ISA Weekly Newsletter

Brand Bistro Newsletter

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

Happy pay week!

Welcome to the sunny side of marketing life. You are now entering a stress-free zone. All forms of countless revisions, last-minute briefs, and quick calls are strictly prohibited.

MARKETING WALLSTREET

On the business desk, these are the top Kenyan brand moves.

Dentsu’s First Ever CCO(EA)

The world’s most eligible bachelor! This is how I was introduced to the creative genius that is Max Ngari. Not to overdo it, but it says a lot when people get to know you from a creative advertising class. The former Dentsu Executive Creative Director, Kenya, has been promoted to Chief Creative Officer for East Africa. Fresh from a Loeries hiatus where he led Dentsu to Gold and a Grand Prix for Tusker’s campaign, bro’s been winning.

Under Max, Dentsu Creative has grown by more than 20% been named Pitcher & DMA agency of the year 4 years in a row. Currently, Loeries best ranked agency in Kenya, Dentsu, has big players like Tusker and NCBA on lock. Sub-Saharan Africa is the new playground for Max as he heads Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, and Tanzania. The demand for African creatives to sell the continent’s narrative is evident; multinationals are listening. Toast to Max and Dentsu!

TPA x Farmers Choice

It’s not just the multinationals that have an eye for good marketing! Homegrown brands like Farmers Choice are ready to scale. The Partnership Africa comes in as a strategic communication partner. Farmers Choice is currently present in over 10 countries in EA and the Middle East. There are growing demands from the Kenyan diaspora, too. Most importantly, plans are underway to expand to the West African Market. The West is a Publicis block, and TPA runs ‘family business’ for Publicis in the East. The farmers made a great choice!

De Heus Unveils Ksh 3B Plant

On Wednesday last week, Dutch animal feed manufacturer De Haus launched a 200,000 MT capacity plant in Athi River. This move is estimated to create at least 250 direct and 1000 indirect jobs for Kenyans. Great news for farmers, the brand is strategically moving to address high feed costs, inconsistent quality, and dependence on imports. With locally sourced raw materials, it’s a great win for the sector all around. The only person with a dull face here is the marketer selling a competitor brand. Time to crack the differentiation puzzle all over again. But we live for the thrill, don’t we?

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EVENT SCENE

It’s always a good time whenever marketers come to town.

2025 Year in Review & Predictions for 2026

ISA Africa celebrated 5 years of helping brand custodians effectively plan for upcoming marketing cycles through industry discussions informed by contextualised and locally relevant insights.

In an event hosted at Mövenpick Hotel last Friday, 3 panel discussions along with 5 speaker presentations analyzed the key strategies for winning in 2026.

The event was started in 2021 as a response to the slowdown brought by the Covid lockdown. Particularly to counter the dismay it left among professionals trying to scale brands in tough economic times through actionable solutions.

From where and how to allocate your ad budget, to AI and automation, consumer analysis, and creativity, this year’s edition had a lot to uncover. Stay tuned for next week’s edition, where we’ll get into the thick of it.

Marketers Night Out

The first edition of the Kenya Marketer’s Night Out in 2026 is happening on the 27th of February. Keynote speakers include Esther Waititu Masese, Chief Financial Services Officer, Safaricom PLC, Frankline Kibuacha, Director of Marketing, Geopoll, and Phyllis Wakiaga, International Trade & Policy Investment Expert.

Starting at 3 PM at The Nairobi Hospital Convention Centre, the event is a great learning and networking experience. Key topics for the day include: Leveraging Insights to Build Trust and Customer Loyalty, Breaking the Curse of Vanity Metrics, and How Global Trade Rules Shape Brands.

Mar-Tech Africa 3.0

Lagos, how you deh? On the 28th of February, over 2,000 marketing professionals will convene at Zone Tech Park, Gbagada. The third edition of Mar-Tech Africa is all about mastering the growth Loop. 3 panel discussions will take centre stage, tackling Acquisition, Engagement, and Retention.

This conversation is important because the modern marketer is expected, above all, to create demand for the product. Osato Evbuomwan, Marketing Director, Moet Henessy Nigeria, Oke Umurhohwo, Marketing Director Startimes Nigeria, and Shola Asiru, Group Marketing & Comms Manager Payaza are among the 25 speakers in the lineup for the full-day conference!

CAMPAIGN CAFFEINE

SPRITE: It’s That Fresh

This is not just another campaign, it’s a take over. Coca-Cola’s “It’s that fresh”” is a 3 month culture immersion. Sprite are taking the fun where Kenyan youth play as Juliana Kituma, Director, Frontline Marketing, Coca-Cola Kenya, says. Music, basketball, digital creativity, and campus tours, the four youth chillspots lived in perfect separation until Sprite came in.

Now Sprite is on a mission to not just entertain but also educate and reward its loyal fanbase. First is a creator-led workshop series hosted by Carrie Wahu, Tileh Pacbro, and dance collective Cluster. After the content creation masterclass, as if to prepare the class for end of sem exam, the Sprite Fresh Challenge will be unveiled.

3 M is up for grabs, with 151 participants getting rewards each month. And that’s not all, the most impactful part? The basketball takeover, where Sprite will brand the courts in NBA style, host professional trick-shot showcases, and courtside fashion moments. It’s one thing to have the budget and another to put it to good use, i guess that’s what sets aside big brands from impactful brands.

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!

Unilever and Google Partnership

Unilever’s CEO, Fernando Fernandez, has been vocal about the end of the “lazy marketing era”. An era synonymous with big-budget adverts once or twice a year, and that’s that! Tech first, continuous nurturing across the journey from discovery to post-purchase is the way to go.

And that’s exactly what Unilever is trying to achieve with their new 5 yr. Google partnership. Unilever will migrate its data platforms and apps to the Cloud to help build an AI-first” foundation. This will create impact across its supply chain, marketing, and operations. Vertex enterprise AI from Google will be instrumental in brand discovery, AI-augmented marketing, measurement and analytics, and agentic commerce.