By David Kezio-Musoke
Strategy Head (PR Practice/ Digital Engagement)
This article was last edited on 1st March 2018
Once it was believed that PR practice in Rwanda is a profession of beautiful smiles and pretty faces. Some of the ‘would-be’ clients of such services might not necessarily understand the trade and would shy away from procuring PR professional services (the landscape has since began to change). With the inclusion of multi-national brands, the expansion of the hospitality industry and government attracting more partnership with private entities, the demand for professional expertise has certainly increased. News like Volkswagen setting up shop in Rwanda and the merger of Millicom's Tigo with Bharti Airtel's unit in Rwanda compliment the communications industry. One can only be optimistic about the future of PR practitioners.
Scanning for a credible PR agency
Without being a prophet of doom, there are no entirely fully-fledged PR agencies. Kigali hosts a couple of advertising/marketing agencies some of which will probably hire a consultant for the PR pitch. Smoking out the most skilled practitioners can be quite an ambitious task. It’s a belief that being simply a writer (formerly a practicing journalist) qualifies one to be a practitioner. This is an entirely wrong perception. In Kigali some ‘ad agencies’ could offer you the strategic direction your brand demands. Some might be limited in understanding the significance of your communication needs. There are some other limitations. Brand custodians blindly think the practice is tailored to being a spokesperson or simply issuing press releases. And yet engaging a professional outfit would undoubtedly save one hours of planning and execution. Here is a list of some of the agencies that could offer you PR services:
- Inspire Rwanda - PR
- Quake
- Blue Oceans
- iBlue Concepts
- FIDELI
- SCANAD
- Cube
Opportunities the media landscape offers
Currently there are four types of media in the country including the traditional type, hybrid, digital and privately owned. Rwanda has a modest number of newspapers. Some argue that they might never be able to satisfy particular professional standards. The New Times, which is relatively the most read was first issued in 1995 and is the only English daily. Imvaho Nshya published in Kinyarwanda is the other daily. Both dailies don't circulate more than 9,000 copies combined (ABC Circulation). The number of licensed newspapers in Rwanda is 54 and online news publishers are 34. Given that the reading culture is low (but slowly growing), its important to note that The New Times and Imvaho are well placed with government affiliations.
In relation to the two dailies, one would expect that advertising expenditures on print would be significantly lower than that in other media. However that is not the case. With newspaper advertising their is hardly any ROI. The benefits are basically for brand positioning and engaging government. The two dailies share the spoils on newspaper ad spend. A few of Kigali’s magazines including ServiceMag and Hope Magazine have succeeded to offer alternative opportunities to magazine readers. Their content however is quite commercial and full of advertorials, something that might not easily be sustainable to ardent readers. On the other hand online news production is on the rise and is supported by the number of Rwandans with Internet access (3.6 million according to RURA, Q2 statistics - 2016). Internet penetration rate has grown to 33 percent. Publishers are tapping into the fact that smart phones are more affordable than before.
Top 10 online news publishers in Rwanda:
- Igihe.com
- Ukwezi.com
- Inyarwanda.com
- Umuryango.rw
- Umuseke.rw
- Imirasire.com
- Bwiza.com
- Kigalitoday.com
- Inyarwanda.com
- Imvaho Nshya
- KT Press (Please Note: By the time of this survey Taarifa was not yet publishing.)
Only 8% households watch TV while radio remains the king
In Rwanda it’s not easy to mention media and ignore radio and TV for obvious reasons. Radio remains the dominant player and TV presents an illusion. According to RURA there are 11 licensed free-to-air TV , 3 licensed pay TV and 32 radio stations as of June 2016. There are 60,000 active pay TV subscribers. TV is not an effective form of content distribution. According to the 2012 ‘Fourth Population and Housing Census’ households with TV sets are 8%. According to that census, "About 38% with TV sets are in Kigali, 4% are in the Northern and Western provinces.” In the same survey 64 %of private households have a radio set and obviously this percentage is higher in urban areas.
Where are the big advertisers?
Ipsos was the first to launch media monitoring services in Rwanda (August 2013). The company is also involved in media and market research and is currently monitoring 8 radio stations, 5 print brands and was to start television monitoring in 2015. PR practitioners should be aware that Ipsos ranked the biggest advertisers, grading them in the following top four categories:
- Corporate companies (accounting for 29 percent of the ad spend in Q1/Q2 of 2014)
- Financial services (18 percent of ad spend)
- Communication
- Tourism/Entertainment
Companies that produce beverages (SKOL and BRALIRWA) also fall within the top 10 big spenders. A few of these companies will bargain for ‘Out-of-Home’ advertising. Even those with huge marketing budgets have since scaled down on their billboards ever since the policy was revised. Today advertisers are seeking more options of OOH. Most (even those blessed with a large digital following) are still shying away from digital PR. (For example MTN Rwanda has 23,000 followers on Twitter). Kigali's online engagement is increasing and companies are willing to spend more on digital strategies.
Some future opportunities for PR practitioners
There are some opportunities for PR practitioners. The future seems bright as more brands and government institutions are becoming more conscious about the way they communicate. We have the Public Relations Association of Rwanda (PRAR) that was launched in 2008 with the mandate to boost the profession. However while you might argue that it’s more of a talk-shop, it has no substantial impact on the industry with fewer activities as compared to other regional PR associations. (The association hasn’t met in over 3-4 years)
The writer is a PR practitioner with Inspire Communications Rwanda and can be reached at keziomusoke@inspire.co.rw
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