ISA Weekly Newsletter

Brand Bistro Newsletter

Stay Informed with your Weekly Marketing & Advertising News Digest. Every Monday Morning is a marketer’s coffee date.

Salaam Dear Reader

Happy new month! Love is in the air, do hope your brand gets some!

Our weekly edition provides strategies to help you do just that.

Keep an eye on the events scene too, we’ve got brand love insights for you.

MARKETING WALLSTREET

The movers and the shakers on Biashara Street.

Axis 4.0 by Belva

The marketing tech kids at Belva just released an update of their Axis platform. Frankly speaking, this is one agency that’s putting Kenya on the map! Not too many homegrown agencies have a tech stack like Belva’s.

From Shift to Axis, Belva breathes tech. The new update offers complete synergy across the team to enhance productivity. Through AI, it integrates Workspace, Learning, Social and Engage, ensuring you literally never have to leave the system to get the fundamentals done.

The workflow moves swiftly, providing visibility for decision-making, ultimately enhancing collaboration.

WPP Production Studio Launch

Promise this is the last product showcase on today’s edition. Try my best to break it down in a non-nerdy, corporate lingo intoxicating way. WPP Production Studio is the new platform, integrating three worlds, i.e., creative, tech and data. Hogwarth is WPP’s creative film muscle with exceptional talent. WPP no longer wants to operate in silos; they want the whole stack available to the client.

Clients will now get access to over 10,000 creative pros and the leading agency producers across the stable on one platform. The studios will integrate AI gen, virtual and hybrid studios and the data to help tell culturally resonant narratives. It only makes sense to have Richard Glasson, Global CEO of Hogarth, step in as the first WPP Production CEO.

The rollout will begin on 23rd February. Content is king, data is the new oil, AI quenches the need for speed, and creative talent is at the heart of human connection. Brace yourselves, Cindy means business, and she’s coming to take back the throne!

Dentsu Creative 2026 Report

Let’s take you to Tokyo now, had enough of Paris, London and New York.

Dentsu Creative released the Generative Realities, officially dubbed Dentsu Creative Trends Report 2026. It essentially shows the driving forces shaping consumer behaviour. It highlights a parallel of sorts where, on one side, consumers are excited about tech, while also being exhausted in a sense by the barrage of overstimulating content. This is what will influence consumer behaviour in 2026.

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EVENT SCENE

Events are back; time to ditch the concrete jungle.

ESOMAR Africa in Focus 2026

Tomorrow, from February 3rd to 5th, ESOMAR will be hosting a 3-day conference at Hyatt Regency. Africa in focus 2026 is an opportunity to discover how insights bring impact beyond data. Brands like MTN, Moniepoint, BBC Media Action, PepsiCo, L’Oréal South Africa, and The Mastercard Foundation will be showcasing. The Amsterdam-based body, started in 1947, is the world’s largest network of data, research and insights pros. Prepare to get insights on sustainable research, AI innovation and best-in-class research methodologies.

ISA Africa Year In Review

Members of the marketing fraternity, it’s that time of the year again. Probably thinking about optimising your annual marketing plan by now. A need to gauge different investments to determine the highest ROI is hitting.

As shared in last week’s Ogilvy 2026 Forecasting Report, this is the era of the impact-driven CMO. Stakeholders are demanding results, and they want them now!

You see, there’s a clear difference between trend spotting and insight analysis. The 2025 Year in Review and Predictions for 2026 event thrives on data. Sensationalism and hype don’t tell the full story. Data is what shows how your tribe really vibes.

Talking about insights from leading research firms like Kantar, OnePulse, Ipsos, ReelAnalytics and GeoPoll! Feeling risky? Run your strategy based on people’s opinions, phrased as LinkedIn’s thought leadership’ copied from GPT.

Marketing tech? No one does it better than Ogilvy, Belva and Gigastream. Okay, you want to hear from someone in your shoes who has felt the heat and delivered? Carolyne Kendi says hi!

Ditch the office and block your calendar on the 19th of Feb to learn, connect and grow!

CAMPAIGN CAFFEINE

UD Trucks x The Partnership Africa

The Partnership Africa is back in the headlines. Should probably have a sit in the newsroom by now. Team Amazing gave us a tour of their kitchen, and UD Truck was on the menu.

I’ve always been curious about how you make something as laid back as a truck steal the show. No offence, autoheads, but a truck is not exactly the stuff for magazine covers.

From the get-go, the ad feels like a trailer. Epic storytelling captured with camera angles that jealously guard the Croner’s position as the headliner.

A beast with grace, if The Rock could dance, he’d probably look like a UD truck. Paints the perfect picture of the USP! Just an opinion, what do you think?

Spotify x The Partnership Africa

Was probably doomscrolling on FB or something when I first interacted with #ChezaVileUnaifeel . Pole media buyers, I’m loco about good Ads, mostly click for the edutainment.

The storyline blew me away, rewind to when your dad was a bad, bad boy and made mom feel she was a queen for real. The Spotify KE campaign concept is genius.

There are moments in life when words are not enough to express just how you feel. That’s when you cheza vile unaifeel. Back to class now, the new sports angle is equally brilliant. Now that Man U did Arsenal dirty on Sunday, know this campaign will blow up on social. Everything about this is gold. Take a look and let me know. And yeah, pretty sure TPA did the Matonya one too, so salute!

Spotify x The Partnership Africa

INTERNATIONAL SCENE

Could have talked about the new Meta Threads global Ad launch but honestly, do you know anyone that’s still on there post hype? Yeahp, thats what we thought too!

‘It’s A Jeep Thing’ by Jeep

It’s a Jeep thing, is a phrase most Jeep owners use to tease other drivers. Essentially means ‘would love to explain but you won’t get it, because you know, you just don’t drive a JEEP!’

A way of justifying jeep culture, like over-the-top modifications, because JEEP stands for ‘Just Empty Every Pocket.’ Always parking specifically next to another Jeep when there’s clearly more room in the parking lot e.t.c .

Jeep is owning the narrative in its new global campaign, “It’s a Jeep Thing.” The ad buys into existing consumer sentiments and marries them with its brand USPs and ethos. From freedom to club culture and efficiency.

Don’t own a Jeep, but I see why I would obsess over this ad if I did. Subie gang have probably started tagging Subaru Kenya on X, lol! Don’t think they can nail this, it’s a Jeep Thing!

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