It was a huge learning opportunity for industry players last Thursday at the Eko Hotel venue of the 2018 Edelman-Chain Reactions Trust Barometer reports presentation as old myths and beliefs were empirically dispelled to encourage the use of data backed ideas with verifiable ROIs.
Being the first time the country is factored into the 18 years old survey, the report presented by Managing Director, Edelman South Africa, Jordan Rittenberry, became engaging to the capacity filled audience as most of the data reflect some home truth about the industry, leaving practitioners to reassess their positions on some issues such as the deployment of celebrity endorsements for brand building and marketing purposes.
Underscoring the fact that it's important for brand owners to embrace deliberate efforts in building their trust asset through increased and right investments, Rittenberry noted according to the report that its foolhardy as some brand owners drop huge amount of money on the laps of a "big Celebrity" as brand Ambassador with the believe that with that the job of building the brand is done. "This is not altogether true and most faulty", the Edelman CEO pointed out.
While such efforts may be greeted with massive failures both on local and global scenes, Jaiye Opayemi, CEO, Chain Reactions and partners on the project, further explained that appointing Brand Ambassadors may not be a bad idea after all, provided there is a brand fit between the brand/ or issue and the ambassador. "The selection must not be done with the rule of the thumb or the using gut feelings but rather available research data and stats must play key roles". He cited copious examples from the Lagos State Internal Revenue's use of ambassadors to drive the issue of tax in Lagos state.
The recent Davido-Infinix brand ambassadorship deal comes to mind. Truly, Davido's social media pages reveal a encouraging 3million followers on Twitter and over 6 million followers on Instagram confirming his popularity.
Read below some the comment of Nigerians on the Infinix Facebook page after the endorsement, a great backlash to the Infinix campaign.
''When you compare Davido as brand with the brand Infinix, It seems to be incompatible i.e. Two extremes. Infinix is an affordable brand notwithstanding the fact that they have luxury products that can be easily purchased by low income earners and middle class alike. I believe Davido will work more for premium brands like Samsung. I don't see him even doing serious promo for the brand because Davido will not ordinarily use an Infinix but big brands like Apple or Samsung.'' He added.
It's worth noting that since the deal was sealed on May 8, 2018, a look at Davido's social media pages show he has not done any meaningful promotion on twitters or Instagram posts for the brand. On the celebrity's Instagram and twitter pages, the first and only post he did was on the said date. He announced, "Another one! Second deal signed today! Infinix x Davido". Ever since, nothing on those pages comes close to mentioning the Infinix brand. However, the backlashes has continued unabated on the Infinx social media pages with consumers venting their displeasures at the choice of the Ambassador.