I ran into an article in one of our dailies the other Sunday talking about how in just five years, sports betting in Kenya has grown from being unknown to an industry that made Sh20 billion in the 2016-17 financial year. In the article, economists explained this thriving betting industry is an indicator of, among other things, Kenyans’ optimism.
I don’t see it that way. Some background as to why I hold this dissenting opinion. In the last decade and a half, I’ve been a copywriter for a number of ad agencies on an in and out basis. For those who aren’t sure what a copywriter does, I am the guy who works with a team to come up with adverts meant to persuade you to buy crap you don’t need.
To help us home in on a target audience, we use market segmentation, which is dividing potential customers into groups. These are composed of consumers who will respond similarly to marketing strategies and who share traits such as similar interests, needs and geographical location.
There are a number of systems by which people are divided by marketers. One of them is the socio-economic or social grading system. This one classifies social status on an ABC scale, with social grade A representing the upper middle class, and E representing those at the lowest level in social status.
Another system is the Living Standard Measure (LSM). This one looks at standard of living and disposable income, segmenting the population into 10 groups based on their financial means, LSM 1 being the group with the least means, and 10 with the greatest.
Of course a marketer who takes his job too seriously will explain market segmentation like it was astrophysics, but what it basically boils down to is: people who can afford stuff. People with the means to beg and borrow to afford stuff. And people who couldn’t afford stuff even if they sold their kidney and a lung.
One segmentation system, however, is enlightening. It is based on Maslow’s famous Hierarchy of Needs, and it divides potential customers into seven types. I’ll limit myself to three of those types.
There’s the Aspirer type. These are materialistic, acquisitive people who are driven by others’ perceptions of them. Image counts and their core need is status, and so packaging (when marketing to them) is as important as what is in the package.
The Succeeder. They’re self-confident, goal-oriented and organised. They occupy positions of responsibility in society, and they’re at the top. When it comes to brands, they seek prestige and will go for the best because they feel they deserve it. Hence, advertising slogans like the Mercedes-Benz one: the best or nothing.
Then there’s the Struggler. Their attitude is, if they get on in life, it will depend more on a lottery ticket win than anything they do themselves. Strugglers see no way out, so they seek escape. Visual impact is an important element in their choice of brand and thus, it is no accident that every betting firm’s advert is brightly coloured.
Yes, this growing Struggler market segment is the gambling industry’s target market.
But I’m not looking at these Kenyans who are betting. Instead I’m looking at a society that has limited people’s options, such that the only thing that they can look to, rely on to get ahead, feed their families, have a good life, is a fluke.