Who audits consumer promotions?

In a bid to attract consumers to use or buy a product or service, service providers the world over roll out marketing activities to lure existing or new customers.

Malawians are no strangers to consumer promotions as they have seen them all. From retail shops reducing prices of targeted items to commercial banks mobilising deposits and players in the information and communications technology (ICT) offering discounts.

In some sectors such as ICT, telecommunications network operators tend to run never-ending promotions.

The last time I checked, the National Lotteries Board (NLB), established by an Act of Parliament and governed by the Lotteries Act, was collecting at least five percent of the budget from each consumer promotion to cover its administrative and operational costs.

This explains why NLB officials are present during most consumer promotion draws. Besides collecting the said levy, NLB also ensures fairness as well as accountability by players running the promotions in terms of honouring their promises.

To a greater extent, the NLB, a government-subvented organisation, has brought some sanity to the promotions scene. With NLB around, gone are the days when some unscrupulous ‘gangsters’ would defraud people by selling raffle draw tickets promising attractive prizes without honouring the same.

Basically, consumer promotions exist to raise brand awareness and increase market share or indeed to promote a new product or service on the market.

However, I have reservations with some promotions, especially among telecommunications industry players.

Is the NLB aware that operators such as Airtel Malawi and TNM “give” subscribers bonus airtime restricted to making calls at odd hours such as between midnight and 5am? Is the board aware that such airtime or data bundles expire, in most cases, before beneficiaries use them? Who audits such purported promotional “prizes”?

In other cases, the phone operators give consumers monthly bonus airtime restricted to their networks. Now, the airtime that qualified the subscribers to the bonus was used freely across networks, why the restriction on the bonus? And why limit only to calls and not texts or Internet browsing?

In response to some of the concerns I have raised, I know the “technocrats” in the phone industry will argue that “this happens all over the world”. However, it is important to appreciate as well that one-size does not always fit all. Many one-size-fit-all tactics have not achieved same results. This is where creative minds are supposed to come into play, not ‘marketing strategists’ specialising in cut-and-paste.

Instead of purportedly offering subscribers bonus airtime to use between 11 pm or midnight to 5 am, as my beloved network TNM does, if I were a marketer for the firm, I would propose giving the same due bonus to the customer through discounts on every call they make anytime. That way, surely, I would be seen to be making a difference than experimenting on one-size-fit-all strategies that might have worked in other markets.

Besides phone companies, many commercial banks are busy mobilising deposits through fixed term deposits for one to stand a chance to win prizes, in some cases millions. But, with due respect, I will look a gift horse in the mouth and say some of the prizes leave a lot to be desired. They are insults to customers, to say the least. For example, should one invest K50 000 just to get a ‘branded’ ballpoint pen which elsewhere are given out freely?

To the NLB, it is my humble plea that apart from monitoring raffle draws, some of the “prizes” such as bonus airtime offers should also be scrutinised to assess how many consumers genuinely benefit.

Finally, to my fellow consumers: All that glitters is not gold (chikomekome cha mkuyu mkati muli nyerere).