Here’s To 2007!

Happy New Year, people.

Yes, another compact batch of 365 blessed days, and we’re excited about
each one of them. This will no doubt be one of the most active
years in advertising ever. We’ll be swamped by a smorgasbord of commercial,
political and social messages, obviously stoked by an improving economy, a charged market, and an impending General Election.

Much as the industry will be a lot busier, will it be any better? That, we’ll leave to those that clutch the stakes; the clients, the agencies, the smaller ad shops, the creatives, the media planners, the media buyers, the media owners, and the Good Lord.

We’ll be observing from the sidelines, and doing what we do as best as we can. We hope you’ll stay with us.

Thank you. A toast to 2007!

I heard you the first time … ENOUGH ALREADY!

If you were anywhere near a radio on Monday the 12th, on the eve of Jamhuri day, even for a few minutes, then you probably heard it. The ad – more like a jingle, that was played incessantly, ALL day, with at least 5 to 10 minutes interval between airings. It’s lyrics “Freedom is coming tomorrow …” were definately inspired(?!) by the classic song of the same name by Mbongeni Ngema. All we heard was the song, followed by the Celtel ident at the end. I really have no problem with the idea, it worked well for its eventual reveal the next day. We had this one little problem:

IT’S ANNOYING!!

While repeatedly assulting an audience with the same ad message might seem like a good idea, it’s in reality a terrible thing to do, much like feeding a toddler mashed pumpkin every 15 minutes. It’s good for them, but they’ll get sick of it, and they’ll never like it again. This isn’t the first ad we’ve had to sit through and bear for more than times than we care to stand. The same perpetrators sickened us with their 40 bob scratch card radio spot. All I remember is a Luo-accented lady yapping away and ululating at the end.

It’s all I would like to remember. Anything beyond that is traumatic.

Do It Yourself!! How to create your own brand promo in 5 Simple Steps!! (Sokoni; Dec 2006).

Think back to the time when the words ‘Win A Car’ generated mass excitement, and realize just how much brand promotions have been trivialized. It seems the trend is to get the market excited, albeit for a short time, about one brand or the other.

Yet, it is common knowledge by now that no brand promotion will generate any long-term brand equity. The short-term sales peak is good, but promos will never be the be-all and end-all of brand communication.

Still, it was intriguing to see the extents to which brands were willing to go to ‘reward consumers’ and earn millions of shillings in bite-sized morsels. Since promos seem to be all the rage now, we decided to put together a few pointers to follow if you’re considering getting your own little promotion running. All these, we have observed from the veterans in the game. Ladies and Gentlemen, we present:

The Ad Boardroom Guide to creating a Brand Promo™:
Step One – The Loot
Get a nice ‘grand’ prize. It drives the promo. It’s not really the size of the booty that matters. It’s how you present it. You can’t go wrong with money. It’s the denominating factor that unites everyone; even those outside your target group. It may present a few problems when a house-help wins a Merc, but even a middle-aged man could win on an Always promotion if cash is involved! Always remember to flash as much of the brown legal tender as possible, all over you artworks and TV commercials. Refer to it as ‘cash’; feel free to precede it by the word ‘easy’ if you like. Keep the main prize amount at six figures and above. Always display the reverse side of the note – the one with the elephants – because showing former presidents’ portraits might evoke unfavorable reactions. If you must make use of visage, opt for the one of our founding father. Oh, and never doubt the power of consolation prizes. Anything smaller than the main prize can count as consolation, from a power generator to a family-size Thermos flask.

Step Two – The Baptism
Pick a good name. Since it will be the most prominent identifier of your promo, it should sound “nice”, “catchy and “memorable”. It’s best if the name sounds good when mentioned at deafening decibels in sing-song Kenyan style, by a male voiceover on a sugar high. Always craft the name using the tried and trusted ‘Promo Moniker Template ™’, which follows the format; ‘Kiswahili Title’ followed by ‘na’ followed by ‘Brand Name’. The Kiswahili title should depict a won state, either explicitly (Shinda, Kuwa Bingwa, Tajirika, Vuna Doh’, Nyakua Chapaa, Pata Bibi) or implicitly (Jionyeshe, Meremeta, Rarua, Bambika, Rembeka, Washa, Tetemesha, Ura, Timua Speedi, Simama, Angukia). The inevitable ‘Na’ should comfortably lead up to your Brand Name, because with so many other promos out there, your brand needs to be part of your unique promotional ID.

Step Three – The Process
Put together your mechanics. They must be fashioned so as to make the promo as “Easy-to-Enter” as possible. There must ALWAYS be a purchase involved; otherwise your overall efforts will be useless. You could either include an entry form only with the pack, or ask the consumer to include a proof of purchase with his entry. If you’re in the service sector, then ensure your mode of entry is tied as closely as possible to the service in particular. Then, you can proudly place the token reminder at the end of your communication: “The more you enter, the greater your chances of winning!!”
If you choose to ask a question, please don’t strain your consumer. Go for an absolute no-brainer; “The Sokoni magazine article entitled ‘Ad Boardroom’ is published by which magazine? S_K_NI”
Place a bin outside a “selected outlet”, into which the entry forms will be dropped. Plaster it with enough promo posters to create a radiation-proof layer. This will not only assure you of ‘strong branding’ in all the clutter. It will also keep your bin from being tampered with.

