Cultural Marketing

I noticed a fantastic Nokia billboard yesterday while driving around Maputo Province on several farm visits. Someone in their marketing department has caught on to the idea that cell phones in Africa many times serve a very important dual function: not only are they used to communicate, they are used as a source of light.

The ad features the image of two people riding bicycles along a dusty road in the night. You can barely make out their silhouettes, but the path in front of the bicycles is nicely illuminated by what looks to be a headlamp.

The text at the top of the billboard is as follows:

É humano ver para onde se vai.
Por isso a Nokia desenha telefones com lanterna.

(It's human to see where one is going. That's why Nokia designs telephones with flashlights.)

The ad then goes on to list three features of the cell phones:

• Long-life battery
• Flashlight with just one press of a button
• Anti-dust coating

I find it beyond cool that Nokia has created such a spot-on campaign for the reality of cell phone use in Mozambique.