Can Save, Bresler explores the reasons for this reluctance – and imagines what could happen if the social sector used comparative advertising to attract donors and investors.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
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Unilever threatens online ad cuts to clean up internet
“Unilever, as a trusted advertiser, do not want to advertise on platforms which do not make a positive contribution to society,” Weed plans to say, according to a copy of the speech seen beforehand.
- Categories
- Technology
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Turning Cassava into Gold: Small Producer Taps into Big Demand in Kenya
The founder and managing director of Mhogo Foods in Kenya has found a niche processing cassava into gluten-free flour, starch and animal feed, and sees a bright future for Kenyan cassava farmers and processors like herself. “Cassava is a drought-resistant crop not very hard to care for in the farm," especially when compared to maize, she said. "That is why I process it.”
- Categories
- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship
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The Olympics: Social Business Opportunity – or Expensive Distraction?
NB editor James Militzer can't stand the Olympics and he's found new reasons to especially hate this year's Games. Meanwhile, fellow editor Kyle Poplin loves the Olympics, thinks they're still relevant and that they can be used to solve global problems. Read their point-counterpoint and see where you come down on the spectrum.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, NextBillion Originals
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Can Pokemon Go Augment Global Health Reality?
We wondered if global health practitioners had hopes about the Pokemon Go craze helping to amplify their message, raise money and/or recruit volunteers and patients. So we reached out to some of NextBillion’s recent health care writers, asking them if they’ve thought of any practical applications Pokemon Go might have in the work that they do, day to day.
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- Health Care
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Taking a Match to Convention: A Podcast Chat with Matchboxology’s Cal Bruns
Cal Bruns left a successful career with advertising powerhouse Leo Burnett to found Matchboxology, a human-centered design consultancy with offices in Capetown and Johannesburg South Africa. He chats with NextBillion Contributing Editor Scott Anderson in the NextBillion podcast.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Health Care, NextBillion Originals
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Cigarette packs are being stripped of advertising around the world. But not in the US.
This week, the World Health Organization called on countries everywhere to step up the war on tobacco advertising and promotion by introducing plain, or standardized, packaging of tobacco products. "Plain packaging reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. "It kills the glamour, which is appropriate for a product that kills people."
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment
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