Find Advertising, Marketing and PR expertise in Zambia

Advertising, marketing and PR is a developing sector in Zambia which offers traditional tactics to reach customers as well as more modern internet and social media. The global firm WPP has four subsidiary firms in Zambia all of which are based around Lusaka.

The Zambia Institute of Marketing (ZIM) was established in 2003 under the Institute of Marketing Act and the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry. The Institute is a statutory body which requires all professionals wishing to practice marketing in the country to register with ZIM. The Institute also acts as an educational and examining body offering the ZIM professional diploma in marketing which automatically qualifies successful candidates for entry into the international Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Professional Diploma in Marketing. A ZIM diploma goes some way towards achieving the status of Chartered Marketer.

Zambian universities offer some marketing courses although it is not widespread and the ZIM remains the principle examining body in the area. For example, the University of Zambia offers marketing and PR diplomas in its Department of Adult Education and Extension Studies but does not offer full-time undergraduate or post-graduate courses at present.

PR is a growing industry in Zambia although the market is still dominated by two established firms, Cutting Edge and Langmead and Baker although other agencies exist.

In terms of supply and demand indicators, Zambian marketers offer a service which is slightly below world averages according to the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report (2012-2013). For extent of marketing, Zambia scores 3.6 out of a possible 7, below the world mean of 4.1 which places it 102^nd out of 144 countries worldwide. In this scale 1 indicates that companies use sophisticated marketing tools very little and 7, that they use them very extensively. This moderate level of sophistication of advertising techniques is reflected in demand in the Zambian market; buyers place almost equal emphasis on price and product performance. Zambia scores 3.4 for buyer sophistication, slightly below the world average of 3.5 and in 72^nd place out of 144 countries.

Online advertising and marketing is growing and digital versions of the country’s newspapers have advertising space for companies and private individuals. Traditional newspaper and print advertising is still an important medium as are billboards and other large scale print advertising. In addition, commercial broadcast media (radio and television) remain popular ways of advertising a product or service.