However, there’s a different route for those of you with the cheek to make your audience spend more money as they try to win some. Avoid entry forms. They’re so 1990’s. Use mobile telephony, and make more money! It’s not enough that your audience is buying into your brand. Burden them further by having them send a certain code to a premium rate number where you can charge them more. Besides, they do want to win, don’t they?

Step Four – The Noise
It’s time to let the people know! Radio, and point of sale material will suffice if you are unable to go into TV and outdoor. If you are fortunate enough to have a monopoly, get away with a simple on-pack sticker.
The objective of any promo is to be as loud as possible. So don’t hold back. Starbursts are your friend. The whole colour spectrum is yours for the plundering. Use the largest typefaces you can fit within an A3 poster. Go into photography. Use beautiful, elated-looking models. Let them smile giddily, laugh insanely, jump, dance, run, scream, bang a drum, climb a tree – whatever makes them noticeable – just as long as the masses are able to remotely identify with them.
Use the power of women. Take a bunch of pretty college girls and station them at the above referenced selected retail outlets, and traffic-heavy roads. Give them a profuse supply of flyers to hand out, and have them rehearse little speeches to recite to your audience one-on-one. If your ad doesn’t get the people you want, the beauties will.
And finally;

Step Five – The Buffer
Cover your back. Promos are made and handled by the hands of mortals. Mistakes happen. The phrase, “Term and Conditions Apply” applies to you too. Use it generously. Should there be a fiasco of any sort, remember that there are some that fell into that murky pit, and came out shining. So can you. Make your conditions clear, but in the smallest print your crammed space can allow. They’re there only for legal formality’s sake anyway. And never forget to pay the Betting Control and Licensing Board its dues. Ignore them and regret it for a long time. Always award your winners. Make it a public spectacle, so that the next time you come around, you shall be believed and followed.

And there, my friends, is promo-creation at its simple best, as demonstrated by the experts. No need to thank us. You’re welcome.

More Dilbert on Advertising

We can’t get enough of Scott Adam’s wit! Here’s more from Dilbert. Enjoy

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It’s a media first! (The BIG Barclays ad, that is)

If you happened to look at last Tuesday’s Daily Nation (Dec 5th), then you saw the BIG ad. You innocently flipped through Smart Company (undoubtedly the Daily Nation’s advertising Cash Cow), and got baffled somewhere at the middle when your eyes (by then accustomed to small black newsprint) were met by a humongous “20″ on Page 10, placed next to an equally gigantic “00″ on Page 11. You then turned the page to see another “00″ on Page 12 and then “0/-” on Page 13. You then eagerly turned to Page 14 to see where it would all lead to, and there you found the glorious reveal. “The biggest unsecured personal loans EVER”.

The folk at Barclays have obviously pulled off an advertising first to hype up their 2,000,000 bob (geddit?) unsecured loan. They have used not one, not two, but FIVE full pages of precious newspaper space to tell of a product of no less magnitude. This, my good friends, is the way to get mass attention: reach out from your medium, grab your audience by the neck and shake ‘em into noticing you – kindly by force, so to speak.

We were absolutely impressed, simply because of Barclays’ commitment to get the message across and do it in an unconventional way, using a conventional medium. Oh, and just so you know how much it might have cost, each full page must have set them back about 340,800 bob. Multiply that by 5 and you come to the humble sum of Kshs.1,704,000 spent in one sitting. Spent. Not wasted. Or blown. Or squandered.

We waited for some other material. An equally attention-grabbing radio spot? An eyeball-wrenching TV Commercial maybe? We’ve seen nothing yet.

Still, we wait patiently.

Wrapping Up 2006 – The Wars

OK, so there weren’t that many battles fought. Compared to the great Kencell/Safaricom skirmishes earlier this decade (rememebr Congested/Connected?), all other subsequent market fights have been half-hearted scuffles. Still, it was worth noting the brief face-off between Barclays and Standard Chartered. When selling its current account packages, Barclays offered Kenya ‘A Bouquet’, only for StanChart to counter with the tongue-in-cheek query, ‘Why settle for a bouquet when you can have a whole garden’. Just when the mass audience was whetted for epic battle, both sides settled for sound judgment and denied us the entertainment.

Oh well … next time maybe.

Wrapping Up 2006 – Jingle All The Way

Everybody loves Radio. The advertisers heard it and knew it works. Radio’s the media the masses interact with the most, and, if you would allow me to use an ad cliché, it delivers more for less.

Then ads started to sound the same, and some brave souls found it in themselves to reach into the antiquated archives and pull out a well-worn but comatose tool. Before we knew it, the Jingle was striding back into town to great reception.

