The Week in Brand Money
- V&A Sherry is the busiest small spender: a cinema-and-cocktails night and a seat at Mesach Semakula’s concert launch.
- Uganda Breweries turns 80 and is marking it with a gifting catalogue and 80 days of appreciation.
- MultiChoice and UBL launched Kampala Crème season four on Sunday, with three new cast members.
- DStv resets its prices today, and the CEO’s pitch is “Expect more for less”.
- Coca-Cola went campus: it paid 26 student creators at the Makerere Freshers’ Ball.
The Scorecard
Top ten brands by entertainment stories in the last 30 days. Sponsor copy is the share of items that were near-verbatim reprints of someone else’s text, usually the brand’s own press release. A high share means the coverage was the brand’s release, reprinted, not earned. Movement is stories gained against last Thursday.
| Brand | Company | Stories | Outlets | Sponsor copy | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DStv | MultiChoice | 11 | 8 | 1 of 14 (7%) | +3 |
| Uganda Breweries | Diageo | 9 | 9 | 4 of 22 (18%) | +3 |
| Uganda Waragi | Uganda Breweries (Diageo) | 7 | 9 | 4 of 21 (19%) | +3 |
| Johnnie Walker | Uganda Breweries (Diageo) | 5 | 10 | 3 of 16 (19%) | new |
| Swangz Avenue | Swangz Avenue | 5 | 5 | 0 of 5 (0%) | +2 |
| I&M Bank | I&M Bank | 4 | 7 | 4 of 21 (19%) | new |
| V&A Sherry | V&A Sherry | 4 | 7 | 5 of 21 (24%) | 0 |
| The Singleton | Uganda Breweries (Diageo) | 4 | 6 | 6 of 13 (46%) | 0 |
| Bell Lager | Uganda Breweries (Diageo) | 4 | 7 | 3 of 9 (33%) | +1 |
| Uganda Tourism Board | Uganda Tourism Board | 4 | 3 | 0 of 4 (0%) | new |
The Singleton still has the highest sponsor-copy share on the board, almost half its items reprints. Swangz Avenue is a label, not a spender, and the Tourism Board’s four are an embassy kit deal with a German football club, not showbiz. Meanwhile four of the ten rows belong to one Diageo family. Same as last week. Nobody has dented it.
V&A Sherry Works Two Rooms
Sherry is not outspending the big whisky houses, but it is everywhere that has a microphone and a seating plan. On Thursday, October 29, it was in a room with Mesach Semakula, who is turning 50 with a concert on November 13 at Kingdom Kampala. Sherry was named among the sponsors at his press conference.
Then came Friday, October 30: Kwiso Movie Nights at Reach a Hand Africa’s Lungujja base, a screening of The Unforgivable under Sherry’s Yours to Share platform.
Smart pairing. A cinema crowd is young and social. A Mesach crowd is older, loyal and has the cash for a bottle. Two audiences, one logo, a fraction of a stadium budget. Its coverage was also heavily reprinted, 5 of 21 items, so watch whether anyone writes about it unprompted.
UBL’s 80th Is a Gift Shop
Uganda Breweries is 80 years old in Uganda and the party looks a lot like a Christmas order form. The Gift the Cheer of the Season catalogue covers Johnnie Walker, Bell Lager, Uganda Waragi, Smirnoff and Baileys, with personalised bottles, gift bags and delivery. It launched at CK House of Walker in Wandegeya, where distributor Christopher Kafure got a certificate for his long partnership.
It is less “concert”, more “sell-through”. The catalogue is priced at distributor rates, which tells you who the target is: bulk buyers, companies and December hampers.
UBL’s other bet, Kampala Crème, is the TV version of the same strategy. The reality series is back for season four with MultiChoice, Sheena and Tamara returning and three new faces joining them. The launch write-ups carry the same text, so the coverage tells you what the sponsors wanted said. Expect a loud, well-lit season.
Coca-Cola Takes the Campus
The Coca-Cola play is the cheapest one on the list and arguably the cleverest. A month-long content challenge for university students, built around Premier League matchdays and Coca-Cola moments, ended with cash prizes for 26 creators, handed over at the Coca-Cola-sponsored Makerere Freshers’ Ball on Saturday.
The students make the ads, the students share them, the students get the prize. Sponsored fun with free distribution. A rare one where the brand gets earned coverage from people who never saw a press release.
Buzzy but Unsigned
The names everyone is talking about this week with no brand beside them in 30 days of coverage:
- King Saha is the most-mentioned entertainer of the week with 13 mentions, thanks to the Joshua Baraka row. Sqoop says he has now challenged Nigerian musicians to a musical battle. Missed opportunity for any brand that wants a loud local-pride campaign. Risk: he says the quiet part loudly.
- A Pass told Edge that Diamond Platnumz isn’t in his league, and in the same breath said he meant technical ability, not popularity. Some caution then, and still an opportunity: new music and a lot of attention.
- Jose Chameleone is in the middle of the December Lugogo date clash and has no logo to show for it. Missed opportunity for a legend who sells tickets.
- Alien Skin has been served an eviction notice over Shs36 million in rent arrears, per MBU and Sqoop, and Sqoop now has him asking Museveni to step in over an unpaid-money dispute. A brand is right to wait.
November 13, Kingdom Kampala. Mesach turns 50, Sherry is already in the room, and the other logos are running out of excuses.
MORE WOLOKOSO: Joshua Baraka to King Saha: You Want a Pond, I Want to Be a SHARK | Alien Skin Served Eviction Notice Over Shs36M in Rent Arrears | All Wolokoso
Photo: Jiame Josh, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
