Saba Saba/Nane Nane
The Saba Saba festival is an annual international trade fair in Tanzania which is held in the heart of Dar es Salaam in the Temeke District. The fair presents an excellent opportunity to all participating vendors and organizations to introduce, promote, and sell their respective goods and services to the general public as well as to various traders. Similarly, the Nane Nane festival is an annual farmer’s day occurring in Dodoma at the Zuguni grounds. The event not only attracts farmers, but also many business visitors and the public. For the past two years, Saba Saba and Nane Nane have provided T-MARC Company an ideal platform upon which to reach a significant base of its target audience with brand messages and behavior change communication campaigns as well as to collaborate with other local NGOs operating within the public health realm.

Due to the massive volume of information and products available at these fairs, T-MARC Company works to engage attendees through non-conventional activities dubbed "edutainment." During the 2008 trade fairs, T-MARC Company constructed a large stage and employed the following open ground mass audience activities to mobilize attendees, disburse print materials, and to disseminate key generic and brand communications:

• Thematic Dramas
  Stage dramas were enacted to simulate real life situations harmonized with local settings. The skits used Swahili sayings (Methalis) to disseminate messages about HIV prevention and family planning, addressing key myths and misconceptions about the correct and consistent use of condoms (both brand specific and generic condom promotion), and modern family planning products, such as Flexi P. After each drama, a question and answer session was provided in order to engage the audience and to gauge message penetration.
• Comedy Shows
  Local Tanzanian celebrities were employed as T-MARC Company ambassadors at the events. They educated crowds by providing entertaining skits that incorporated both brand-specific messages as well as generic messages for condom promotion, faithfulness, and family planning.
• Interactive Games
  Interactive games were used to engage the crowd and provide "edutainment." This provided an opportunity for brand promoters to disseminate messages for VAA Kondom, Sikia Kengele, Dume, Flexi P, and Lady Pepeta, promoting correct and consistent condom use, and the benefits of faithfulness and partner reduction.
  
  One of the games utilized was "Sikia Kengele Spell Check." The interactive game engaged crowds and promoted the benefits of faithfulness and partner reduction as HIV/AIDS preventive tools. The game sought to test if the audience understood the Kengele message by displaying boards with various letters making up the Sikia Kengele logo. Each team was required to correctly arrange the boards to spell the name Sikia Kengele. Winning teams were rewarded with branded merchandise. Between the spell checks, the brand promoters reinforced the Sikia Kengele messages.
  
  Another game involved a giant jigsaw puzzle developed with communication points for the VAA Kondom campaign. Participants were challenged to arrange the puzzle correctly to mirror the messages on posters. Winning teams were also rewarded with branded merchandise.
• Interactive Question and Answer Session
  An interactive question and answer session was held, allowing onlookers to ask receive information about both Dume and Lady Pepeta brand condoms. Brand promoters enhanced product knowledge and awareness of the brands, their purchase channels, and recommended retail prices.
• Mama Ushauri Information and Counseling Booth
  A large tent was placed adjacent to the main stage. The tent was manned by an accredited MOHSW family planning health professional to offer one-on-one family planning counseling sessions and a product category detailing session.

T-MARC Company also conducted activations in bars and restaurants in and around the Saba Saba and Nane Nane fair grounds. These venues attract large crowds, particularly during the lunch period, and the Company was able to leverage this opportunity. T-MARC Company visited a minimum of five bars per day during high traffic moments to reach a captive crowd with VAA condom, Sikia Kengele, Dume, and Lady Pepeta messages and materials. During these activations, the bar and restaurant staff were also sensitized on the correct and consistent use of condoms through product use demonstrations and brand promotions. Additionally, a mobile sales and promotional blitz team on branded bicycles disseminated products and information.

This activity is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Tanzania.

Data/Results

• T-MARC Company reached more than 200,000 people in Mbeya and Morogoro with Sikia Kengela and Vaa Kondom messages in and around the Nane Nane Agricultural Exhibits.
• During the 2008 Saba Saba Festival, approximately 14,000 people attending Saba Saba were reached with Sikia Kengele and Vaa Kondom messages via theatre performances by the Masungo Theater Group and small group discussions about condom use (using Dume and Lady Pepeta condoms for demonstrations). T-MARC focused on delivering these messages in the areas around the restaurants and bars on the fair grounds.