Squad Digital: Advertising solutions for the digital market

The first digital advertising firm in the country, Squad Digital, is a busy environment – an obvious point in any profit seeking venture.

Amongst its most celebrated solutions in the digital world is a predictive tool that advices brand managers how to respond to criticism or complaints on Twitter and get away with as little backlash on the brand as possible.

“While Twitter has become a very resourceful tool for brand managers, today it has also become an Achilles heel for them and we have seen brands take a beating on Twitter, which causes a lot of damage to the brand,” says Squad Digital General Manager Manish Sardana.

SMART TOOLs

“Our tool is a layer of analytical software that pick out a situation on Twitter and can essentially predicts how big or small the situation is going to be after a given period of time. Using this, we can tell brand managers whether to ignore a Tweet, respond to it personally, issue a statement or use other channels to give their side of the story,” explains Sardana.

The company, which ran the campaign-Bring Zack Home has been striving to challenge old age conceptions about advertising.

It uses native advertising where advertising content is infused in subtle forms of storytelling as opposed to the more intrusive posters and banners that have been the hallmark of the trade for decades.

The agency’s calling card- that has seen it win nine awards is an interactive multimedia content that combines colourful info-graphics, bold design and short animation with voice-overs.

Some of the notable clients the firm has managed to land include Safaricom, Kenya Airways, Philips and Equity Bank among others.

“Our ability to consume traditional media has gone down and people do not buy newspapers or watch television as much as they used to before we had digital media,” explains Sardana.

Sardana, however states that the advertising industry has not changed as much to adapt to shifting media landscapes. Until now.

“In the past companies did not have advertising teams or budgets to develop and execute digital marketing strategies. Now we have companies setting aside resources to cater to a growing online audience.”

Data from consulting firm PWC states that the growth rate in Kenya’s Internet market is twice that of television, print and radio combined between 2013 and 2017.

“This is not unique to Kenya but is a wave that has been moving through countries like India, China and now we are experiencing it here,” states Sardana.

Internet access

With reduced costs of internet access and the availability of more cheaper devices through which consumers can go online, more people now access content online necessitating a shift in medium for advertisers.

“The fact that we skipped the desktop straight to mobile also means you have to design solutions and products that are mobile friendly,” he explains.

One of the mantras at Squad Digital is mobile first where developers are expected to design their solutions with the mobile consumer in mind first before it is cleared for further development.

Sardana says aside from the promise of delivering content to the screen that consumers watch the most, digital advertising has some inherent benefits and value additions.

“Digital marketing is easily modifiable. This means that if you are working on an online marketing campaign and halfway into it you are not satisfied with the performance, it is easier to change than if you were doing newspaper or billboard campaign,” says Sardana.

In its five years of operation, Squad Digital has expanded to Dubai, Ghana, Tanzania and will soon be in Uganda. The company says it strives to market Kenyan designs and solutions in all these places.