Geza Ulole
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 31, 2009
- 59,187
- 79,396
The sad tales of Tingatinga and wasted Marketing window for Tanzania
While our country Tanzania is positioning itself to tap a potential tourists market at World Cup 2010 in SA at a whoopy cost of about US$ 6 mio.for hosting a team that would station in Tanzania during the event, we should question the merits of that huge sum of money to be spent for an event that won't last more than a month!
Look at things in this way, if you question the Cost Benefit Analysis of the so risky to be undertaken marketing campaign, no tangible results to be gained at the anticipated surge of people who are to be in SA for a month and for a sole purpose to watch soccer! Why i say this? Here are the few thoroughly thought points;
1. SA, has shown strong intentions to keep the tourists at home through having put a number of entertainment centers, moreover SA has what it takes to keep the soccer fans at bay from visiting Tanzania, Kruger National Park, the biggest in Africa has what it takes to flex the muscles and woo the budget tourists to stay at home who after all are soccer fans foremost!
2. Logistics, while the cost of a flight from Dar-J'burg is more than what it cost from NY to London, the authorities have shown no clearly intentions to subsidize the costs so as to ship those interested to see our tourists sites
3. Weather, there won't be a team that will want to put a camp in Dar and jeopardize it's chances to win among the big top ten countries, I don't believe if any of US, Germany, France, Japan, England team will be ready to take that risky path. The weather that would have been compatible with that of SA would have been that of either Arusha, Kilimanjaro or Southern Highlands that don't have facilities!
4. World have just come out of recession (including those high spenders we are targeting!), the time is so wrong to undertake that massive cost to market ourselves, other options that last should have been considered instead.
This keeps me wondering whether our Ministry of Sports, culture and information has advisors on this ill feted idea. Once more this self converted propaganda machine ministry has got it all wrong.
Just like recent blunders, the ministry has once more proved to lack new ideas and to just be there to defend the interests of ruling Government at any cost.
As a proof of this ministry lacking what it takes to market Tanzania, such costs were recently demonstrated by their decision to shut a highly respected news paper after exposing the exam scandals.
Together with our Ministry of tourism and our Tourist Board should have consider of Tingatinga Art instead. why i say this;
For those of you who are painting lovers like me, would agree with me immense potentials that could have come with developing that piece of Tanzanian creativeness that our so claimed creative neighbour are now benefiting!
Think of this when the Lion King movie budgeted at US$ 45 mio. created over US$ 783,841,776 of revenue plus marketing the EA region (since there is no great migration without Tanzania and Kenya) though our same neighbours claimed the merits on their country though SA mostly gained since they produce the movie.
Think of movie Madagascar, produced at a cost of US$150 mio. made around US$602,308,178 plus massive marketing window for the country bares the name, todate that country keeps getting plus revenue on top!
Having realized the marketing opportunities that come with such animated kids movies, our neighbours that are fond of creativeness prestige took a short cut as usually and claimed ownership of the art and colluded with BBC to produce children animation series that will make millions if not billions of US$ and at the cost of motherland that gave birth to truly son of this piece of art that today fetches billions of dollars without himself being recognized apart from just a name for the art.
BTW i won't be suprized if our great neighbours have patented the art already just the same way as Malaika song that was composed by a Tanzanian living in Nairobi during the Ujamaa era back home!
The same can be said of the story behind Makonde Art that now is claimed to be from Wakamba) while our authorities are quiet sleeping over and seeping on even the donor aid money that they love to do!
Why do i think the US$ 6 mln. should have instead being spent on Tingatinga project? Here are my few reasons;
1. Creating kids animation movie would not cost even a US$ 1 mio., if at all it takes what our thief Home boyz brothers path? With a potential to impact people memories for countless years to come!
2. It would have created employment that would have been sustainable to our numerous Tingatinga schools that so far have not got a helping hand from our darling Government! Rumours have it around 50 people are current at work in Nairobbery producing numerous episodes within over 12 series that are to be aired! Mind you plus name Kenya on that piece of Tanzanian art that will haunt us to death!
3. Massive Marketing opportunity that words can not explain the Japanese are number one fans of this art cherishing the value the art has conquered their heart, followed with Germans plus other western countries. The UK would be added easily with the Tingatinga series that are to be produced having in mind the series is watched by the current young and next generations to come (take Tom & Jerry as a case study)!
4. Revenue potentials; Disney World in Florida has Serengeti park plus Kilimanjaro and wonder if at all the Government has ever thought of getting royalties from this? If that not possible (out of rich to create Disneyland) then even marketing Tanzania through branding Tingatinga instead of Kenya could mean massive revenues towards our tourism industry!
5. The government would honor creativeness among the citizens, Tingatinga project would have created a Picasso of Tanzania, that kids will love to emulate as a nation icon hence stimulate a sense of self-motivation among the artists if not other creativeness in other fields.
On those basis, I should therefore ask HE Kikwete if at all he reads this forum to consider those numerous opportunities this country sleep on since i as an artist i am sick of seeing this sort of theft this land blessed of creative sons and daughter keep wasting them and fall into victimization games!
Please take legal actions to protect the work of our artists from these greedy people!
Numerous arts exist out there in this cradle of creativeness likes of Atanas and Henna paintings, if well used there won't be a need of spending that huge amount of money for marketing Tanzania.
As for now, just give a half of that $ 6 mln. to Tingatinga institutions and in collaboration of our IT experts, i tell you we will have a movie that every kid in the Western World would live to love to watch plus putting pressure on the parents to send them to a really place that Said Tingatinga envisioned during his lifetime! i.e. Serengeti and Selous.
