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:: MSK Quiz nite/ MSK Gala Launch
3 November 2006

:: Go straight to the special MSK gala section

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) was hosting their gala at the Hotel Intercontinental on the 2nd of November 2006. The chief guest at this event happened to have been Chris Caldwell the commercial Director over at East African Breweries and the master of ceremony was one Michael Oyier, TV news anchorman and Medeva TV boss. However, I made a beeline for the Haveli's restaurant at Mombasa Roads, Capital Centre. This was the venue that the Marketing Society of Kenya had chosen to launch date the upcoming MSK Gala. We were all welcomed with a glass of wine by the nice dude at the door. I asked him which colour of wine he recommended and the dude told me red as it was healthier. I immediately picked up the white glass... My health was the last thing on my mind that night.

Susan Nyaga (left) with Unilever hands over a cheque of Kshs100,000 to Fred Simiyu the organising committee chairman for the upcoming gala. More pictures

I quickly surveyed the room and spotted a few familiar faces. There was William Kalombo the Marketing Africa Publisher. At another table was Lampe Omoyele the Marketing Director at Cadbury and right next to him was Fred Simiyu of Sarova. I made bee line for this table and said howzit to them as I sipped my glass. As we were discussing stuff the Haveli dudes brought the appetizers. These guys are not joking. The appetizers were delicious. Some spicy meatballs and some nice grilled chicken stuff and bhajia things. I was munching them at an advanced pace when I recalled that story. We’ve all heard the story about how some dudes from shags went to a swanky dinner in a five star hotel. They were unable to eat the main meal when it was served as they were stuffed with the first course (bread and soup). I wasn't gonna fall for that trick you sneaky Haveli dudes!

As the evening went on Al Kags checked in and joined the table. Then the evening's MC stood up and introduced himself. I immediately knew that it was going to be a great evening. He introduced his full name then told us his sobriquet "Big Tedd". His pronounced sobriquet as "sobri-kwet" and we were already laughing our heads off. This was not the under weather fellow that oversaw the MSK graduation ceremony a few weeks ago. He started the evening's festivities which would begin with the Kinky models fashion show.

Normally a fashion show is designed to showcase a designer’s work. This fashion show was slightly different. The product on show was Kinky models (that’s their name, not their character I hope). They were showcasing some clothing which borrowed heavily from the Kenyan flag. The work was excellent. All manner of fabrics were employed in this exercise and I saw a lot of cotton, leather, chiffon and more. We weren't introduced to the designer but whoever they are kudos on a great job.

After the Kinky models left the stage, Big Tedd our MC asked the chairman of the organising committee of this years gala Fred Simiyu to tell us about the gala. The Warrior awards are the most highly recognised awards in the region. The gala Fred told us promised to be of the highest international standard. Thus he asked us to give in our company’s entries for judging. As well as buy tables and give sponsorship to the event. He also urged marketers to take up the Government spokesman Dr. Alfred Mutua led "Najivunia Kuwa Mkenya” campaign under the Brand Kenya mantle and give it a professional approach.

After Simiyu, Al Kags give the Warrior award categories for this year's gala. They include Best New Product /Service Launch Award, Best Social Marketing Effort Award, Best Brand or Service Innovation Award, Best Development of Existing Brand Award, Best Sales Promotion Award, Best Marketer of the Year Award and Best Social Marketing Award. For more about the upcoming gala, please visit our special gala section. With the categories having being introduced, the next part of ceremony was the official handing over of some cheques by some sponsors. These were presided over by Brandscape's Tom Sitati who is Vice Chair of the MSK and Fred Simiyu. A Cheque of Kshs100,000 was handed over by the Yana brand by Sameer Africa’s Dick Waswa. Also handing in a 100k cheques were was East Africa Cables, Unilever with the "Fair & Lovely" brand manager Susan Nyagah and Syngenta with Nick Musyoka. For images of the cheque handing over ceremony please click here.

After the hand over of the cheques came the official launch. The Kinky models were asked to be on stage as the official mascot of the Gala was unveiled.

With the more formal part of the evening over came the more exciting part of it all; The Quiz Nite. Quiz Nite involves teams of 6 that are asked questions in various categories that span general knowledge, sports, audio visual (songs and movies), semantics (words) and other categories.

Our table quickly cobbled up a team we dubbed "Warrior” in honour of the awards that were being launched. Some of the other teams that were in the competition included Power Puff team, Sunset Beach (Royal Media Dudes), The retirement benefits Authority Mercenaries, What!, and more. As we were going through the different categories, we had a meal from Haveli that was delicious!

Then the last part of the evening came; prize giving. The biggest winner of the evening was our table "Warrior". But do I say? I went home that day with a pack that included a Capital FM t-shirt and cap, a viceroy cap and bottle (yes it was me that snuck out with it guys), a copy of Business in Africa and a can of Mortein Doom. It was a very good night for the Warrior team. It was especially sweet if you consider how badly we started.

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