Marketing
MARKETING AFRICA
Marketing
Linus Kemboi
Why Every Brand Is Suddenly Trying To Be Human!
Lately, have you noticed how brands are softening up? CEOs are appearing in reels, founders are recording podcasts while senior executives are writing personalized emails to customers. Even companies once known for polished corporate statements are suddenly sharing behind-the-scenes moments, telling stories and joining conversations online. Not too long ago, this would have been unthinkable.
There was a time when CEOs only appeared during annual reports, major announcements or press conferences. Brands spoke through carefully crafted adverts, formal statements and polished marketing campaigns. Every message sounded almost identical. We heard phrases like " commitment to excellence," " professionalism " and " customer satisfaction " so often that they gradually lost their meaning.
Today, something has changed. Brands have realized they cannot expect customers to come to them anymore. Instead, they have to go where customers already are. They have to understand how people communicate, what they care about and how they consume information. More importantly, they have to sound less like institutions and more like people.
Look closely and you ' ll notice the shift. Marketing messages are no longer just saying, " These are our products." They are saying, " Here ' s what happened." " Here ' s something we learnt." " Here ' s how you can solve this problem." The conversation has become less about selling and more about sharing.
One of the biggest changes has been who gets to tell the story. For years, brands spoke almost entirely through their own corporate channels. Today, founders write LinkedIn posts about lessons they ' ve learnt. Employees share what it ' s like to work behind the scenes. Subject matter experts explain complex topics in simple language and suddenly, storytelling is no longer the responsibility of the marketing department alone.
Personally, I think that ' s one of the healthi 104 MAL73 / 26 ISSUE est changes we ' ve seen in communications. People working outside marketing are helping build trust in ways traditional advertising often cannot. They bring authenticity because they speak from experience rather than from a campaign brief.
I experienced this recently after ordering medicine through an online platform from a pharmaceutical company here in Kenya. A few days later, I received a personalized email from the company ' s CEO thanking me for choosing their service. It wasn ' t a sales email. It wasn ' t promoting another product. It simply acknowledged me as a customer. It felt genuine and real.
That simple interaction reminded me that sometimes the most impactful marketing campaign isn ' t a television commercial or a billboard. It ' s making someone feel heard and seen.
Brands are also becoming more comfortable showing us what happens behind the scenes. They acknowledge mistakes faster, explain difficult decisions more openly and allow customers to interact with the people behind the business.
Take social media, for example. During the 2026 FIFA World Cup, British Airways and Norwegian Airways caught people ' s attention through a light-hearted exchange around one of the tournament ' s matches. Instead of talking about flight deals, they joined a conversation millions of football fans were already having. Their teams even documented parts of the interaction, giving audiences a glimpse behind the two brands. People weren ' t engaging because they wanted to buy a ticket. They were engaging because it felt human.
The same shift is happening through podcasts. Over the last two years, we ' ve seen more organizations launch their own podcasts, invite industry experts and create spaces where customers can ask real questions. Complex topics that once felt intimidating are now explained through relaxed conversations and listeners are no longer hearing only from corporate communications teams. They ' re hearing directly from CEOs, technical experts and business leaders.
So why is all this happening now? Because trust has changed. Ten years ago, many people trusted institutions simply because they were established. Today, people are more likely to trust individuals they have listened to, employees they have interacted with, experts they have learnt from and communities they belong to. Recommendations carry more weight than advertisements, and authenticity travels much further than polished corporate messaging.
Marketing has become more human because customers have become more discerning. Attention is scarce, trust must be earned and people can easily recognize when a brand is pretending.
This doesn ' t mean every company should suddenly start dancing on TikTok or filling their social media pages with memes, emojis and trending slang. Being human isn ' t about chasing every trend but about being approachable, honest and consistent. That, perhaps, is the biggest lesson for marketers today.
In conclusion, the future belongs to the brands that genuinely act and behave like humans. Because customers no longer expect perfection, they expect honesty, transparency and expect to feel that there are real people behind the businesses they choose to buy from.
Marketing on the other side remains key in building relationships, the channels might change, technology evolving, new platforms emerging but one truth has remained constant through every era of marketing: people trust people before they trust brands. And perhaps that is why every brand is suddenly trying to be human.
Linus Kemboi is an Assistant Manager- Brand, at Minet Kenya. You can commune with him on this or related matters via email at: Kemboilinus5 @ gmail. com.