BACK, BACK,FORTH N FORTH

The title of this post  actually is a song by the late great Aaliyah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a02dBbBGSPg. for it describes the product revamp of Kenyas most famous cooikng oil KIMBO

 Pika kwa kimbo meaning  cook using kimbo is a televison commmercial that kenyans can sing for it is their hearts.

For a long time period between 1993 to the year2001 kenyans had only a few variety to choose from in the supermarkets for it was Kimbo and Kasuku who were dominant in the market. With the on set of health concerns of solid cooking oil came liquid cooking oil and kimbo slowly disappeared form the shelves and kimbo was no more.

With growth comes change Kimbo is under the Bidco Africa. like the title of this post  they decided to go back back forth n forth. they have revamped and kimbo is now from solid to  liquid oil and  i must say the packaging is quite impressive.

  It comes in diffrent sizes  from 3 litres to 500 mm. Another bonus that Kimbo  have made is the pricing of their smallest liqiud oil is retailing at 80 Ksh at the super market a friendly price for the common man.

 The Re invetion of Kimbo fro solid to liquid oil is  genius fro now Kimbo has a new life line . It comes to whats in a name? Is it brand value by what it makes the heart of consumers feel or simlply the memeory they associate the product.

HUMANE MARKETING

From the Oxford dictionary the meaning of Humane is having compassion.Its synonyms are compassionate,kind,considerate,and sympathetic.

The world rather man kind forgets this act of being  humane and commits crimes against humanity.For example Slavery,The Holocaust,World wars and so forth.
"It is in your nature to destroy yourselves"

these are the words of T 1000 Terminator 2 (Judgement Day) played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Which brings to my point that time and time again Hollywood will Make and a film that will market  Humane -ty.The Clever strategy Hollywood uses to show Humane ness in its purity is the starring of the film is not be a human being.

If you watch Planet of the Apes the full franchise ( The rise of the planet of the apes)

starring Ceaser Played by Andy Serkis in one scene he has an option of letting the other apes kill the human but he shouts "NO' and spares the humans life by putting him in the cage.

You will excuse me I love the whole franchise of Planet of the apes.In 1972,S conquest of the planet of the apes

Ceaser played by Rody Mcdowall ,after he liberates the apes this is what he tells Mac Donald

,Caesar: But now... now we will put away out hatred. Now we will put down our weapons. We have passed through the Night of the Fires. And who were our masters are now our servants. And we, who are not human, can afford to be humane.

What am saying is humanity should be reminded what it means to be Humane and Hollywood does it again in the film Chappie.

Chappie is a futuristic sci- fi  film of a a robot with artificial intelligence capable of human emotion and a Conscience.
Played by Sharlto Copley  is subjected to the hate for he is different and his parents his father teaches him hate and violence while his mothers shows him love and compassion and empathy.
Finally Chappie makes his own decision for he has a conscience.Watch the film and you will understand what am saying.
Be Humane

Eric WINE AINA

"One of the things Nederburg needs is expertise and seeing something through until we perfect it" these are the words of Mr. Wanaina at his acceptance speech at Que Pasa bistro as he was crowned Nederburg ambassador.

Like wine Mr. Waniana sorry Mr. Wine aina has matured.
From the days when K.T.N was channel 62 and he was famous rather an ambassador for a campaign against drugs ( drugs will hurt you or desert you, live you crying empty dying turn away say no today, use your life don,t throw it all away) to Nchi ya kitu kidogo to Kenya only which i think is Kenyas second national anthem.

 I believe the criteria Nederburg used  to pick Mr.Wainaina is consistency and an everlasting quest for perfection.
He has been in the music industry for more than twenty years and produces excellent and timeless music. Lesson learnt work incessantly and with all passion to achieve your dream.
Congratulations Mr. Wineaina.

MUSICAL CHAIRS

He who pays the piper calls the TUNE.
 This saying does not apply in Kenyan Marketing and Advertising. Actually a few Corporates have tried  their hand at marketing through Music.

The first one bieng Tusker with its T.V show Tusker Project Fame

which ha run for six consecutive  seasons, the winners of the show however do not have exactly successful music careers.
 Another Trial was by Orange Telekom. Orange beat ya street.

This was a dance show targeted towards the youth

 It was televised for about three months and winners announced and that was about it.

The next casualty is Airtel. with its Airtel Trace Music Star

 the cycle continues televised for two months winner announced and show is over may be they will be another season next time.

Musical chair for those who never played this game this is how it is played. For example four chairs are arranged in a straight line and they are four participants who go round these chairs as music plays in the back ground.Immediately  the music stops all participants are supposed to be seated. Whoever is not seated is out of the game till one winner is left.

