How Indigenous Storytelling Methods are Strengthening Commercial Marketing Campaigns in Samoa
Faumuina Ivan Hamish Afamasaga (Ivan) is the sales and marketing manager at Ah Liki Investments Corporation. He was previously the brands and communications manager at Vodafone Samoa Limited.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions of the Pacific Islands Development Program or the East-West Center.
Featured photo courtesy Kyle Loftus via Unsplash.
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Indigenous Samoan culture is innately extravagant. Central to this exuberance is communication: whether there is a wedding, funeral, or chiefly title bestowment taking place, it is the job of the tulafale—or traditional orators—to ensure that as many people as possible are made fully aware of the events. I would argue that these traditional means of information sharing, when harnessed correctly, help local businesses to markedly increase their appeal and the resulting sales. This is not only an important marketing strategy for reasons of Indigenous inclusion—it is an integral part of Samoa’s ongoing decolonization process. The use of Indigenous Samoan narratives, motifs, local landscapes, and environmental references appeals to multiple sectors of our local buyership in ways that marketing strategies adopted from our developed neighbors cannot. I’d like to make a case for what I call “Storytelling Selling.”
Firstly, most Samoans still grow up in home environments which prioritize storytelling as the initial and most primary form of teaching and learning. Empirical evidence shows us that local marketing campaigns which deliberately incorporate modes such as fagogo and talatuʻu result in more sales than those which do not.
Secondly, communication in Samoa, as in many parts of Oceania, tends to have an easygoing, often humorous flare. The use of this in advertisements, particularly on radio, television, and social media, has in my experience made the vast difference between a good sale and a complete selling out of the stock.
In encouraging increased employment of traditional communication methods in Samoa’s local market, I am mindful of the imperativeness of blending these traditional modes with modern information dissemination trends.
Like most Polynesian societies, Samoa’s main mode of “education” was, for thousands of years, spoken word. Our traditional myths, legends, proverbs, chants, songs, and orations are still the first mode of learning that many children in Samoa receive. Two particular schools of Indigenous storytelling, fagogo and talatuʻu (loosely translated to “parable” and “legend”), have survived the invasions of the written word and remain integral means of transmitting cultural values, historical information, and spiritual beliefs. As the exodus of modern information communications technology progresses in leaps and bounds (Jayawardena et al. 2022), more and more sales and marketing professionals in Samoa are choosing to leverage the two together. The fact that Samoa’s media scene is largely independent and not privy to the demands of audiences who hold Westernized worldviews means there is much room for creative freedom. Just like the now-popular talanoa research method, which enables the exploration of multiple topics and viewpoints, the fagogo and talatuʻu advertisement narrative styles allow us to draw inspiration not only from Indigenous oral traditions, but also from foreign ones. In 2022, for example, Vodafone Samoa’s Brands and Communications team released an Aladdin-inspired advertisement which was filmed in the less-populated Samoan island of Savaiʻi; here they replaced the infamous carpet with a fala, or mat (Afamasaga and Bose 2023). Even the sand-covered desert treasure cave was substituted by a natural volcanic rock cave on the island.
Marketing is essentially about communication. In Samoa, as with most Polynesian societies, the most effective kind of communication must seek to maintain societal harmony (Ivarature 2022). Indirect communication, therefore, is a nuanced but highly respected art. One of the best ways to successfully sell a product or service in such a space is to incorporate humor into advertisements. Humor infiltrates most if not all spheres of communication in many modern Polynesian societies. It is not uncommon to find locals laughing and sharing jokes as they prepare for a traditional funeral feast, for example. Marketing, at the bare minimum, is tough competition. It is almost literally a “destroy or be destroyed” game. The use of localized and culturally acceptable humor has been a very successful marketing method in Samoa for many years. Having served at what is still one of only two telecommunications companies in Samoa, I have come to appreciate this principle deeply. It is, after all, the means by which we deliver our messages to our target demographics, put in our best bids to outshine our competitors, ensure we meet our sales targets, but also maintain the va. The va is the culturally prescribed fraternal space amongst ourselves as Indigenous people. Our indigeneity informs our practice, always (Afamasaga and Bose 2023).
No sphere of Oceania’s development has been isolated from globalization (Meese et al. 2019). This is especially true in a Pacific Island Small Developing State (PSIDS) like Samoa, which remains reliant on overseas aid and imports. The local marketing scene has not only embraced, but also very quickly adapted to the advent of social media applications and platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. In Samoa, as in many parts of our region, we live at an interesting and delicate intersection between the ancient and the modern, the Indigenous and the introduced. Despite the contradictory nature of these concepts, one would argue that very successful marketing blends the opposing forces in innovative ways while managing to respect and promote both. Food, for example, is an important force for communal unity and cohesion. In much of the Pacific, special events are marked with feasting, food exchanges, harvests, and even planting (Falanitule 2018). In a very recent social media marketing campaign by local fast food chain Burger Bill’s Restaurant, four youths are seen enjoying a delicious lunch together whilst also performing a popular TikTok routine. From the time of the ad’s official release via the restaurant’s Facebook page, October 8, 2024, to October 17, 2024, the video was played 123,000 times and liked by 2,400 Facebook users (Afamasaga 2024). This is extremely impressive, considering the size of our country and the simpleness of the concept. It is also an example of the complementary nature of global trends and Indigenous traditions.
In conclusion, Samoa’s marketing sphere continues to evolve and develop in its own unique way. As a PSIDS country, we continue to take pride but also active caution in the improvement of our advertisement techniques. The inclusion of Indigenous storytelling methods and sensibilities, as well as the blending of modern marketing trends and local customs, continues to shape not only the marketing scene in this part of Oceania, but more importantly our economy.
References
Afamasaga, Ivan Hamish, dir. 2024. Rally Your Crew and Chill and Burger Bill’s Restaurant . Social Media. Vaitele, Samoa: Burger Bill’s Restaurant Samoa.
Afamasaga, Ivan Hamish, and Rana Bose, dirs. 2023. Win a Share of 100,000 CASH! Television, Social Media. Apia, Samoa: Vodafone Samoa.
Falanitule, Dahvida. 2018. “The Pacific Way: Connecting Man, Food and Nature.” SHINE News. SHINE News. April 5, 2018. https://www.shine.cn/feature/lifestyle/1804052688/.
Ivarature, Henry. 2022. “Leadership and the Pacific Way.” Australia Pacific Security College. Australia Pacific Security College. February 28, 2022. https://pacificsecurity.net/leadership-and-the-pacific-way/.
Jayawardena, Nirma Sadamali, et al. 2022. “Promoting SMEs in Pacific Island Countries Through Effective Marketing Strategies: A Systematic Literature Review and a Future Research Agenda,” Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations (JECO) 20, no.2: 1-24. https://doi.org/10.4018/JECO.300299.
Meese, James, Rowen Wilken, and Ioana Tuʻugalei Vaʻai Chan Mow. 2009. “Uneven Topologies of Communication: Mobiles and Transnational Location in Samoa.” In Location Technologies in International Context, edited by Rowen Wilken, Gerard Goggin, and Heather A Horst, 15. Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315544823-8/uneven-topologies-communication-james-meese-rowan-wilken-ioana-chan-mow.