CONFESSIONS OF A SPOILT CREATIVE

It has been an interesting month for me as I have had to make several adjustments in my life. The biggest one I think has been getting used to using public transport all over again. My car has been in the shop for quite some time getting a well-deserved makeover and I don’t see myself spending Pampers money on using cabs daily. So I got over my rather spoilt self and decided to start javing like a normal Kenyan - and boy am I glad I did it.

I think moving up the ranks spoilt me in a way. I started hanging out exclusively in up-town spots. Is this a good thing for a creative? In a sense yes and in a sense no. Up-towners are great for networking and finding out the inner udakus of the industry. But on the other hand too much up-towning makes you forget what’s going on in the greater world.

You see when you start getting out more, you start getting amazing insights that you will never find behind your desk or on that i-pad. Getting into a mat has taught me what radio stations guys are really hooked up to, it has taught me what ads really get noticed out there, it has taught me what the person I try to communicate with cares about or does not care about.

Couch, google or desktop creativity is a really dangerous thing. In fact, it is not surprising that when most clients see a creative walking into the boardroom, an undercurrent sense of mistrust starts flowing. You see some clients get the jitters and often ponder about the stuff you put in front of them -  "Is this really going to connect with my consumer or is this just another abstract art exhibition to fuel egos at Caribana?"

I believe that creatives can gain client confidence by once in a while coating conversations with small talk about the things they have observed consumers doing. Clients want know that you have sat next to the guy they are trying to sell to in real life – and not just in air conditioned research group rooms. Clients want to know your views on how you saw their consumer interacting with their brands. Clients want you to be their brand spy in a sense. You cannot achieve that by confining your life to an android phone, the Art Café or your Subaru Legacy.

Ask yourself. How are you going to come up with that great on ground experiential campaign unless you are on ground yourself? How are you going to notice that innovative competitor radio station activation in the city center if you don’t take casual CBD walks? How are you going to come up with that great Kenchic, Coca-Cola or Dettol hand sanitizer idea if you don’t go to a face the wall chips joint at lunchtime? How are you going to notice the potential of that great ZUSHA idea for responsible public service vehicle driving if you don’t sit in a mat? How are you going to learn about mobile phone surfing  if you are not in that City Hopper during rush hour? How are you going to come up with that great safe sex campaign if you don’t observe different walks of shame in tao? How are you going to know what works for rural folk if you don’t hang out with your relas in shags? Catch my drift?

So there you have it folks. If you are a spoilt creative, it’s time to wake up and smell the dirt and smoke. You’ll be amazed at how much inspiration you’ll get. Go on, Get out NOW!

But hey, that’s just my opinion?

How social is your brand?

Hello folks, its that time of year again and apart from attending Christmas party after Christmas party there seems to be a slight slow down on brief traffic (at least on my end). So what else to do but spend time educating myself on trends courtesy of the great www.

So this got me thinking. Have Kenyan brands really embraced social media and if so, what succesful social media campaigns come to mind? Ummmmmm......ummmmmm none actually apart from maybe that clever campaign that Safaricom conducted i.e the King and Queen of facebook. Not bad when you think about the objective of growing data numbers.

I stumbled across the following article on the 10 most successful facebook campaigns of 2010 (Guess the 2011 list is not yet out). Cool thing is that they have amazing numbers to justify their success. Interesting read. Enjoy and maybe learn something.

So what Facebook marketing campaign you have noticed recently that impressed you? Please share your opinion.

The 10 Best Facebook Campaigns

Facebook campaigns seem to be going all warm, caring and fluffy recently as brands realize that solving problems and helping those in need can be a very effective marketing tactic.

Three of the Facebook campaigns in this list have an altruistic reason behind their campaigns, from donating $500,000 each to 20 schools to raising funds for the “Make A Wish Foundation”.

The marketing goals for the Facebook pages vary but quite often the simple goal of just increasing their fan count to their Facebook page seems to be top of the list as brands have worked out very quickly that being able to communicate to 1,000′s or even millions of fans via a simple status update is very efficient highly leveraged marketing. Companies have also realized that  people’s main reason for becoming a fan for the most part is not so charitable, but is about having access to the latest special offers and freebies.


1. Kohl
The Department store Kohl’s gave away $10 million to various schools decided by the votes of their fans on Facebook. It was an excellent promotional campaign as the 20 schools with the most votes were each given $500 thousand. Kohl’s Facebook page sky rocketed to well over a million fans, and the winning schools each tallied well over 100,000 votes. Kohl’s hit it out of the park so to speak with this campaign centered around the social network, and they did an excellent job utilizing social media tactics to help in its social responsibility efforts.

2. Target
Popular department store Target left the choice of where to donate $1 million into the hands of their fans on the social network. The company used an application titled “Super Love Sender” and kept fans updated in real time which charity was in the lead. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital ended up being the winning charity. Overall though, the excellent campaign was a complete success as it created quite a boom on the store’s Facebook page.

3. Ford Explorer
Ford shifted promotion techniques as they began gearing their campaigns towards social media outlets, and they really pushed the boundaries with innovative ideas. This past summer they released tidbits of info leading up to a Facebook event unveiling the 2011 Ford Explorer. The campaign was the first time a car company has ever used a website to reveal their new model as opposed to an auto show. Ford also went as far to randomly select one of their fans to giveaway a free Explorer upon their fan total surpassing a certain number.



4. Jack In The Box
Popular fast food chain Jack In The Box, and their slightly creepy mascot Jack, added a nickel in an imaginary jar for every new fan they accrued on Facebook in their October Rich Fan Sweepstakes. They started at just over $2,000, and when they gave away the money about a month later to a randomly selected fan, the jar was up to over $11,500. Needless to say, giving away free money is one of the best and easiest ways to acquire new fans on the social network. It was certainly a creative campaign though that helped the fast food chain see an explosive increase in fan numbers.

5. Bing and Farmville
A little before the beginning of Spring, Microsoft’s Facebook page for Bing launched a campaign that helped them accrue almost a half million new fans on the social network. The search engine did this by giving away FarmVille currency to all new fans that hit the “Like” button. Bing drew in great traffic and their page grew rapidly, but engagement of the content on the page was drawn into question. The Microsoft page responded by making itself a hotspot with the latest news about the popular Zynga developed game to keep their new fans around.

6. Papa Johns Pizza
The first pizza chain’s Facebook campaign to appear on our Year End list is Papa Johns. They promoted their Papa’s Speciality Pizza Contest using Facebook, and it created quite a buzz and a growth in fans as a result. The contest put the fans taste buds and creativity to the test as it was up to them to come up with a new pizza for the company. The winner also saw a piece of the profits, so it was not too much of a surprise that this creative campaign helped the popular chain’s fan-base on Facebook continue to expand.

7. Southwest Airlines
To go a whole list without mentioning at least one company that has utilized Facebook’s new popular feature, Places, just would not be acceptable. Southwest partnered up with the Make A Wish Foundation for an excellent charitable promotion that had the airline donating a dollar to the organization every time a passenger checks into a Southwest served airport. The promotion has had great success, as it is for a great cause, and it has it helped Southwest gain over 1 million fans on the social network. Be sure to check in on your next flight and join an excellent campaign.

8. Kellogs
Popular cereal company Kellogg’s teamed up with Feeding America, and the Facebook page Kellogg Cares comes as a result. The page has been a quick increase in fans, and the content posted makes it such an interactive success on the social network. The page’s aim is to educate younger generations on proper nutrition through posts and video updates. Kellogg’s used Facebook in an extremely humane fashion to raise awareness for a particular issue.



