Mrs. Germénia had arrived from a trip with her children to Chimoio. She was returning home to her husband.
For years she had been married to a foreign farmer who invested in plantations in central Mozambique, near Catandica.
Her husband, Mr. Mike, does not speak a word of Portuguese. Nor of any local dialect. Only English and Afrikaans.
Mike, happy with the return of his family and very excited to show them the surprise he had for them, shouted:
- I didn’t know! I didn’t know!
(He whistled calling out).
Dona Germenia looked at her husband, wondering.
Mike kept calling out:
- I didn’t know! I didn’t know!
A dog came running up to meet him.
The wife asked Mike: - Didn’t you know ?
- That’s his name -, answered Mike.
- Didn’t you know ? -, asked his wife.
- Yes, I didn’t know. I asked the guard. He told me.
The wife, very confused, called the farm guard and asked him what was going on. What name was that …
The guard, old Filimone, was from Chimoio. He didn’t speak Portuguese either, just a little English. Just enough to get along with Mr. Mike.
He answered promptly in Ndau, his native language, which Germénia understood.
- Ma’am, Boss Mike asked the name of the dog and I answered “I didn’t know”!
- But who brought the dog?
- Ma’am, they delivered it to me like that with that name.
- Who delivered it? she asked.
- The shepherd Jonas who brought the dog. I asked him and he said “I didn’t know”.
And that is how the dog’s name has remained to this day: Didn’t Know. A nice dog that you can call by its name. All you have to do is call Don’t Know! and he comes right away.
This is a true story.
The local truth
The story of Did You Know is also the story of the journey of many global brands and advertisers.
Who arrive, and will arrive, to the Mozambican market without knowing how to do it, and do not know the importance of local thinking in marketing.
In a world where business is global, local has never been more important. It is not enough to do superficial research and ask a local for the right directions.
You run the greatest risk, that of being told the truth: I didn’t know. And of that truth being interpreted by global companies that didn’t know and being the thesis substantiated with the proof of documents and research reports for the approval of things they don’t know that don’t work.
Global brands have to be local. Have tremendous sensitivity.
Know that consumers trust big global brands but locally value relationships based on their community more.
The best business models are based on global best practices as long as they are deeply rooted in local culture insights. Marketing has to imitate life
There is no point in running a campaign for the brand if it is called Rabo Bank or the Dutch crap Technics or the Chinese restaurant chain Xi-Xi. And so on.
The best business models are based on global best practices as long as they are deeply rooted in local culture insights. Marketing has to imitate life.
You never go from the outside in. You go from the inside out. This which seems logical in language, applies to globalization.
Just a few years ago, Mozambique didn’t know how quickly the whole world would reach our isolated cultural island in southeast Africa.
The question is whether we will make Mozambique reach out to the world.
Whether these opportunities that people didn’t know about can be the great opportunity to “sell” the Mozambique brand on a global scale, and all the good things it has. Communicate Mozambicanness through all marketing communications.
Marketing has to imitate life. Because with that, local brands win. The economy wins.
Every Mozambican will be able to shout without having to raise his voice and proudly say: I am Mozambican. It has always been known that a great campaign changes the mood of a company.
It motivates employees. It makes consumers gain admiration, generates a wave of positive energy with immeasurable results.
And now with the pandemic repeating the same thing every day those who do it stand out. Change the subject.
The same applies to a country’s brand. A great campaign can change the mood of Mozambique. Internally and globally.
That one great campaign is the sum of all the campaigns made by every local and global brand that operates in the national territory.
The story of Não Sabia, a friendly and affable dog, serves as a metaphor for the risks run by brands that do not give due importance to the enormous depth of local culture in all its aspects.
Today, Did Not Know is almost 14 years old. It is at an advanced age. And he has spent his whole life like this. It didn’t know. Nor will he ever know.
Don’t let the same thing happen to your brand.
