Since the news of the appointment of Sarah Agha as Marketing Director for Nigerian Breweries, the media have plastered her CV all over the place to the point that any further articles about the lady will be superfluous, more than anything else.
Rather than recreating her already well-publicised, and if I might add, impressive resume, this intervention will focus on the battle ahead of this cool-looking lady who has been handed the mandate to succeed where men failed – return NB Plc brands to the top of beer drinkers’ scales of preference.
The marching orders by the Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries, Hans Esaadi to the young lady, as contained in the media announcement by the company is simple but not so simple: ‘… focus on embedding a consumer-led strategy to transform and regain superiority in the mainstream, while also advancing our leadership in premium segments and new growth areas beyond beer’.
I doubt if Sarah is a beer drinker. She might even be a teetotaler for all you know. But the addition of some whiskey, soda, brandy, calypso, and a variety of other drinks to the basket of offerings by Nigerian Breweries makes her challenge quite daunting. It is on record that the young lady had previously excelled in lifting other brands such as Heineken Lager beer and Legend Stout, but this doesn’t make the task any easier.
The acquisition of the beer business of Guinness Nigeria by Tolaram is something that should constantly cause her eyes to be darting over her shoulder in watch of possible surprises. Added to that is the relentless shoves from AB Inbev, easily the strongest competition regional, mainstream, and premium segments of the Nigerian beer market.
Star, the ‘shine-shine bobo’, was at one time the flagship brand of Nigerian Breweries. But it struck the owns that this brand could lay more golden eggs when a million stars are created out of the mother brand through strange cell divisions These cell divisions gave rise to Star Lite, Star Radler and Star Triple X – the one that famously aimed to ensure Igbos forgot their traditional kolanuts by infusing the taste of this prayer fruits into the fizzy beer. Rather than soar Star, the brand shrank, and that was chiefly because the real owners of the brand – the customer – could no longer recognise their own. They all fled.
Her namesake in the Bible was the first of the Matriarchs, who was associated with many miracles: it was Biblically recorded that Sarah (Abraham’s wife), the Sabbath lamp miraculously burned from one Sabbath to the next; her bread never ran out, and there was a halo cloud over her tent.
Being the first female Marketing Directr of a big beer business (on its own, a debilitating challenge) might eventually confer on her the status of a Matriarch, and who knows, she might also bring with her some market-shifting miracles, but below are five vital things that are ‘must-dos’ if she desires to leave her footprints in the marketing sands of time:
Avoid extensions like a plague:
If there is a business that has been bent under the weight of lie extensions in Nigeria, it is Nigerian Breweries. Time and again, the topic of line extensions has invited my editorial attention, and the business has as frequently fallen into the same trap. Based on my experiences from covering this industry since 2003, I ensured that the matter of extensions was duly treated in my book, PITCH: Debunking Marketing’s Strongest Myths.
One of those myths that informed the time and resources I put into writing the book was the conventional belief that extension helps brands to capture new markets and protect them from competition.
Well, in the cases I have observed, particularly as it affects beer consumption, the opposite has been the outcome: rather than enhancing the spread of the brand, it cannibalises it, and I will cite several examples.
Star, the ‘shine-shine bobo’, was at one time the flagship brand of Nigerian Breweries. But it struck the owns that this brand could lay more golden eggs when a million stars are created out of the mother brand through strange cell divisions These cell divisions gave rise to Star Lite, Star Radler and Star Triple X – the one that famously aimed to ensure Igbos forgot their traditional kolanuts by infusing the taste of this prayer fruits into the fizzy beer. Rather than soar Star, the brand shrank, and that was chiefly because the real owners of the brand – the customer – could no longer recognise their own. They all fled.
What of Gulder? Anybody who says that it was not the creation of Gulder Max that condemned the lager to an eternal struggler does not know what he or she is talking about. Gulder Max ate Gulder and couldn’t even take her place.
The last two fatal errors were the creation of Golberg Black and Legend Twist. In one of my articles here, I did warn at the time that Goldberg was made to become a stout that it was not going to work. It was so bad that Goldberg was struggling in its region with Trophy, and not fairing very well, the burdening of the brand to also become a hybrid stout bound to bellyache it. It did not matter that Trophy itself also made the mistake of extending to the dark beer category; the competition’s misfire should have allowed the minders of Goldberg to avoid falling into a similar pit.
The case of Legend Twist was even more pitiable. How could anybody have thought that giving Legend Stout a twist was not going to break its cervical vertebrae? Face-to-face with its direct competition, Legend Extra Stout still buckles with a lack of self-confidence. I watched from an informed distance as Twist either showed up in the bars or clubs, even after a costly rollout.
Talk to mothers, and I know Sarah is one; in Igbo land, where I come from, we have a saying that, ‘onye aguu ji adighi azu nkita’, transliterated to mean that a hungry person doesn’t rear dogs.
Locate the culture connection and hang on to it:
Culture is important in the marketing of beer. You do not have to spend a lot of time observing this. This might be the difference between a brand’s success and failure.
