Character Development or Lessons Learned from Working with Advertising Agencies

In life, everything seems to go wrong when we humans set unrealistic expectations. This is true for both expectations in business and one’s personal life. The second we set an expectation for someone else without consulting them is where we start going wrong. The thing about expectations is that they can never match our reality, it is like setting yourself up for disappointment. The best way to counter the disappointment of expectations is through communication. It sounds dumb or too simple, but communication is everything. Life without effective communication is confusing.

For the past three years, we as Radio 254 have been bitter, confused, and disappointed. Why? In 2022, we received 3 full months of advertising from a Brand, and since then not been able to get any other advertising. Not because we haven’t tried to get more advertising but because all our attempts to get more advertising have not been successful. We have tried scheduling meetings with agencies, sharing our rate card with Brands, and SMEs, and even tried the social media route by using our social media platforms to announce advertising and collaboration opportunities. There is no Kenyan brand or advertising agency we have not drafted a proposal for or reached out to.

So where or what did we or are we doing wrong? The first mistake we made was assuming that because we got advertising once the expectation was that we would continue to get advertising, which was not the case. The second mistake we learned was the importance of building relationships with brand managers and advertising agencies. When we first got advertising, we did not know who the brand manager for the brand we were advertising for was. We were simply excited to have advertising and did our best to execute a successful campaign. In hindsight, however, it would have been very beneficial to get to know the brand manager for the brand and build a relationship with the agency.

These experiences are lessons learned after retrospective reflection which allowed us to understand that although we were fortunate to land advertising without much effort that is not how the advertising world works. We had to go back to the drawing board, do some growing, and re-strategize.  Life is what you make of it. We have learned a lot from agencies and in the future, we hope to use these lessons to ensure we are successful and not just expecting things to work out. Agencies are not bad, and neither are the people who work there. Like everyone else, they are doing their job to find the best place to place ads for their clients. Their job is not to teach you how to play the game so expecting them to let you in the game as well as teach you is stupid. It hurt to not get advertising for so long despite trying but it was an even more important lesson to understand how advertising works to prepare us for the bright future that is ahead filled with advertising campaigns. Advertising and agencies aren’t bad, you just don’t understand them. At least not yet. Now that we have learned, we are ready to play the game. The future is bright and we are thankful for the path that got us here.