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A TOAST TO MICHAEL KARANJA

You are probably wondering who Michael karanja is...read on!

I know exactly how Arthur Guinness' signature looks.

For the record, I don’t drink the stout, but creative geniuses made those adverts so emotionaly drwaing that they made me find the story behind the brand.

So, imagine how I felt when I found out that the signature on the Tusker Malt Lager is of a Kenyan! Michael Karanja, a Kenyan! (I just had to stress!) He is the Master Brewer of the brand.

That’s how my evening began at the re launch of the new look Tusker Malt lager yesterday.

Checked in with my bad boy Kent ( bad..will explain later)and joined a table of journalists.

I got to chat with Chris Kirubi who is among the big shareholders of EABL, he holds 16.28% of centum investments as of March 09, (centum puts a considerable amount of it’s weight into EABL via it's bottlers), and Seni Adetu, EABL's Group MD who is keen to leave a leave a legacy and he wants to take the company to the next level. It will be interesting to see how he steers the giant brewer. The chat also touched on the sales of Tusker Malt as well the role consistency plays in this consumer driven business.

Tusker ( The Patriotic drink:-) rocks in Kenya, but Tusker Malt grew at 6.6% over the past year in Uganda, but with the focus on investment into brand image, it would be interesting to see how the brand fares in Kenya after the launch.

George Lutta, the man who speaks, breathes and lives advertising was at the party, (MD Media Initiative) and I made a mental note to ensure we are introduced. Maqbul of Capital FM did the honors, and Lutta is a man who knows his game! Oh! And He watches Media & Money on CNBC Africa as well as East Africa Business Report. Had an interesting chat there on which media should target for sales: Lutta says the “current rule of three”: Telecommunications, Beverages and Public health.

He says” When people need to meet up, they “call” when they meet up they “drink” and after the drink sometimes, they need “ Public health”. (Read “Durex, Trust, Femiplan etc).

The usual suspects: The Stars Dickson Migiro, whose head I would like to bite off, James Murua and James Mbugua, I remember a discussion about “hoochies or socialites?” which I will not delve into right now, or ever, though Blackstar’s Wanjiru Mbugua thought Dickson Migiro sings with Kayamba Africa! Cheers to that!

Events like these present great networking opportunities and a relaxed environment where one can begin to build strategic relationships, apart from picking up gems of knowledge from the brains that be.

Oh! And of course the 6 pack Tusker Malt gift hamper, which I forgot to collect!

Bad Boy Kent decided we try Jazz @ Pitch & Butch, seemed the whole Tusker Malt Invitees had pitched tent htere after the event, which went on and on..I would say, for a Tuesday Night, it wasnt soo bad, but for a Wednesday Morning...Kent sits right opposite me in the office, and we did meet ALL our deadlines.

Comments

  1. Great blog Terry, and yes, Dicky actually sings for Kayamba :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. So why do you want to bite my head off beg to tell... DM

    ReplyDelete
  3. great blog terry but the question remains. who is michael karanja?

    ReplyDelete
  4. DM...the devil is in the details. :-) Alfred, Michael Karanja, as stated above, is the Master Brewer for Tusker Malt..thats like the man behind the taste of that beer

    ReplyDelete

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