Former Chief Executive Officer of TBWA\Concept and former President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, Kelechi Nwosu, has challenged brands to look beyond surface level cultural references and build stronger connections with the values, traditions and social realities that shape consumers.

Nwosu made the submission while speaking as a panellist at the MARKETING EDGE 2026 National Marketing Stakeholders’ Summit, held virtually on Thursday, September 24, 2026, via Zoom.

The summit, themed “Cultural Authenticity as Currency: Turning Heritage into Modern Branding and Marketing,” brought industry attention to the growing importance of cultural understanding in brand strategy and consumer engagement.

At the session, Nwosu examined the relationship between culture, heritage and branding, arguing that brands seeking meaningful relevance must understand the deeper foundations of the communities they want to engage rather than simply borrowing visible cultural symbols.

He distinguished culture from heritage by describing culture as the shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours and knowledge that communities learn, practise and transmit across generations.

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Heritage, on the other hand, represents traditions, values and physical or cultural features handed down from previous generations.

That distinction, according to the presentation, matters because cultural relevance cannot be reduced to the use of attractive symbols, popular expressions or temporary trends. Instead, brands must identify the deeper values that have endured within communities and understand how those values influence consumer behaviour.

The former CEO of TBWA/CONCEPT also challenged marketers to reconsider the way they segment audiences. Rather than relying heavily on broad demographic labels such as Gen Z or Millennials, he advocated closer attention to consumers’ Attitudes, Interests and Opinions, or AIOs, as well as the subcultures that exist within wider society.

This approach, he suggested, allows brands to recognise the different cultural expressions that coexist beneath a broader national identity. While mainstream culture provides a shared social foundation, Nwosu noted that smaller communities also maintain distinctive values, styles and traditions. These subcultures can operate alongside the dominant cultural framework without necessarily attempting to replace it.

For marketers, therefore, the challenge lies in understanding these differences without reducing them to simplistic demographic assumptions.

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The presentation also examined how brands can translate cultural understanding into commercial strategy through examples including Orijin, Hero Beer, Peak Milk and Maltina.

In the case of Orijin, Nwosu’s framework pointed to the brand’s combination of modern industrial production with traditional West African associations around resilience and herbalism. Its positioning, according to the presentation, drew strength from longstanding consumer familiarity with indigenous botanicals.

Hero Beer offered another example, with the presentation linking the brand to historical and intergenerational associations surrounding the Rising Sun symbol and entrepreneurial identity.

Peak Milk, meanwhile, illustrated a different route to cultural relevance through long standing functional and emotional associations with domestic breakfast and family wellbeing.

Maltina represented yet another dimension, with the presentation examining how the beverage became embedded in communal social occasions and maintained visibility around major cultural festivals, including Ojude Oba and Ofala.

Across the examples, the underlying lesson was that cultural relevance becomes stronger when brands connect their propositions to values that already carry meaning within consumers’ lives.

Nwosu subsequently turned attention to the strategic process required to achieve that connection.

He proposed that brands should begin with what he described as a cultural brand SWOT, requiring marketers to examine whether existing brand attributes genuinely align with consumer traditions.

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Such an audit, he argued, can expose gaps between what a brand claims and what consumers actually experience within their cultural environment.

From there, marketers can identify deeper and more universal values that cut across different consumer groups.

Respect, honour and harvest, for instance, can provide broader cultural foundations while taking different forms across communities.

However, Nwosu cautioned against treating every popular trend as a cultural foundation.

He urged brands to anchor themselves in values capable of surviving beyond temporary internet subcultures and short lived digital moments.

Geography also emerged as an important consideration in his framework.

According to the presentation, cultural values may remain broadly similar across regions while their expression changes from one community to another. The New Yam Festival, for example, can represent a shared harvest value across parts of southeastern Nigeria while the specific rituals, imagery and modes of celebration vary between communities.

That distinction places greater responsibility on marketers to understand the local context before translating cultural elements into brand communication.

Nwosu also warned against what he characterised as surface tokenism, where brands simply attach indigenous patterns to packaging or insert fashionable local slang into advertising without establishing a deeper connection to the culture being referenced.

Such an approach can weaken rather than strengthen brand credibility because consumers can distinguish between genuine cultural understanding and commercial borrowing.

Instead, he proposed that brands build their marketing architecture around the intersection between their actual function and cultural reality.

The deeper the connection runs beyond surface aesthetics, the stronger the potential foundation for lasting relevance, according to the presentation.

Nwosu’s argument also extended beyond the question of how brands can borrow from existing culture.

He examined whether brands themselves can contribute to the creation of culture over time.

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Using the Michelin Guide as a global example, the presentation showed how an asset initially developed to encourage travel and, ultimately, tyre use evolved through sustained investment into a recognised reference point in culinary culture.

The example demonstrates that cultural influence does not always have to begin with a brand inheriting an established tradition. A brand can also develop cultural significance when it consistently invests in an idea over a long period.

The presentation similarly referenced Nollywood as a regional example of how creative expression can influence social behaviour, language and popular culture.

For Nwosu, this raises a larger question about the role of African brands in shaping the cultural environment rather than merely reacting to it.

His presentation suggested that many contemporary African brands remain heavily focused on short term transactional campaigns, leaving significant room for more deliberate, long term cultural investment.

The message ultimately placed longevity at the heart of cultural branding.

Digital slang may disappear. Viral trends may lose relevance. Consumer conversations may shift rapidly. However, deeper cultural values can continue to carry meaning across generations.

Consequently, Nwosu’s framework called for brands to build their commercial architecture on enduring cultural foundations while adapting their expression to changing consumers and environments.

His presentation positioned cultural authenticity not as an advertising decoration, but as a strategic discipline requiring research, contextual understanding, local sensitivity and sustained investment.

For marketers operating in an increasingly fragmented consumer environment, the challenge is therefore not simply to appear culturally relevant. It is to understand what makes a culture meaningful, determine where the brand genuinely fits within that reality and create value without reducing heritage to a short term marketing device.

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