The winner of the Corporate Musical chair is Safaricom.
  Safaricom understand the concept of O M R.

To get the largest market share through music it is not a sprint but a marathon.
Safaricom have employed the  OMR  concept which means.

 1Obtain.Obtaining this is the easy part through aggressive marketing now you have a large audience and have all of their attention.

.
2 Maintain. Maintenance here is  where you keep the audience involved and interested.

3.Retain. To retain now here is the most difficult part.Keep the audience always coming back year after year without fail.
Safaricom has not held any Musical competition Instead they invested in festivals.

The Safaricom Jazz Festival. Held at the  Ngong Race Course.It  was packed audience with over six thousand attendants.Every one who attended had something positive about the positive.In another 4 months there will be another Jazz Festival and even a larger audience will attend Kudos Safaricom.

ALL OF THE LITES.

The year of 2015 looks promising for all sectors of the economy especially for Advertising and Marketing.
One particular brand which has come up with a bold campaign which has lit the way literally is Tusker Lite with their new campaign. LITE THE WAY.

In the words of Jeff koinange "wow what an advert".
Tusker Lite in my opinion have rebranded.The main reason for this is for rebranding is Coming of Age. For a long time was associated with a certain age group bieng middle aged and sophisticated, but this new campaign is geared towards the youth for they represent the future and a new untapped market.

 As seen in the commercial they cast a young man from the shoes he is wearing Supras he should early twenties may be twenty two.
Every where he goes he lights up the way.I love the General direction alcohol advertising is taking.
For example if you take the Grants Whisky # IOU It is more than a drink which freinds enjoy when having a good time but friends bieng there when one is feeling low.


# LITE THE WAY

is an inspirational campaign makes the audience feel like a leader a pioneer almost biblical where there is sadness bring joy where there is darkness bring light so to write.

After watching the Lite the Way campaign the next time i went to the sports bar to watch a football match i ordered four bottles of Tusker Lites the waiter was shocked that i din,t order my usual i responded  by saying am not sick am all LITE.

 I even proceeded to order two bottles of Tusker Lite to the hot lady that was by her lone some at the corner.For that i can say I lite the way in approaching the hottie. With a LITE touch.
This campaign gets a ten out of ten.

FACE THE MUSIC

The year 2014 is  one of the worst years for advertising in Kenya.
Where did all the creativity go?.

One particular campaign is extremley poor in every form, manner and kind

.
For this campaign Airtel has two T.V Commercials.The first one is of a lady in the office and tries her luck at singing to win a chance to win a trip to be with Akon and get a recording deal.

 Airtel is mocking Kenyan talent, the lyrics which this lady sings are so horrible,"unataka number yangu boy,nina taka number yako girl."now here comes the worst part of this commercial finishes by saying Yeah believing she has nailed it.The lady cannot sing to save her life.

Now the second advert is equally worst.A Chef comes in and starts singing a jaguar song as he cooks.They are already two problems 1.Jaguar cannot sing.2.The chef cannot sing, my advice stick to cooking.

Airtel is mocking kenyan talent.The concept behind the campaign is for one to sing and win a trip to be a trace music star with AKON. Yes Akon is the ambassador.

Here are some facts for Airtel.

1.Every one can sing
2.Not every one can  sing exceptionally well.
3.It is for the above reason not every one should sing.
4.A nice singing voice is a talent a gift which few poses on this planet.
5.For the best results talent is harnessed and nutured to produce perfection.
6.Someone singing through the phone is not an accurate basis to judge a competitors vocal range and ability Akon knows this.Super stars practice fours hours days and years.Trace knows this. Kindly Trace do not insult our intelligence and talent.Hold better and more quality competitions.  
7.A better way to do this competition is actually through auditions.
8.Kenyans can sing however not all Kenyans can sing exceptionally well.
9 Airtel if you want to fuse with music, then open Airtel Music Academy.

BEYOND BLACK

"It  doesn't matter if you are black or white " these are the words of Micheal Jackson.
However according to Guinness it does.
Their  global campaign is # MADE OF MORE.

Now their African campaign # MADE OF BLACK

The African Made of black comes with a commercial which shows black Africans watching black football in a stadium full of black Africans and black football players.
The next scene is a black African man putting on red paint on his face to go and support his black football team.
Guinness African campaign is not success by any measure with an undertone of racism.
While the world is # Made of More ,Africa is #Made of black.