9. Domino’s Pizza
Domino’s Pizza has completely revamped its brand image this year through advertising campaigns, and a heavy focus on interactive social networks. As they were coming to the realization that their pizza previously tasted similar to cardboard, they started a tab on their Facebook page where fans could voice all of their complaints with the popular chain. Regardless of any opinion on whether their new pizza has actually improved, their use of Facebook to listen fans opinions was a great way to begin to improve a deteriorating image that was initially attached to their brand. Domino’s continues to be extremely interactive on the page offering responses and updates for fans.

10.  Corona
Corona Light cross-media campaign this past year included a goal to become “The Most Liked Light Beer In America.” A most notable part of this was to use Facebook, and by fanning the page you could see your picture up in the bright lights of New York City’s Time Square. The campaign was a great social media success in the sense that it had fans interacting on the pages as well as spreading the story of the billboard by word of mouth. The billboard ran for a month until the beginning of December, and many fans were able to snag pictures and be a part of this Facebook-based advertisement.

USE ME, I'M FAMOUS!

Theory and practice prove that the use of super stars in advertising generates a lot of attention from the public. So how is the Kenyan advertising fraternity doing when it comes to choosing brand ambassadors? Have we chosen the right ones? Are they relevant? Have they done justice to the brands they represent? Here's my opinion.

Julie Gichuru: Dettol Handwashing Campaign
This is a no brainer. Julie was the perfect choice. Her personality emits warmth, care and knowledge. Julie has initiated and taken part in several philanthropic campaigns over the years. The ad was also executed in a simple manner. It didn't look like out the place acting. Just good ol'Julie. "If I don't take care of them, who will?" Babes, you can take care of me any given day. Hell I can even trust you to baby sit my daughter.

Wahu: Rexona Anti Perspirant
Here's another association that I find pretty cool. Most chics simply adore Wahu. She has this girl next door personality which she easily switches to the sexy lass who's married to the first person who comes to mind when you think Kenyan A list celebrity. The girls would definitely listen to Wahu and the glitz that was captured on the billboards was right up her ally. I found the TVC a tad bit exaggerated, but hey that's just me. Considering that she's a chic always on the move, hard working and an excellent stage performer; I'd say that they got this one right.

David Rudisha: Kiwi
Talk about a great opportunity lost in execution. The storyline was kind of cool but what raised debate was the whole "fyatu fyako" saga. But maybe its only a few up-town guys who notice the accent. Is the reaction the same in the Rift Valley? Maybe not. Shoes, durability and the World Athlete of the Year? Yes, I buy the connection and its perfect but clearly the directors had a really hard time getting the guy to read the auto-cue. Ok, I'll let it pass, at least the ad remained relevant to his trade.

Sheila Mwanyiga: Vaseline Cocoa Butter
Totally correct. Sheila is another favorite with the girls. She is a girly girl so to speak. The kind of chic that women find approachable for chit chat and advise. The girl is also a total knock out in my books so the association here clearly works. The execution was smooth, sexy without shouting. The exact thing that I guess a chic wants when she uses Vaseline Cocoa Butter. Simply perfect.

Nameless: EABL responsible drinking
Ok EABL decided to get Kenya's most famous male singer and use him to endorse a drink driving campaign. Was it a good decision? Hell yeah. You see Nameless is the kind of guy who makes a living from working late night after late night yet somehow he has managed to maintain star appeal without getting involved in scandals. The dude is hardly known for insobriety. If Nameless came up to me in a bar and told me, hey teddy you are too plastered to drive si you take a cab.....I would probably listen to the logic. Whether I would go home is a whole different ball game.

Amani: Airtel
Not bad. When Airtel did this they were hoping to swoop the youth market. Did the campaign work for them? Mimi pana jua. What I must say though is that Amani was a great choice. With all those MTV awards plus no major scandals she fitted in perfectly. Lively and bouncy (Yes, two of them really bounce). Lets not forget that she had already crossed borders and worked with various continental artists before the campaign, so her association with stars was relevant.

Suzzane Owiyo: Harpic
Now, now, now. Here's one that really caused a lot of debate. Suzzanne Owiyo and toilet? Toilet and Suzzanne Owiyo? SHIT!!!!(pun intended). I really do not get the connection here. Do guys connect her with home care? I don't think so. Would she work for something like Visa cards or Kenya Airways? I think so. Owiyo is definitely a great and celebrated Kenyan but the connection with Harpic I do not really get. I would really like to know your opinion on this one. My opinion? Nope, Harpic missed the boat on this one.( By the way did you know that the Nyambane Harpic campaign sent their sales soaring through the roof?).

Jua Kali: Orange
Here's a perfect example of a wasted opportunity. Jua was at the height of his career but Orange was at the height of the unknown. Cool personality not so cool brand. 10 million bob worth of Jua Kali endorsement went down the drain. If you ask me the execution was totally lousy. What were these guys thinking? Anyway at least Orange contributed to the Kenya music industry in its own weird way.

Ezekiel Kemboi: Milo with Actigen E
Milo selected Ezekiel Kemboi for his champion status in the Kenyan sports arena. This choice could not have come at a better time for the brand especially with the way this guy performed at Daegu (Remember the dance?). Milo has always been associated with sports and champions so their choice here was great. Imagine if they had chosen to go the Samuel Wanjiru route....walalalalala.

Wyre: Samsung dual sim
Wyre is a dude who represents the cool factor. I believe Samsung made a good choice here. If the objective was to make dual sims look cool then they achieved it in my opinion. The only thing that fell flat on its face was the radio campaign. A chic comes up to Wyre and screams oh my god its Wyre, can I have your autograph? Wyre then says, you can either have my autograph or this cool samsung phone so pretty girl "make a choice, make a choice". The chic then chooses the phone and Wyre belts out "She said dat". Pretty corny. What I would have done is simply get a cool Wyre music piece done for Samsung.

Wilbroda: Royco
When it comes to touching base with the real mwananchi, lets just face it Citizen TV has taken the cake. Somehow they have managed to make huge stars out of their cast and I tell you these guys are huge in the mashinanis. Wilbroda was used pretty well to sell those Royco cubes. She was in complete character.She's the kind of woman who would knock on your door with udaku for five centuries and not leave. Pretty okay when it comes to creating attention for the brand.

Wilbroda, Jalango & Awinja: Molo Milk
There's something I really like about this commercial in its raw Kenyan comedic fashion. Its pure slapstick, pure silly. You cant help but laugh at those two clowns. Nice choice of personalities. Only one major snag. The guys go "Usiseme maziwa, sema Ngombe" while the brand is Molo Milk. Now, if the brand was called Ngombe Milk that would have been a clear win. If the packaging has a fat ass cow then maybe it makes sense. All the same lets watch this space and see if those two clowns will generate a spike in the Molo Milk sales graph.

Celebrities indeed play an important role in the Advertising industry and no doubt Kenyan celebs are starting to make a good amount of cash from brand endorsements. But here's my advice. Choose your celebs carefully, lest you just might be flushing your money down the toilet (No relation to Harpic, I swear).


Hey, that's just my opinion.

Omera,....but do they say!

Y&R Kenya wins big at 2011 MSK Brand Warriors Awards

At the recent 2011 MSK Brand Warriors Awards, the Y&R Group in Kenya announced that five of its clients were among the top winners.

 

Top advertising campaigns included: Pay-TV challenger brand, Zuku winning the Best Product Launch award; yuMobile, the mobile telecommunications company achieved a second place for Best Promotion Campaign for the 'No Monkey Business' campaign and positioned fourth in the Best Market Offense category.

Other Y&R Kenya clients winning awards included: Toyota and Ecobank in the Best Corporate Launch category; Aga Khan Heart and Cancer Centre in the Best Product Launch category and Co-op Bank was ranked in the Best Promotion Campaign for its BizWise SME loan campaign.

