It’s a really depressing story. You get back home at the end of a long day, turn on the TV and stretch a leg on the couch in the hope of unwinding as you catch up on the latest goings-on. Instead what confronts you on the screen compounds your misery for the day.
If the lead story is not about a ‘peaceful’ students’ procession gone terribly awry, then surely its got to be a demonstration by matatu operators in some city route apparently in protest against Mungiki harassment. “Not again”, you sigh and mutter between your teeth.
Until her dramatic exit from the cabinet, the former Justice Minister had evolved into a sure bet for top news item. Atleast for now you can be spared what had become the all too familiar rhetoric verbal exchange between the ever frowning ‘iron lady’ and either the Attorney General or the Chief Justice.
But the worst case scenario is when our honorable law-makers resort to trading hate speeches that they are now well known for in public rallies.
Truth be told, these diversionary gimmicks are anything but news. Still, these stories end up hogging prime space on Prime Time News. Its said that when a dog bites a man, its not news. But when a man bites a dog… now that’s news! Tough choice, but you are stuck in it for a good one hour or so. Its useless channel-surfing; often, the same story will be running concurrently on all the other channels. The strong salient message; ‘Put up (with the boring news, of course) or shut up!’ And we keep whining that the western media portrays us in bad light through negative publicity?
By this time you are stiff bored and silently cursing. Unfortunately, the worst is yet to come. Call it the ‘global financial crisis’, ‘global credit crunch’, ‘global economic meltdown’ or the ‘global economic downturn’ - the metamorphosis is tremendous – but it all results in mundane Business News reporting. And why is that sports news and the weather report are always stashed at the bottom of the pile? When your convivial sports presenter finally shuffles in, time is almost up, and the poor fellow has to rush everything through his breath.
Even the weather forecast is no longer presented in the interactive style that made names like Wandimi Muchemi, Ayub Shaka and Nguatah Francis so popular. Its only Channel 1 that has kept faith with the human face despite toning down abit.
Things are not any better if you happen to be that late bird that frequently does the night shift. You’ll soon discover that there is really nothing to smile about in the morning. There is very little to choose between the various breakfast shows lining up your TV screen at that early hour. It doesn’t matters whether its ‘Sunrise Live’, ‘This Morning’, ‘Power Breakfast’ or ‘Good Morning Kenya’, rest assured that breakfast will be served cold by unassuming, unsmiling presenters mechanically doing a re-run of the Late Night News interspersed with frequent traffic updates. Yeah, same old, same old… the level of duplication is startling!
This may sound abit harsh, but let’s face it. News on TV is not news anymore. After putting up with it for far too long, I’ve finally been pushed to the brink. No more old news for me until our boring TV stations polish up their act.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
‘CAN U DANCE’ PREMIER SHOW WAS A SHAM!
After all the hype and publicity that preceded KTN’s second reality show, the premier episode of ‘Can U Dance’ was all but a sham. While everything from the venue’s stage setting to the production and presentation was way below par, I particularly take exception to hitherto impeccable Janet Mbugua’s disastrous performance on the day.
Janet gets all her lines wrong right from the start when she reveals that she is meant to introduce the program host at some point (presumably to hand over the show) but ends up running the entire show all by herself - and tragically so!
Then she goofs yet again when she blabbers that the prize money for the winning duo is Ksh. 100,000. A minute later the figure has suddenly doubled to Ksh. 200,000! Huh!! How so?
And she is not yet done with her amazing string of howlers for just one show. Inviting two anonymous contestants on the half-lit stage to dance to no music was too amateurish. Janet certainly belongs to that league of the exciting new faces that have lately taken over national TV screens but apparently someone didn’t realize quick enough that hosting a dance show isn’t her thing.
The whole thing was one colourless gig staged on a poorly lit stage. It was much harder telling whether the crowd in attendance at the Village Market was actually the contestants, the live audience or a curious mix of the two. Worse was the fact that the viewers were not even taken through systematic highlights of the vetting process during the auditions, just some halting clips that had been used to publicize the show the entire week.
And when the show came to an end it was so abrupt, viewers were left high and dry still wondering what that was all about. It all looked like an act hurriedly put up together in the wake of the Presenter’s immense success. The mistakes were all too glaring even for upstart showbiz critics like me. KTN and the show’s production crew urgently need to up their game on this one.
Janet gets all her lines wrong right from the start when she reveals that she is meant to introduce the program host at some point (presumably to hand over the show) but ends up running the entire show all by herself - and tragically so!
