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What Can Grassroots Music Sponsorship Offer an Upscale Brand?
- By Ikem Okuhu
- Published March 22nd, 2010
- BrandWorld
- Unrated
Nescafe is in season three of its musical talent show, Nescafe African Revelation, but issues of strategic fit and mindshare appear more challenging than organising the next “party”, writes IKEM OKUHU.
Star Quest – 38 percent
Project Fame – 25 percent
Idols West Africa - 20 percent
Peak Talent Show – 17 percent
Nescafe African Revelation - 0%
ARE you wondering what we are talking about in the figures above? Well we learnt that Nescafe, the global coffee brand that has been enjoying near monopoly in the Nigerian market is going into the season five of its musical talent show, Nescafe African Revelation (NAR). The show, according to Eucharia Obodo, Brand Manager, Nescafe is a music and dance contest for Nigerian youths from ages 18-25 designed to provide them a chance to discover the hidden talents in them.
A number of questions have arisen from this development.
The first is, if Nescafe has been sponsoring this show since 2007, how come no one remembers it? Someone was quick to point out the fact that the show is strictly for young people aged between 18 and 25 and for that reason those outside the age bracket might have missed the message.
Good response, although some people in their 30s and 40s are avid viewers of kiddie programmes like the KKB Show, Barney and Friends among others. So we raided the rank of Nigerian youths who are also avid music lovers for a “recall” test. And the result is what is presented in the data above.
Not a single person out of 250 people polled over a one week period remembered anything called the Nescafe African Revelation. While 38 percent, of young people remembered Star Quest, 25 percent recalled MTN Project Fame, 20 percent, Idols West Africa (rested after one season) and 17 percent, Peak Talent Show (still in its first season).
The question is, who has Nescafe been revealing its African Revelation? According to Tayo Olatunji, Category Business Manager, Nestle Nigeria Plc, owners of the Nescafe brand, “the Nescafe African Revelation project is in furtherance of our effort to create shared values for nestle Business and the Nigerian society – an opportunity for Nescafe to invest in the future of our youths by productively engaging them thereby further contributing to youth development in Nigeria.”
By design, the project is Pan African in focus, meaning that Nigeria is just one leg of a programme that would involve several countries in West and Central Africa. The winner, according to Olatunji, will among other benefits, enjoy sponsorship to record debut album (recording contract), have the album promoted throughout the year on television, radio, print and live events and ultimately become Nescafe Ambassadors.
Well said. But after three years in Nigeria and probably five years in other countries, could it be said that the Nescafe African Revelation has achieved much?
We dug through the net and were able to find a few strands of evidence of the positive impact of the show in terms of availing the youths the chance to showcase their talents. In fact we found one talent that, successfully transited from an unknown quantity to a national musical phenomenon after taking part in the Nescafe African Revelation. His name? Praye.
Does that name ring a bell? Praye is a Ghanaian talent that emerged from a previous edition of of the show. Problem is Praye is Ghanaian. His music does not have very strong appeal outside the minds of the five (or a little more) million Ghanaian youths.
Outside Praye, another name came up - BA2M. BA2M is a Cameroonian R&B, Rap and afro-beat group that won the 2008 edition of the show. The search might take a little longer but somewhere, you will discover that a certain Nigerian group known as Phoenix is also a previous winner. Bristling with music talent as Nigeria is at the moment, it comes as a shock that a Nigerian group had won a Pan African music talent competition back in 2008 and no one has heard or remembers hearing about them.
The point being made here is that there seems to be an absence of strategy in the execution of this project. To help in unraveling the strategic underpinnings of this sponsorship property, questionnaires were sent via email to Nestle Nigeria Plc but no response came as production drew near.
But the first thing that must be done at this moment is to discover if Nescafe is even a musician. Or better still, does Nescafe even sing? For those that have not properly understood what is being said here, there is a big question surrounding the strategic fit between Nescafe and grassroots talent hunting.
