The Blazing Malta Guinness Street Dance Competition

2nd Malta Guinness Street Dance proves hugely successful for the Malta Guinness brand

This year, the sun is smiling a little wider on the Malta Guinness brand and the lever behind all this success appears to be the now famous ‘Street Dance Competition’. Malta Guinness, the multiple award-winning malt drink from the stable of Guinness Nigeria Plc, according to a survey, has risen to the number 1 spot from the number 2 position it occupied in the malt drink category as of last year. Not only is it now number one, but it has also made a 1 per cent increase in sales. This is a huge forward leap for the Malta Guinness brand, due mostly to the brand’s very impressive marketing strategy. The Street dance competition was fully leveraged upon as the brand went all out to attack advertising with marketing communication from all angles; Promos, SMS campaigns and media parleys, Town storms, press, radio and TV adverts. Events for the Malta Guinness Street Dance were handled by Tequila agency. Production was handled by Audio visual First (AVF). PR was handled by Richardson and Brigg. Starcomms Independent was the media house in use, while Legwork handled the digital and interactive marketing (SMS, Web and Face book). SO&U was the creative agency.

The Most probable profitable medium of communication for the brand was the MGSDA NC Promo (Malta Guinness Street Dance Africa National Consumer Promo), handled by Verdant Zeal Marketing Communications agency, Cross Marketing and Leo Direct.

This MGSDA NC Promo made a huge difference between the first edition held last year, which wasn’t quite as successful as this year’s edition. The reason for this is that the MGSDA NCI Promo bridged the gap between the brand and the older consumers who are not as interactively receptive to the street dance competition as the youthful consumers are. This interaction was absent last year and so there was a disconnect from the older generation of Malt drinkers and the brand. The MGSDA NCI Promo followed the street dance regionals across the nation and held raffle draws at the same time to tie it in the Promo with the competition. The link between the promo and the street dance worked wonders for the brand this year.

Consumers were able to participate in the promo, which ran for 13 weeks, by buying Malta Guinness from the numerous shopping outlets across the country. All the consumer needed to do was to look out for the alphabets that would spell MGSDA (Malta Guinness Street Dance Africa), and collect one full crate of Malta Guinness instantly. There was no age limit for participation in the Promo, as everybody needs goodness, energy and vitality to stay healthy.

Other prizes for winning in the promo included LCD TVs, Home Theatre and I-PODs and other exciting prizes. These were won through raffle draws that took place after bottles of Malta Guinness crowns were exchanged for tickets. Other prizes included a posh week-end stay at Protea Hotel, Lagos, an all-expense paid trip for one family to Kenya, a family opportunity visit to exciting places in the East African country, as well as a VIP attendance of the high profile Malta Guinness Street Dance international finals event.

Over four million free bottles in total of 24 bottles per crate were earmarked for winning at various stages of the promo.

The amazing Street dance competition itself is a celebration of Nigerian street dance group talents from different states across the nation. The event kicked off from Jos in March and then Abuja, Benin, Enugu Owerri, Ibadan and lastly, the finals were held in Lagos. By this, the Malta Guinness street dance has become a platform for finding the best dancers in Nigeria and giving them the opportunity to dance their way to the very top of the world.

The prize money is a whopping 13 million naira plus.

80 crews from the seven cities battled to get a slot among the 10 regional finalists who in turn aimed for a ticket to be at the national event that held last June in Lagos. Subsequently, Nigeria’s street dance champions will be stepping unto the world stage in Kenya against 8 other countries including, Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroun, Kenya, USA, UK, Asia and France.

On the 28th of June, 2009, the Aquatic Hotel on Toyin Street, Ikeja was agog with excitement and euphoria which emanated from the youths who gathered from all over the nation to fill up the hall in anticipation of the final Street dance competition. It was the day of reckoning for the passionate dance groups who were ready to battle it out for the prize money. Among the 7 finalist groups were Isaiah 54, Burnt, Amen, Street Wise, Da Cronix, Xfellaz, and Switch. Most of the dance groups exceeded expectations with amazing dance routines while some others were criticized by the judges as lacking in enthusiasm, energy, concept and the ‘Naija’ dance feel. Switch wowed the crowd with their amazing pilot costumes and brilliant aeroplane runway dance concept in the first round. They were the only group with females. Street Wise excited the crowd with their charming and contemporary Michael Jackson–like outfits and carefully co-ordinated and confident dance moves along with their delightfully endearing ‘Lagos swaga’ charisma. The crowd clearly showed that Xfellaz was one of their favourite groups as they screamed and cheered them on when they came out with a big bang - full of diverse dance genres – from krumping to hip hop, to street dance and even the Naija feel. In their second performance which must have been the highlight of the show, they stunned the audience and left the judges completely speechless as they paid a daring and quite emotional tribute to Michael Jackson. Renowned dancer Kaffy actually broke down and burst into tears like a little child. After their disarming performance, the audience believed they were sure to win. However, Street Wise, true to their name, came out and proved that they were worth their mettle and every kobo of the 13 million naira Street Dance competition money. They were filled with the kind of passion and energy that is usually only reserved for exciting American street dance movies. They turned the stage into the streets as they krumped and hip hopped and street danced their way to the bank. Never before has any dance competition seen such passion, energy and confidence for dance. It was not surprising at all when Street Wise were announced the winners of the competition. It was a great day for all the dance groups, for the brand and even for the audience, who were all bursting with vitality and the spirit of dance. They were full of youthful exuberance and danced in little groups, practicing basic dance steps, imitating the competing groups during the intermissions.

EX-Soundcity presenter, Deji Falope, was the show’s host and played the role to the tee. He was a perfect mediator between the dancers and the judges. He gave the dancers hope and encouragement when they were down, tired and being criticized by the judges. He also added quite a bit of suspense and drama in his calling up of the finalists and announcing the results. Deji, introduced the judges made up of the triumvirate of Kaffy, the world dance leader; a notable choreographer, Wale Rubber, also a world class dancer; and another outstanding choreographer, Frank of Big Brother Africa fame.

Deji said that though anchoring the show was hectic, he was happy to see that many Nigerians are really interested in the show.

Some groups rehearsed for about a year. Each regional winner went home with N800 000 while the second and third placed groups got N200 000 and N100, 000 respectively.

Nneka Ezinwa can be reached on amourpropre26@yahoo.com