By Rutendo Matinyarare
PRIOR to my commitment to contribute to the growth of Zimbabwe, my marketing agency, #FrontlineStratMarketingConsultancy, had the privilege of working with prominent South African blue-chip companies and renowned US corporations, such as P&G (Procter & Gamble) and Intel and McKinsey.
My role involved deeply understanding their marketing, branding and communication challenges, and then providing comprehensive 360-degree solutions to create unbeatable engagements and experiences for them with my team.
One remarkable project we embarked on was for P&G, which aimed to attract the finest human talent from African universities ahead of well-known investment banks and blue-chip companies on the continent.
It was a competitive bid with other agencies, and after we submitted our strategy and designs, the competition fell away.
Now, for anyone who has studied marketing, P&G is one of the global benchmarks in marketing and branding. So, for my agency to have been chosen to help them in their executions, this was a highlight of my business career.
Our solution involved designing captivating campus activation stands to overwhelm the senses of students and ignite their desire to work for P&G before any other corporation.
Similarly, we assisted McKinsey in their own campus recruitment strategy by designing activation assets, posters, social media campaigns, building the stands and executing innovative recruitment strategies.
However, a profound shift occurred when I learnt of the exploitative practices of these Western corporations, which used a procurement management company called Point. They did not pay a deposit; they paid invoices after 120 days; and they didn’t even bank any of their money made in Africa, in Africa.
From here, I realised that I could no longer work for such exploitative and destructive companies because clearly they were not here to build Africa.
More critically, I realised that my country was in desperate need of branding and marketing services while I was busy serving imperialism.
It was at this point that I decided to serve Africa, starting with my own country and its badly battered image, which needed reputation management, brand management and the tackling of sanctions that are destroying the economy and tarnishing the national image.
What you have all been witnessing over the years is a national security defence strategy, coupled with a marketing and brand management campaign for Zimbabwe, on zero budget.
My choice to serve Zimbabwe stemmed not from desperation, but from love for my people, country and a desire to turn the nation’s fortunes around for the future of my children.
Despite my company’s ability to deliver world-class work that gains recognition and reward in highly advanced economies, I have made the conscious choice to utilise my talents to redeem and enhance Zimbabwe’s brand.
Zimbabwe is an amazing country, and we need to reshape our nation’s image and brand by telling its story. However, to achieve this, it must be a collective effort to invest top dollar in activations, communication campaigns and experiential marketing to reposition brand Zimbabwe on the world stage.
We have capable people, not just in Frontline but also in other Zimbabwean-owned agencies. However, we need the Government to invest in local agencies to work for brand Zimbabwe which cannot be done by Western agencies.
We need the Government to appreciate brand Ambassadors like Wodemaya who helped the Ministry of Tourism to win awards in Germany, by increasing Zimbabwe’s global share of mind.
My challenge to the Government is this: If you invested seven billion dollars into affirmative action groups in the 1990s, why not invest in companies that deliver good results for Zimbabwe without any grants or money from the Government?
