Talk Africa: How brands are engaging with the affluent Nigerian •

by Remon Geyser (@remongeyser) The rise of the affluent Nigerian as a consumer group worth targeting is a growing trend identified here at SpringLeap. This has implications for the local branding scene as affluent brands rush to engage with this market. Let’s unpack these consumers, their spending power, and some insights into purchase trends to reveal the brand-engagement trends for this market.

Where are these affluent Nigerians spending their money? Which affluent brands are engaging them, and how are they targeting these markets? Some answers may be found below — you might be surprised at how traditional advertising still remains one of the most-effective forms!

What affluent brands see in Nigeria

Lagos is Africa’s most-populated metropolis, with an estimated 25m permanent residents by the end of 2015. It’s in African cities such as Lagos that you may see an obvious social divide between lower-, middle- and upper-class consumers. As infrastructure has developed, the economy has boomed in certain sectors, allowing many rich Africans to make Lagos their extravagant playground. Banana Island in the Lagos Lagoon, a man-made luxury estate, boasts some of the country’s highest density of millionaires.

In 2014, Forbes stated that Nigeria was home to 12 of the 50 richest people in Africa, one notch higher than South Africa.

Aliko Dangote, courtesy of Wikimedia

Among Nigeria’s most affluent, we find the likes of Folorunsho Alakija, a billionaire oil tycoon and fashion designer; Aliko Dangote, who is the CEO of Dangote group (largest manufacturing conglomerate in West Africa) and the wealthiest man in Africa; and Mike Adenuga, the founder of Globacom, Nigeria’s second-largest mobile phone networ. Five percent of Nigeria’s population is classified as “affluent”, whilst the “emerging affluent” market accounts for 25% [howwemadeitinafrica.com 2014]. This is impressive for an African country that is very much still developing.

For the affluent Nigerian consumer who can afford an affluent lifestyle, the actionable plans of how to best spend their money is interesting:

95% wish to make improvements to their homes
91% want to purchase the latest in technological goods/services/products
85% want to purchase a new car or motorcycle
84% wish to move to a better neighbourhood

It’s clear to see that the emerging affluent markets are aspirational, and have a desire to amplify their lifestyles. So how exactly are they doing this?

Purchase trends

Affluent Nigerian consumers invest in expensive property, both locally and abroad. London is a prime location for some of Africa’s wealthiest property investors, and affluent Nigerians are driving this trend— of the £600m spent on London property from African pockets, £250m comes from Nigerians.

One Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, courtesy of Elliott Brown, Flickr

The “platinum triangle” is the term given to three of London’s most-elaborate and -luxurious neighbourhoods. The area includes suburbs Mayfair, Belgravia and Knightsbridge, and is a favourite among Nigerian investors. Parents who can afford the lifestyle are also sending many of their children to school and universities in London, spending upwards of £300m (collective market) on accommodation and fees [dailymail.co.uk 2014].

There have been some exaggerated stats about champagne consumption in Nigeria, stating that the country was the world’s second-largest consumer. Even though this is not true, it still speaks to the nature of luxury goods in Nigeria. The nation is Africa’s largest consumer of champagne [africacheck.org 2015]. It is estimated that, in 2017, US$1.5bn worth of wine will have been consumed in these markets [mgafrica.com 2015].

Enter affluent brands

Not surprisingly, luxury brands have entered the market to target these consumers and their spending power. Porsche opened its regional offices in 2013 in the wealthy Lagosian suburb of Victoria Island. Italian fashion house, Ermenegildo Zegna, opened a retail outlet (in the same street as Porsche) in 2014.

Vehicle in Nigeria, courtesy of the National Crime Agency, Flickr

In the alcohol industry, prestigious cognac brand Hennessy sits comfortably in Nigeria. The country is one of the brand’s top-10 key markets [luxurysociety.com 2014]. Watch brand Ulysse Nardin is popular with the affluent customers in Abuja, the nation’s capital. ExecuJet is a key player in the private charter-jet industry, headquartered in Switzerland. The brand is popular amongst affluent Nigerians who like to (and can afford to) travel around the world in style.

Polo luxury, a homegrown prestigious brand (one of the few), offers customers the finer, smaller things in life and has four boutique stores — the flagship outlet is in Polo Towers in Victoria island — selling watches, jewellery, leather goods and writing instruments. The brand identity communicates a prestigious stance, one that resonates well with affluent Nigerians.

How brands are engaging

Luxury lingerie boutique store, Style Rebirth, located in the well-to-do, up-and-coming Lagosian suburb of Lekki, has rolled out effective print ads that convey tongue-in-cheek messages of “indecent exposure”.

Multichoice Africa’s subsidiary, GOtv, offers emerging affluent audiences a world-class bouquet of television consumption. GOtv has also used simple, yet effective, print ads to communicate the value of its service to customers. For example, it rolled out a print campaign in 2014 that simply stated, “More TV. Less babies.” Once again, the tone was tongue-in-cheek and risky, which seems to be an effective communications trend for brands in Nigeria, especially when advertising to the affluent and emerging affluent market.

To recap, Nigeria is home to the richest man and the densest population of millionaires in Africa. Luxury brands, both homegrown and international, have channeled their efforts to engage with this market. These brands are mostly using cleverly scripted ads to engage with consumers, perhaps complimenting the flamboyant lifestyle that comes with being an affluent consumer.

While most Nigerian consumers live on less than $US2 per day, being poor, middle-class or affluent doesn’t change the nation’ss shared value of aspiration, and the desire to acquire more wealth. Advertising in Nigeria currently caters to this shared “state of mind”, and it seems that brands targeting the affluent markets are showing their audience that there is always more wealth to be made and a better lifestyle to experience.

References

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Remon Geyser (@remongeyser) is a burger fanatic, wine connoisseur and eSports enthusiast (yes, a fancy term for playing computer games). He is also the research lead for Springleap, heading up a new global creative research division while obscurely attempting a PhD. Springleap provides instant creative expert feedback to rock marketing ROI. Remon contributes the new weekly “Talk Africa” column, covering Pan-African trends, on MarkLives.com.

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