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251 Communications is a full-fledged communications and public relations firm with offices in Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At 251 Communications, we manage our international clients’ communications and branding needs in the Ethiopian market. We have partnerships with many of the leading service providers inside and outside of Ethiopia, who are familiar with and understand the variety of outlooks held by Ethiopians in all walks of life.

So much of marketing today falls flat, and misses the point — the point of sale, the point where consumers engage and the buying decision gets made. So we’re obsessed with unearthing insights and discovering new brand dimensions. Why? Because insight provides inspiration. And inspiration is the springboard of all creativity.

Character

• Transformational
• Passionate
• Accountable
• Restless
• Ambitious
• Dreamers Listeners

Design and Production

Our design philosophy is very simple - Communication that calls for action! That is what we drive for at all costs. The strategy deployed by our creative team is very well integrated with the entire marketing and advertising needs of our clients with due respect to their consumers. We have created distinct Amharic typefaces and are always on the forefront of pushing the envelope with copywriting.

Brand Identity

Our team of experts in creative work, design, copywriting, and strategy bring our clients’ brands to life with the comprehensive integration of a resonant core message.

Photography

From corporate photography to product, as well as editorial and campaign-driven photography, we produce images that are crisp clean and to the point.

Design

We take our clients, step-by-step through the creative process, from a blank canvas, to inspiring designs that convey value.

Radio and TV

With an in-house production company that boasts the best production equipment in Addis Ababa alongside renowned producers from the UK and veterans of Ethiopian music and recording engineers such as Abegasu Kibrework, any production challenge is always welcome at 251.

Marketing & Advertising

We aspire to connect our clients with their consumers, we are not from the idiom of marketing that has long forgotten the consumer, ever so focused on product attributes and price differentiators and functional benefits galore! Devoted not just to research alone, our teams dwell at the heart of consumers, and explore the market from within. This has allowed us to successfully launch campaigns and strategically leverage and position our clients towards consumers/audiences.

• Experiential Marketing

We know that creating authentic connections between brands and people is one of our clients’ utmost concerns, so we build this type of relationship through a thorough understanding of the consumer’s outlooks and how to speak to them. 

• Cause-Related Marketing

We gladly utilize our pool of talents for the promotion of benevolent and respectable causes.

• Social Media & Viral Marketing

One of the most important spaces for marketing is now the social media and network space. We provide clients with innovative social media strategy and creative messages to place them on the forefront of brand management.

• Activation

 Due to our early involvement with our clients’ goals, the production/distribution chain, we are able to foresee clear strategies that communicate to consumers in the most effective manner.

Public Relations & Media

We are the premiere PR agency in Ethiopia, with access to a number of resources along with knowledge of government policy, public perception, and how to support marketing promotion strategies.

• Public Relations

Whether a client is dealing with crisis management or a new initiative, we provide advice and support in order to bolster and rejuvenate its image.

• Pan African Media Relations

Our rich network of media contacts gives clients’ media placements the added appeal of credibility. 251 exclusively partners Aegis Media, the world’s leading focused media and digital communications group. 251 is part of Aegis’ world spanding network and receives regular support and staff trainings to the very benefit of our clients. Furthermore, 251 is closely connected to Saracen Media, East Africa’s first independent media agency founded in 2002.

• Government Relations

Channelling our extensive network of key government contacts and long term relationships, we are able to provide our clients access to the public officials and the public policy arena. This very asset distinguishes us from other PR agencies in Ethiopia.

• Strategic Planning

Our insights into the customer consciousness allow us to work with clients to put together strategies that will dramatically increase visability and positively impact customer behavior.

Consumer Insights & Research

251 partners with Nairobi-based research company Consumer Insight and has access to their tools andressources. This partnership allows 251 to provide effective market research for our clients.

Consumer Insight is Africa’s most skilled and experienced market intelligence and research agency. This partnership ensures that 251 is involved in continent-wide market research and has access to Consumer Insight’s tools and resources. Together with Consumer Insight, 251 not only collects and prepares relevant data for our clients, but is researching new potentials and trends within Ethiopia’s prospering markets to develop our clients’ business opportunities.

• Market Research

Any form of marketing strategy is pointless without a broad market research. At 251, we examine all aspects of a business environment. We questions about competitors, market structure, government regulations, economic trends, technological advances, and numerous other factors that make up the business environment.

• Advertising Research

Logos, brand identities, product packaging, tag lines, copy writing and the sum of all to create a profound campaign relies on solid advertising research. We do pretesting by analyzing audience levels of attention, brand linkage, motivation, entertainment, and communication, as well as breaking down the ad’s flow of attention and flow of emotion.