Branding: Creating New Market Segments and Opportunities
Recent M2 market surveys reveal a growing trend whereby market segments that used to be the preserve of commodities have been taken over by branded products. Ndubuisi Eluwa looks at this development and the opportunities it brings to the economy.
A careful look at markets in Lagos and Nigeria as a whole shows that new market segments are developing fast. Brand experts say that this can be particularly attributed to the efforts of smart entrepreneurs who have created brands out of products that hitherto passed as commodities. Notable among such emerging brands currently selling in open markets include cakes, plantain chips and different varieties of flours from local staples such as yam, cassava, beans and plantain, just to mention a few.
A few years back, cakes were baked on specific order and for special occasions too. As time went on, bakers began to make more quantities for display in showcases and subsequent sale to interested buyers. But today, entrepreneurs have taken the game to another level. Branded cakes have become a viable market segment and at the fore front of this innovation include UTC with Marble Cake, UAC with Fun Time, and Monson Foods Co. with Kaira.
These are largely hawked on major roads alongside sausage rolls. They are also seen on display in major shopping malls across the country. From their marketing strategies, it is obvious that this has become a highly competed market segment as each of the cake brands is out to outdo the others and grab the largest market share possible.
A few years back some visionary entrepreneurs went into the packaging and branding of local foods such as yam flour, plantain flour and cassava flour, a development seen as an offshoot of civilization on food processing. Today, these have created a viable market segment with more brands joining in the competition almost on a daily basis. Oluiyan and Ayoola Foods are easily recognizable names in this market.
Recently, Larise Foods Nigeria reinvented plantain chips with the introduction of their Azima brand. While there may be similar enterprises available, Azima is currently the most notable brand selling its plantain chips with NAFDAC approval numbers, expiry dates and batch numbers. Sooner than later, it is expected that more brands will queue behind Larise’s ingenuity to give consumers other options and create wealth for more investors.
Until the recent past, people who preferred herbal medicine had to make do with mostly poorly prepared and packaged concoctions. This affected the market adversely. But the story began to change some years back when practitioners saw a need to make their products more acceptable especially to upper class consumers. Today, many herbal products come with NAFDAC approval numbers authenticating them for consumption. With the increased acceptability, bolder practitioners have gone ahead to place their brands strategically in the media through public relations and advertising campaigns. IRIS, Yem-Kem and a few others have not only become prominent brands but are also exporting their brand products outside the shores of Nigeria. Smaller brands like Jim Products Ltd and Danik Enterprises Ltd have caught up with the trend, targeting the lower segment of the market.
Reasons for the Upsurge in Branding
Like the American market after the 2nd World War, there is no gainsaying the fact that the Nigerian market is gradually coming of age. As the market jettisons the era of mass marketing for a segmented one, there has arisen the need for products to move from commodity levels to become properly branded if they must attract the right consumer attention. In other words, branding is the force behind the emergence of these market segments.
Brand experts say that the essence of branding is not just getting your target market to choose you over the competition, but getting your prospects to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problem. Yinka Olaito, a brand specialist with Michael Sage Consulting explains that “the essence of branding is the ability to think through; narrow down to identified niche marketing with a target audience in mind.” He further argues that although the emerging trend may be due to the current economic situation, the entrepreneurs identified needs and rushed in to fill them.
Emeka Abalogu, a brand analyst with a media establishment located within Ikeja, Lagos, corroborates this position noting also that there is some sort of revolution going on on the part of consumers. His words: “Being rich or poor is no longer the issue but taste.” Abalogu recalls that, “this trend started with the sachet revolution which met the needs and aspirations of consumers at the lowest wrung of the ladder. This singular effort triggered off in consumers at the lower end of the market a significant change in choice, and taste for branded but affordable products.”
Impact on the Economy
Perhaps, this trend may also be as a result of the survival instinct which Nigerians have developed in the face of rising unemployment and underemployment, hence the need to create new markets and employment opportunities to accommodate the teeming numbers of jobless youths. Abalogu reasons that “if the trends continues and the players improve on what is on ground, it will create employment both for the skilled and unskilled.”
This is very true considering the number of young men and women who are already engaged in the distribution chain either as street vendors or petty traders. Also, many small scale enterprises have arisen further increasing employment opportunities. In the same vein, upcoming brand experts who do not yet have the resources or clout to clinch the bigger brands can readily cut their teeth with the upcoming brands.
Olaito points out that “this segment may not be at the advanced stage yet but great brands today started with such ideas and some other innovators showed up along the line to fine tune them.”
Branding brings competition, engendering better and improved product quality which boils down to better value for consumer spend. Consumer’s taste is changing rapidly and only products with inbuilt dynamism can demonstrate the staying power demanded in today’s marketplace. Abalogu aptly caps this up when he says: “the world of marketing is a dynamic one. It is ever moving and evolving into new things. So, it is either players are ready to shape up by reinventing themselves to meet consumers’ ever changing tastes or they get booted out.”
