Peter Marangi, another funky ad frm Duracoat

Commercial break

Ad: “Peter Marangi”
Client: Duracoat – Basco Products

Basco Products Kenya Ltd, better known as ‘Basco Paints’ introduced the Duracoat branded range of paints into the East African market in 998. Soon after they launched their colour mania concept – a computerized tinting system which helps customers pick paint colours accurately. Their last ad featured a typical couple going through their newly purchased house to decide the right colours for each room.  The ad humorously conveys the message that; when it comes to colours most men are limited to red, blue and yellow – the primary colours – as their broadest spectrum to choose from.

In their new ad, a guy in blue overalls steps up to the camera and proceeds to take us through the steps one needs to go through before undertaking a paint job.  For a layman like me, the steps are quite useful and are interjected with slapstick humour between him and his assistant, which makes it even more engaging and memorable. By the time he has finished talking about applying the first and the second coat of paint, he has captured your complete attention and then poses to introduce himself, in his heavy kikuyu accent, “I’m Peter Marangi, and I know about paint.”

This is an enjoyable ad to watch that is equally creative.  It’s testimonial nature makes the ad very credible and appealing to all target audiences.  It’s the kind of ad that has a strong call to action and leaves the audience with no doubt in their minds that they want to purchase the product.  When they think about Peter Marangi they associate him with paint and with DuraCoat.  It’s a simple idea running on the ‘Ask the experts’ platform that is executed brilliantly.

the premiership saga

First it was DSTV the incummbent with the rights to air matches but now have 20% of the matches. Then GTV who claim to have 80% of all the matches… finally NTV ran an ad in todays paper announcing they will be screening premiership matches for free…

A brilliant idea i know where my loyalties will be come he start of the season which is in 2 weeks time

The Best and worst PR moves of last year

Check this link out the best and worst PR moves of last year.

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/12/1218_2006pr/index_01.htm

Revival of Dead brands? the Unilever way

Kenya is a wonderful country to live in and for those of you who haven’t lived in shaggz let me enlighten you a bit. Being a tab bit older than most i did spend my share of time at cucu’s when young. We used to use a pit latrine and a bathroom which was outside. The soap we used back then was one among 2 Unilever brands…Rexona or Lifebuoy. Our reasons for using Lifebuoy had nothing to do with the fact that it was good soap, far from it, they advertised it as the soap for strong men and since we wanted to be strong men we used it. I do remember after bathing one could apply a bit on the legs  so they don’t “parara” (remain dry). So its with nostalgic memories i watched their new ad promoting Lifebuoy in this market, a soap that was last seen on our supermarket shelves over 10 years ago.

So is Unilever reviving thier old brands and if they are could  place in a request for a return of Treetops the iconic juice brand back then…

The money minting MP’s

The recent news from the 8th parliament is the MP’s want a severance package and other benefits that total to more than 6 million shillings at the end of thier current term of parliament. These are the people leading the country who should be thinking about our collective development but no they are just thinking about thier interests.

Is there no MP who can stand and be counted for being brave enough to oppose the oppression or do they just think of their stomachs?

At the same time there are proposals to increase the number of constituencies  but you must understand if this are their habits we are right to be apprehensive about the new constituencies. I think its a good idea if development was to get to the grassroot levels but knowing Kenyan politics they might be created in very undeserving areas.

I don’t agree with the ODM guys for opposing the creation of new constituencies since in they are arguing based on numbers… i think ODM needs to re-evaluate thier stance coz as it is they have no basis to argue against new constituencies

Standard Chartered Bank joins Pesa Point

Finally one of the Big 4 joins PesaPoint, Standard Chartered Bank. I wonder what took them too long as Pesa Point is the ideal way to go. I remember before Pesa Pointa trip out of town would include one having to carry all the money they would need since some of the banks didnt have an extensive network. Pesa Point  now enables us to withdraw cash from more than 110 locations countrywide some in very remote towns and all sorts of unexpected places.

I had an argument last week with a banker on who the big 4 banks are. In his assertion backed by facts the big 4 are Barclays, Standard Chartered, KCB and National Bank. In my opinion backed by perception they are Barclays, KCB, Standard Chartered and Cooperative bank. No doubt he is right as the figures support him but  for me perception matters more since if people dont value your brand what’s its worth?

32 new Barclays bank branches

Well we should commend Equity Bank for proving to all the other banks that banking on the masses can be very profitable. Barclays Bank has now opened up 32 new branches across Kenya. A good idea though after the arrogance they show’d in year past it would take alot to get me to even consider being their customers.

Are they sure they will be able to sustain this branches in years to come or are they going to go ahead and close them if they don’t prove profitable. Does it make sense to have a Nairobi West and South C Red Cross branch?

Guess only time will if this proves to be the midas touch for Barclays Bank

<<
#
Kenyan Blogs
?
>>

Expanding Thika Road…

Yesterday’s statement by the PS Finance of plans to make Thika Road a three lane highway was a breath of fresh air in the midst of the verbal pollution that has become our daily news. Im sure many political leaders will claim its  an election gimick  but i tend to think differently. Good infrastructure will add to the economic  growth the country is currently experiencing and open up more land to developments  and growth of Nairobi as a capital city. The expansion of Mombasa road has already began and its going very well which will definately help reduce the cost of business.

I’m not politically inclined and as a matter of fact i tend to think politicians are an evil we should do away with. At the end of the day i will caste my vote for the politician who shows the greatest ambition of growing our economy and sustaining the growth in coming years.

Kudos to the present goverment for coming up with this proposed expansion and i sure do hope it sees the light of day regardless of all the politics

mediocre acting, bad concept…the ABC Bank ad

Commercial break

Ad: “Talking Fountain”
Client: Kisima A/c – ABC Bank

ABC Bank was founded in 1984 as Consolidated Finance Company, a financial institution in Nairobi, by a group of experienced bankers, industrialists and advocates. The Consolidated Finance Company converted into African Banking Corporation in January 1995 and today has a network of seven branches in Kenya.

Except for sponsorship boards on the local TV stations during business news, the current ad they are flighting is their first venture into TV advertising.  In the new TV spot, we see a couple walk into an ABC banking hall holding hands.  After a brief moment, the lady turns to the man tells him to make a wish.  He closes his eyes shortly and makes his wish out loud.  “I wish for one account for all my financial needs” he says.

Suddenly, a fountain situated inside the banking hall, morphs into a water genie and proceeds to extol the benefits of a new account from ABC Bank called Kisima guaranteed to meet his every financial need.  Her ‘recital’ ends with “now open your eyes and experience Kisima” as she disappears back into the fountain.

He opens his eyes, turns to the lady and says “that was amazing.” Her confused look and the question “what was?”  tells us that only ‘he’ was having the ‘vision.’  They proceed into the banking hall and the fountain genie re-appears to give a courtesy bow as the voice-over talks about how ABC Bank is redefining banking with the Kisima Financial account solution. The ad ends with the ABC Bank tag “Moneywise Advice”

Having researched about the Kisima Financial solution, one can confidently vouch for it as a great product.  However, this ad does the product complete injustice and seems to dwell too much on the name of the account ‘Kisima.’  The bad acting further reduces the credibility of the ad requiring one to brave through the ad repeatedly in order to finally get the message. It’s a good product with a terrible ad and an even worse tagline.