Egypt's brightest new advertisng idea

Kraft Foods, which owns the Tang powdered drink brand, wanted a creative idea for the Egyptian market that was really different.

'Outdoor marketing has become cluttered. We were searching for a new medium for advertising,' says Noha El Daly, the marketing manager for Kraft Foods Egypt. The Metro line with the Tang advertisement travels on the main Marg-Helwan route, stopping at 35 stations.

Along with the billboard, Tang rolled out a new campaign, which it hopes will increase brand recognition among consumers. A radiant Middle Eastern woman holding a pitcher of Tang is the focus of its regional advertising. Translated from Arabic, the slogan reads, 'There's nothing like the heart of a mother.'

The impetus behind the venture, the first of its kind for the megacity's mass transit system, is a small, 11-year-old company called the Egyptian Marketing Company (Emco), which specializes in direct-to-consumer promotions for the food and beverage industry.

'Kraft was dormant in the Egyptian marketplace despite being number two in the food and beverage industry worldwide,' said Sami Khair, Emco's director of business and marketing development.

Kraft's business in Egypt is mainly in the powdered soft-drink segment, with sales of locally co-manufactured Tang making up the bulk of its revenue and commanding 66 percent of the local powdered beverage market. (In April, Kraft Foods expanded its presence in Egypt with the acquisition of local biscuit and snack-food maker Family Nutrition.)

During a brainstorming session with Ramy Bermawy, brand manager at Kraft Foods Egypt, Khair and Nader Azab, Emco's president and CEO, came up with the idea of branding the Cairo Metro. 'It is more cost-efficient than a television ad in terms of reaching people,' says Bermawy. 'And it creates more word of mouth.'

The first train is a three-month pilot project to gauge public reaction. If all goes well, commuters may soon expect to see Metro trains shrouded with splashy advertisements for instant coffee, a Red Sea resort destination or the latest cell phones.

This type of branded advertising is about two years old, says Khair, becoming more common worldwide as new methods are developed for printing, installing and removing the vinyl graphic.

The Cairo Metro is viewed as the city's most efficient mode of public transit, transporting 700 million commuters a year. It carries an average 2 million passengers daily. Fresh revenue may provide the funds to pay for extending the megacity's main commuter artery, and for the construction of a planned third line.

The focus on shoring up public transportation has gained greater significance as the woes of Egypt's deteriorating and under-maintained national railways were made plain in the aftermath of the worst train accident in the 150-year history of the national railways.

On February 20, 2002, an inferno engulfed the third-class cars of an Upper Egypt-bound train packed with passengers returning home to spend the Eid holiday with family and friends. A state-investigative commission confirmed that the aging carriages of ill-fated Luxor-bound train were not equipped with fire alarms, fire extinguishers or emergency brakes.

With corporate sponsorship, the future of the railways looks more promising. Young and energetic, Kristina Attalla, assistant marketing director, carries out market research for Emco and, questionnaire in hand, asks commuters what their take is on the new Tang train. It's a hit with youth, she says, adding that bright colors positively affect some commuters' mood: 'It does attract your attention.'

'It's effective because there is so much cluttered billboard advertising in this country,' adds Khair. 'But you can't be risqué. Do you think I can put [Latin American pop diva] Shakira on the Metro train? Never. I don't think that would be acceptable.'

But there are others ways of reaching commuters that should prove a lot less controversial. Dubbed the 'Nile Metro radio station,' another Emco marketing concept utilizing the Cairo Metro came to fruition in October, also as a pilot project.

Nile Metro is a soft music station inside the cars that incorporates advertising and public service messages, including ones discouraging fare dodging and promoting riding etiquette. The station is part of the overall strategy of carving out a new medium for advertising, increasing the transportation ministry's revenue base, educating the user and improving the system, says Khair.

Marketing executives at Emco have even toyed with the idea of bringing climate-controlled comfort to sweltering summer days on the Metro through an ad barter arrangement with an air-conditioning manufacturer.

'There is only so much advertising money out there, and everyone is competing for it,' says Khair. 'It comes down to creativity and effectiveness.'