Going Retro!
Going Retro!
Thursday, 09 March 2006 10:26
I have recently noticed that there is more and more of a move towards glorifying the past. I’m talking about the newfound love for old music, politically instituted commissions to investigate the dead and buried past, the very odd realization that Moi wasn’t so bad after all writes TOM SITATI
I have recently noticed that there is more and more of a move towards glorifying the past. I’m talking about the newfound love for old music, politically instituted commissions to investigate the dead and buried past, the very odd realization that Moi wasn’t so bad after all, the silent admissions that a little “kitu kidogo” actually did us some good by letting the cash flow around and the resuscitation of a certain very old beer brand albeit in a fancier looking form. I would like to call this the “retro” era; a time when we would like to believe that the past was all glorious and the phrase “good old days” is invariably a truism. We realize it more with the music being played on radio and in clubs (we used to call them discos in the “good old days”). Almost every disco worth its salt has a “soul nite” when the around fourty and above twenty fives revel in memories of when they put their parents through hell in desperate bravado bids to make it to vurous (Carnivore) or the few other discos whose names could not be said so publicly because vurous was it! The very fact that vurous was it is what I wish to discuss because “being it” is one of the clearest signs that a brand has actually arrived. When a brand becomes generic in its chosen category it not only stamps out the competition but also can only have itself to blame should prosperity not follow it all the days of its long illustrious life. Let us leave the disco scene for the night where it belongs and talk about other sectors.Do you remember the original Blue Band? It was packed in a tin and had an actual blue band around it. I have always thought that was the reason it was actually called Blue Band. Blue band also had a face then because Chris Kamau, formerly of Five Alive had his happy face on that tin long enough for him to begin shaving with Bic which was the razor in those good old days. I wonder whether he got royalties for being a Blue Band ambassador. Quite a bit of water has gone under the bridge since those glory days but not many people realize they are buying margarine and will call any of that yellow fatty stuff Blue Band. This does not augur very well for the competition. Prestige does not ring too much of a bell and Gold Band’s only claim to fame is being in the same courtroom as the mother of margarines, Blue Band.I can be sure of never getting a job at Coke anywhere in the world because here they are again. This time I’ll be really nice and be as positive as I possibly can without selling my soul in the process. Coke is a cola drink; at least that is what it is technically. Pepsi falls in the same category and for a period of time back in the day, the two actually had a neck-to-neck battle for the category. The truth was that Coke was it (and their slogan “Coke Is It!” summarized it so well!) while Pepsi was seen more as an alternative. It was never quite “the one”. Of course we all know what happened to Pepsi and a few decades later a certain large-scale traditional brewer decided to take on the cola giant. The Softa brand from Kuguru has bitten a chunk from Coke’s side and continues to gnaw incessantly as the giant’s heels. The soft drink giant used to lament at every sip of water, milk, tea, coffee or even juice that anybody drank was a sip less for Coke’s volumes. We will still ask for a Coke when at the local kiosk or bar and only refer to the competition as something like, “Coke ile ingine”; a true testimony to Coke having taken on generic proportions.Because of where I come from, I have had more than my fair share of “could you please pass that Thermos again?” Here is an example of a brand that swept the competition in its category away like the Tsunami! I have had long arguments with very knowledgeable people as to whether that tea receptacle is a thermos or a thermos flask or whether one of the several cheap imitations can also be called a Thermos. Thermos is a German brand of vacuum flask. When some of us were growing up there wasn’t really any other brand of flask and if there was, we didn’t know it existed. Of course we now have a plethora of vacuum flasks with names like Sunflower but I still hear that phrase “could you please pass that Thermos again?” regardless of what brand of vacuum flask one has. The speed with which I pass the Thermos is usually determined by just how westernised the Westerner is because the scene could get nasty if the westerner’s tea quotient was dangerously low. I’m told that Kikuyus actually beat Luhyas at tea drinking but have been gracious enough to not to take all the glory because as we all know they have a certain sticky category all to themselves.For a county that has been independent for over fourty years, we have had very few daily newspapers worth remembering. Quick question (please give an answer within a second): If I asked you to pass me “the newspaper” which one would you hand over? Did you answer Nation? Well, most people I asked did. My namesake at The Standard still has a lot of work cut out for him and his team if this status is to change in he near future. Unfortunately, even employing the entire staff from Nation cannot do the trick because Nation has built an enormous amount of brand equity and this has taken time, lots of it. Nation was always viewed, as “the serious paper” while Standard, whose various names and stances over the years is testimony to the fickle nature of its brand, is harder to place a finger on. Right now we know who is chasing who and who is innovating more and setting the pace but it shall take a while before Kenyans stop referring to Nation as “the newspaper”. As I conclude these ramblings, my faithful computer clock says it is 8:30 on Easter Monday morning. I think it is a good idea for me to stop at this point so that I may go and get the newspaper lest some serious news passes me by and I am unable to engage other Kenyans in intelligent conversation for the rest of the day.Email:
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. This article was first published in SOKONI magazine