Guinness is black that is a fact. Africans are black.
Another fact is that AFRICANS DO NOT DRINK GUINNESS BECAUSE IT IS BLACK.THEY DRINK IT BECAUSE IT IS A NICE BREW. # CHOOSE BLACK is the campaign they are running as they show English premiere league football matches. The campaign will not make Africans drink more Guinness.

  Guinness rise above color.
 Color has nothing to do with it.Should Africans not drink Milk because it is White.
.#Made of black is a poor thought out campaign.
 If they were going for inspiration then #Made of more is a good campaign.

ART ATTACK

There are messages that are every advert portrays. The obvious, immediately noticeable ones, which are usually whatever the advert is advertising; the product. Then there are subliminal messages. A case in point is the Airtel TV commercial Shikisha Story.

The main point of the advert is that the more you talk the more free airtime points you get. The script goes, a young man calls his mother and tells her that he wants to be a rapper. This is how he knows to get free talk time, because as soon as he says that, his mother goes into a frenzy. He later says that he is quitting his job to egg her on. The parents are in such a panic and even show up to his house in the middle of the night.

This commercial brings out issues on how Kenyan parents view The Arts; the arts being Art Craft and Music - yes I hail from that glorious era. I did all these 3 subjects in primary school and even then, they did not take them seriously - so much so that they were eliminated from the syllabus.

In the TV commercial the boy mentions that he wants to be a rapper. His mother immediately flips out; she says there is no way he can do that after they took him to school, what is he doing, etc. So basically, the advertisement is telling kids to yes, get more talk time for talking longer, but also - if you go to school, please don't waste your parents' money and become a rapper.

This is only one example - but we all know Kenyan parents think like this. Art is a failure, not a failsafe, to that generation. Forget about the fact that art just gave Okwiri Oduor, winner of the Caine Prize, 1.5 MILLION shillings. Forget that off the top of anyone's head, people can name artists IN KENYA who are LIVING off their art- whether musicians or rappers or poets or writers or photographers (Aaron Rimbui. Eric Wainaina. Kato Change. Victor Peace. Mark Kiarie. Owuor Arunga. Juliani. Nonini. DNG. DJ Stylz. DJ Pinye. Ian Mbugua...)

Speaking of Lupita Nyong'o, her win of the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress was a turning point for how Kenyan parents view the Arts. Suddenly there was a perfect poster child for every Kenyan child! A KENYAN actress. On an INTERNATIONAL stage. Winning an Oscar. That meant it could be done! Granted, people may say, oh, she was an MP's daughter etc. But not all successful artists in our country are MP's children. The point is not where she came from; the point is that it was done. And that there is a way to do it - and she showed it to us.

The mentality is slowly changing. In time we will fully embrace art as a profession, and a logical career, and something to be respected and aspire to. One day we will have art and music school all over Kenya.

I believe Airtel should sponsor more Art Programs, for the simple reason that the sciences are not everything. Not everyone is going to be a doctor - and YES. Some people want to be rappers. AND THAT IS OK.

Life is painful. It has thorns, like the stem of a rose. Culture and art are the roses that bloom on the stem. The flower is yourself, your humanity. Art is the liberation of the humanity inside yourself.” 
― Daisaku Ikeda

DRIVING FOOTBALL

The 2014 World Cup is over; Germany are the winners -

- and we have to wait for another four years for another World Cup.

True soccer lovers can go back to their local football leagues. I  know football fans can't wait for the most watched football league in Kenya: the English Premier League.

The English Premier League starts on 16th of August. The opening match is Manchester United vs. Swansea. For this season Manchester United has a new Drive, so to speak. American car marker Chevrolet has sponsored Man -U to the tune of $560 million.

With this move, Chevrolet has made its intention clear: we are going global. Even here in Kenya there are more and more Chevys on the roads. I feel like this is a very good move for Chevrolet. For a very long time American vehicles were only designed for American roads and could not fit on European and African roads. On top of that, they were fuel guzzlers. With the global campaign Chevrolet has adapted. Building new cars for new markets will surely increase profits and, more importantly, chances of survival.

SURETY

Bila kupoteza muda wacha ni seme bloggi la leo ni la kusema tangazo (advertisement) la M-shwari si shwari.
Kiswahili is really hard. It took me a slow 15 minutes to write the above sentence.

Today I am on Safaricom's case; rather, their new account known as M-shwari.

M-shwari is a brilliant concept. It is a bank account in your mobile phone. It allows you to save money, borrow money at overdraft (more money than your actual account balance) and, the best feature, at a low interest rate compared to other financial institutions.