Fifteen marketing practitioners who did not know the reason for the research were sure that Nescafe, if personified, would be a sophisticated, smart, intelligent, working-class, well-heeled, career-driven, upwardly mobile person.
What does this suggest? Sponsoring music shows has become virtually everybody’s business in Nigeria where an army of (talented) youths dislocated from the regular means of livelihood are finding outlets and expression in music.
The Nigerian youth population could tempt anyone. But then, you have to meet them right or you miss. As for Nescafe, meeting Nigerian youths at dancehalls and other forms of parties sounds out of sync with the character of the brand. Would meeting them in boardrooms, even classrooms not have been closer to what the brand represents? Recall the newest Nescafe advert where a smart man strolls to pick up some flowers to woo his love (smart and forward-looking). On his way, he comes by a couple of kids playing chess (sophisticated – chess is an elite game). Noticing that one was wondering what his next move was going to be, he (the man) surreptitiously demonstrates for him a galloping horse and quickly, the kid gets his message (quick thinking, alert, intelligent) and makes a move that wins him the game. This is Nescafe’s turf. Not grassroots talent hunting, temptingly populist as it might seem.
If Nescafe should talk to youths, there are other platforms outside music talent hunts. In any case, should Nescafe be hunting for talent or should talent be hunting for Nescafe?
It would have been better for the brand to restrict the shows to national boundaries so that people can easily identify with their people. Organising a continental party is one job that would weigh down anyone, even the most powerful brand. The challenge of running a pan continental show in a country like Africa is the difficulty that even the judges would face in finding winners.
I doubt if a judge with a French bias would find serious meaning in whatever someone is doing in English, more so when different genres of music are popular in different parts of Africa. How do you, for instance, judge a “Naija” hip-hop artiste when he is competing with a Makosa singer from Cameroon or the Soukous singer from Zaire? Tough eh?
As stated earlier in this material, Nescafe does not seem to have properly informed Nigerian youths of this property. No one seems to know of the existence of the Nescafe African Revelation. What this means is that the millions spent on the property would connect the brand to those it wants to reach unless the project was for religious charity where the “left hand” should not see what the “right hand” is doing.
Star Quest – 38 percent
Project Fame – 25 percent
Idols West Africa - 20 percent
Peak Talent Show – 17 percent
Nescafe African Revelation - 0%
ARE you wondering what we are talking about in the figures above? Well we learnt that Nescafe, the global coffee brand that has been enjoying near monopoly in the Nigerian market is going into the season five of its musical talent show, Nescafe African Revelation (NAR). The show, according to Eucharia Obodo, Brand Manager, Nescafe is a music and dance contest for Nigerian youths from ages 18-25 designed to provide them a chance to discover the hidden talents in them.
A number of questions have arisen from this development.
The first is, if Nescafe has been sponsoring this show since 2007, how come no one remembers it? Someone was quick to point out the fact that the show is strictly for young people aged between 18 and 25 and for that reason those outside the age bracket might have missed the message.
Good response, although some people in their 30s and 40s are avid viewers of kiddie programmes like the KKB Show, Barney and Friends among others. So we raided the rank of Nigerian youths who are also avid music lovers for a “recall” test. And the result is what is presented in the data above.
Not a single person out of 250 people polled over a one week period remembered anything called the Nescafe African Revelation. While 38 percent, of young people remembered Star Quest, 25 percent recalled MTN Project Fame, 20 percent, Idols West Africa (rested after one season) and 17 percent, Peak Talent Show (still in its first season).
The question is, who has Nescafe been revealing its African Revelation? According to Tayo Olatunji, Category Business Manager, Nestle Nigeria Plc, owners of the Nescafe brand, “the Nescafe African Revelation project is in furtherance of our effort to create shared values for nestle Business and the Nigerian society – an opportunity for Nescafe to invest in the future of our youths by productively engaging them thereby further contributing to youth development in Nigeria.”
