Ten Years Ago Two Mobile Telephony companies,Safaricom and Kencell set up shop in Kenya.A decade later Safaricom has kept its brand unscathed as Zain Changed not once not twice but thrice.Zain now officially Airtel Kenya hopes to capture a bigger market share currently being denied them by mobile telephony giant Safaricom.On the day that the official launch was being done 22nd November 2010 Safaricom was launching a 45 Day campaign in conjunction with Royal media services Company, a move that is seen as snobbing the launch and diverting attention to its marketing campaign.Royal media is well known for its extensive grassroots campaigns and Safaricom Is hoping to get more Loyal customers and further push its market share up.Twenty billion shillings was the figure safaricom announced as its half year profit recently and that in itself spearks volume about this company.Airtel in addition with the low tariff model that they are bringing in will have to do something drastic about their Brand and image as perceived by the customer, otherwise another rebrand might just kill the company.Safaricom already boasts of another powerful brand M-pesa even as Airtel,s equivalent previously called Zap continues to struggle.
Players in the industry will be waiting to see the next move the two companies make even as Orange and Yu start intensifying on their own separate Marketing strategies. One thing is for sure, the field out there is getting hotter and hotter and its time the boys are separated from the Men.