Chairman of Y&R Africa & Indian Ocean, Chris Harrison commenting on the agency's performance said, "In this era of cut-throat competition we are pleased to note that most of our clients choose to be with Y&R because our work is effective. These awards acknowledge those clients and our teams who work closely with them to deliver results."

"Great ideas drive business, and great ideas are our business" Harrison concluded

WORDS OF WISDOM

David Ogilvy was a college dropout, a chef, a door-to-door salesman, and a copywriter. Starting with no clients and a staff of two, he built one of the largest advertising agencies in the world.

Need some inspiration? Here are some of his most famous quotes. Hey, thats just his opinion.
“The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.”

“I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I have done have really come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive.”

“I don’t know the rules of grammar… If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular.”

“Good copy can’t be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You’ve got to believe in the product.”

"If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative."

"Good copy can't be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You've got to believe in the product."

"I once used the word OBSOLETE in a headline, only to discover that 43 per cent of housewives had no idea what it meant. In another headline, I used the word INEFFABLE, only to discover that I didn't know what it meant myself."

"On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar."

"The advertisers who believe in the selling power of jingles have never had to sell anything."

"The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything. She wants all the information you can give her"

"The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be."

"The most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is TEST. If you pretest your product with consumers, and pretest your advertising, you will do well in the marketplace."

"There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50 per cent more readers."

"What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it."

"You have only 30 seconds in a TV commercial. If you grab attention in the first frame with a visual surprise, you stand a better chance of holding the viewer. People screen out a lot of commercials because they open with something dull. When you advertise fire-extinguishers, open with the fire."

"Never write an advertisement which you wouldn't want your family to read. You wouldn't tell lies to your own wife. Don't tell them to mine."

"Much of the messy advertising you see on television today is the product of committees. Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them."

"Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals."

"I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information."

"If you tell lies about a product, you will be found out — either by the Government, which will prosecute you, or by the consumer, who will punish you by not buying your product a second time."

"Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything."

“If you ever have the good fortune to create a great advertising campaign, you will soon see another agency steal it. This is irritating, but don’t let it worry you; nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else’s advertising.”

“First, make yourself a reputation for being a creative genius. Second, surround yourself with partners who are better than you are. Third, leave them to go get on with it.”

COPY & PASTE!

I remember having a Lager one evening with a man known to many as Kenya’s hall of fame advertising guru. We were having a chat about all matters advertising when I posed a question to this respected Aussie about how creatives always wail about so and so stealing an idea that was done by so and so. In his wisdom he said that there is nothing wrong with gaining inspiration from an ad campaign, what is wrong is copying and pasting the whole damn thing. This brings me to my point. What stunts are some guys in advertising agency studios trying to pull? Sheesh!

I really laughed a few weeks ago when there was a lot of hullabaloo on a Facebook group which busted an ad agency hands down for clearly cutting and pasting a Red Bull creative idea which they shamelessly placed onto a Stanbic bank piece of creative. I mean guys honestly, how long are we going to sit down and watch creatives earning a whole load of cheddar and agencies over-charging creative time for what I call absolute creative laziness. It was funny at first but when you think of it, this is becoming bloody annoying. Have we run out of ideas? Are we under too much deadline pressure? Are we too stupid to realize that everyone is on the www and plagiarism will easily be spotted?

If you think this nonsense started recently, let me take you down memory lane. Sometime back when the APA awards were all that Kenyan creatives lived for, a certain Asian copywriter raised hell when an agency renowned for scooping all awards got gold for a local Firestone ad. The copywriter did not let this thing go and even went as far as writing to the client and showing him an international Bridgestone ad which was a spitting image of what the agency was awarded for.

Of course the client could care less and did not give three skid marks about the creative war that was erupting. So the client decides to complain about the issue to the Creative Director at his agency. Whoa! The Creative Director was infuriated and went as far as having the CID boys pick up the copywriter at his residence for a little shake down and so ended all the talk and accusations. Fact still remains that the similarity was a bit obvious let alone the ads belonging to the same category.

Then there was the famous Qantascom issue where our green mobile service provider’s creatives were accused of letting the Qantas Commercial kids grow up, giving them a tan and flying them to Kenya to pull the same moves under the close eye of Ridley Scott Associates. Well, turns out that the Creative Director for this project was honest enough to say that he did share the Qantas idea with Mr. Lewa Joseph and the man approved it. Was this an example of plagiarism, well I tend to differ with the critics. Maybe the bigger issue was that guys were trying to connect Australian Creative Director with Australian National carrier.

Talking about airlines, there was a Kenya Airways campaign that received local accolades back in the day. Some of you might remember something to do with red tails. Well another case that caused some anxiety amongst creative folk as something similar had been spotted in an international awards publication.

Oh! And don’t even get me started on the recent Barclays Spice commercial. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

My take is that there is nothing wrong with checking out adsoftheworld and other sites for different directions that one could take in a category. In fact I am an advocate of checking out loads of campaigns but only when you feel your creative juices need a bit of spiking. But for John the Baptists sake, don’t just copy the whole damn thing. Its creative sacrilege and will earn you a big middle finger in the creative hall of shame. How will you gain respect in an industry that is heavily populated with dudes and lasses who take respect as seriously as Bloods and Crips.

To all those who have carved a living out of these creative crimes, shame on you. And no don’t give me that nonsense that there are no original ideas left in the world. If you have the time to research and source a great idea then copy it, I am sure you can find some time to sit with your team and brainstorm something original. Or should I say origanalish?

I will leave you with this quote from that same creative guru I had mentioned in the beginning who after more Lagers admitted this.“The difference between our agency and other agencies is that we copy the good ideas while the others copy the ones that suck.”

Hey, that’s just my opinion.

PATIENCE PAYS.......LIKE IT REALLY REALLY PAYS

Kenya's advertising guru nominated for business leader award

By: Carole Kimutai

 

18 Oct 2011

 

Bharat Thakrar, CEO of Scangroup Limited, has been nominated for the 2011 All Africa Business Leader Awards in the Africa Entrepreneur of the Year award category. Thakrar has been recognised for his entrepreneurial skills in building Scangroup into a powerful pan African business. The awards aims at recognising business leaders and companies that have excelled in Africa over the last year.

Bharat Thakrar, CEO of Scangroup Limited

Scangroup is a marketing services group of companies that offers an integrated range of advertising and communication services and controls more than 50% of Kenya's market share. The company is behind some of Kenya's advertising campaigns like Dura Coats Peter Marangi and Equity Bank's Member campaign.

"I am greatly honoured and humbled to share this platform with Africa's best business people. I take this nomination not only a personal recognition to me but also to the employees of Scangroup who have stood by me and helped me build this company over the past 30 odd years. This is also recognition of Kenya as a country, its ability to export some of its best organisations to the rest of the continent and an affirmation that any local business can make an impact on the African business landscape," said Thakrar on his nomination.

Thakrar's career

Thakrar holds a diploma in advertising and marketing from the Communications and Marketing Foundation - UK. His father, a commercial manager of an advertising agency, contributed to his choice of career and admits he expected to find himself in advertising.

"I was good at Biology at school and I was planning to become a doctor," Thakrar said in an earlier interview. During exams, his father would take him to his office and give him a quiet corner where he could read with minimum distractions. However, during his study breaks, Thakrar would sneak and go to the studio where he would watch and marvel at the creatives working.

After his A Level, Thakrar took a gap year and did his internship at the advertising firm as he waited to join medical school. He loved the job so much that he decided to get into advertising. That marked the beginning of his career in advertising - which has seen him become the founding shareholder of Kenya's first listed advertising and marketing communications company.

Thakrar setup Lowe Scanad (now Scanad) in December 1982. His big break came when he got a contract from the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) to work on the banks 'closer to the people' campaign. He worked closely with Prof. Benjamin Kipkorir, who was then the executive chairman of KCB on the historical campaign that aimed at taking banking services to rural areas.