By design, the project is Pan African in focus, meaning that Nigeria is just one leg of a programme that would involve several countries in West and Central Africa. The winner, according to Olatunji, will among other benefits, enjoy sponsorship to record debut album (recording contract), have the album promoted throughout the year on television, radio, print and live events and ultimately become Nescafe Ambassadors.
Well said. But after three years in Nigeria and probably five years in other countries, could it be said that the Nescafe African Revelation has achieved much?
We dug through the net and were able to find a few strands of evidence of the positive impact of the show in terms of availing the youths the chance to showcase their talents. In fact we found one talent that, successfully transited from an unknown quantity to a national musical phenomenon after taking part in the Nescafe African Revelation. His name? Praye.
Does that name ring a bell? Praye is a Ghanaian talent that emerged from a previous edition of of the show. Problem is Praye is Ghanaian. His music does not have very strong appeal outside the minds of the five (or a little more) million Ghanaian youths.
Outside Praye, another name came up - BA2M. BA2M is a Cameroonian R&B, Rap and afro-beat group that won the 2008 edition of the show. The search might take a little longer but somewhere, you will discover that a certain Nigerian group known as Phoenix is also a previous winner. Bristling with music talent as Nigeria is at the moment, it comes as a shock that a Nigerian group had won a Pan African music talent competition back in 2008 and no one has heard or remembers hearing about them.
The point being made here is that there seems to be an absence of strategy in the execution of this project. To help in unraveling the strategic underpinnings of this sponsorship property, questionnaires were sent via email to Nestle Nigeria Plc but no response came as production drew near.
But the first thing that must be done at this moment is to discover if Nescafe is even a musician. Or better still, does Nescafe even sing? For those that have not properly understood what is being said here, there is a big question surrounding the strategic fit between Nescafe and grassroots talent hunting.
Fifteen marketing practitioners who did not know the reason for the research were sure that Nescafe, if personified, would be a sophisticated, smart, intelligent, working-class, well-heeled, career-driven, upwardly mobile person.
What does this suggest? Sponsoring music shows has become virtually everybody’s business in Nigeria where an army of (talented) youths dislocated from the regular means of livelihood are finding outlets and expression in music.
The Nigerian youth population could tempt anyone. But then, you have to meet them right or you miss. As for Nescafe, meeting Nigerian youths at dancehalls and other forms of parties sounds out of sync with the character of the brand. Would meeting them in boardrooms, even classrooms not have been closer to what the brand represents? Recall the newest Nescafe advert where a smart man strolls to pick up some flowers to woo his love (smart and forward-looking). On his way, he comes by a couple of kids playing chess (sophisticated – chess is an elite game). Noticing that one was wondering what his next move was going to be, he (the man) surreptitiously demonstrates for him a galloping horse and quickly, the kid gets his message (quick thinking, alert, intelligent) and makes a move that wins him the game. This is Nescafe’s turf. Not grassroots talent hunting, temptingly populist as it might seem.
If Nescafe should talk to youths, there are other platforms outside music talent hunts. In any case, should Nescafe be hunting for talent or should talent be hunting for Nescafe?
It would have been better for the brand to restrict the shows to national boundaries so that people can easily identify with their people. Organising a continental party is one job that would weigh down anyone, even the most powerful brand. The challenge of running a pan continental show in a country like Africa is the difficulty that even the judges would face in finding winners.
I doubt if a judge with a French bias would find serious meaning in whatever someone is doing in English, more so when different genres of music are popular in different parts of Africa. How do you, for instance, judge a “Naija” hip-hop artiste when he is competing with a Makosa singer from Cameroon or the Soukous singer from Zaire? Tough eh?
As stated earlier in this material, Nescafe does not seem to have properly informed Nigerian youths of this property. No one seems to know of the existence of the Nescafe African Revelation. What this means is that the millions spent on the property would connect the brand to those it wants to reach unless the project was for religious charity where the “left hand” should not see what the “right hand” is doing.
