In an year when Kenya’s most profitable company announced a Ksh63.3 billion full year profit, the company did not hesitate to market its brand even further, spending a whooping Ksh625 million on adverts in November 2019.
Data captured in a report compiled by research company Ipsos & Synovate shows that the Ksh625 million the listed company spent in November was actually a -2% decline from October when it spent Ksh638 million to make its brand more visible.
The November Advertising Industry Overview report compiled by Ipsos also shows that another brand associated with Safaricom was the second largest spender on adverts.
SMS Skiza 811 advertising campaign spent Ksh504 million to run commercials across different media platforms in November one month after spending Ksh510 million on a similar exercise.
Safaricom’s heavy spending can be attributed to its new campaign seeking to boost its trust with Kenyans after company was sued for cashing in on on data bundles that customers never got to use.
The company now offers data bundles with no expiry dates.
Marketing and Public Relations firm Oxygene was the third largest spender on adverts, splashing a whopping Ksh272 million on adverts in November after spending Ksh261 million on commercials
Oxygene represents some of the biggest corporate brands in the country including Safaricom itself, Huawei, Sanlam,Tala, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Uniliever, Kabras Sugar and Glaxosmithkline.
The marketing firm also represents the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).
Cocacola was the fourth largest spender on commercials parting ways with a cool Ksh294 million in November on top of another Ksh200 million it spent in October representing a 47% upward change.
Equity Group also had some money to keep its brand ringing in the minds of Kenyans. Some Ksh230 million was spent by the bankers on commercials in November, a -33% decline from the Ksh343 million it spent in October.
Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL), was ranked the sixth largest spender on its image spending Ksh200 million in November and another Ksh186 million in October.
The government also spent top dollar on aesthetics parting ways with a cool Ksh192 million, a month after splashing Ksh317 million.
Other large spenders include Supa 5 Lottery, Reckitt Benckiser East Africa,Beiersdorf East Africa Limited, Pwani Oil Limited and Glaxosmithkline who spent Ksh163 million, Ksh133 million,Ksh131 million, Ksh119 million and Ksh114 million on adverts in November respectively.
Below is a table showing the top 20 spenders.
