The challenges of publicising the initial public offering (IPO) of one of Angola’s largest banks.
The Angolan capital market is a relatively new one and has been growing through public sales of state-held stakes in key sectors of the national economy. It was against this backdrop that we were tasked with publicising the sale of a 34 per cent stake in Standard Bank of Angola.
This kind of communication is tightly controlled by market regulators. For that reason, it was crucial that we were part of a joint task force from day one, together with law firm VdA and Standard Bank, to make sure our campaign and all communication met the legal requirements.
We designed a communication strategy in four phases: brand awareness, offer launch, ongoing communication during the offer, and post-offer.
In phase zero, we ran an institutional campaign on the bank’s values and on Angolan identity – Tchitundu-Hulu – building a strong brand perception rooted in the country. In the first phase, we created a launch campaign for the Public Offer for Sale, keeping some elements of the previous communication, to move potential investors to action.
In the second phase, we created a campaign that reinforced the sense of opportunity and urgency around the Offer. Finally, we created a campaign celebrating Standard Bank’s new investors and the success of the operation. All phases ran above the line, below the line and on the brand’s social media.
In the end, besides being one of the most successful share sales on the Angolan market, this operation was the first to attract international investors to the country’s capital market. The Offer raised 208.5 billion kwanzas through the sale of 4.76 million shares. Demand reached 181.96% of the amount offered and exceeded expectations, according to BODIVA (Angola’s Debt and Securities Exchange).
Standard Bank Angola thus became the seventh company listed on the Angolan stock exchange.