By Gilbert O
People who are in the limelight – the so called celebs – do crazy things to remain relevant. I’ve seen so many folks castigate Ringtone Apoko for his move to gift Zari Hassan with a top of the range car.
Whether the car is for real or just hired, the online furore is what his stunt meant to achieve and it hajs done just that.
Call him a lunatic, an attention seeker and whatever you like, but for Apoko, it’s mission accomplished. And if you ask me, that’s called smart marketing through seemingly silly but unexpected stunts.
Now, for the next few days, social media will be abuzz with some saying how foolish the boy is. Slay queens will remain mesmerized beyond words for a while by Ringtone’s move as they wish they could be Zari even for 10 minutes.
However, bottom line is; the boy shaod will be getting tonnes of free marketing in the next few days. Even those who have never heard of his existence will be seeking to know him better and probably download some of his songs.
Ideally, that kind of marketing could cost several tens of millions.
In other words, Ringtone Apoko will be riding on the back of Zari Hassan – the boss lady’s fame for a while, not only in Kenya but in the entire East Africa and beyond. Get the point?
Zari herself is not new to such dramatic marketing stunts. For the entire time she was married to her late Ugandan billionaire husband and Tanzania’s wonder boy Diamond Platinumz, a fair share of the drama in her personal life has always been manufactured for marketing purposes.
In case you didn’t know, for celebrities, no publicity is bad publicity even when people are gossiping negatively about them. No doubt that even Kanye’s recent slavery epithet was a calculated marketing strategy. On a good day, gossip can be a very powerful marketing tool for those in the limelight.
So long as people keep talking about them, whether the talk is negative or positive is the least of their concern. The point is, everyone is reminded of of their existence and their sales get an instant, drastic boost.
They end up smiling all the way to the bank as you shout yourself hoarse about their silly moves or lack of manners and basic decorum.
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