The Book of Steadman is much broader in scope than the 50 years of Roger ’ s charmed life in Kenya . In broad and fine strokes , it paints in words and pictures the trajectory of Roger ’ s life , from the time his parents met to the time he handed over executive control of Ipsos pan Africa to a mzungu called David Somers .
It didn ’ t help matters that after several trials and errors , mostly errors , our hero caught the attention of a lovely young Kenyan with flowing curls of dark hair and deep , dark alluring eyes , who graciously adopted him . Halima Steadman , everyone ! This was 2005 , around which time a lioness in the Mara also adopted an oryx . And they both lived happily ever after .
The story of Roger Steadman is also the story of Kenya and the Kenyan affairs that affected or in any way interfaced with the marketing industry . As an advertising man , I knew the best way to present Brand Roger to the world was through testimonials ; like an Ariel commercial . So , I suggested we told the story in third person . To this , Roger quickly agreed , partly , I suspect , because he recognized the wisdom of letting other people say what a nice guy you really are .
This led me down many an exciting path , chatting up friends , relatives , associates , the competition , and all sorts of interesting and clever people from across East Africa and around the world , who had lots to say about the subject . Not all good , I ’ m afraid , but that is a risk I was willing to take .
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The Book of Steadman is much broader in scope than the 50 years of Roger ’ s charmed life in Kenya . In broad and fine strokes , it paints in words and pictures the trajectory of Roger ’ s life , from the time his parents met to the time he handed over executive control of Ipsos pan Africa to a mzungu called David Somers .
Rose Kimotho
I then threw the interviews together with Roger ’ s own notes , anecdotes , WhatsApp chats , emails , letters , and rights-ofreply , and whipped that into some sort of narrative . To that I added a few verses from a Phil Collins song , a few more lines from a Bon Jovi one , and several randomly selected idioms , similes , and phrases , and , what do you know ! We had a book .
Despite many hurdles including nay-sayers , lawyers , editors , Covid-19 , The Vaccines , and the publishers , In Good Stead is finally out in paperback . So , buy this book if only because the royalties go to the Association of Physically Disabled People of Kenya .
Better still , we hope you enjoy this book as much as we enjoyed putting it together . To paraphrase a Lux commercial we did at O & M in the 80 ’ s starring the young Patricia Maingi , then a marketing student and a Miss Kenya runner-up , Patricia Ithau finds In Good Stead an easy read ; shouldn ’ t you ?
Now , to the FAQs :
Why In Good Stead ?
One day , Andrew Stepniak yak yak yak , a retired advertising man and a good friend of both Roger and I were chatting over a
Tusker and we discussed , among other things , possible titles for the book . As he yakked on about his little startup business of the 80 ’ s and how he couldn ’ t have hacked it had Roger not started his , Andrew inadvertently stumbled into a suitable title : Roger ’ s business , he said , truly stood the industry in good stead . And there we had it .
Whose idea was it to write this book ?
Lloyd Igane
I suspect Roger had given thought to penning his memoirs long before I suggested it to him - it didn ’ t take much to convince him . He has however always flattered me that it ’ s my book , my idea . But we all know a thing or two about he who pays the piper , don ’ t we ?
Lloyd Igane , a veteran copywriter and renown storyteller , is the author of In Good Stead - Roger Steadman ’ s Marketing Surfari . You can commune with hime via email at : Kreative @ publicist . com .