Safaricom, Zain cross paths over advert content

Marketing experts said the Zain campaign was using a targeted communication strategy that focuses on the negative attributes of a competitor and their products, rather than emphasising on one’s own positive attributes or preferred qualities.

“In a fairly conservative culture like Kenya’s, one would rather speak more about their brands than focus on the competitor’s weaknesses,” said Maina Kerugo, a consultant with Apexx Marketing.

However, navigating the issue is an ethical minefield, as no one company can lay claim to a certain set of words or colours.

In one advertisement, Zain uses a shade of green favoured by Safaricom to highlight negative aspects of the market leader.

Current scenario

The current scenario is not foreign to the two firms, which engaged in similar advertising wars in early 2000 when Kencell, now Zain, marketed its network as more “connected” and referring to its rival’s as “congested”.

Safaricom lodged a successful complaint.

“Although these kind of attack ads often have no positive content, they do have the potential to be more influential in shaping consumers’ views in the short term.

“But one cannot sustain the use of such ads the whole year since they may backfire,” said Timothy Kosuri, a marketing consultant.