4 Codes To Help You Localize Your Brand's Campaign In Mozambique

I was thinking of writing an article with tips on how to succeed in finding effective ways to give voice to international brands’ campaigns in Mozambique. However, I changed my mind because tips never manage to explain the spirit.

Probably you have never been to Mozambique and never had any kind of contact, but a brief came to your desk and you have been included in some brand expansion role.

You spend the next half hour on Google trying to find some answers, trying to understand how it works and you check the rules of the game on ChatGPT.

The first brief often comes with some very serious information that includes location or map demography, purchasing power and other stats.

When you read the first two or three lines you think you know everything. However, as with all briefs, in the end you realize you didn’t get anything.

It does not mean you are not smart enough to catch it all. It means all the briefs have to be localized. The way the marketer thinks and builds the idea always relates to his/her context, reality or at least what their reality allows them to imagine. That’s the reason why the briefs are never enough if you want to apply it in a different reality.

Apart from the conception and understanding problems, there’s the execution problem. The paragraph above does not mean a brief is useless just because it was made in a different region.

The execution problem is a reflection of the conception one. When you design a campaign, all the ideas that come through your mind are just a reflection of your own experiences, inspirations, relations, etc. You might possibly have an overview that allows you to know more about the market where you operate but it’s not enough to reach all the nuances of different publics from different countries and languages and cultures.

Here is where you think “Ohh… I need to adapt this stuff so it will make sense for the Mozambican public”, for instance. And at this exact moment ChatGPT Plus steps into the scene to shine, making you feel like you’re the most Mozambican Strategist.

The point is: doctor GPT will make your campaign look average or low quality and you’ll probably be mocked by competitors. Google and the chatbot do not have enough information about Mozambique. You’ll get the data, words and numbers, but you are not going to reach the spirit.

A creative campaign always has to be localized in the most creative way andmost importantly: it always has to fit the culture because an ad is not for the numbers or data, it is indeed for the collective memory and imagination of the people.

If you have an idea for a campaign to run in Portugal, Mozambique and Kenya, you’ll have to adapt your brief and allow some redefinitions in order to reach the goals of the campaign for each and every public.

Here I discuss 4 codes that I think are critical to localize a campaign in Mozambique, or as I say, how to Mozambicanize it.

1. Mozambican Portuguese: the verbal code

Mozambican Portuguese is a register, not just a language. It sits on a European base and carries many Bantu borrowings, some anglicisms and it apparently rejects Brazilianisms. It’s easy and tempting to think you just need to write in European pré-acordo Portuguese and voilà. But it’s not.

As you see, the entire internet is flooded with European pós-acordo and Brazilian Portuguese. This points to a very important insight: social interactions occur more in the streets than online. Expressions like depressa lá (hurry up) or machambeiro (farmer) are not in books or social media, but you can hear them every day in the streets.

It means if you are working on a campaign for a fast-food or a delivery brand with the wording Hurry Up, you will surely translate it as Despacha-te, but a really proper wording would be Depressa lá or some other option depending on what you are working on. This is why localization is not translation, and for Mozambique, it is as I say: Mozambicanization and you’ll have to Mozambicanize your campaign with Mozambican Portuguese.

Furthermore, you’ll have to consider some important Bantu borrowings. Many local Bantu words in Mozambique are used as slang and many local brands use them for product naming and they really succeed. An example is Txuna (a service for money loans). It’s not easy to refer to the original word in Southern Mozambique but we know it’s used to mean give, lend or loan, organize, to be prepared, make something or someone look good. So, if you say Agora estás txunado, it means You are looking good now.

You don’t have to bring your copy to the reality of each and every region of Mozambique, you just have to understand how the verbal code works and just vibe with it.

2. Symbolic heritage: the visual and sensory code

I mentioned previously that brand localization is more like a symbolic game. If your brief includes multimedia content for radio and TV, for instance, you’ll have to work hard to translate the symbols, not just the words.

Mozambicanization does not mean only the use of Mozambican wording, it also has to reach the visual, setting a challenge to stock imagery. An example is how a simple fabric like the capulana can be a base you can build on as a meaning system.

The capulana as a meaning system can be used to state celebration, joy, mourning, birth, gift or identity. The colors, the pattern, the drape and the simple act of wearing or using it as an ornament can change the game of how your brand will be received by the audience.

However, as in every context, you have to understand and respect the line between cultural reference and ceremonial appropriation. This leads us to the understanding of symbolic respect as a brand’s feature. The brand has to say clearly: We recognize you and your values, but we do not use them for commercial purposes.

3. The relationship values: the moral and social code

What is the shape of the world through the eyes of your audience? Mozambicans are very social and the idea or sentiment of belonging is very important. What is framed as individual tends to land flat, whereas the aspiration framed as lifting family and community actually lands.

The consumption of a product is framed as a collective act. The formula is this way: if you achieve something, someone else will be very proud of you; if you pay for insurance you protect your family; if you gamble, you have some friends to share tips; if you buy a specific brand of wheat or rice, you’ll have some special food that will make your family happier and more united; if you pay for an internet package, then your connectivity will satisfy different people in your home with their own connectivity needs.

This formula is used by almost every brand in Mozambique. If you walk or drive in Maputo or Beira, you’ll notice that most billboards, digital or static, have more than one person. In addition, brands with a presence on social media have many influencers because the idea of family and belonging is very dominant. It is common to see many influencers co-working on content creation for the same brand.

In these very relational audiences, trust is word-of-mouth-built, not simply transactional. If you are looking to launch a new product, your communication should make sure to convey the idea of a solution for the common good.

4. Oral tradition: the rhetorical code

This one is a code very common to other countries and regions across Africa. Let’s be straightforward here: Mozambique has an oral, audio-first, music-driven culture and this means the copy that is written for the eye underperforms copy written for the ear.

When you watch news programs or soap operas on Mozambican TV, every break seems to be a concert, considering the variety of rhythms you’ll hear in the commercials. In a society where radio still dominates the rural reach and people share a lot of their experiences in the streets, you need to set your brand to use storytelling techniques that respect the voice.

If you are working on a brand localization for Mozambique, make sure to consider warmth and wit as very important features because corporate stiffness is simply foreign here. And in your copy, do not forget to consider rhythm, repetition and call-and-response. Make your commercial singable and reach millions of hearts.

Now bring what you have to my side, The Copy Side and let’s see together what can be done to localize your advertising elements for Mozambican audience. Fill out the form, and I’ll get back to you within 24 hours.