"For a long time, KCB was the only bank that had branches in rural areas," he says. Lowe Scanad worked on the Kenya Airways Premier World class, Tusker Milele, 2002 Electoral Commission of Kenya's voter awareness campaign and the Fanta Feel Free campaigns.

In 1996, he started Media Initiative, a media independent company in Kenya providing specialist media solutions. Then, specialist media planning and buying outfit was novel and the first company to adopt the idea was Unilever.

Other nominees

Also nominated in the Africa Entrepreneur of the Year award category are Aliko Dangote, founder of the Dangote Group; and Leo-Stan Nnamdi, chairman and CEO, Zinox Technologies, both from Nigeria.

Winners will be announced at a gala ceremony to held on Thursday, 20th October 2011 at the Sandton Sun, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Criteria

According to a statement from the organisers, the winners would have made an outstanding contribution to the development of the continent, the economic aspirations of its citizens and the transformation of Africa's image in international markets, while displaying high standards of good corporate citizenship and social and environmental responsibility.

"The awards have become a benchmark for institutions across Africa and a reminder of the amazing achievements which are currently unfolding throughout the continent," reads the statement in part.

African Business Awards brings together prominent business leaders, entrepreneurs, heads of state and other high-ranking government officials from across the world to celebrate the achievements and successes of those who have played a pivotal role in driving Africa's economic development forward.

MR INCOMPETENT BRAND MANAGER

Here's to all Brand Managers who are so incompetent and scared of being busted that they just end up harassing ad agencies and media houses.

You know the type of Brand Manager I am talking about.

The one who loves the sound of his own voice. The one who realizes on Decemeber 12th that Christmas is coming and he needs a Christmas Campaign. The wannabe creative who never got a chance to make it in an ad agency. The one who thinks that anything presented by a research house should never be debated or contested. The one who pressurizes you to start a campaign even when he knows that all elements needed are nowhere near ready. The one who is more concerned about securing his job from the new hire rather than just building his brand. The one who likes shouting...."Do it because I am the client and I have said so!"


Script inspired by Budweiser Real men of Genius Radio commercials.

Anncr:                   The Muthusi Opinion presents Real Men of Thickness.

Singer:                  Real men of thickness.

Anncr:                   Today we salute you, Mr. Incompetent Brand Manager.

Singer:                  Mr. Incompetent Brand Manager.

Anncr:                   Any campus graduate can make a presentation but it takes real talent to make a power point presentation 3 hours long

Singer:                  Pins and needles.

Anncr:                   Perched in the boardroom in your company polo shirt, you tirelessly set impossible deadlines for your ad agency

Singer:                  Yesterday! Yesterday!

Anncr:                   Creative Opinions? You don’t need no stinking creative opinions.

Singer:                  No!

Anncr:                   And even though you’ve never had ad agency groupies, you have bagged the  occasional in-store activation girl.

Singer:                  Put it on the shelf!

Anncr:                   So there’s an opinion for you, incompetent brand manager guy, because every brand you handle will surely tumble.

Singer:                  Rock and Roll!

Anncr:                   Mr. Incompetent brand manager.

KENYA, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!!!

Let me not cheat you, if something is not done about the state of client service and Account Management in this country, creative advertising is going to die and any idiot with a mac will be able to fill the shoes of creatives. Every week I am convinced that the good old days when people with brains were hired to be the liasion between the agency and the client are over and out.

I for one will keep on talking about this until the cows come home because of one reason, I have worked with the best so I am qualified to tell you the difference between a good suit and a bad suit.
Let me tell you how this cool breed used to operate.

These guys studied brands so intensely that they were able to even teach their clients a thing or two about whatever category they were working on. In return clients took them as valueable partners who could be called upon any time for solutions. These guys defeated the notion that the client is always right. In return clients became so dependent on them that they would hardly have a reason to move their account elsewhere.

These guys used to write a damn good brief. I am not just talking about filling in a brief template but rather giving creatives so much information that they would get the client scope and requirements easily. These guys had time to meet up with clients and discuss the problem at hand rather than just e-mail them a brief template to fill in. They would even share the brief with the clients before sharing it with creatives just to make sure everyone was on the same page.

These guys had balls. The reason they had unbelievable confidence is because they were so knowledgeable about their work and the brands they dealt with that they had no fear when advising clients against taking certain directions or defending creative work. These guys were not afraid of engaging clients in constructive arguments about their work. Hell, they would even refuse to take certain directions that some clients would insist on. At the end of it they gained mad client respect.

These guys understood the creative process. They would never accept mediocre work from their creative teams, they would contribute good ideas to creatives, they would inspire creatives to take their work to the next level. They knew how to positively criticize creatives and always listened to creative opinions. In return creatives were more than willing to share thoughts with them and seek their opinions. The result? Spot on creative executions.

These guys never panicked. The client service world nowadays is driven by a bunch of people who suffer anxiety attacks every fifteen minutes shouting THE CLIENT SAID, THE CLIENT SAID. You see these guys would access the situation and if there was a need to extend the deadline, they would simple pick up the phone and tell client the truth. No one likes a whiner OH MY GOD WE ARE GOING TO LOSE REVENUE BECAUSE OF YOU, OH MY GOD THE CLIENT IS GOING TO TAKE THE BUSINESS SOMEWHERE ELSE,......Cool, Calm, Composed. These guys had client service swag.

It has been said before. There are two types of suits the postman and the business developer. The unfortunate thing is that right now in Kenya, the former is in the majority and low IQ seems to have become a hiring pre-requisite. God help us all.

Hey, thats just my opinion.

HI I AM A CREATIVE AND I GOT ISSUES

First of all I would like to thank everyone who has egged me on to start writing again. It has indeed been a long long time and to tell you the truth I am extremely nervous as to where I will start.

Hmmmmm...lets start this like a group therapy session. Hi I am a creative and I have issues.

What am I talking about? I am talking about the fact that if you converse with any HR professional in any organisation that deals with creative types, more often than not the most weirdest issues come from the creative department.

Lets admit it. We've all been there. You work your ass off for a few months then something just happens and you start losing it. Check in hours start getting later and later, lunch hour gets longer and longer, check out time gets earlier and ealier. The F it attitude becomes part of you.

Here are a few scenarios that will paint a picture of the truth in our madness.

Scenario 1
You get a great job at a great ad agency handling a great account. Suddenly you start seeing the possibilities of what could be elswhere and become bored with what actually is. You start getting fidegty and start looking at how cool it would be working for the competing brand at a competing agency so you decide to jump ship and within a few months again the cycle resumes.

Scenario 2
You dream of working with a certain creative director because he is the coolest thing that ever happened to advertising. Then you start getting frustrated by the fact that Mr Guru just seems to hand over to you mundane tasks. You start getting angry, you start resenting your boss and then all other bosses in other agencies seem to appear like the perfect boss, so you decide to jump ship and within a few months again the cycle resumes.

Scenario 3
You are working on a project and really giving it your all, then a big fat juicy brief lands on your desk and you immeadiately drop the project at hand and  become excited about this new possibility, and thus you never achieve the great accomplishment which you are capable of achieving with the task at hand. Then another brief checks in and again the cycle resumes.

Scenario 4
Now here is the complete mind bogger. You know that you have contractual obligations and your organisation has rules to be followed then you become bitter when reprimanded by your boss or HR for your newly found attitude or seeming lack of caring. You start hating the organisation you are in and think the grass looks greener on the other side so you decide to jump ship and again the cycle resumes.

Go on, admit it. If you are truly creative you must have gone through at least one of these scenarios. I think this is living proof that creatives indeed have issues and the day Dr.Frank Njenga capitalizes on this corporate landmine he will close up shop and live happily ever after on Advertising Agency medical insurance in the name of Wellness therapy.

