Chief Executive Officer of Imaginarium Marketing Communications and Vice President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, AAAN, Adekoyejo Abiola, has urged brands to look beyond immediate sales and build stronger long term value by understanding the cultural realities of Nigerian consumers.

Speaking on MARKETING EDGE ONTV, Abiola said the growing emphasis on performance marketing has pushed many brands towards short term, measurable returns, potentially weakening investment in brand memory and meaning.

He described short term sales as “a loan against the brand”, warning that businesses that repeatedly prioritise immediate returns without strengthening brand equity could face higher costs in sustaining future growth.

Instead, he advocated a balance between activation that delivers immediate results and consistent brand building that creates lasting value. At the same time, he  urged marketers to rethink how they define Nigerian consumers, arguing that modernisation has not erased the cultural identities that influence behaviour.

According to him, brands that rely mainly on age, income and Western lifestyle models can overlook the communities, cultural affiliations and creators that increasingly shape consumer decisions.

He noted that consumers now place considerable trust in their communities, group chats and digital creators, making cultural relevance increasingly important to effective communication.

Beyond consumer understanding, Abiola said Nigeria also possesses the creative insight needed to compete internationally, but lacks the broader industry structure required to consistently convert local ideas into global recognition.

He identified infrastructure, production capacity, client confidence, funding and foreign exchange constraints as some of the factors limiting Nigerian agencies on the global creative stage.

Consequently, he challenged agencies and brands to draw more confidently from Nigerian realities rather than imitate other markets. “There’s no reason why the first African or the next African first cannot come from Nigeria, from Lagos,” Abiola said, stressing that locally rooted ideas, backed by world class execution, can compete beyond Nigeria.