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Why brands are moving beyond influencers in Kenya. [Courtesy]
For years, digital advertising revolved around a simple formula: brands bought attention, influencers amplified it and consumers scrolled past it.
Now, a different kind of marketing machine is emerging online, one powered not by celebrities with millions of followers but by ordinary people with smartphones, WhatsApp groups and trusted social circles.
In Kenya, where nearly every urban commuter appears to move through the day with one eye fixed on TikTok, Instagram, X, or Facebook, marketers are increasingly confronting an uncomfortable reality: polished corporate campaigns no longer travel as far as messages shared by people consumers actually know.