Here's the catch 22. Despite all these issues most of us are warm, enthusiastic people, typically very bright and full of potential. We live in the world of possibilities, and can become very passionate and excited about things. Our enthusiasm lends us the ability to inspire and motivate others. We love life, seeing it as a special gift, and strive to make the most out of it.

We do indeed have many gifts which we can use to fulfill ourselvess but why  is it that the majority of us cannot remain centered and master the ability of following through.

I salute all you Mad Ad Men and Women who make no apologies for being who you are.

Hey that's just my opinion (I think)!

WILL THE CREATIVE WOMEN PLEASE STAND UP!!!

So I was reading a post on some website where this young creative was complaining about a significant lack of female creatives in the industry in her country. Especially in the top positions. I immediately started thinking about our local ad industry and hey......there are no female Creative Directors that come to mind today.

Lets take a trip down memory lane.

One of the most celebrated creatives and indeed a mentor to many was Judy Kibinge who is now following her passion in the film industry...she's doing quite well might I ad. Judy climbed the ranks at a time when no indigenous Kenyans were holding top positions back in the day. Judy was Deputy Creative Director at McCann. I thought she would be intimidating as I was completely new at the time and most creative directors I met were intimidating. She is the sweetest person in the world.

Another name that comes to mind was Samira Matthews. Last time I heard of Samira, she was Creative Director at MCL Saatchi & Saatchi. Is she still there? Mimi pana jua. What I remember about Samira was the fact that she was a creative as seen on TV. Extremely passionate, sexy, extrovert, chain smoking and highly vocal. I actually had the pleasure of working with her when I was a cast member for a Pepsi ad which was shot for Uganda some time back. Pretty cool individual.

Then there was Mona Mugambi. Mona grew through the ranks at the Original O i.e the great old school Ogilvy & Mather. Mona was revered for her art direction talent which saw her rise to become one of Kenya's first indigenous female art directors. She went on to McCann then hopped over to Scanad both in Kenya and Uganda. Mona has now moved on to establish her own successful creative business called Ruff Designs which has a sister office in Atlanta...but does she say? Ruff Designs deals with a lot of projects that give back to the community and design work for some of Kenya's biggest corporates.

If we look at the extended industry which stretches into production houses, there are great success stories in the name of Isabel Munyua and  Josephine Gathithi who started in rather humble grounds as ad agency producers and leaped to initiate their own production companies, mojo and dreamcatchers respectfully. Josie actually stands out. She started out as P.A to the Ogilvy creative director - talk about strength of a woman. Wow! There's also Alison Ngibuini and Sheila Peevers who are respected go getter's.

Carol Kipsanai and Shiro Kanyua are two divas whose names pop into my mind as the only cohesive creative unit that I knew. They started out in McCann, moved to Scanad together and jumped ship together to AY&R. Blood sisters so to speak. Shiro moved on to ZK, while Carol is now head of client service at Y&R.

More recently, Nuturn had a female creative director, but from what I hear it was a short stint due to ideological differences with the boss man. Now a cool dude who was in Redsky called Jesse is heading the creative team.

Last Friday, I met two very vibrant, intelligent creatives from TAC who introduced themselves as a
creative team, so I gather the process of regeneration has began.

Creative departments from my standpoint are not about gender, but all about ideas.At the same time I have no idea why there are not that many women heading ad agency creative departments.

What I would like to know though, is who are the creative women who are making strides out there. Please share.

Hey that's just my opinion.

THE LOST CREATIVE GENERATION

Hello folks. A cold and wet morning in Nairobi. Speaking of which, I will probably sound a bit cold when I say that I have noticed a complete lack of basic work ethic especially with the new emerging generation of local creatives.

I am young at heart, but do confess that I have been in this industry for a while. During this time I have seen changes from old school photography techniques to the emergence of the Internet in agencies. So what's my bother? Well, my bother is how creative studios nowadays have lost the breed of creative which used to concentrate on nothing but ideas and what has emerged is a lesser breed that concentrates more on adding friends on facebook and chatting on g-mail.

Do not get me wrong and think that I have personal beef, but the net is becoming more of a burden than an asset when it comes to producing work. If you think I am alone, check out the IT policies in Kenyas most successful ad agencies. Guys can only log onto social sites before 8.30am, between 1and 2pm and after 5.30pm, the result? Well it speaks for itself doesn't it? Creatives are left with exposure to sites that will add value to their concentration and work harder rather than developing a new addiction that takes away crucial work time.

Being a good creative is not just about throwing the first idea that comes into your mind and feeling like you own the world, being a good creative is not just about looking the part with torn jeans or having great social skills. Creativity is not just a laid back 9-5. A good creative takes time to craft his work, a good creative takes time to research the brand she works on, a good creative challenges his or herself to be better, a good creative tries to find out what her competition is doing and tries to get the better of them. The secret to those dudes we all see winning Cannes lions is the mad hours they put in and igniting all they can from a little spark. IT'S TAKES HARD WORK!

Is facebook, twitter and gmail a good thing? Well of course it is. Its just that there is a right time for everything. Now, you may argue that one needs social media at work to ease off and take a break, but I hardly see a living example of that in my experience. So do I support the Creative Directors who have banned certain sites during working hours? 100% yes.

The other argument of course is that its all a matter of planning time well. Show me a young Kenyan creative who can do this.

Hey, that's just my opinion.

THINK FAST, THINK FIRST

Wah, its been a while. Guess I got caught up in the fast world of deadline after deadline. While I was away new developments have emerged and it seems certain companies have worked really fast to own the developments. I am talking about airtel and mobile number portability.

As we all know, very soon you will be able to hama with your mobile number to any network. Now while this may be across the board for all networks, airtel has chomokad guns blazing and owned mobile number portability. I find their ni kuhama move remarkable because of the simple fact that no other network has yet shouted about it.

Of course this may seem like a premature assumption and I am sure art directors and copywriters are working their diabs off, but truth be told airtel has owned the situation hands down. Checking in first in a situation like this paints a fantastic picture for consumers. They feel like the network has their interests top of mind, they see the company as innovative, they anticipate more goodies in the future from airtel.

If you are the first company to be in the consideration set, you gain considerable advantage over any other company that might be considered. By being the first company that enters the consideration set you get to set the bar for which all other companies will need to beat. Ideally, the questions you arm the consumer with will point out obvious holes in the other companies' in the consideration set, which will make your company look better.

All in all, its a great time to be a consumer in Kenya as I can predict that offers galore is coming our way. So over to the creative teams on Mombasa Road, Church Road and Ngong Avenue.....show us what you got!

Hey, that's just my opinion.

Kenya vs India

If you have checked out the local dailies you will notice that Kenyan production houses have come a long way. In terms of advertising the presence of local directors and  producers is increasingly being felt and recognised. Bob Nyanja, Alison Ngibuini, Josie Kamunyo, Linda Karuru, Martin and Isabel Munyua and a host of others have all made their mark.

Unfortunately though, the battle for production budgets has changed and now local producers have a new mountain to deal with. It's called Bollywood.

Tonnes of local commercials have found homes in studio suites across the Indian ocean. Coca-Cola mabao, Coke meals, Pilsner, Rik shoe polish, Nguvu Cement, Sunlight, Crown paints my style are amongst the list of many Kenyan commercials shot overseas.

The reason is quite simple. The industry in India is so big that they all undercut each other when quoting for jobs. This works as a great advantage for clients because they also get great quality. Another advantage is that they shoot, process and edit all in one location which works cheaper than flying in crews, especially when you are shooting film.

I actually see where the clients come from and the same for creative directors who are after getting more out of their production house. So what can we do?

