A few weeks ago, Business Day published an article about how Nigerian
companies had invested N500m into the entertainment industry,
opening
up a N500 million market for music artistes, actors and sportsmen –
well, we can tell you that figure is quite modest. According to
investigations by Nigerian Entertainment Today, as of June 2013, the
revenue from endorsements is close to a billion.
Associating a popular face with brand appears set to become the easiest way to sell a product and build brand affinity.
The telecommunications companies seem to be leading the way of brands
offering endorsement deals grabbing a handful of celebrities and
offering them mouth-watering, lucrative deals (we’re talking double
figures in the millions here) as brand ambassadors.
In 2010 Psquare broke bank when Nigerian telco Globacom scooped them
up as brand ambassadors with an endorsement deal reportedly worth N240m.
Psquare who charge an average of N15m as performance fee for a show
would have to perform 16 times to get that much.
Three years earlier GLO made a full swoop when they signed on as
ambassadors a host of actors from Nollywood including Chioma Akpotha,
Desmond Elliot, Uche Jumbo, Mike Ezuruonye, Ini Edo, Ramsey Nouah,
Monalisa Chinda, Rita Dominic and later Funke Akindele, Kunle Afolayan,
Van Vicker and Odunlade Adekola. Each deal, NET gathered, was worth from
N10m to N25m.
In May 2013, Glo made another swoop; this time signing a handful of
prominent B list musicians –Omawumi, Waje, Flavour, Bez, M.I, Burna Boy,
Naeto C and Lynxxx, and Efya, who all joined Lagbaja. Their deals
varying but scoring an average of N20m each.
MTN who have been investing in other aspects of entertainment
(Project Fame music show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire TV game show,
International Polo Tournament etc) shocked the industry in 2012 when
they picked up Davido as an ambassador for their MTN Pulse campaign, a
deal reportedly worth N30m.
A few weeks after Glo unveiled the new signings this year, MTN also
felt the need to add more ambassadors to their roaster – within days, in
what pundits say is a major policy change, MTN signed up Project Fame
alumni Iyanya, (about N40m), Praiz (about N20m) Chidinma (about N20m)
and Mike Ayesodo.
They also made a huge signing with Wizkid, a deal worth about N45m.
And add Hafeez Oyetoro-Saka who made the famous move from telecom
company Etisalat for a whooping N25m and ‘Mr Limpopo’ KCEE also to MTN.
There’s a lot of money going around but it’s no big news anymore;
it’s the new age and things are way different in the entertainment
industry today – artistes are better educated, their minders better
oriented, there are more entertainment lawyers, record labels and
entertainment companies and most importantly in the context of this
article, managers who can bargain on behalf of the entertainers who at
any time can be approached to be ambassador.
Armed with enough celebrity ambassadors to influence Nigerians, these
companies can now build their campaigns around these celebs and hope to
make sales with stats shattering the roof. And trust other companies to
jump on the endorsement bandwagon – from online companies like
Jobberman (which signed Funke Akindele as ambassador), Konga signing
Omawumi to the most queer of them all – Benita Nzeribe becoming the face
of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency.
CEOs are now breathing down the necks of the PR companies and ad
agencies to find them a rep that can sell their brand or in this
instance, compete with the celeb from a rival brand. Or what would
better explain telecom company Etisalat (who since setting up shop in
Nigeria have stayed away from endorsement deals) are reportedly
currently in talks with D’banj’s management to sign the African Pop star
as an ambassador for a deal worth close to N100m (D’banj’s management
tells us both parties are still in talks). Etisalat, we learn might also
poach Ice Prince and Sasha.
In 2012, beverage company Pepsi signed pop singers Tiwa Savage and
Wizkid as the company’s ambassadors, an endorsement deal jointly worth
N45m, reports says. Little wonder Tiwa can take a break and cool off in
Dubai or Wizzy cop a brand new Porsche.
While ambassadors are those we get to see splashed on billboards, in
TV commercials and so on, advocates are a different breed all together.
Advocates rather are consumers, (highly satisfied) customers who go out
of their way to promote a product or service they love and care about.
In modern times, they’ll ‘tweet’ profusely about, like the brand’s
Facebook page.
In Nigeria however, advocacy has been added to the many roles of
ambassadors; once again social media comes to play – with these
ambassadors boasting of hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers,
Facebook likes and a lesser count of Instagram followers, it’ll only
make sense for a Don Jazzy to talk (tweet) about Loya Milk or Wizkid
instagram a photo of him drinking a bottle Pepsi.
Celebs Are Right Now Laughing To The Bank
Since it’s never been about album sales for Nigerian artistes (thanks to
the monster Alaba), these artistes have always depended on show money
and goodwill for high societal persons. With the endorsement fever
gripping almost every artiste out there why would a Waje care if her
album goes platinum or not? Wizkid’s reported N45m deal with MTN would
cover about 10 shows, Jim Iyke‘s Virgin Atlantic deal reportedly worth
N23m would bank roll a number of movies…
The smallest of each of these endorsement deals total into the millions
and if you’re lucky, you could get more than one deal! Wizkid is linked
with MTN and Pepsi, Don Jazzy with Samsung and Loya Milk, Omawumi with
Konga, Globacom and Mortein, and the biggest of all Funke Akindele with
Globacom, Lagos State Government, Jobberman, Klin, Vita Foam and most
recently, online business networking platform, Qlichy.com And believe it
or not, more deals are coming – whether the brands are picking new
faces or recycling the old.
At the end of it all, it’s a win-win situation for the celebs – they
get the big bucks, while getting all the publicity that comes with the
big budgets the brands put behind the campaigns.
Is it money well spent by the companies though? And are celebs really
being paid what they’re worth? Will this trend continue, or fade off in a
matter of time? Fingers crossed…