Failure to appreciate and understand the culture of beer consumption has affected NB PLC in the past. Take a look at Heineken, the soar-away premium brand.
In December 2011, Nigerian Breweries launched the Heineken Magnum, a fat (by beer culture standards) bottle that was launched out of the belief that Nigerians love sharing beer.
This insight, correct as it was, missed the way and manner Nigerians share their beers. The truth is that Nigerians are gregarious and congregate at the bars, for good and for bad. If they make breakthroughs in business, they drink to celebrate, if they make losses, they drink to console. If they procreate, they celebrate with beer, and in cases of death, they also drink to console themselves. This is where it ends.
But the Nigerian beer drinker doesn’t fancy splitting his bottle of beer with friends. He loves his bottle to be taken by him alone. He wouldn’t mind buying as many bottles as he can for friends, but his bottle is his bottle. More important is his body count. I have not seen a real beer aficionado who doesn’t love to exercise his bragging rights over how many bottles he ‘cancelled’ the day after. This perceived vanity is the most important takeout for beer drinkers, and because of this, sharing a bottle, no matter how fat, is a no-no!
I have been hearing of the Heineken 45 cl bottle of late, and I just don’t want to believe this new lady was going to be burdened with selling this. It might work in other markets, but Nigeria? I still stand to be proven wrong for a change.
Return to big events and sponsorships:
What happened to Star Trek? Whatever happened to Star Mega Jam? What happened to Star Quest? Whatever happened to the Star that produced Clint da Drunk, Nigga Raw, KC Presh, and so on?
I understood that Gulder Ultimate Search didn’t deliver the numbers, but then, who was responsible for using what was Nigeria’s most talked-about reality show to launch an extension of Gulder (Gulder Max)?
Nigerian Breweries should return to events and activations – not the casual ones for product launches, but the one that connects with, and engages the people; not the ones that are organised to earn the plaudits of executive management, but the ones that ignite conversations among consumers and get them to spend on the brands. I remember that there was a period when some people would reject alternatives to their Star beer, when their favourite brand wasn’t available. If there was brand loyalty, Star had it, until the owners burdened it beyond recognition. A lot of the loyalty derived from Star being in almost all the conversations, from music to folklore.
Fight counterfeits with every tool in your arsenal:
Let me explain this with a personal experience. I am a beer drinker. I hang out with friends a lot and I understand in-bar behaviour quite appreciably.
When a beer brand begins to tank, I am one of the first to know, because each time I am in the bar, the inquisitive journalist in me conducts a census of the table presence of brands as a measure of consumer preference.
Goldberg, for instance, is a brand looked like a spark was coming into it after shedding the weight imposed by its black abiku twin, Goldberg Black. But I noticed that there are various versions of the brand by taste. The taste of Goldberg in bars in Isolo often varied significantly from those in Ikeja. At the peak of the resurgence of Star in 2014, I also observed the infiltration of different tastes. For Tiger, the story is not too different.
I know that you know that one of the characteristics of great brands is consistency in taste and texture across markets. I also know that successful brands attract counterfeits a lot in all parts of the world. In our peculiarly under-policed market, the preponderance of counterfeiting has to be the rule rather than the exception.
But it is my plea that you take the fight against the counterfeiting of your brands a lot more seriously. The loss is not measured only in the number of bottles that are left unsold; it is more in the number of customers that do not return after departing today because a counterfeiter left them with a sour taste in their mouths.
Look for real in-bar insights:
Don’t let data hawkers mislead you: Data hawkers are everywhere with insights they push to the tables of people like you. Always remember that as a consumer, you are a source of data yourself.
I remember several arguments I have had with brand managers of NB Plc and the defense they all presented over the failures of various marketing initiatives, particularly the extensions. It was almost like one prophet was speaking through every one of them. The defence was always about how data guided this and informed that.
Take your Triple X for instance; as true as it is about Igbo people revering kolanut, who said an Igbo man will drink a beer because it has the flavour of kolanut in it? The kolanut and beer are of two different cultural persuasions and significance.
Research is important in marketing, but if you must, subject those research findings to further research. It will save a lot
Once again, you have an excellent CV coming into this job. I even heard somewhere that Legend Stout scored its highest marks when you nurtured it. I have read a lot of glowing things about you that suggest you just might have the touch of Midas.
Mine is to point out what I observed, having covered this industry for upwards of 23 years.
Ikem Okuhu is a journalist, a Public Relations professional, brand strategist and teacher. With a career that traversed Print Media, Oil & Gas, Banking and entrepreneurship, Ikem is the author of wave-making book; PITCH: Debunking Marketing’s Strongest Myths, a dispassionate exposition of the dos and don’ts of successful engagement in the marketplace, especially the Nigerian marketplace. He is the founder/publisher of BRANDish, Nigeria’s first nationally circulating Brands and Marketing magazine. He has also handled the PR and reputation management consultancies for a number of brands, businesses and public figures.
