TUKISONGA -
THE YOUTH ENTERTAINMENT BRAND
Moving Kenyan youth toward their full potential, one piece of content at a time
My Role:
Audience Research | Focus Group Faciliation | Brand Strategy development | Campaign Ideation | Account Management
Overview
With the opportunity to bring hope and inspiration to an entire generation of Kenyan youth, Girl Effect aimed to build a national-scale youth brand that would help young Kenyans rise and take charge of their dreams, make better choices about their sexual health, economic prospects, and overall well-being.
This brand was to be brought to life through music, social and digital tools and video content created to inspire, inform, and prepare young people for the future.
The Challenge
Kenyan youth, face big challenges with their wellbeing and empowerment and may not have an adequate brand/space that helps them meet their needs. They struggle to find reliable info on taboo topics and safe places to talk openly. Many end up going to public hospitals because they can't afford private ones, even though they think private care might be better. Poor internet in remote areas stops them from using online resources. And gender norms make it hard for them to get support in relationships and use contraception.
The Solution
Through in depth audience and market research, we built a co-created scaled up youth brand that empowers young Kenyans to seize control of their aspirations, make informed choices about their sexual health, economic prospects, and overall well-being.
The brand sponsored a web series launched on YouTube, which gained 6k+ subscribers in 2 months. With a podcast to create meaningful conversations, a brand anthem featuring artists across Kenya and a vibrant brand identity, Kenyan youth felt represented and more importantly, heard, with this new brand.
Key Takeaways
1. Visuals that cut through come from words that cut through.
To look unique, we had to say it uniquely. A verbal identity that included a Defining Attitude of ‘Ride with Us’ meant that this brand was going places, not just with its design, but with its dialogue too.
.
2. Good partners dig more
Even though we aimed to complete the project in 6 months, it took a whole year. Our partners at Girl Effect pushed for more research until we landed on an insight that could act as a springboard for the brand - but also one that uncovered youth attitudes authentically.
​​
3. Everyone wants something real, everyone.
Speaking primarily to funders and stakeholders instead of end users was not a mistake we were willing to make with this brand. Making the brand relevant to the audience, in this case, young people, and engaging them in an authentic way signalled to stakeholders that we were doing something right.
​
4. The launch idea has most likely already been written
The activation ideas presented for the brand launch came from the idea ‘together we move’ - and this was the translation of the new brand name, 'Tukisonga'.
View the work
Website
