Check out the new advertising campaign ‘Niko Na‘ for the Kenyan telecommunications company Safaricom. The “campaign is a celebration of our Kenyanness. It portrays Safaricom as a brand for everyone. It is a metaphor for the diversity of our customer base and our deep-rooted connection with the Kenyan market, which has been Safaricom’s winning strategy for the 10 years we have been here” Michael Josephs (outgoing CEO of Safaricom). ‘Niko Na’ features 600 members of Safaricom Choir singing in picturesque locations in Kenya. Locations include Mt Longonot crater, Mt Elgon, alongside the Tana River, Ndere Island, Porror Ridge, the Aberdare Range, Lake Victoria, Kericho, and in the hills at Suguta Valley south of Lake Turkana.
It appears that the Kenyan advertising agency responsible for the campaign – Redsky, were inspired by the ‘I still call Australia home‘ campaign from 1999 and 2009 for Australia’s biggest airline carrier QANTAS. The QANTAS campaign also features a choir, but their choir is made up of children aged probably between the ages of 10 and 12 singing in picturesque locations in Australia and around over the world. The idea behind the advert is (if you are Australia), no matter where you are in the world, Australia is always home. Subliminally, they are saying when you fly back home to Australia, you should/can fly with QANTAS because it is 100% Australian. The advert is very iconic in Australia. When it was first released in 1999, people were campaigning for the song (originally sung by Peter Allen) to become our national anthem. I hope the ‘Niko Na’ becomes just as iconic to Kenyans around the world.
I honestly had no idea that it snows in Africa! I knew that there were places in Africa which are very cold, but I never knew that it actually snowed. I guess you learn something new everyday!
ADDED NOTE: I typed this post yesterday ready to post for today, but I wanted to find out if others were comparing the two advertisements. On the blog Mark: My Words, I found a post detailing a twitter rant over the similarities between the Safaricom and QANTAS campaigns. The outgoing CEO of Safaricom Michael Josephs told Kenyan business reporter Larry Madowo that the ‘Niko Na Advert is based on QANTAS ad & they didn’t copy. Same Creative Director’. On Tech Mtaa: Street Savy & African, they wrote that Safaricom says that it an ‘original composition’. I am not really fussed over this issue. Maybe because throughout my high school days in Visual Arts, the meaning of ‘appropriation‘ was drilled into my mind. As I wrote earlier, I just hope the ‘Niko Na’ becomes iconic for Kenyans around the world!
I will leave it up to you to form your own conclusion. But I will leave you with this….
American filmmaker Jim Jarmusch once wrote in an article that “Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery — celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from — it’s where you take them to.”
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-lVhWfRCiQ&w=640&h=390]
SOURCE: CREATIVE ROOTS
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