Technological advancements to reduce processes might be our saviour, but to tell you the truth I am lost for words on this one, except for the fact that I know we are getting there. It would be good to know what strategies local producers have in mind to encounter this issue and their views are highly welcome.

So next time you put your feet up to watch tv, make the ad feel at home with a finger licking good Chicken Tikka.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

HOW TO SURVIVE KENYA

“G’day mate I’m Crocodile Dundee and I’m here to show you how it’s done over at the gaba!” Yes, I’m back to the subject of expats. Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time in a media house, a mzungu gave a local a blasting at a meeting. The local was not a guy known for taking punches without counter punching and immediately shot up from his seat. He dropped the whole corporate etiquette and broke out into his mtaa roots. He told the expat boss, “wewe kwendaaaaaaaaaaa, kwani wewe ni nani. Kama ulikuwa deadly huko home kwenyu mbona walikuleta Kenya?”

Kenyans are not xenophobes but, they do get rather sensitive when corrected by outsiders. So here are a few tips on what rubs us the wrong way, especially in the advertising circles.

Do not keep on telling us how things worked in your country and how things do not work in this country. Kenyans like wailing about their country's problems but do not appreciate it when the same sentiment comes from outside.

Do not keep on saying that we are third world. In this place comments like this can be taken as close as calling an African American a nigger. We know we may not be the most developed nation but we are certainly proud that we are getting there.

Never ever use the word monkey when showing anger with another work mate. An Australian buddy of mine pulled this once in the office and was almost lynched by his African workmates.

When you talk to your client about Kenya consumer habits, make sure you have gone far and wide. A bar in the suburbs hardly captures Kenya’s drinking habits.

Stop referring to what a certain company did back home and always forcing it down our throats. It may look derogatory and unless it is completely similar in circumstance you will look like a show off.

Do not refer to our practices as disgusting. When in Komarock, rock with it. You are not here to change how we live, you are here to adjust to how we live.

Stop  forming exclusive clubs. As much as we know that you like sticking with each other, it is good to try and make genuine friends with the locals. You will always be looked at with suspicion if the only time you interact with us is during work hours. Fake it or force it, you will be accepted much easily.

So, I hope after that short tale we can all live happily ever after with a house in the suburbs, 2.5 kids, a 4wd and a lovely African wife.

But hey, that’s just my opinion.

Someni vijana!

My creative mentor and highly respected creative director Andrew White once told me. "Never come to my office with a problem, come to me with solutions". This got me thinking about this topic of training which eats many a young creatives mind. So if there are no facilities in Kenya and you are restrained by the fees in ad schools in Australia, U.K or the U.S, how about looking within the diaspora?

South Africa has proven itself to be a great force in advertising with agencies like The Jupiter Drawing room, Lowe Bull and others winning both international accounts and also cleaning up awards in Cannes. In fact most top notch agencies in places like the Arab emirates highly respect creatives from this region.

Since S.A is just a 4 hour flight away, it could be worth looking at ad schools in that region. Most lecturers in these institutions are ad professionals from agencies. The schools are also highly competitive and even have a whole category dedicated to them in the Loeries (South Africas feted advertising awards).

So, if you feel like putting down your sketch pads and taking a few years off to do some learning, it could be worth your while to check into these institutions below.

Top of the list: 

AAA School of Advertising

Vega, the Brand Communications School

Red & Yellow School

Others worth looking into:

AFDA - The South African School of Motion Picture Medium & Live Performance

Cape Peninsula University of Technology

CityVarsity

Greenside Design Center, College of Design

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

North-West University, School of Communication Studies, Potchefstroom Campus

Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography

The Open Window School of Visual Communication

Tshwane University of Technology - Dept of Visual Communication

University of Johannesburg, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture

University of Pretoria, Visual Arts Department


You just never know. You could come back and be spoilt for choice on which offer to accept. Or even better, go work in another market as a Kenyan expatriate.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

Akili ni Mali

So there are no colleges or schools in Kenya that teach creative advertising or specialize in stuff like copywriting. So whats the next best thing? Get a mentor, go onto the net and learn what you can or try reading a great book that gives you the bigger picture on the industry.

I remember once while at scanad we were busy asking for training. The company CEO told us "I don't know why you guys always complain while the resources are right there in front of you. I never built this company by going to a training program, I learnt from what was within my reach". He advocated reading and reading hard.

Today I am feeling rather philanthropic so here are some of the books that I have read which provide valuable resources for any creative:


Creative Advertising: Ideas & Techniques from the World Best Campaigns - Mario Pricken

Hey, Whipple, Squeeze this: A guide to creating great ads - Luke Sullivan

Ogilvy on Advertising - David Ogilvy

Cutting Edge Advertising - Jim Aitchison

The Copywriter's Bible


Send someone abroad, talk to a local bookshop that takes orders or put that credit card to use on the net. It's an investment you will not regret.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

Mwah Mwah Mwah!

So, its valentines day. As I was making my way to work I was thinking about this whole love thing and asking how many things I love. Then it hit me, I absolutely love advertising.

Lets face it, this is one of the best jobs in the world.

I love the fact that everyday is not the same and you get to use the freedom of expression and creativity to do things that will change people's lives.

I love the interesting bunch of people that I have met in my career. People who are always themselves and share much more about themselves than in most careers. They are not just work mates they are family.

I love the environment. Agencies are free environments, they have an ambiance like no other place I would imagine working in.

I love the freebies. With every job comes the opportunity to test a product. This ranges from test driving cars to free holidays at five star destinations to free samples.

I love the travel. There have been instances where I have had the opportunity to cross continents all in the name of training or overseeing the production of commercials.

I love the socializing aspect. There is always a launch here, a launch there. The opportunity to mingle with big shots in society and always make new acquaintances.

I love the education. Working on different brands gives you insights into different industries. From finance to how charities are helping needy Kenyans.

I love the recognition. You get to hear people talking about the work you have done and if you are lucky you get pieces to hang in your home or office in the name of awards.

I love the pay. It feels like a blessing getting paid to do something you love to do everyday.

Once in a while its good to sit back and say, thank you God for putting me exactly where I love to be.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

I lurrrrv this game

The season of love is here and with it comes all the trimmings. Red events, red ads, red this, red that. Now is the time for most advertisers to capitalize and make a buck from cupid. Now is also the time that creatives have to think more out of the box. Why? Well valentines is filled with advertising clichés.

Yesterday though, when I opened the papers I was pleasantly surprised by one Safaricom. A green cut out love heart insert. What made it cooler was there were no apologies with the boldness of the headline, “what’s the color of love”.

It seems that my target of the week – mobile operators, have styled up. I love it when I see refreshing different thinking that makes the competition go oooooohh ahhhhhh and throws them a challenge to take advertising to the next level. So Joanna and the boys, kudos.

Speaking of waiyaki way, it raises another point. The old guru of ad land David Ogilvy once said “clients don’t care how much you know, they want to know how much you care”. Red sky the Safaricom agency cares about the bucks they make from Safaricom so much that they moved the Safaricom agency team to offices right across the road from Safaricom. Now apart from the Creatives and Media chics reveling over the prospects of gout at Njugunas I am sure the clients have given them golden stars.

The only beef I have with the pull out is that it comes with pressure for us males.

Wife:                     Babes, did you see the Valentines Safcom ad?

Husband:             (In denial) Safcom? Valentines ad? Ehhhh Nope!

Wife:                     I have it right here. See the phones, see!

But hey, that’s just my opinion.

A smile is worth a thousand bob!

Yesterday I happened to attend a meeting at that big hotel across from Kencom. The first thing that struck me was how intensively friendly the staff was. I excused the first guy but I noticed that the trend was similar across board. Every single staff member that I came across greeted me with a smile and were ready to assist on the spot. To the point that I felt like a king.

