Description
The advert selected to be analyzed is from the telecommunication sector and for a company called Safaricom. The advert is dealing with a bank account interrelated with a mobile phone. The service as advertised is called M-kesho. The service is the world’s first bank account on a mobile phone that aims at helping small-scale traders to save without going to the bank. The service was started by equity bank and Safaricom to target customers who held bank accounts with equity and were members of M-Pesa but they were not saving due to bank charges. M-kesho banking enables the customer to access money for business purposes, pay bills and save money for future use from the mobile without visiting a bank. The holders of M-kesho accounts are eligible for credit facilities through their phones from the equity bank.
Strategy
The Safaricom and equity bank Strategy is to provide services and products to all people regardless of their levels of income. Safaricom and equity banks aimed to target low-income earners such as cooks, watchmen, babysitters, and many other low-income earners who can not afford bank charges. Safaricom company realized that this person was unable to save or hold a bank account because of many reasons. They also discovered that the small income earners have no incentives to help them boost their needs, unlike large income earners. Some of the reasons which made it difficult for them to hold an account in any financial institution included minimum balance, monthly fees charged on the account, high-interest rates offered and no loan facilities were available for them (Clow, 3).
M-kesho has come up and helped solve this problem by creating an M-kesho account and as such has helped Safaricom to realize their strategy.
Identification of target market
Kenya is a growing economy that is now playing a significant role in the overall African economy. The Kenyan people are low-income earners which means that the M-Kesho will have a large number of customers. However, the market still has key market segments which can easily be differentiated from the other.
The first segment includes those who are high-income earners. Thus they seek banks that are not only safe but also are convenient in helping to save time. For them, the most important factor is the quick service delivery and safety of their money.
The second market segment includes those who are conscious of their bank accounts but can not afford bank charges. M-kesho account targets the second group and enables them to save. The account holders are then able to access this money through their phone at any time.
M-Kesho account has enabled the common man to enjoy the benefits of holding an account at a financial institution at a manageable cost. The service is beneficial to low-income earners and can access credit facilities at better rates than any other account holder. They can also save a small amount for anticipated future use like paying medical bills and other emergencies as they may arise.
Features of M-Kesho Account
No minimum balance is required – M-Kesho account holder has no limits to their account. They can use to the last cent without any fear. This enables the customer to easily access all his money in the account. The new customers can easily open the account with whatever amount they wish to save as no deposit is required.
No Monthly fee- M-Kesho service providers have no monthly fee deductions to their users. Therefore the customer is assured to use every cent in her account without worrying about negative balances. This encourages new clients to open this account and has greatly increased the market for M-kesho account holders rather than others.
-Loan facilities – M-Kesho offers loan facilities to its customers more quickly and reliably. This loan facility has enabled customers to deal with emergency cases in more encouraging ways. The cost of obtaining these loans is fair as compared to other facilities available in the market (Schultz, Tannenbaum, and Lauterborn, 2004).
Personal Insurance – M-Kesho offers personal insurance to all its clients. This has made this new product to the market to penetrate so faster and increase its clientele base. New customers are more than willing to have this account (Grimlin, 78).
No fee to deposit from M-Pesa to M-Kesho account – The zero charges to its customers have made it to be acceptable to many customers.
Why this product will succeed
M-kesho account has shown high success in the market. This is because the company has a high clientele base in the market. The product although new in the market has experienced faster penetration. This is because there is a lot of awareness through the media and other advertisements (Gonring, 5: Grogan, 75).
M-Kesho has a high competitive advantage because currently there is no such product in the market. Therefore it’s a monopoly and does not receive any competition.
M-Kesho has good business results. Safaricom had carried extensive market research on the requirements of this account. This enabled them to take into account the needs of small-scale income earners and come up with the product (Ridgeway, 6; Rossiter, 45). This has influenced the target market to prefer the product more easily and go for it. Issues like minimum balance and zero charges influence them further. Because of this, the shares of Safaricom Company have high value in the stock market.
The M-Kesho advertisement illustrates that people in fewer income areas are socially construed as people who bury their saving under a tree but with M-Kesho they will change this behavior. People act based on what they see in society, and advertisements manipulate people’s ability to distinguish between fact and fiction. The M-Kesho advert will change this perspective of the society encourage people with less amount of income to save.
Works Cited
Clow, Kenneth. Integrated Advertising, Promotion and Marketing Communications. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2009.
Gonring, Matthew. Global Megatrends Push IMC Concepts to Forefront of Strategic Business. Journal of Integrated Communications, 2005.
Grimlin, Debra. Body Work: Beauty and Self Image in American Culture.California: University of California Press.2002
Grogan, Sarah. Body Image: Understanding Body Dissatisfaction in Men, Women, and Children. NY: Sage.2005
Ridgeway, Tylka. Media and Women Body Image. Journal of Human Psychology 22(4), pg 234-237.2009.
Rossiter, John. Advertising Communications and Promotion Management. New Jersey: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2005.
Schultz, Don, Tannenbaum, Stanley & Lauterborn, Robert. The new marketing paradigm: integrated marketing communications. New York: NTC Business, 2004.
Vargas, Danny. Integrated Marketing Communications, An Effective, Comprehensive Approach. London: Business Ventures, 2008.