On Voter Registration

If we’ve interacted, you know am one person who never wary from stating his opinion. Given, it has landed me in trouble but won me acclamation in the same light. Whichever the case, I decided to continue speaking for you know what, I believe that keeping quiet is like holding in your bowels, and like any matter, it needs an escape, so it will accumulate and travel up your brain. If shit travels up your brain, you know what you will speak…

My first blog is riddled in the current voter registration situation. I’ve watched the IEBC chairman speak, PM speak, president calling me useless for not registering as yet. My thinking is that this registration has been conducted with most archaic marketing persons aboard, and my reasons are us under:

Registration Areas

The world has evolved so has a people; how do you expect a 20 year old, Nairobi young one, with all his swag to go to a dingy primary school to register? The weed that marketer is smoking is as aged as he or she is. I believe that the centres have to go to the people and their normal life. That 20 year old would be so willing to register if that centre was in a Pizza Inn somewhere…come on, is it rocket science to know that P in marketing called PLACE. Why are there no registration desks at churches, mosques, hotels universities and clubs? I don’t want to hear that connectivity crap especially in Nairobi where is there is Faiba. The Mingle is tomorrow, so Mr. Isaack Hassan kindly carry your biometric machines for each and every Nairobi constituency (only one for each area); and set up there to get people to register. The same way you chased Kibaki to KICC to register, who is one person and his age mates are not so many, the youth you need, please follow them…which leads me to my next reason

Media Buying

For a good time in my career, I managed leading media brands. So I know the importance of media and in your case IEBC, advertisement. However, educate me on who carries for a whole week registration centres, if you have read those 20 plus pages on where to register you are what Caroline Mutoko calls an IDLER. Imagine if you had a USSD or short code platform where a voter dials and asks for a voting area within his locality and you send them an SMS where to do it or register with Mocality to give you this services online. Your media buying in terms of print was a little uninformed. That money you spent was enough to bring Chris Brown, Jay Z, Rihanna, Beyonce to Kenya. And the ROI would have been greater, all you need to do, is charge 500 shillings plus your voters’ card or Kshs 20,000 without your voters card as get charges. This applies for Nairobi, as for the rest of Kenya; I’m in awe of your “Kuvuka Kuvuka” concerts. This campaign would have worked more, again in my opinion, if you invested more in experiential marketing supported by mainstream media as opposed to the reverse. The media companies would not have issues, insofar as know, most media companies now have experiential marketing managers; so their revenue would be unscathed with this direction

By the way, well in on your bulk SMS, but where are you guys on social media, call Jon Oballa ( https://www.facebook.com/jon.oballa?fref=ts ) and the likes immediately to set you up and drive your voter education, quick fast minus slow.

I am not a fulltime critic; I love some stuff you guys have done:

1. Your jingle is fantastic; I can sing it so easily, so your broadcast media spend worked, on me at least. Let’s sing…Habari njema kwa Wakenya wote
2. You have made it to the news daily; ask any PR mind how hard that is. Who to to praise, I don’t know whether is the managing editors or the agency handling you PR but kudos

Finally, inform me why your primary colour is green and all your merchandise is in yellow?

Barring my criticisms, you are doing a commendable job

As I said from the onset, it’s my opinion but I am more than open to critiques both positive and negative…