Now, check into any supermarket where you will find promotional sales personnel and the story is completely different. A large majority just stand there with gloomy faces waiting for the payroll to check in. On many instances I have stood right next to them and purchased goods from the competition without them uttering a single word.

Brands have personalities and this should flow wherever the brand is. If the people who represent your brand have a negative a.t.t then I guess it will influence the purchaser. The hotel I spoke about has completely changed my earlier perceptions towards it as I found it rather intimidating in the past maybe due to its sheer size and the customers who are associated with it. But yesterday all of that changed and I can see myself considering it on my list for places to spoil myself all due to a few gestures of friendliness.

Back to the supermarkets. I think its worth marketing and advertising personnel to pull some ninja stunts once in a while for the people in charge of on ground activations. I tell you, you would be shocked. There is always a good side to everything though and the first brand that comes into my mind when it comes to in-store activations is Lifebuoy. They have gone as far as giving their girls some outfits that really stand out and cannot be ignored. You are drawn to them quite easily as opposed to someone in a branded t-shirt cringing.

Its so disappointing that you even get scared of the ones offering free samples of edibles. She looks like she just had a domestic with her boyfriend and could be thinking that all men are just the same ....."EEEK!I could be poisoned, run little copywriter, run!"

But hey, that's just my opinion.

USE ME, I'M FAMOUS!

After my last post, I happened to have a conversation with a rather mad, loud and extremely talented Senior Art Director friend of mine who we shall not name Arnold Mwashumbe. He pointed out to me that my post on mobile providers was rather unfair and emotional not looking at the points they have contributed to changing the landscape of ad world in +254. Then my credit ishad.

It then hit me that since the entry of mobile operators, good and really big things have happened. Apart from making BT laugh all the way to the bank, finally Kenyan artistic talent have started getting fair dues.

Before Safcom, R-kelly tel and Orange checked in, Kenyan artists were swindled left right centre by companies looking to make the best of their talent and not reciprocating. Check in the big boys and kina the likes of nameless, jua kali, amani and my boi ken wa maria started making very good paper.

This has changed the scene for those who sign model release forms nowadays. Its a far cry from the days when clients would say. "But the guy is just standing there or saying something for a few seconds, why should we pay him so much?" Total and complete wivu for not pursuing their own talents.

You see ad land feeds off and feeds other industries. Local talent has started making a living from advertising endorsement deals. It had to take real professional thinking to make this change in a country where music greats have sadly passed away penny less.

Advertisers are even creating overnight celebs like Mr. Marangi who I am sure can now command better fees as Mcs or comedy acts.Man eat man mentality is beginning to die off and even modelling agencies are starting to become businesses worth giving a thought.

So all ye holders of my sms credit when it comes to raising the bar on talent, I give you R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Hey, that's just my opinion.

Thank Yu!

Now it might not be the newest of ideas, but it brought a smile to my face when I opened the papers and saw the Yu Zaziada campaign. Sure the execution and art direction could have been better, but what makes me happy is that a mobile phone operator is finally doing interesting advertising.

You see the problem I see with ads from this sector is that they have become rather predictable. Lots of Safaricom ads I guess are targeted to the mass market when it comes to products like M-pesa, but this does not have to mean that they should just show a guy holding a phone and showing his teeth or throwing big coins at us. Orange ads on the other hand are just too plain- while if you look at what orange does in other  markets you would be pleasantly surprised yet they work under global advertising guidelines, Airtel on the other hand seems to have a collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Services.

What yu has done according to me is a bit refreshing. What this does in turn is make other brands start considering doing some fun advertising. Kilimo and his boys on mombasa road need a hi-five for this one.

Its already boring enough having to read about one mobile phone company blaming the other or cck for this or that. In fact mobile advertising has been reduced to a PR war or who can get the best interviews on air. People, people, you are killing us with boredom. Please realise that consumers also watch lots of other content on television and are exposed to lots of visually stimulating stuff if papers and mags.... not just your ads, so please step up the game and challenge our brains.

As David Ogilvy once said, the consumer is not a moron...she is your wife.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

Where do ideas come from?

Ok so I'm sitting in the office and have a deadline to beat. I am busy biting my nails trying to figure out how in the world I am going to get my brain functioning. I need that idea but its not checking in, then wham...my mind starts cranking out thoughts. So what inspired it?

Creatives have been classified amongst the weirdest guys around. That's why you find most of us staring into space or talking to ourselves. One myth that I would like to kill is that we do not get the best ideas while under the influence of drugs, alcohol or even licking those amazonian toads that have hallucinogens. In fact most of the time you will sober up and discovered that what you thought was brilliant after that shot of tequila was complete bio-gas in the morning.

What I have discovered is that the environment you work under heavily influences your mind flow. Its varies from creative to creative. That's why if you walk into most top notch agencies in Kenya you will find creative spaces laden with interesting architecture, bean bags, aquariums and even fully stocked bars.

Now, here is my confession. I find that my best ideas check in when I am in the Loo doing a nice long relaxing Number 2. I don't know what it is, but there is a certain feeling of deep relief, undisturbed concentration and peace when sitting down in a toilet. In fact most of the time I will jot down the ideas I get on my phone. It may sound weird but hey, it works for me. I have never tried it in a pit latrine in shags because the stress levels are pretty high considering that you can measure the distance of the latrine from when you launch your missile to when you hear the distant sound of the thud and the flies.

So fellow creatives, next time you are "pressed" for an idea, try thinking out of the box from inside the "box".

But hey, that's just my opinion.

R.I.P John, Mary, Marto

For the last so and so years Kenyan radio advertising has been dominated by three characters namely John, Marto and Mary. Every single time you tuned into your favorite radio station  you would be exposed to these characters. Fellow copywriters, its time to let them go.

You would think that there was a golden rule of advertising that states every script in Kenya has to have these three characters.

Its always

vo: Hi Mary, did you see the....

or

vo: Hi John, have you done the...

And funny thing Marto was always the other guy. The guy who always solves the problem.

Dudes, why cant we come up with different names for characters on our scripts or did every copywriter get them for free at fosters home for imaginary friends. Please guys lets make a silent pact and stop sharing the same usual names on our scripts.

Goodbye John, Mary and Marto.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

How kabumbu got its groove back

Last weekend I happened to drive past Nyayo Stadium. I couldn't help but notice waves of guys and gals in green Gor MAhia branded shirts. Turn the clock back and I remember watching Sofapaka play and couldn't help but notice their well coordinated bevy of beautiful cheer leaders. So what brought the passion for local soccer back?

The answer is social media. You see, back in my days of primo and seco this "barbie" used to walk from GPO to Nyayo Stadium to watch matches at a time when soccer was considered uncool and deeply "ghetto". Check in facebook and it started seeming like a good and out of the boxishly cool idea to join a local team fan page.

Is this advertising at work? Most definitely. For a country ranked close to Papua New Guineas scrabble team internationally, social media has catapulted a sense of belonging to local teams thereby making them brands. You can get the latest fans scoops, order team jerseys etc

It has grown so big that nowadays you can take your lass to a stadium without her feeling that you are a cheap skate. Its a cool weekend plan.

So does social media work for brands in Kenya? Yes in a very big way if done correctly, i.e sticking to the essence of socializing and sharing experiences around a brand as opposed to imposing the brand on people.

By the way when it comes to feline swag, the Sofapaka wasichana wa mungu  win hands down. Who do I support? Well, I have not zeroed in but I generalize around gor, mathare and sofapaka. Maybe I should start a GORMAPAKA fans club.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

the EX factor

Hang out with Kenyan creatives who have been in the industry for a while and you will notice that there is a silent war when it comes to expatriates working in the industry. Since joining advertising I have always heard sentiments of lets take back what is ours.

