The two agencies will now be formally squaring it out for a share of the local advertising spend estimated to be valued at more than Sh65 billion/COURTESY
Following a rigorous vetting process, Media Edge Interactive, the advertising arm at Media Edge Group, a fast growing, indigenously owned integrated marketing communications house and BluePrint Marketing, an Ogilvy Kenya subsidiary have been formally admitted into the Advertising Practitioners Association (APA) membership roll.
The two agencies will now be formally squaring it out for a share of the local advertising spend estimated to be valued at more than Sh65 billion with pride of place as official APA members.
According to media research house Ipsos Synovate, Kenya’s advertising spend on radio, television, newspapers and cinema grew by 33 percent to hit the Sh65.4 billion mark last year, up from Sh49 billion in 2010.
Ipsos Synovate further confirmed that within the second quarter of this year, media spending had also grown by 33 percent to close at Sh16 billion mark.
Counting 15 fully fledged members, the APA is the umbrella advertising forum that strictly enforces advertising standards through adherence to a code of conduct and advocates for professionalism among its members.
Speaking while presenting the APA charter to Media Edge Group Managing Director Esther Ngomeli, APA Chairman Monty Dhariwal confirmed that the two agencies have been admitted as part of the association’s strategy to open up membership to specialist agencies.
“APA has been undertaking a rigorous review of all recent membership applications and we are proud to confirm the admission of the two agencies as part of our efforts to raise the quality of service provision,” Dhariwal explained.
He added: “Both Media Edge Interactive and BluePrint Marketing have met and surpassed the evaluation board criteria confirming that they deserve a place on the APA roundtable.”
To attain APA recognition, existing agencies are required to meet the minimum and rigorous criterion which focuses on financial operations, professional management and ethical operating standards. APA currently boasts of leading practitioners in the industry among its panel of members.
Commenting on the accreditation, Media Edge Interactive Group Managing Director Esther Ngomeli described the APA membership as part of the firm’s strategy to attain local and international operating benchmarks.
“Within the last three years, MediaEdge Interactive has been actively pursuing various local and international professional certifications in our quest to benchmark ourselves against international best practices,” Ngomeli pointed out.
And added: “We are pleased to be joining APA which provides us with a platform for peer to peer engagement and chance to effectively contribute to Kenya’s advertising industry development. As a team, we have painstakingly built this company brick by brick for over a decade as we strived to position the firm as a bastion of quality and unparalleled service to our widening client base, which now counts several blue chip companies.” Ngomeli was accompanied at the accreditation ceremony by Sandeep Sura, Creative Director of MediaEdge Interactive.
As a fast growing integrated communications Agency; MediaEdge Group incorporates Media Edge Interactive, Outdoor Care Kenya, and Reel Edge Productions. The group is also in its final stages of rolling out a fully-fledged Public Relations company.
Earlier this year, APA, announced proposed reforms to cover the highly competitive client pitching process in far reaching guidelines aimed at improving current market practices. The proposals are still undergoing discussions by the APA leadership council.
Part of the suggested guidelines include the need for recognition of resources and time that agencies deploy into marketing pitches by requiring clients to extend a rejection fee to agencies whose proposals are deemed unsuccessful. The move is intended to encourage more focused pitches, as well as modest but fair reward for access to ideas through tender processes; an internationally accepted model under intellectual property guidelines.
