Re: Nigeria’s 5 Greatest Living Legends And Lessons For Brand Builders: Did Bayo Touch the C-Spot?

Back in school, as a student of precision journalism, I relished with nostalgic delight and mathematical trauma too, how my lecturer would compel us to unearth hidden news angles from figures. It usually demands an eye for objectivity, an attentive ear that can listen to the whispering numbers, a cat-like nose to sniff out scenting voices overpowered by heap of distracting data. It calls for that touch that can only be found at the finger tips of the legendary King Midas of the ancient Greek civilization.
With this frame of mind, a student of branding is bound to fall in love with Bayo Adekanmbi’s article titled Nigeria’s 5 greatest living legends and lessons for brand builders. At first sight!
Re-reading his article, tossing his thoughts in my head, I saw the other side of the coin. But before I take off my hands of this little secret, a quick background is very necessary. The Vanguard and Silverbird Group conducted a poll to know the top five Nigerian living legends. The results : Pastor E.A. Adeboye’s 30.8 %, Nwankwo Kanu’s 10.4 %, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s 8.9 %, Chief Gani Fawehinmi 7.6% and Professor Wole Soyinka 6.2 %. On the medals table, Adeboye struck gold, Kanu found silver, Ojukuwu went home with bronze, Gani and Soyinka came forth and fifth respectively.
According to Bayo’s thesis, “Adeboye is a proof that the deeper purpose dimension is the most elevated expression a brand can bring to the consumer. Kanu’s vote means that brands must own a popular cause sufficient enough to translate into a reinforcing socio-emotional capital. Ojukwu’s Biafra historical perspective demonstrates how important it is for brands to define an identity that consumers are proud to uniquely associate with. Gani and Soyinka singularly buttress the importance of being people-centric and champion consumer’s aspiration in sincere activism.”
All these present an idealistic mirror for brands to shape themselves to the specs of consumers. It can safely be tagged a brand centric viewpoint which is commendable. However, this article is a consumer centric angle that seeks to do a coronary test on the inner yearnings of the Nigerian people buried in the survey. The result is a fair reflection of our value system, casting light and shadow appropriately on what matters, and in what order. Picking each value independently on the merit of its very own ranking, here comes a whole new picture…
Gani and Soyinka, Bayo posited, represents brands that serve. Guess why they came fourth and fifth on the ladder with a meager 7.6% and 6.2% respectively. The market is engrossed with gross complaints about customer service from banking to fast food outlets to telecoms etc.
In Bayo’s words, “an activist brand understands the imperatives of delivering on the basic product core like quality because its mantra is that the consumers must never at any time feel cheated in the value transfer. Activist brand develop a customer service culture that does not see customers as statistics, but as people that have the right to get what they pay for. Like any activist, these brands are burdened by consumers’ concerns, worries and agitations and remain driven by their standpoint for an egalitarian society where there is neither cheating nor deception for every customer’s penny. This for me is the most primitive expression of a brand because it reinforces the need to be of requisite quality and sold at a fair price and available whenever needed.
Like Chief Gani Fawehinmi and Prof. Wole Soyinka, service brands swear by this rule – “an injustice to one is an injustice to all” and will not consider it a loss to recall a product line if a single customer lodge a formal complaint. Like the concerns of every activist every brand owner must ascertain if you are serving the interest of the large populace of the end-users (i.e. common man) who keep you in business or serving the ambitious drive of a very privileged few (the profit sharers).”
Now, we can clearly see why Adeboye, a popular pastor was voted numero uno on the list. Earlier this year, this clergy man made the prestigious list of the Newsweek international on the top world influencers. The magazine attributed his viral appeal to the peculiarity of his brand message within the religious market.. Pentecostalism has a serious crush on materialism. God is positioned in the minds of adherents as the ultimate provider. The message of magical transformation, that defies logic, is the bait so irritable to people in a pressurized economy like ours. When they see Adeboye, they see an unfailing God that delivers. A good proof is the way a section of Nigerians troupe to Lagos-Ibadan express way monthly. The heavy traffic is a visible proof. The lyrical content of the songs on the lips of consumers is a true testimony. For instance, ‘He is a miracle working God etc. If we place these songs and in fact holistic values pari passu the classic Christian doctrines, the real deep dimensions will stare us in the face. God in the latter seems abstract, but in the former He is an experience. He is a wonder! Nigerians wants a wonderful God that ‘answereth’ by fire. Accordingly “the brand that delivers like mad let it be my brand!” A brand that delivers on the basics and occasionally plays God by showering his bountiful blessings on consumers via hyperbolic life changing promos is nulis secondis to the Nigerian consumer.
This insight is so potent that it beats the acclaimed number one passion of the Nigerian people to a helpless second place. It took an amiable brand like Kanu with a heart to come to the rescue. Therefore, the brand that does really social good with noble intentions for real development will win the hearts of the Nigerian consumer. The current practice where the cost of marketing communications is more than or equals the actual corporate philanthropy won’t fool the Nigerian consumer anymore. They know. Better.
The turning point where nothing actually turned is the concept of self. The voting pattern of Nigerians along self identity and differentiation is curious and mysterious. How do we reconcile a nation whose people place premium on national quota, ethnicity in public sphere and at this same time adore foreign goods in private space? The people voted Ojukwu, which Bayo used to represent self identity and youniqness, third, with a tiny 8.9%. This thus debunks the overrated efficacy of the growing trend of patriotism amongst Nigerian brands. When it comes to brands, Nigerians want delivery, not green white greenish patriotism. Virgin Nigeria, Glo, HiTV, Etisalat should please take note; else their brands will not make the number one spot in their markets, just like Ojukwu in this survey..
Although Bayo lumped up Gani and Soyinka like birds of same feathers under the aegis of service brands, these two legends could also pass for defiant brands. What is the fate of anti-status quo brands in the Nigerian market? The success of Glo’s per seconds billing assault is a proof that the Nigerian market responds positively to the truth. It’s up to brand owners to dare.
Summarily, Bayo, in his piece, touched the B-spot that is the brand-centric prerogatives needed to build a great brand. This effort has attempted to touch the C-spot (consumer-centric) to know what matters to the Nigerian consumers and in what scale of preference(s). One truth stands tall. Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus and the Nigerian consumers are Very Nigerians. (Very Virgin?)