Talking Advertisements

Companies can say or do anything just to sound cool and look cool, and gain customers in the process. It’s called promotion and includes seven elements: advertising, personal selling, direct marketing, sales promotion, publicity/public relations, corporate image and exhibitions.

The company chooses the method through which to promote its business depending on the circumstance and the product. Some, like Public Relations are ongoing processes while others are once-off affairs, for instance exhibitions. Dissect these methods and you come up with a thousand and one ways of promoting your company, or product, or person- if you are a you-know-who.

That’s done, I am not a promotion lecturer, just a works guru. By the way, contact me if you need an expert in branding.  

You may have seen all these drives by Kenyan companies to have you jump into their bandwagons, some of them are rememberable, hard to forget-they are either outstanding positively or sloppily.

You should use your promotion method to communicate your intentions clearly. The target people should not strain to catch the jist of what you are trying to tell them.I have seen Safaricom and DSTV/MultiChoice guys dancing in the middle of roundabouts-just their t-shirts identify them. Ok, I think there should be more than that, like a brochure, or a bill-board behind them to tell us what they are up to. But, anyway, they offer us entertainment in the jam. Maybe it’s a new style.

Your style should be attractive to the eyes and ears. It should have an unforgettable aspects that makes people look forward to it, and instill interest in the product. Fiatu Fyangu, we all know this Kiwi advert, not because it is entertaining, or because Rudisha is the superstar he is, but because of the way he speaks….which I don’t think even the Kiwi guys intended(what a mountain of luck!)Other companies have tapped into the ‘funny-talk’ advert styles are Yu with the “Owya Omaree….Owya Odhisiiii” thingy.Its such a laugh-and hits the nail on the head. We love it, don’t we? Peter Marangi, too.

As far as your brand goes, I think it should be so common to all that some things such as colour are automatically attributed to you. Tell your thing again and again. Don’t do a one-hit wonder if your company/propduct is on-going.Do it like Safaricom,everybody knows about M-Pesa but they advertise it daily,the Safaricom Green(note the name) is so common,no wonder Safaricom remains the largets brand around.

Some stay so long that they get outdated. Its good practice to change your advert over time. You may have seen these billboards announcing a date that is long past? They are many. Have you listened to Radio Jambo lately? What’s with the “Stesheni Mpya” fib? Radio Jambo has been around like forever, they should update it to something more true.

Others are plain crude and rude. I am of the view that, no matter the nature of message you are communicating, don’t be rude. You may destroy the company’s face completely. You saw these Nairobi and Mombasa City Councils’ adverts ordering property owners to pay their rates. The Give to Caesar saying was all wrong. It sounded slavish, oppressive and insensitive to the people. Not that Nairobi City Council is all that sensitive, anyway.