#tonaton

Tonaton, a Ghanaian-based buying and selling advertisement website, has been formally purchased by Jiji.

Tonaton had announced a few weeks prior that they would be transferring ownership of acquired data to Jiji, but there was no mention of a sale announcement from the company. The price of the purchase has likewise remained a mystery. Tonaton has been Jiji’s main competition in Ghana, so it may now take a vacation. In 2019, Jiji purchased OLX, and more recently, Cars24 in 2021. With these opponents…

PHOTOS: KNUST Tonaton Fresh ‘a’ Fair Fashion Night

As part of  Tonaton’s #FreshAFair celebrations Tonaton in collaboration with Vodafone X and Echo House brought to the students of Knust a night of fashion. The event that took place at the car park of Otumfour Opoku Ware II Hall popularly known as Brunei was filled with fun and joy as the crowd was entertained by one of the finest campus disc jockey DJ Aroma and some up and coming artiste most…

This is currently my favourite ad in Ghana.

It's for Tonaton.com, a classifieds website serving the Ghanaian market.

The idea is simple: a man has just sold his home on Tonaton.com for a tidy sum. He's so thrilled, he breaks out in dance.

A few observations:

The insanely catchy jingle paired with great dance moves is a winning combination. I can't help myself from dancing along!

At a brisk 30 seconds, it's made to re-watched many times and shared with friends via email, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc, while also working as a TV commercial.

I'm used to voice-overs in Ghanaian ads having a bit of a Western twang, but the voice-over here is very deliberately delivered in an aggressively local accent. He pronounces the words slowly, and there's an emphasis on every syllable.

There're two other videos in the series - a guy who has just sold his car, and a girl who has sold a few electronic devices.

All three ads have a version in Twi (a local Ghanaian language) - guy who has sold his house (Twi version), guy who has sold his car (Twi version), girl who has sold various electronics (Twi version).

All the ads focus on the sell side on the classifieds marketplace. The message is "sell your stuff on Tonaton and make some money," and NOT "buy stuff on Tonaton and get a great deal."

I initially thought that these ads came from a local ad agency, but a bit of poking around reveals that Tonaton is owned by Kinnevik AB, a large Swedish investment company that has ties with Rocket Internet.

Tonaton exists in other emerging markets under different names, but with the same logo. In Bangladesh, it's called Bikroy.com, and their ads follow exactly the same script - the same song, a dancing person, and a voice-over saying a variation of "Mr. [X] has just sold [Y] for [Z amount of local currency]."

While I'm a bit disappointed that the ad isn't unique to Ghana, I must applaud Kinnevik AB for finding a formula that works, and hats off to the production company that executed this for a solid product.

I must say, though, that our ads have much better dancers. :) Compare:

Ghana (Tonaton.com) house ad vs. Bangladesh (Bikroy.com) apartment ad

Ghana (Tonaton.com) car ad vs. Bangladesh (Birkoy.com) car ad

Ghana  (Tonaton.com) electronics ad vs. Bangladesh (Bikroy.com) electronics ad