Then she goofs yet again when she blabbers that the prize money for the winning duo is Ksh. 100,000. A minute later the figure has suddenly doubled to Ksh. 200,000! Huh!! How so?
And she is not yet done with her amazing string of howlers for just one show. Inviting two anonymous contestants on the half-lit stage to dance to no music was too amateurish. Janet certainly belongs to that league of the exciting new faces that have lately taken over national TV screens but apparently someone didn’t realize quick enough that hosting a dance show isn’t her thing.
The whole thing was one colourless gig staged on a poorly lit stage. It was much harder telling whether the crowd in attendance at the Village Market was actually the contestants, the live audience or a curious mix of the two. Worse was the fact that the viewers were not even taken through systematic highlights of the vetting process during the auditions, just some halting clips that had been used to publicize the show the entire week.
And when the show came to an end it was so abrupt, viewers were left high and dry still wondering what that was all about. It all looked like an act hurriedly put up together in the wake of the Presenter’s immense success. The mistakes were all too glaring even for upstart showbiz critics like me. KTN and the show’s production crew urgently need to up their game on this one.
YOUR PERSONA IS YOUR ‘REAL’ BRAND
A renowned radio personality recently wrote an article bemoaning the countless incidents of lack of etiquette that she has variously been subjected to by retailers of one commodity or the other in places as widely varied as supermarkets, select stores and eateries.
Like Ciku, (yes, she of the ‘busted’ fame) we’ve all gone through similar experiences. An otherwise amicable waitress ruins your lunch - and by extension your entire day - when she delivers your soup dessert complete with a fly floating right in the middle. The same scene always plays itself out. The waitress will brazenly refuse to serve you another bowl of soup for reasons best known to her.
A more familiar episode is that of the annoying bar waiter who in his haste to take your order, ends up serving you a drink in a stained or cracked glass. Never mind, in the process the lousy dude completely forgets to clear let alone wiping your table!
The long and the short of Ciku’s beef is that ours is a society where customer service matters little. A society where evidently, the tired cliché, ‘the customer is always right’, has no place.
Its obvious we’ve gotten it all wrong. Many SMEs today attach undue importance to the ownership of flashy brand name designs and setting up of colourful websites (which quickly become dormant and outdated). All in an effort to cut a niche within their respective industries, without factoring their most appreciable assets, people - their customers.
While the significance of an authentic brand name can’t be overemphasized, a brand is only as good as the public’s perception of the human face behind it. Put differently, the image you cut across is your ‘real’ brand.
Conventional wisdom has it that for most business enterprises the front office should adequately serve the purpose of creating a positive and lasting first impression to would-be customers. Failure on the part of the front office staff to strike a positive cord in the client’s eyes automatically translates to a flop as far as the brand is concerned.
It’s for the same reason that a Japanese robotics software company is developing software that will ensure that employees wear warm smiles while helping customers. According to an article published in the March 7th 2009 issue of The Economist magazine, Omron Corporation will soon start selling a “Smile measurement” system that will alert managers - in real time, if desired - when a cashier fails to muster an adequate grin! Using computers to measure smile? As absurd as it sounds, thats just how seriously some companies consider customer service.
So what’s in a brand? Nothing and everything! The popularity of any brand lies more on the persona of the marketer than in the brand per se. From the roadside ‘mama mboga’ who intently engages you in jovial chitchat every evening on your way home to the unsmiling news anchor who dutifully sums up your day with the late night news bulletin, you wont be hard-pressed to decipher the underlying intonations and attitudes that inevitably translates to your overall perception of the brand in question (if at all the grocery vendor qualifies in this category as well).
Perhaps nobody puts better than writer Mike Merill. In his best-selling motivational business handbook, Dare to Lead, he writes: “The things that are important to you might not be to your customers. If you don’t stop to find out what your customers really want, you’re in danger of making products customers aren’t interested in.” Of course, rolling out a brand that customers are ill at ease to identify with would be worse.
Like Ciku, (yes, she of the ‘busted’ fame) we’ve all gone through similar experiences. An otherwise amicable waitress ruins your lunch - and by extension your entire day - when she delivers your soup dessert complete with a fly floating right in the middle. The same scene always plays itself out. The waitress will brazenly refuse to serve you another bowl of soup for reasons best known to her.
A more familiar episode is that of the annoying bar waiter who in his haste to take your order, ends up serving you a drink in a stained or cracked glass. Never mind, in the process the lousy dude completely forgets to clear let alone wiping your table!
