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Pretoria/Zurich 15 July, 2010. African business and economic development has had an unparalleled opportunity to present itself to the world media during the FIFA World Cup which took place in South Africa. A joint study between the Zurich and Pretoria offices of Media Tenor highlights how successful agenda-surfing has been in enabling the promotion of the African economic agenda. It shows that the focus is on Africa at a time when the world’s media is looking to get away from the economic crisis and find new areas of hope and growth. However, the study also shows that past event driven coverage from other countries, such as the Beijing Olympics, is not a guarantee that the media will cover reputation building areas. This highlights the need for communicators to actively seek out interested media sources, and supply them with topical information relevant to their agenda.
Media Tenor’s measurement of expert citations in the Financial Times Europe shows the World Cup coverage not only boosted Africa’s sports image, but that there was an in-depth analysis into the economic development of Africa. The results of the study show that increased attention was achieved by actively communicating Africa through initiatives such as Kofi Annan’s African Progress Panel’s APR report alongside World Cup coverage. This provides a measurable example of how accurate information on Africa can lead to measurable interest in doing business in Africa. As Media Tenor’s South African CEO Wadim Schreiner explains, “The APP/Financial Times result exemplifies how African communicators can get it right. It was not just Kofi Annan’s name or the World Cup agenda that worked in Africa’s favour, but the combination of delivering the right type of information to the right place at the right point in time.”
The agenda-surfing effects for business, although apparently obvious in retrospect, are anything but obvious. Previous media trends measured by Media Tenor show that event related coverage rarely means significant exposure for the economic and social aspects of a culture. A comparison of the topical structure of country images during large scale sporting events suggests that the underlying trends on social and economic reporting remains unchanged, despite the volume peak around the event. This finding highlights the importance of actively communicating these ‘niche issues’ during events to make the most of the agenda. “It is as if the culture of the host country simply lends flavour to the event, rather than really generating a solid news flow on the country itself”, says Schreiner.
With the World Cup now over, there are still opportunities for African communication presented by the international economic agenda. The effects of high volume crises in the Euro zone, and a declining outlook for the US economic picture suggest that the opportunity to position Africa as an area of alternative growth will continue into the midterm. Two other strong advantages exist for Africa, namely the strong links to Chinese investment on the continent which are already providing an indirect economic information flow from Africa; and the overall economic sentiment outside the crisis economies. “The reason why the Chinese story is so important for area investment is that it is one of the few areas where the rest of the world is seeing success,” says Schreiner. “The other success areas, such as telecommunications growth and mining are present, but still haven’t found a champion for active communication”.
The risk for communication out of Africa is that the traditionally negative African agenda will return. Media Tenor’s ongoing television analysis in international media shows that piracy and conflict are the two topic areas which grab media attention. “If we look at the data, then the African agenda has really only had one clear chance to present a positive face to the world and that was the World Cup”, says Media Tenor South Africa CEO Wadim Schreiner, “the question is: will the media agenda go back to conflict driven reporting and curiosities after the World Cup, or will communicators be able to sustain the current image”.
Without constant active communication it is unlikely that the African narrative can sustain the success it has had during the World Cup. As the Media Tenor TV trend data shows, the leadership of Sudan, the Swiss conflict in Libya and the ongoing Somalian problems are still simmering under a South Africa-dominated agenda. Reputation-building areas such as economics, culture and governance are either not present in the media or are also linked to conflict related areas, such as the social side- effects of forced migration and refugee camps in Darfur. Countries which were shaping up as success stories in 2009 – Ghana and Nigeria for example, have not been yet been able to rise above the more sensational Sudanese or Somalian story lines.
For Media Tenor the results of the investigation into Africa in the foreign media highlights the basic principle that generating volume through active communication can address threats, build reputation and make use of the information flows to get messages across. Further, those communicators who are able to link into the broader agenda in a dynamic way, and establish partnerships with foreign media have a good chance for success. With the World Cup over it is right to celebrate the success, but at the same to execute a successful post-World Cup African communication strategy. South Africa can take a lead here, but the country needs to start working more closely with other African countries.