Do we need expats? Well I think we do. The reasons are obvious. When you are faced with a situation where there are no formal training facilities which can pass on knowledge on creativity, then we are left with the only best option which is to learn from those with wider experience.

Most expats that I have worked with have the great asset of having admirable skills and experience with big brands or brands similar to those we have been briefed on. They have acted as great creative mentors.

Mentor ship is one thing that I am afraid us "Miros" in the industry are not very good at. We either leave work too early to start our own thing or get caught up in the fast ad life. The only things we are left good at mentoring is how to avoid the mututho laws or how to swallow a joint at a police road block.

Its not so much the skills of expats that we have beef with, but rather their pay. I think we sometimes feel that we should be at the same level of paycheck. Well, I guess indigenous creatives in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia feel the same way when Kenyans go over and "take over their jobs".

So if the vision is that Land Cruiser, then maybe we should start learning from the guys who drive them (By the way have you noticed that South African creatives never seem to survive Kenya?)

But hey, that's just my opinion.

HAKI YETU! HAKI YETU!

Lets face it, creatives love the finer things in life. Tricked out rides, cool cribs, fast bikes, etc. But anyone knows that these things need fat wallets. Of course we do have the traditional options of save, save, save and all the bank loans that are thrown at us from every direction. But what about the option that we used to have? The SACCO.

For those new to the industry, there once existed an organisation called MATANGAZO, this was the SACCO that lots of us benefited from by getting fast loans at impressively low single figure interest rates. I personally benefited from it and bought my Nissan Sunny B12 aka "silver bullet "via this channel, unfortunately it was stolen right outside my agency and later found nesting baboons in a forest near Kijabe. Anyway, enter Kenyaism and wrangles began within the SACCO. Bad management, embezzlement of funds and poor investments killed it (Well, at least that's the story I got).

An attempt by some financially savvy ad guys to start a new SACCO was met with high resistance from agencies. I am curious as to why our agency top dogs are resistant towards assisting or endorsing their staff to start a co-operative society.

Could it be the old rule of keeping them dependent on the accounts department? Or maybe justifiably, agencies especially those accountable to shareholders do not want their names mentioned in case of mboi-kamiti style political issues within the SACCO?

Here's the good news, its easy to start a co-op, if a few willing individuals make a move. Visit the Ministry of Co-operative Development and Marketing website and see what you can dig up. Believe it or not they are extremely helpful.

It is rumored that that as an industry we work for pretty good paper. It may be time that we made that paper start working for us.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

How to tame a creative

The creative is indeed an interesting breed especially when you step into its territory. Highly possesive and unpredictable the creative carefully guards its den against unwanted intruders, namely the austrolo-suitcus. Cautiously the suit, feeds the creative with a brief which can either be mauled and ripped to shreds or cuddled with affection. This love hate relationship has stood the test of evolution and still remains puzzling to many who have tried to create harmony amongst these breeds. Symbiotic? Yes. They both need each other. So from a creative perspective how does one get to tame a creative.

Here's some advice to suits, which I came across in an Ogilvy publication written in 1978.....yes, wayyyyyyyyyyy back then. Its quite a gem that deserves to be sambazad to every suit alive (the ones that haven't been slayed by creatives).

Creatives can smell your account management skills. These are the talents they respond to at once.

-  You know your clients business.

-  You are brief. Especially in meetings.

-  You have guts.

-  You work hard, but you have fun.

-  You have a sense of humor.

-  You make the account fun for those who are working hard with you.

-  You refrain from over intellectualizing.

-  You are not a worrywart.

-  You sell creative work with verve.

-  You distinguish between client desire and consumer interests.

-  You react with enthusiasm when you like something.

-  You seek creative input on your marketing plan, media mix or promotion idea.

If these signs are visible you can be assured that you will not be eaten alive by most creatives.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

By the way check out this great related link posted by my pal Michael Munyi, http://bit.ly/dEZLUj

What happened to Kenyan creative teams?

So I've been sitting down and looking for an art director to partner with on some jobs then the thought hit me, what happened to creative teams?

When I started out in ad land my creative director and mentor used to emphasise on the importance of working with an art director with whom all successes and failures would be shared. It was almost like a blood brother relationship. We would be assigned to specific accounts together, work on pitches together, get involved in bar brawls together...basically we were inseparable.

Agencies back then would look for teams when hiring because they knew that as a team you would hit the ground running on every brief. Suddenly there was a lull and the whole aspect of teams slowly faded away. Copywriters began pulling solos and when poached or approached by another agency they would keep it to themselves and only share with their art director when pen was put to paper.

Come to think of it, the last creative team that moved as a unit (and that was some time back) was "the divas", Shiru Kanyua and Carol Oyier. Since then, the whole team concept has died in Kenya.

Is it that agencies nowadays find it cheaper to hire one creative and just assign someone in-house to work with? Is it that we are more technologically savvy and can multitask? Well I don't know, or is it the creatives who got too greedy?

In a creative world full of egos I find it essential to team up with someone you can cope with. It makes working or settling down to new pastures easier. It makes ideas flow. It makes work inspired. It ignites and incites passion. It fuels the competitive attitude that generates greatness.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

Advertising Isifiwe!

Now, I don't know if its the age factor creeping in or what, but I have noticed that most of my peers seem to have drawn closer to God nowadays and appreciating the influence of a higher power in their lives. This got me thinking and I came to conclude that the church uses strategic branding, advertising and thinking to draw the flock.

The one church that has clearly revolutionised how we look at religion or God is one Mavuno Church. Why? Well, I think the dudes there looked at market needs and saw an opportunity. Excellent branding, consistent personality and sub brands were engaged and now what they have is a rather successful outfit.

As I said before the definition I like most about a brand is "how a consumer feels about a product." Visit Mavuno and you will feel that going to church is cool, easy and not as intimidating as other churches would have. The target market somehow is connected in one way or another so you feel quite at home.

Mavuno did not stop there. They have sub brands like Mizizi: to get rooted into Christianity, Ombi: to get rooted into prayer and a variety of sessions and seminars from parenting to marriage. There is something for every step of growth just like BMW with everything from the sports car for yuppies to the older corporate executive 7 series.

The church experience does not end at the service because after the service you can interact at food courts. Add to this very active blogs, brand reps like Kanji the singer, highly entertaining shows, graffiti on the church exterior, collabos with Citizen TV, etc

Many called this church a fad but its still here and it is still growing from strength to strength. Brands cannot afford to be complacent and have to continue looking into their target markets changing needs. Brands need to use innovation to stand out. Mavuno is not only a church but a successful Kenyan brand.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

Confessions of a Kamba advertising man

I have just arrived home from a three day trip to Machakos County. All my "mbois" are well and ad land is thriving there in its own special way. Does advertising exist deep in rural areas? Well, yes it does.

You see they may not have the technical terms we use in the city but the objective is the same. Ye ol sign writer (who I believe is the local art director) sits with the client/copywriter (who is the duka owner) and a brief is delivered, to come up with signage for a shop, bar, local kiosk etc.

I absolutely love the creativity you find in some of the small villages. One notable fact is the word "Ebenezer." There is an ebenezer kiosk, ebenezer butchery, ebenezer m-pesa, ebenezer salon almost everywhere you look. Maybe that attracts the believers and shows that the owners have christian values so you are not bound to be ripped off.

Then, there are some other names either inspired by a swig of kumi-kumi or projecting friendliness through humor. The ones that I give my top five Kamba Advertising Awards are as follows (Mark my word, I have not created these. They exist):

- A matatu called LAPTOP ONE HOUR.
- HAKI YETU general store.
- RATION shop
- SILENT bar
- JAY Z kinyozi and salon

Who said advertising/branding talent only exists in urban areas. Open your eyes, ushago has caught on.

But hey that's just my opinion.