By George Wabweyo
This piece is about Advertising and Marketing, but first let’s talk music; after all, they are pretty much one and the same. Like advertising, music relies on strategy, good writing, outstanding multi-media production, brand image, media relations, strategic partnerships and of course, consistency.
Back in the early 2000s when Musician Jose Chameleone was ruling the airwaves with hit after hit, his brother Pius Mayanja, now widely known as Pallaso, called himself Lizard; because he was trying to mold his music career based on his brother’s career. Did it work for him back then? No, it didn’t! Despite having his debut song “Mudigidde” in heavy rotation on several local radio stations, he remained a nondescript eclipsed by his brother’s shadow. He then migrated to the United States of America and resurfaced lukewarmly in 2008 rebranded as Pallaso. Still, he had no presence and his title was still “Chameleone’s other brother.”
It wasn’t until 2014 that Pallaso finally registered Amaaso, his first bonafide hit alongside The Goodlyfe Crew made up of his Brother Humphrey “Weasel” Mayanja and The Late Moses “Moze Radio” Ssekibogo. Even then, he was still in his brothers’ shadows. Finally, in 2015 he released the chart-topping “Go Down Low,” alongside Sheeba Karungi and made it clear that he as truly a force to be reckoned! Remember that Sheeba Karungi was once also just another “nobody” dancing in Obsession videos. Today, she widely recognized as one of the top Ugandan artistes of the past decade.
Back to Pallaso; in the last two years, he has been churning out hit after hit and is generally lauded as the male artiste of 2020-2021 covid-19 pandemic era (a time when the entertainment industry was stifled by lockdown measures). It has taken him close to 20 years to climb to the top of the Ugandan music charts and mark his spot there. How many marketers or advertising practicioners have the patience and resolve to play the long game like Pallaso?
Now, aren’t you glad that we get back to talking Advertising and Marketing instead of writing artistes’ biographies? Well, patience has never been a common virtue in marketing and advertising circles today, though it should be. What do marketers want? Results, sales, top of mind brand awareness, visibility, brand recognition…when do they want them? Now-now! And if it can’t be got now? Well, let’s move on to something else! Unfortunately, building brands that sell themselves doesn’t exactly work like that.
What Marketers and Advertisng practitioners need is tons of Pallasoism: accepting and letting go of failure while patiently accumulating small wins until they come together like pieces of a jig-saw puzzle to form “The Big Picture,” which inadvertently is big brand status.
Companies Rise or Fall on How Well They Renew Their LeadersIn 2004, Kevin Roberts, the then CEO of advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi published a book titled Lovemark: The Future of Brands, in which he asserts that humans are powered by emotions, rather than logic and thus brands need to appeal to their customer’s emotion for them to have an edge over their competitors. But he didn’t stop there, he mapped the journey to being a Lovemark, a journey that clear shows that one need to patiently chip away at the block for years and perhaps even decades to finally arrive at “Lovemark” status. Think of it as a journey up a stairway with each step marking a milestone: you start from being unknown, to being known, to being known for something, to being known for good things, known for things customers care about, known for things that are different and finally, boom…Lovemark Status!
It’s not just a banner or artwork, it is not just a campaign or advert, it is not just good service or chest thumping about good service, it is a journey of courting customers consistently. While there are women who court men today, being a suitor is still predominantly a man’s affair and so men understand the pitfalls of courtship. A man will shoot his shot at a woman he likes and receive outright rejection or a lukewarm response. He will take in the loss, apply guerilla warfare by running back to the bushes to regroup and strategize. After sometime, he will come back and shoot his shot, only to be rejected again. I mean, most men who are successful with women, tend to be persistence artists…they lose some, they in some but ultimately, they get the girl.
There are no shortcuts to building brands that sell themselves, you have to walk that line, fall, pick yourself up and do it all over again like Pallaso or a man with the hots for a beautiful woman. Patience + Resilience + Consistency=Brand wins!
The Swahili say “kizuri chajiuza, kibaya chajitembeza,” which roughly translates to “a good thing sells itself, a bad thing must be advertised.” That’s enough said for a parting shot!
George Wabweyo is the Creative Director of Volcanic Creative, a boutique Design and Communication studio.
