 | MARKETING & MEDIA
[Titus Kaloki] With bated breath many in this tech-savvy East African country have been waiting to join the world of high speed internet connection. The digital divide is about to be reduced, thanks to the imminent arrival of fibre-optic cables on Kenyan shores this June. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA
[Titus Kaloki] Amid the credit crunch and global economic downturn, firms are all trying to brace for a tougher future and this may only be achieved through intensive advertising using channels that offer value for money. In the year 2008, 20bn shillings were splashed by local firms on advertising. A big sum by any means. |
 | MARKETING & MEDIA  [Carole Kimutai] Mobile phone company, Safaricom received US$7 million worth of publicity in 2008 according to a Media Publicity Index (MPI), a standardised publicity measurement system. The MPI figure indicates the size, quality and extent of a company's publicity over time measured using editorial or news content and not advertising.
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| MARKETING & MEDIA [Titus Kaloki] The Kenyan mobile services sector is in the headlines again, this time for all the wrong reasons. A war of words has emerged between the Central Bank of Kenya and the second largest mobile services provider, Zain. It's all about the failure by the bank to give a nod to Zain's much anticipated money transfer services under the brand name, Zap. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] Kenyan marketers should thank President Barack Obama for free publicity that is worth billions of US dollars. During his inauguration on Tuesday, 20 January 2009 and before the world, Obama saluted the “small village” where his (Kenyan) father was born. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] The Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK) has again recognised companies and individuals who have made a difference in the field of marketing. A special award - Najivunia kuwa mkenya, a Swahili phrase meaning "I am proud to be Kenyan," was given to individuals who brought fame and fortune to Kenya. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] Kenya's Nakumatt Holdings will soon unveil its plans to launch convenience stores (c-stores) as part of its expansion plans following a viability study showing a gap in the Kenyan market. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Titus Kaloki] Kenya has made a giant step in it's telecommunications market with the launch of Essar-powered Yu. The licence awarded to Africa's telecom heavy-weight, Econet in September 2007 has seen legal battles with a Kenyan consortium that claimed a share and culminated in Essar, an Indian investment giant with also big interests in Kenya's petroleum industy, buying Econets stake. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] Despite the global crunch that has seen a drastic reduction in consumer spending, retail supermarket chain Nakumatt has launched a R3m (KSh30m) Christmas season rewards program that will run for two months. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Titus Kaloki] It was delightful to read in one of our common dailies, the Daily Nation, about how the corprate players in Kenya have come to see sense in product placement and sponsorship on popular TV shows. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] Economic crunch forces Kenyan shoppers to change consumption habits. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] In early August, Kenya's president Mwai Kibaki was in the Maasai Mara to witness the unfolding of the world's seventh wonder - the migration of millions of wildebeests from the Mara to the Serengeti in neighbouring Tanzania. Every year, thousands of tourists come to Kenya to view this amazing spectacle. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] In the last few years, mobile phone users in Kenya had become accustomed to the British (Safaricom/Vodacom) business modus operandi until the French (Telkom Kenya) entered the scene with their Orange brand. This has added a different flavour and style of business with twists in the Kenyan communications marketplace. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] Animation is an industry which has been dominated by the West. In Africa, the concept is relatively new, but this year nine animation films from Kenya will be screened at the prestigious Africa in Motion (AiM) festival that will run 23 October - 2 November 2008 in Edinburgh, UK. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] Globally-renowned integrated marketing communications expert, Mike Walsh is in Kenya for a week long mentorship visit. Walsh, former CEO of Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) Europe and chairman of Ogilvy United Kingdom is an Ogilvy worldwide ambassador. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] Earlier in the week, the Kenya ICT Board, a delegation of Kenyan industry players and stakeholders launched the country's BPO value proposition to the European market at the Call Centre Expo in Birmingham. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] In Kenya, the mobile phone has become a very powerful gadget. Apart from just receiving and making calls, the cell phone can do a lot of other things that a few years ago were thought impossible. From the cell phone I can; send and receive email, buy airtime from my bank account, receive airtime from another phone user, top up another phone user and pay my bills. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] Love them or hate them, journalists are here to stay. Yesterday they were your best friends because they published an excellent review of the new product you just launched. Today they are your enemy; they published a story that you think was not well-balanced. So, to whose tune should the scribes dance to? |
| MARKETING & MEDIA
[Carole Kimutai] Kenyan retail supermarket chain, Nakumatt opened a branch in Kigali, Rwanda, officially opening its doors last weekend as part of its campaign in reaching the Pan African market. |
| MARKETING & MEDIA [Carole Kimutai] Two weeks after Celtel rebranded to Zain, another telecommunication company, Telkom Kenya, has joined the band wagon and unveiled its new look. According to Telkom Kenya, the rebranding symbolises the company's changes internally in terms of strategy, operation and organisation. |
