icon- synonymous with security and professionalism. But in chasing shortterm hardware sales while ignoring shifting consumer desires( touchscreens, ecosystems, design), it lost its narrative. Marketing kept promising relevance while the product told another story. Equity evaporated.
Closer home, Kenyan telcos illustrate the divide. Safaricom has guarded its equity by anchoring every campaign in a bigger story:“ Twaweza” wasn’ t about airtime- it was about possibility. Compare this to smaller competitors who run endless promos(“ Free data, free calls, 50 % off”), only to see customers churn at the next cheapest offer. One built a fortress of trust; the other plays whack-a-mole with discounts.
The reality today is that most businesses are making decisions based on a set of incomplete or worse, completely flawed assumptions on what’ s really driving their business. Hence most result either in manipulation tactics or worse, pricing discounts to lure customers into buying. In fact this is very effective for a short period but in the long run, is an erosion of brand equity.
In Kenya, several fast-moving consumer goods( FMCG) companies pour millions into seasonal price wars- flash discounts, endless“ buy one get one free” deals- while neglecting long-term story. The result? Consumers switch at the first cheaper alternative. Price became the only brand promise. A damaged brand equity has no defense against competition.
Dearth in Creativity
“ If it doesn ' t sell, it isn ' t creative.” These are words by the father of advertising, David Ogilvy. He believed that creativity should move the consumers needle, drive sales, build brand trust and most importantly deliver results. And that ' s what is scarce in modern marketing: the holy grail of creativity.
When was the last time you saw a marketing ad that arrested your attention? That made your body say yes in a reflex before the mind could even negotiate? Personally, unless it ' s an Apple ad, I don ' t recall any in recent decade- not even with the abundance of marketing tools like Artificial Intelligence( AI). The demand for immediate measurable results has killed the creative edge reducing marketing to bland digital clutter with calls to actions( CTAs) that only nudges marketers to” Sale Now.” Let ' s not even talk about the million meaningless ads on our timelines every day.
As a result, consumers are more confused about decision making. In the end, they view businesses as utilities and what ' s convenient for them and mainly, it ' s the price direction. In Africa, ad-blocker use is rising, not just in the West. Nigerians and South Africans report skipping ads as soon as they appear. When brands bombard audiences with tone-deaf“ Happy Friday” posts or irrelevant retargeting( ever noticed how you keep seeing an ad for shoes you already bought?), they waste their only shot at attention.
Globally, Gillette’ s 2019“ The Best Men Can Be” campaign sought to tackle toxic masculinity. It earned 110 million views and massive engagement- but consumer fatigue with perceived“ woke-washing” led to backlash. Sales stagnated. The intent was noble, but the execution lacked resonance with its audience. This is fatigue at play: consumers don’ t just tune out noise- they resist it.
Shock value is cheap currency. It buys headlines but rarely loyalty. And as Ogilvy also noted,“ When I write an advertisement, I don’ t want you to tell me you find it creative. I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.”
The Framework for Renewal: Pillars to Overcome the Dearth
If modern marketing is suffering from a famine of strategy, then recovery demands more than tweaks- it demands a return to timeless principles, sharpened for a new age. This isn’ t about nostalgia or resisting technology. It’ s about rebalancing: using the abundance of tools without letting them hollow out the discipline. To move from noise back to meaning, marketers must ground themselves in a framework of renewal- seven interconnected pillars that restore depth, discipline, and humanity to the craft.
Rediscovering the Power of Storytelling
Stories are the backbone of culture, memory, and persuasion. Yet somewhere along the line many brands have abandoned storytelling in favor of performance quickfixes. The renewal begins by returning to narrative as the foundation of marketing.
Great stories are anchored in truth, elevated by emotion, and made relevant by culture. Consider Guinness’“ Made of More” series: it didn’ t just sell beer- it sold resilience, brotherhood, and character. Tusker’ s“ Here’ s to Us” resonated because it celebrated shared identity, not just a beverage. In Kenya, Equity Bank’ s“ Wings to Fly” re-positioned finance as empowerment rather than transaction. These stories wove brand and culture into one fabric, creating loyalty that no discount code can buy.
The science is clear: narratives trigger emotion, enhance recall, and bypass skepticism. A discount fades; a story endures. If a brand cannot articulate its story in human terms, it has already lost its audience.
Balancing |
Performance |
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Brand |
Building |
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Performance marketing has risen for good reason: it is measurable, immediate, and scalable. But its dominance has distorted marketing into a numbers game. The obsession with click-through rates has hollowed out long-term brand equity.
Renewal requires balance. Performance and brand building are not opposites- they are complements. One fuels immediate conversion, the other sustains lifetime value. Procter & Gamble’ s media strategy shows this balance well: precision targeting sits atop brand campaigns that cultivate identity and loyalty. Safaricom has mastered this duality- running tactical offers for airtime alongside“ Twaweza,” a narrative of shared progress that cements its role as a national brand.
The discipline is to resist the lure of short-term spikes while investing in long arcs. Metrics must include not just conversions, but recall, association, and emotional equity.
Human-Centric Creativity in the Age of AI
The tools have multiplied, but creativity has thinned. AI, automation, and endless templates have made campaigns efficient yet soulless- If algorithms dictate form, and dashboards dictate content, creativity risks suffocation. And in chasing speed, marketers forget that creativity’ s purpose is not to impress machines but as problem-solving rooted in human insight.
The difference between noise and resonance is humanity. Consider Coca-Cola’ s Share a Coke campaign. Instead of broadcasting slogans, Coca- Cola printed common first names on bottles, transforming a commodity into a personal gesture. A bottle of soda became a gift, a shareable moment, a reason to speak. It was simple, human, and profoundly effective. Importantly, the campaign didn’ t begin with a spreadsheet
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