UAP Insurance – 12th December is Jamhuri Day

To the folks at UAP Insurance 12th December is known as Jamhuri Day not Madaraka Day.

Toss Detergent’s advertising has lost the plot!!!

The other day i saw the Toss Detergent TV ad where they took the radio script and made it into a TV ad. So I wondered is it the lack of creative belief or new creative ideas. Anyway I think Toss detergent’s creative, some of the very best TV ads and most definitely radio ads have gone to the dogs. I heard their new radio ad yesterday with some girl who is being followed by paparazzi since she washed her clothes with Toss. Its one of the shallowest ads I have listened to in quite a while.

On the same note why did Kapa have to change the brand name for Rina Sunflower oil to Rinsun?

SAB Miller to launch Miller Genuine Draft

Well after my post last week wondering what SAB Miller was launching in December through Crown Beverages it now appears they are launching Miller Genuine Draft.

So what is Miller Genuine Draft?

According to Wikipaedia…

Miller Genuine Draft – Miller Genuine Draft (MGD) was introduced in 1985 as the original cold filtered packaged draft beer, which means that the beer is not pasteurized. MGD received the gold medal in the American-style Premium Lager category at the 1999 World Beer Cup. It also received the silver medal at the 2003 American Beer Festival. The concept for cold-filtered Miller Genuine Draft was developed by product consultant Calle & Company. Martin Calle evolved the concept from Miller’s New Ventures effort to launch a new dry beer at a time Miller Brewing was in danger of becoming a much-cloned light beer manufacturer. Originally introduced as “Miller High Life Genuine Draft”, the “High Life” part of the name was soon dropped. MGD is actually made from the same recipe as Miller High Life but with a different treatment. It was developed to give High Life drinkers the same taste in a can or bottle as they found in non-pasteurized kegs. It has 4.7% abv.

So i figure they must be launching the beer to fight Tusker malt and possible Heineken. So know i know why EABL has launched Tusker Lite and just today Pilsner Lite.

For the life of me i can figure out who the Consumer for Pilsner ICE is, anyone know?

Tacc Store Naked Billboard

just in case accidents occur on the Bunyala Road roundabout, this billboard is the culprit.

photo credit of @SamGichuru

SAB Miller is back

After their purchase of Crown Foods and subsequent renaming to Crown Beverages, SAB Miller has began their campaign to renter the local Kenyan beer drinking market. Last week they launched Redds in a non returnable bottle much like what Heineken is currently doing in this market. Redds which has been and will continue to be available in 330ml cans will now also be available in 330ml Non Returnable Bottles. Redds is more a brand targeting the stylish modern urban lady and we are yet to see if this will help increase thier current marketshare in the country.

Today Tusker launched Tusker Lite, a lighter version of Tusker malt with low carbs as per the ad below.

Not so sure where the brand fits since locally we don’t have a Lite category. But maybe thats what SAB miller have up their sleeve and are looking to launch a Lite beer into this market next week on 8th December. Maybe it might be one of this three brands

Did KPLC really deserve an MSK award?

A question by Sunnywords on twitter brought up an interesting debate about the role of MSK currently known as the marketing Society of Kenya. In their last warrior awards KPLC, won 2 awards one for best rebrand of an existing brand and the second for a good corporate campaign. I know what you’re thinking KPLC, seriously? How did they even get an award?
The argument is MSK should know better, how do you award a company that consistently disappoints consumers, never delivers on the brand promise and is a big monopoly with no competitor thus no need to keep to any standards. From a technical standpoint KPLC did deserve the awards but in marketing isn’t the brand promise as important as the campaign or the ad?
The bigger question is what happened to MSK? The Marketing Society of Kenya was supposed to uphold the highest level of marketing but has been a limping association with no clear direction in the last 10 years. They even used to publish a marketing magazine called Sokoni quite a while back, but no more. You’d think with a council of who’s who in big marketing suites across the country the MSK wouldn’t be groping in the dark when it comes to matters marketing. Maybe it’s time to either restructure MSK or start an all inclusive new marketing association; While we are at it maybe there is an opportunity to also create an advertisers association as APA (Association of Practitioners in Advertising) is a dead association.
As for the APA looks like it did die a natural death, can’t remember the last time we held Advertising awards in Kenya.

FIRE AWARD CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF EXISTENCE

11th October 2011…The Financial Reporting (FiRe) Award Celebrates 10 years of existence in acknowledging and rewarding excellence in financial reporting. This will be at a Gala Dinner to be held on 18th October 2011 at KICC, Tsavo Ballroom from 6pm. The Award is as a result of joint efforts of the founding Promoters: The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK); the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

Prior to the commencement of the FiRe Award was the Best Presented Accounts Award which was promoted by ICPAK. The Best Presented Accounts Award which ran for two years from 2000 considered only financial reporting. However, in 2002, the Promoters saw an increased need to recognize companies with best practices in corporate governance, Corporate Social Responsibility and environmental reporting hence giving birth to the FiRe Award.

Today, the FiRe Award seeks to enhance accountability, transparency and integrity in compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards and other disclosures on governance, social and environmental reporting by private, public and other entities domiciled in East Africa. This year, the competition has attracted about 86 entrants from Kenya (72), Uganda (4), Tanzania (3) and Rwanda (7).

All companies that prepare financial reports are welcome to submit their reports for evaluation between January and June every year for review in the Award. While preparing their reports, companies are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that their stakeholders understand the financial status of their companies. Through a transparent evaluation process, the reports are examined and graded. Thereafter, individualized reports are sent to the participating companies for review and a chance to improve on their reporting.

“Financial excellence is judged by how transparent the report is from an accounting angle. He added that this is a challenge to many organizations and in most cases; the report just contains that which favors the organization as opposed to the actual financial status” explains Jim McFie, Chief Judge.

Brand endorsement Advertising season…is it working?

So lately the Kenyan advertising scene has been down a certain road that is traveled on time and time again. Looks like every brand is going down the road of Brand Endorsements especially fronted by a lot of multinational brands. I don’t know what the fixation with Endorsement/ Brand ambassadors is but its become a bit too common of late. Is it working?

Unilever

Rexona – Wahu

Barclays – Maqbul

Airtel – Amani

Dettol – Judy Gichuru

PSI Mpango wa Kando – Jimmy Gathu

Others Include Samsung – Wyre, Harpic – Susana Owiyo & Nyambane, Tusker – Nameless

Kenya one of the worlds 10 most dangerous places to visit…how now?

 

 

http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/10-most-dangerous-places8.htm

The Barclays Ultimate account ad – Blantant Plagarism or a case of Ignorance

So Barclays Bank yesterday premiered a new ad for their new Ultimate account which has a roster of benefits, with no fees at ATMs, a Visa card etc. The star of the ad is Maqbul Mohammed a Capital FM Drive show presenter. All things considered its a very well shot ad the only problem being its plagarised from the Old Spice Campaign. The Old Spice Ad won a Grand prix at the Cannes Advertising Awards and reports are it increased sales of Old Spice by around 300%. Its an iconic, ground breaking campaign. So as much as we do admit imitiation is the sincerest form of flattery, what this ad has done is blatant plagiarism of the idea and the script.

Is that even allowed or have we thrown creativity & honesty out of the window? I’m quite disappointed in Barclays, its no wonder i’m not a customer.