I believe M-shwari should get a lot of awards. Through M-shwari, one can save without standing in long queues. Another huge issue it has tackled is the accesibility to loans for the common mwananchi, as well as the enlightenment of the saving culture to the masses. In time, I believe it should be opened up for children as well. They are, after all, the future.

There is only one major problem with it; its latest TV commercial it is not informative. I believe a good advert can be in Chinese and I will still understand it.The TV commercial target market was the youth.but it could well be mistaken for a music video; it's funky and hyped. And all we see...is funk and hype. We don't know details about the product...except that there's a chick in the video buys a laptop in the end. Being simple is best. It touches more hearts and more minds. There is a place for hype, yes, but what is the point if the message is not communicated? The excitable 'cool dude' who jumps out of the limousine is supposed to be a representation of today's average young person; to me, this is false.

This TV commercial is ambiguous.Yes, the youth are full of energy but not all of them are searching for the limelight.

TRANSFORMATIVE MARKETING

There have been many product placements in TV series. Product placement as a marketing tool has gone a notch higher; for a while, marketing has elevated to a level which makes products prominent in Hollywood movies.The latest - and most glaringly obvious - instance is from the movie Transformers 4: Age of Extinction.

ALERT: SPOILERS AHEAD

In the first few scenes, there is an interstellar Autobot bounty hunter by the name of Lockdown. He is ruthless and vicious; and, he turns into - yes - a Lamborghini Aventador. The car matches the character of Lockdown; beastly and basically made up of raw power.

The product that got the lion's share of the marketing is the car company CHEVROLET. Mark Wahlberg drives a Chevrolet in the very first scene as he goes to his house. They are not interested in being discreet; they are interested in being direct. Also, at some point in the movie, the main characters are rescued by someone else driving a Chevy Sonic rally car.

 Bumble Bee transforms from a 1967 Mr. Vegance Camaro -

to a 2014 Camaro Concept car.

There are a host of other conveniently placed products; at some point, the camera focuses on a device to make music; that morphs into a close up shot of the pill, by Beats by Dre.

An accident happens with a car that is coincidentally, of course, carrying bottles of Bud Light.

Wahlberg, in the middle of an alien invasion, takes this time to take a sip of this cool, refreshing American drink (about as believable as Brad Pitt in World War Z drinking a Pepsi after figuring out how to safely walk through a battering ram of zombies).

When mayhem is being wrought in the city, Bumblebee crashes into a Victoria's Secret bus -

- and lands in Tom Ford wall.

Please note that all these products are American; this is no country (movie) for Guinness or Stoned Cherrie.

But the biggest product placement has to be that of the AMERICAN FLAG.

In the trailer alone, the American flag is waving in the background a minimum of 10 times.

10 flags...

...in 2 and a half minutes.

All through the movie, the flag is depicted as a central part of life; when a character dies, the only thing that is left of him is the flag; when the aliens are invading, they pass over the flag; and so on, and so forth.

Even more 'climatic', the pinnacle point is where Wahlberg overcomes a trained CIA agent in CHINA, by throwing an AMERICAN FOOTBALL at him -

- which causes him to lose his balance and Wahlberg empowers him.

Even in China, America wins. GOD BLESS MARKETING - SORRY, GOD BLESS AMERICA.

AN APPLE A DAY KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY

What's in a name? Is it prestige? Is it heritage, or is it a profession?

The name in question is Andre Romelle Young a.k.a. Dr.Dre.

The world has witnessed the metarmophosis of Dr. Dre from a musician to a music producer to a million- sorry, billionaire.

Dr. Dre produced his own head phones known as 'Beats by Dre', logic being the world would buy his headphones because he designed them from a music producer's perspective, sense of hearing, and thus know that it will be of superior sound quality. But most of all, they would buy it for the name.

The world was very receptive to Beats by Dre, so much so that they are currently the number one bestselling set in the United States of America , the UK, France, Germany, South Korea and Singapore. The marketing strategy is simple and powerful.Their main candidates for their brand ambassadors are musicians and athletes - people everyone looks up to as demigods, and who will buy something because of their name; the fundamental pillar of endorsement.

For the 2014 FIFA World Cup, their campaign 'THE GAME BEFORE THE GAME' is brilliant.

They choose Brazilian football star Neymar Jr. to carry the message.They choose Portuguese as the language of choice which is a break from the norm, implying they have a larger audience. The advert is a phone call between Neymar Jr. and his father, his pre-game ritual, before any match. The advert is superb; it features may familiar faces, and use of a familiar language as well as setting and general loyalty to the sport evokes multiple layers of emotional attachment and appreciation; one, a man and his father, and two, a man and his game.

