Robert Mukondiwa
The arts and entertainment scene definitely has royalty whether for good or bad reasons and the media seems to always feed from that fodder willingly and with such a keen and voracious appetite they seem to eat eternally.
And the royalty they love is abundant.
In the world of the monarchy of course there is Elizabeth Regina as a legitimate Queen. Kim Kardashian is a real drama queen, whose claim to the throne of drama queen is only getting challenged and keenly so by Jussie Smollett.
And Zimbabwe has its own drama King Genius “Ginimbi” Kadungure no doubt.
Apart from his fresh ‘‘groping’’ catastrophe that is currently trending, one would be forgiven for thinking he is not the sharpest tool in the box and is harming his brand that he has created around his name.
True. When he couldn’t speak English well as expected of the well-heeled he got a lot of flak. English from Genius is like taking spelling lessons from Bonang or Xhosa lessons from Hellen Zille.
But who cares about perfect English when your name is a brand and you have a healthy bank balance begging you to spend it.
And now perhaps as a first definitely for Zimbabwe and in one of the rarest cases, Ginimbi has started to monetise his brand and might soon make money out of it.
The flamboyant socialite will now blow open the doors to his usually invite only all-white parties, this time allowing those with enough to pay at the door to come and join him in what is in simple terms partying for the privilege to be in the same party as Ginimbi and his close socialite friends and party like a rockstar!
Yes. People are now going to pay to enter the man’s legendary parties. Genius has become a commercial brand all of a sudden.
In fact, like musicians who go on tour, the lifestyle king is taking his products; his name and face to Australia for a three city tour where these exclusive all white parties will be held as the party animals scramble to be a part of the largesse.
On the menu will be caviar, expensive booze, fast cars, well sculpted women, skin textures open for all to see with varying colours like canvases made by some deity- the works!
Decadence just got a notch higher with the party king.
On Friday 8 March he hits the Aussie city of Brisbane, the next day he takes his brand to Sydney with Sunday seeing the final leg in Melbourne!
“Don’t say we didn’t tell you,” Genius boasts in is teaser for the tour, “Australia, let’s turn up the Ginimbi way. An all-white party not worth missing (sic)” he boasts.
In fact the phenomenon is dubbed the Ginimbi Australia Tour 2019! Like a proper concert for a rock band or a high end gig.
“Genius has managed to monetise his brand and become a brand that people want to associate with in the world of partying and the fast fun life,” says brand guru Chad Chawanda.
The trick for any business or brand is to make oneself something people want to associate with and to go for the right crowd.
‘‘Certainly Genius has done that with his all white brand,” he added.
And rightly so. The keenness with which people have started latching onto the ticket purchase is also a sign that the man has turned a crucial corner in making his name a formidable brand in the arts and how he has grown as a person and personality.
Previously he was more of a groupie. Wanted to be seen in pictures with the who’s who of the music and entertainment world.
Now he wants to be the guy people want to have in pictures instead. A great Damascene moment.
As long as he does not grope someone In Australia in a drunken stupor then Genius should be just fine. People down under don’t take kindly to that sort of behaviour!