Sammy calls , “ Unreasonable optimism ”. Unshakeable optimism and the fear of failure was driving force in the early years . For about 6 months , no one earned a salary . They car pooled , counted pennies and knocked countless doors .
We interrupted by the hostess , speaking in a heavy Chinese laced accent . “ This fresh noodle . Together go with the supu ”. There are the freshest noddles I have ever seen .
The gentlemen nod politely and smile . As soon as she leaves Sammy remarks , “ These potatoes are not properly cooked ”. We have all wolfed down ours , so no one offers a comment . The lunch is not spectacular but it is an edible and wholesome broth .
The inaugural office was located at Muthiaga ’ s Mobil plaza in Nairobi donated to them by an old client known as Sharad Ghai who would make a name as head of the Cricket Association .
Business was hard to come by . Most of the big clients they handled at McCann did not follow them . The first months of business were a case of baptism by fire and it appeared that they had over-estimated their prospects .
In the month of August 2003 , the phones did not ring for the entire month . Not a single client or supplier even called to say , ‘ Hey ”.
By mid 2004 Saracen had gone through over 15 pitches and not one was selected . They would quickly learn that the industry had its owners . “ There was a campaign we pitched won and even got an appointment letter and another agency was given the business ”, says Lenny .
They had no credit facilities with most media owners and little cash to finance a campaign . The first breaks would come from goodwill . Their solid past reputations brought on board Red Bull , Royal Media Services and Radio Africa with credit facilities . At the end of 2004 , the turnover was less than 15 million .
Nonetheless , the Saracens persisted . New clients started to come onboard and leave impressed by the quality of personalized service . They found work with Cooperative Bank , Kenya Revenue Authority , Stanbic , DHL as the early adopters .
In 2005 , with the future looking brighter for a change , they made a strategic decision to search for a global partner , they approached 4 major groups and only the Omnicon Group responded positively , leading to an affiliation agreement to create Saracen OMD .
In 2007 , they became a multinational with a branch office in Uganda . The Tanzania office opened 4 years later in Dar es Salaam . In 2009 , Saracen formed a second media agency PHD ( Pattison , Hoswell and Durden ).
In 2010 , they were placed 17th overall in the Small & Medium Enterprise ( SME ) competition organized by KPMG and the Nation Media Group . 3 years later , Saracen graduated into the club 101 , as an SME making a turnover of a billion and above .
Strategic partnership saw the Saracen OMD group incorporate a fully fledged digital agency Bean Interactive run by Martin Kiarie and Allen Kambuni . Seeing a gap in the creative side of the business , Saracen got into a working relationship with Thomas Omanga and Timla Tieng , founders of Fieldstone Helms to bolster their strategic creative division .
Presently , the Saracen group includes OMD media planning and buying , PHD , media planning and buying with the tech advantage , Bean Interactive , the Digital agency and Fieldstone Helms covering the strategy creative division . Today they have partners and an agency network footprint throughout Africa , in Rwanda , Ethiopia , Ghana , Nigeria , Senegal , South Africa , Botswana , Mozambique , Benin and Togo .
Saracen is now the second biggest agency in the country , pushing volumes in excess of a billion Kenya shillings . They are second only to the ScanGroup in terms of turnover .
To get a grip of the Saracen way of doing business , you have to go back to the beginning . The seed for Saracen was solidified in Lenny ’ s sitting room in Madaraka estate , with a couple of friends brainstorming over sardine sandwiches . Lenny was a history buff and he read a fair amount on the history of the crusades . “ One man I admired was Saladin the king of the Saracens . When the Crusaders took on the Saracens , the guys had bigger horses , heavy armour and heavier weapons . Saracens realized that
SAMMY
LENNY
GEORGE