The long and the short of Ciku’s beef is that ours is a society where customer service matters little. A society where evidently, the tired cliché, ‘the customer is always right’, has no place.
Its obvious we’ve gotten it all wrong. Many SMEs today attach undue importance to the ownership of flashy brand name designs and setting up of colourful websites (which quickly become dormant and outdated). All in an effort to cut a niche within their respective industries, without factoring their most appreciable assets, people - their customers.
While the significance of an authentic brand name can’t be overemphasized, a brand is only as good as the public’s perception of the human face behind it. Put differently, the image you cut across is your ‘real’ brand.
Conventional wisdom has it that for most business enterprises the front office should adequately serve the purpose of creating a positive and lasting first impression to would-be customers. Failure on the part of the front office staff to strike a positive cord in the client’s eyes automatically translates to a flop as far as the brand is concerned.
It’s for the same reason that a Japanese robotics software company is developing software that will ensure that employees wear warm smiles while helping customers. According to an article published in the March 7th 2009 issue of The Economist magazine, Omron Corporation will soon start selling a “Smile measurement” system that will alert managers - in real time, if desired - when a cashier fails to muster an adequate grin! Using computers to measure smile? As absurd as it sounds, thats just how seriously some companies consider customer service.
So what’s in a brand? Nothing and everything! The popularity of any brand lies more on the persona of the marketer than in the brand per se. From the roadside ‘mama mboga’ who intently engages you in jovial chitchat every evening on your way home to the unsmiling news anchor who dutifully sums up your day with the late night news bulletin, you wont be hard-pressed to decipher the underlying intonations and attitudes that inevitably translates to your overall perception of the brand in question (if at all the grocery vendor qualifies in this category as well).
Perhaps nobody puts better than writer Mike Merill. In his best-selling motivational business handbook, Dare to Lead, he writes: “The things that are important to you might not be to your customers. If you don’t stop to find out what your customers really want, you’re in danger of making products customers aren’t interested in.” Of course, rolling out a brand that customers are ill at ease to identify with would be worse.
When the going gets Tough, ......
Its in every news you watch, every news paper you read. The world is facing an economic downturn. Its genesis its generally agreed was in the USA sub prime mortgage lending debacle. Its effects is being felt just about everywhere. The world being a global market, everyone trades with everyone directly or indirectly, so even you and I will not escape the effects of this crisis.
As I ponder these developments, I keep wondering what products/companies will go under and which ones will thrive in spite of/because of the prevailing circumstances. Generally luxury products that were more increasingly finding their way into the hands of the rich and hitherto swelling middle-class will suffer a decline. We have already started seeing some of the big boys on the local scene beating a retreat. Zain Kenya has laid off more than 141 members of staff and talk of similar downsizing by EABL is rife. Are we likely to see strategic changes by companies driven by changing consumer behaviour? Time will tell
There are many questions but few answers. One thing is certain though, companies that put value ahead of sales will remain relevant and profitable. Obviously profitability is proportional to sales, however sales will only be secured by products that provide value to clients. So how valuable is your product/service to your customers? Will they substitute it with a cheaper product? Will they forfeit it in favour of a more essential product?
Parting shot: Be innovative, think value and beat the recession!
As I ponder these developments, I keep wondering what products/companies will go under and which ones will thrive in spite of/because of the prevailing circumstances. Generally luxury products that were more increasingly finding their way into the hands of the rich and hitherto swelling middle-class will suffer a decline. We have already started seeing some of the big boys on the local scene beating a retreat. Zain Kenya has laid off more than 141 members of staff and talk of similar downsizing by EABL is rife. Are we likely to see strategic changes by companies driven by changing consumer behaviour? Time will tell
There are many questions but few answers. One thing is certain though, companies that put value ahead of sales will remain relevant and profitable. Obviously profitability is proportional to sales, however sales will only be secured by products that provide value to clients. So how valuable is your product/service to your customers? Will they substitute it with a cheaper product? Will they forfeit it in favour of a more essential product?
Parting shot: Be innovative, think value and beat the recession!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
What’s in a Brand?
I have been thinking for a long time what makes some brands so successful that they literally become household names. Is it that the product behind the brand is a success or is it just the mind pictures that the audience come to associate with the brand? Honestly i dont know. On this blog i hope to share my thoughts and have others share theirs on brands, products, ads and campaigns that have touched us in very special ways. I invite thoughts on how the web and social media in particular is influencing the brand landscape. I invite critique on popular consumer products.
Karibuni Nyote.
Karibuni Nyote.
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