How Safaricom Helps Shape Kenya’s Nation Brand

University of Iowa assistant professor Melissa Tully (Twitter @tullyme) and doctoral candidate David Tuwei (Twitter @david_tuwei) discuss their research on Kenyan mobile phone service provider, Safaricom and its role in shaping Kenya’s nation brand. Their study found that Safaricom’s marketing engages with discourses of commercial nationalism, creating a marketable Kenyan identity and culture tied to both national economic development and individual success. In addition, they found that Safaricom tied Kenyan identity, pride, and distinctiveness to commercial success, profit, upward mobility, and economic development. Click here to watch the Safaricom ads.