While our country Tanzania is positioning itself to tap a potential tourists market at World Cup 2010 in SA at a whoopy cost of about US$ 6 mio.for hosting a team that would station in Tanzania during the event, we should question the merits of that huge sum of money to be spent for an event that won't last more than a month!
Look at things in this way, if you question the Cost Benefit Analysis of the so risky to be undertaken marketing campaign, no tangible results to be gained at the anticipated surge of people who are to be in SA for a month and for a sole purpose to watch soccer! Why i say this? Here are the few thoroughly thought points;
1. SA, has shown strong intentions to keep the tourists at home through having put a number of entertainment centers, moreover SA has what it takes to keep the soccer fans at bay from visiting Tanzania, Kruger National Park, the biggest in Africa has what it takes to flex the muscles and woo the budget tourists to stay at home who after all are soccer fans foremost!
2. Logistics, while the cost of a flight from Dar-J'burg is more than what it cost from NY to London, the authorities have shown no clearly intentions to subsidize the costs so as to ship those interested to see our tourists sites
3. Weather, there won't be a team that will want to put a camp in Dar and jeopardize it's chances to win among the big top ten countries, I don't believe if any of US, Germany, France, Japan, England team will be ready to take that risky path. The weather that would have been compatible with that of SA would have been that of either Arusha, Kilimanjaro or Southern Highlands that don't have facilities!
4. World have just come out of recession (including those high spenders we are targeting!), the time is so wrong to undertake that massive cost to market ourselves, other options that last should have been considered instead.
This keeps me wondering whether our Ministry of Sports, culture and information has advisors on this ill feted idea. Once more this self converted propaganda machine ministry has got it all wrong.
Just like recent blunders, the ministry has once more proved to lack new ideas and to just be there to defend the interests of ruling Government at any cost.
As a proof of this ministry lacking what it takes to market Tanzania, such costs were recently demonstrated by their decision to shut a highly respected news paper after exposing the exam scandals.
Together with our Ministry of tourism and our Tourist Board should have consider of Tingatinga Art instead. why i say this;
For those of you who are painting lovers like me, would agree with me immense potentials that could have come with developing that piece of Tanzanian creativeness that our so claimed creative neighbour are now benefiting!
Think of this when the Lion King movie budgeted at US$ 45 mio. created over US$ 783,841,776 of revenue plus marketing the EA region (since there is no great migration without Tanzania and Kenya) though our same neighbours claimed the merits on their country though SA mostly gained since they produce the movie.
Think of movie Madagascar, produced at a cost of US$150 mio. made around US$602,308,178 plus massive marketing window for the country bares the name, todate that country keeps getting plus revenue on top!
Having realized the marketing opportunities that come with such animated kids movies, our neighbours that are fond of creativeness prestige took a short cut as usually and claimed ownership of the art and colluded with BBC to produce children animation series that will make millions if not billions of US$ and at the cost of motherland that gave birth to truly son of this piece of art that today fetches billions of dollars without himself being recognized apart from just a name for the art.
BTW i won't be suprized if our great neighbours have patented the art already just the same way as Malaika song that was composed by a Tanzanian living in Nairobi during the Ujamaa era back home!
The same can be said of the story behind Makonde Art that now is claimed to be from Wakamba) while our authorities are quiet sleeping over and seeping on even the donor aid money that they love to do!
Why do i think the US$ 6 mln. should have instead being spent on Tingatinga project? Here are my few reasons;
1. Creating kids animation movie would not cost even a US$ 1 mio., if at all it takes what our thief Home boyz brothers path? With a potential to impact people memories for countless years to come!
2. It would have created employment that would have been sustainable to our numerous Tingatinga schools that so far have not got a helping hand from our darling Government! Rumours have it around 50 people are current at work in Nairobbery producing numerous episodes within over 12 series that are to be aired! Mind you plus name Kenya on that piece of Tanzanian art that will haunt us to death!
3. Massive Marketing opportunity that words can not explain the Japanese are number one fans of this art cherishing the value the art has conquered their heart, followed with Germans plus other western countries. The UK would be added easily with the Tingatinga series that are to be produced having in mind the series is watched by the current young and next generations to come (take Tom & Jerry as a case study)!
4. Revenue potentials; Disney World in Florida has Serengeti park plus Kilimanjaro and wonder if at all the Government has ever thought of getting royalties from this? If that not possible (out of rich to create Disneyland) then even marketing Tanzania through branding Tingatinga instead of Kenya could mean massive revenues towards our tourism industry!
5. The government would honor creativeness among the citizens, Tingatinga project would have created a Picasso of Tanzania, that kids will love to emulate as a nation icon hence stimulate a sense of self-motivation among the artists if not other creativeness in other fields.
On those basis, I should therefore ask HE Kikwete if at all he reads this forum to consider those numerous opportunities this country sleep on since i as an artist i am sick of seeing this sort of theft this land blessed of creative sons and daughter keep wasting them and fall into victimization games!
Please take legal actions to protect the work of our artists from these greedy people!
Numerous arts exist out there in this cradle of creativeness likes of Atanas and Henna paintings, if well used there won't be a need of spending that huge amount of money for marketing Tanzania.
As for now, just give a half of that $ 6 mln. to Tingatinga institutions and in collaboration of our IT experts, i tell you we will have a movie that every kid in the Western World would live to love to watch plus putting pressure on the parents to send them to a really place that Said Tingatinga envisioned during his lifetime! i.e. Serengeti and Selous.
