Beyond the Senator Extravaganza: Marketing Ugandan Music to International Not-for-Profits

Abstract

In 2013, East African Breweries Ltd. (EABL) ended its relationship with Akram Kintu and Godfrey Alibatya, shuttering the Senator Extravaganza, which had been running since 2005. The brand managers pointed to the bottom line: sales of beer attributable to the event were not enough to justify its expenses and logistical hassles. In truth, I was surprised that the project had survived as long as it had, given the tepid attitude the brand managers had expressed in 2007. They had demanded, “why shouldn’t we just hold discos, and offer discounts?” Was all this local music and dance tradition really necessary to promote the brand? It may have been that the managers had harbored other, unspoken, motives for keeping the festival going for so long. In Kenya, EABL had convinced the government to provide an excise tax break, based on the work the company was ostensibly doing to improve public health. EABL may have been angling for a similar break from the Ugandan government, keeping the Extravaganza afloat as a show of pseudo-altruism.