There were the all-new ones, crafted for such brands as Brookside, Sadolin, Chevrolet, Del Monte and Safaricom. And then there were those that were resurrected from the archives, dusted clean and revamped. Reckitt Benckiser recorded a remake of their ‘Doom Doom Doom’ jingle from the 80’s, though to lesser sterling effect, and Uchumi remade a patriotic tune from yore that made use of their name. It looks pretty certain that we will Jingle all the way into 2007 until their pull once again naturally fades away.

For Your Consideration – The Ads of 2006

As promised, a list of the ads of 2006, arranged by month. We’ve tried to make it as clear and as comprehensive as possible. Look it over, and send us word on what you liked, and what you hated. We’ll put it all together for our February Sokoni magazine article. We would appreciate the help.

Thanks.

Jan
Safaricom “Lamu” ”Maasai” ”Matatu” ”Baby”
Safaricom Millionaires Promo  “Nimeshinda”
Safricom Millionaires Promo “Interrupted Live Newscast”

February/ March

K-Rep Bank “Sunrise”
Sony Wega “Runaway child”
Blue Band “Running child”
Kiwi  “100 years”
Dettol Cool
Flashcom “World on Fire”
Safaricom Bamba 50/=

April

British American Insurance “Through the years”
Preventor Condoms “Feels so good”
Peugeot 307 “Think big”
PermaNet “Migrating Mosquitos”
Diamond Trust “Paul & Ben”
Cooperative Bank “We are you”
CIC Insurance “We keep our word ”
Del Monte “Shine on”
Population Services International “A real man/woman waits”

May

CFC Bank “Banking  near you”
Close up “What a mouth”
Cooperative Bank “We fund your business radios”
CIC Insurance “We keep our word “ (Press)
Western Union “Back to school”
Pampers “New diaper”

June

Nokia 3250
Safaricom “X-tra talk time”
Yellow Pages “Let your fingers do the walking”
Nissan Hardbody “Atoti Refined”
Mortein Doom “Wadudu ni Hatari…” (Radio)
Kenya Tourism Board    “Magical Kenya”
Bank of Africa “Sesame Card”
Trust “CMB Prezzo”
Population Services International “Ongea”
Barclays “Kenya you deserve a bouquet”

July

Coca Cola “We All Speak Football”
Nakumatt “Football”
Safaricom X-tra talk time “Growing Apple”
Sony Wega “Make room for Wega”
Playwin “Je Ukipata”
Popote Wireless “Popote”
Madison Insurance “Stronger Together”
Samsung  Imagine Campaign “Football  tickets”, “Spy”, “Office Party”
Sun and Sand “Football”

August

Jik “Rugby”
Nokia Face of Africa “Fashion Africa Style”
PSI Zi “Wedding Vows”, “Graduation Speech”
South African Airways Star Alliance “Flags”
Carex “protect your beauty”
Tianshi “Together we share”
Colgate 360“Total mouth clean”
Scangroup IPO “Advertising pays”
Kenya Tourism Board “Inspired by Kenya”
Communications Commission of Kenya “Fair Play”
Dettol “My Three Babies”

September

Colgate Triple Action “Three Times  the Protection”
Cadbury’s “Extreme makeover”
Guinness “17:59”
Flashcom “Wireless phone line”

October

Heineken“New York, London, Nairobi”
Nivea Aqua Cool “Goosebumps ”
Nivea After Shave  “Sooth the burn”
Cadbury’s “Wrappers Delite”
Nakumatt“Dance across the world”
Motorola Razr “Tight Jeans”
Geisha  “Mothers of Africa”

November

Omo “Cheza”
Blue Band“Halftime break”
Tusker “Wakenya Vuma”
Safari Cane  “Exactly”
Coca Cola“Kaa Masaa na Coca Cola”
Safaricom Saasa Tariff ”Popcorn”
Nissan Tiida “Quiet”

December
Sasini Tea “It’s not how you drink it”
Dyer and Blair “Golf”
Media Focus
Nation new look campaign “Sign boards”
Media Focus on Africa “Uongozi Bora”

Dilbert On Advertising

We all love Scott Adams’ humorous take on corporate culture and inter-office relationships – especially through his world-renowned comic strip – Dilbert. Here Scott takes a swipe at advertising using a conversation between Dilbert and his Mum. Tongue-in-cheek and very effective. Enjoy.

2006 Wrap-Up Posts

The end of 2006 approacheth real quick! We’ll be putting in a number of observations we made all through the year of those things that changed the Kenyan ad scene and made it uniquely stand out. Take for example the number of jingles you’ve heard in ‘06 alone. Try and count them in your head … See what we mean? These will all feature in a “Wrapping Up 2006″ series.

We had a little fun writing out a mad look at the Promo phenomenon. It features in this month’s issue of Sokoni (out now). We’ll post it here soonest. Keep it here!