Over the past 2 years, more Nigerian brands have signed up more Nigerian celebrities as their brand ambassadors. This is due in part to the growth the entertainment industry in Nigeria has witnessed over that period. However, this new trend of celebrities being signed on to endorse different brands now poses the question of how effective these celebrities have been at driving the image of the brand. INFORMATION NIGERIA takes a look at some of Nigeria’s biggest celebrities with the most popular endorsements and how they’ve performed as brand ambassadors.
Don Jazzy: Don Jazzy, the leader of the Supreme Marvin Dynasty (SMD) is arguably the best music producer in Nigeria. His amazing success with different artists leaves nothing to doubt about his importance in Nigeria’s music industry. He has blazed the trail on so many fronts (one of which is that he’s the first Nigerian to lead two very successful record labels at different times). He has even gone ahead to blaze the trail for all celebrities on how best to endorse a brand. Don Jazzy has been a massive blessing to every brand he has endorsed. He goes out of his way to ensure these brands are visible through him. What he did for Konga on social media a few months back showed how much of a blessing he is to that brand. Don Jazzy using his social media account caused an internet buzz for the Konga brand.
D’Banj: D’banj has endorsed a number of brands, both local and international. At all the times, he’s been able to drive publicity for these brands with his popularity across Africa and beyond. For instance, D’banj is a Ciroc ambassador. Ever since he signed with this brand, you could hear D’banj mentioning the Ciroc brand in most of his songs. What better way for D’banj to add value to the brand he’s a part of than to make the brand visible in his music that reaches millions of people who are mostly prime targets of Ciroc’s marketing campaigns.
Genevieve Nnaji: One of Nigeria’s biggest exports in acting. Having this amazingly talented actress endorse the right brand is a sure way to get through to a brand’s target audience. Genevieve has been endorsing Etisalat for a while now. The only reason she’s been on their roaster for this long is because she has always added value to their brand. Her acceptability amongst Nigerians (both young and old) has helped the Etisalat brand appeal to more people than they would have done without her. The added value Etisalat has enjoyed by being associated with Genevieve explains why they gifted her a customized Apple laptop on her last birthday.
Wizkid: The most popular brand Wizkid has endorsed is MTN. But Wizkid being all about the money all the time doesn’t do more than required of to drive the image of the MTN brand. Wizkid proved his eye for money when he declined to renew his contract with MTN and few days later signed a much bigger contract with GLO. Of course everyone wants to make more money no matter how rich you are. But Wizkid would have remained with MTN if he had added value to the brand because the brand would have easily met his demand of a much bigger deal if they knew they would get value for their money.
Davido: Davido is an MTN ambassador!!! But how many people know this? Most Davido fans do not even know this about their idol. This goes a long way to show how much of no value Davido has added to the MTN brand. Davido is popular, yes, but he’s not a worthy ambassador since his fans can’t even associate him with a brand he is endorsing.
Olamide: Ever since this young man made his debut in the music industry, he has not looked back. He has grown in popularity after every single he drops. This growth however has not gone unnoticed by brands as Etisalat signed him to a bumper deal not too long ago. But has he used his growing popularity and street credibility to drive the image of the Etisalat brand that is spending so much on him? The answer is No. Aside dropping sweet sounding rap songs for their commercials, Olamide has done absolutely nothing on his part to move the Etisalat brand forward.
