A Legend Searching For Greatness
Adebola Babatunde-
The story of Legend, an extra stout on the stable of Nigerian Breweries Plc, bears strong similarity with Odewale the protagonist in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not To Blame. Predestination, following him right from birth like a placenta, has it that Odewale will send his father to eternal sleep so he will have a taste of sleeping with his very own mother. Like Odewale, Legend seems fated to kill Guinness Extra Stout but should he be a bed sharer?
For so long, Lekan Babatunde, the executive editor of this magazine, continually cautioned Legend on frontal attack on the market leader. As if a dibia, he invoked the corpus of marketing authorities like Al Ries etc. But the Odewale in Legend Extra Stout, not unexpectedly, turned king size deaf ears. After all, there must be something the company does right for it to control about 59% of the market with larger brands like Star, Gulder, and Heineken. Perhaps too, there’s particularly something the company isn’t getting so right in the stout category that is not making Legend achieve greatness.
Legends are historical and true to this brand’s name it ran numerous campaigns in the past: Light up your life, Put a spark in your life, the famous it’s your life, express it now, carry ad touch with pride all in a bid to dethrone Guinness. The more it does this, the more the brand goes nearer to the words of the gods.
Currently, Legend is running a new multi media campaign themed the real deal. The strategy is very simplistic; mine is better than yours, me too ads in a renewed competitive onslaught against Guinness.
The TV spot tells the story of the making of the beer in a manner that somehow reminds one of the tornado/forces of nature type of a Guinness ad. The print ad is eye pleasing with a unique typography. Truth is: the Legend has all it takes to do better.
The concept of realness as a means of conveying the new proposition is not as true to the brand as its past efforts. Lest we forget, Harp’s new tagline is real beer for real friends. Between Harp and Legend which is for real? Legend is real (like Coke?) and Guinness isn’t?
The brand custodians are challenging consumers to give it a try. They brag over a well conducted research around the country. Listen up:
“We did a lot of blind tests and it came out clearly that Legend was better than competition and that is the process we go through. We are proud to say that we are the only fully brewed stout and that is what gives Legend its competitive edge.”
This column will really, really love to believe the above words were quoted out of context by the press. The fact that Legend is indeed a better tasting stout is not a reason that will sway the beer drinker. The battle is not of the tongue. It’s the mind. The heart rules. Perception wins. Nothing is as real as what the consumers say it is. “Real” doesn’t exist.
The classic beer war between Budweiser and Miller provides an illuminating insight on a method of engagement. Miller never claimed its formulation was better. It ran the campaign “Welcome to Miller time” which sampled out ‘new’ target out of the existing beer population. It seized the mantle of leadership from Bud. Bud was forced to reply this ad by running the campaign themed for all you do, here’s a bud.
The sword in the hands of the Legend is for it to focus on bursting the bubble of Guinness by picking a hole in its strength. If Legend can make the everyday drinker an everyday legend, that will be the real deal. Not a better tasting better. Else it will be a bed sharer like Odewale. The consumers are not to blame.
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