Apple recently purchased Beats by Dre  for 3.2 billion dollars. It's a good brand, and it's made a good name for itself. So once again...what's in a name?

Everything.

They've said it from the beginning of time; an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Guess an Apple is what it took to keep Dr. Dre away?

Coke Comet

As marketers, our job involves always looking for the new next frontier. We try to market a brand so well that it touches and the lives of others; to come up with concepts which will shape the life of a child to only buy that brand till she/he is an adult.
To make an advert so good that the brand is a family member if not your closest friend!

There are very rare moments when brands make great, heart warming ads.
 
Halley's Comet is visible to humans in the sky once every 75 years. It is a preternatural spectacle that words simply cannot describe.

The Coca Cola Comet has just been sighted in their campaign HELLO HAPPINESS...and yes, words cannot describe the brilliance of the concept and the magnificence of the execution. Of course, it also helps that the emotional aspect of the ad is so relatable, and so deeply, intensely emotional. What better way to make Coke a part of the family than family itself?
The ad shows how Coke bottle tops act as currency for workers far from their loved ones making phone calls that would otherwise be at least a sixth of their daily income.

With the HELLO HAPPINESS campaign, they have pushed the limit past the sky; with Coke's comet, it's stratospheric.

LEMONADE

In the continuing World War P (P standing for phones), there are two main enemies: Nokia vs. Samsung. Before that there was Samsung vs. Apple which was fierce, but was more of an American war.

In this edition of World War P(s) Samsung hit out hard with the Galaxy range and for a long time they were winning the war. They came out strongly, taking the Earth from the Milky Way to the Samsung Galaxy. They had numerous versions, from the Galaxy Y, Ace and the latest ones, the S3 and S4.

All was well. Samsung had won - until Nokia’s response to the Galaxy was the lemonade.

Let me explain. The Nokia Lumia is derived from an Italian word meaning lemon (one of its several meanings, anyway). So Nokia literally took Samsung’s smug lemons and made lemonade.

 The Lumia is an impressive phone especially for emerging markets in Africa. It is a Windows phone. The two main divides are the 10 series and the 20 series, and they are giving the Samsung galaxy a run for their money. The Lumia might just be better than the iconic 3310.

Nokias get points for reinventing themselves and coming up with a brilliant smart phone. I recently bought a 620 and my favourite feature is…it looks good. Most importantly, it can fit comfortably in my pocket (unlike…you know what)!

Irregardless of the competitions and wars, Nokia is still living up to its slogan; folk are still buying their phones. They are still Connecting People.

Coming to Kenya

When you see this title you will probably remember Eddie Murphy’s 1987 hit movie Coming to America. In this comic movie a young prince by the name Hakeem comes from Africa in pursuit of a wife, all this time hiding that he is wealthy. After finding his wife he finally reveals he’s a prince and they live happily ever after.

This time, it’s coming to Kenya, a wealthy drink coming to Africa, the last frontier – Kenya, to be specific. Pepsi have landed in Kenya, and not for a honeymoon –they are here to stay. 

Reports indicate they opened a 2.6 billion shilling plant in Ruaraka which manufactures six of its flavours.

Though Pepsi has come into a new market it faces its old arch-enemy Cocacola. 

For decades Coke has had the Kenyan market share, but now competition is here and Kenyans will enjoy all the benefits that come with it. For example, the price wars have already begun as Pepsi reduces its cost to cater to the average Juma. 

Signs of Pepsi marketing are evident in the supermarkets where they have put coolers for their drinks, among other obvious takeover shots.

Pepsi’s current slogan is ‘Dare for More’, currently occupying one of the hugest billboards in Nairobi at Nyayo Stadium. This right here is an example of the epic war; Pepsi has the biggest bill board in  the compound of Nyayo stadium, yet Coca Cola has painted the outer walls of the stadium red – Coca Cola colours and insignias. In fact, at some point it was called the Coca Cola stadium! I think they should just make a movie called World War Drinks: Battle for Kenya. We are yet to see how Coca Cola will respond. As for their current theme ‘Africa, let’s go crazy’… I think it’s incomprehensible. Their billboard on Uhuru Highway says ‘Open happiness, Africa lets go crazy’. 

Too many ideas and themes on one billboard. Not Coca Cola at all. Remember the days of ‘Brrr!’ and ‘Live on the Coke side of life’? Now that was marketing. Coca Cola are losing their Midas touch, while Pepsi are slowly and steadily growing.

In line with the Pepsi slogan, they truly have dared for more by coming to Kenya. Now let us wait and see their marketing prowess. Hopefully they will make a television commercial with black Kenyan people…