Big brother Naija as prime engagement platform
By Abimbola Mohammed
From the inspection of the African most popular reality television show Big Brother Naija, brands and companies have always shown interest in sponsoring the programme because of the exposure and mileage it t gives. The sponsorship has also helped give the show strong financial backing such that it becomes the major cash cow for MultiChoice.
From the likes of FinTech brands who practically always take the headline sponsorship to beer brands that sponsor the Saturday night parties, to disinfectant brands, season brands, interior decoration brands, beverage brands, etc. brand identification with the programme is highly coveted for its customer engagement potentials. This is a classic case of engaging with the consumer at their passion points.
Apart from the sponsorship, the endorsement of some of the housemates that wins some tasks in the course of the show, while other housemates known for their love for specific brands were appointed as brand ambassadors further underscores the positive public and brand perception of the show as a veritable engagement platform for brands.
Even though some of the sponsors leverage the exposure the show gives to them, some of them still do not continue with the sponsorship years after while some have remained as the headline sponsor for the past two years and still counting.
Brands like Pocket by Piggvest remain headline sponsors in season 7 after it grew in 2021 from 20, 2000 to 1.8million users which was like 700% increase with a $5 Million investment. In the same vein, Flutterwaves that sponsored the show in 2020 reported that its monthly transaction increased from 107million to 140 million while in 2019 Bet9ja signed a $5 million deal to take over the headline sponsor season 6, in 2020 Betway followed suit with $1.5million investment.
Other sponsor includes Tecno Mobile, Quidax, Munch IT, Lush air, Guinness, Airtel, Pepsi, Oraimo, Innoson Motors, Travel beta, Dano Milk, WAW Nigeria, Supa Komando energy drink, Johnnie Walker, Close-Up, Aquafina Nigeria, Zaron, Cosmetics, Minimie Noodles, Lipton Nigeria, Hypo, Storm body spray, Baileys Delight, Gordon’s Gin, Nexus appliances, Sunlight Nigeria, MimaXclusive, Fit Nigeria, Boomplay, Arla Food, Amazon Farms, Knorr and Unik Soap.
In the 2021 BBN6 ‘Shine yah eyes” season, Abeg technology and Patricia paid $2 million each to be the associate sponsor, while brands like Darlin hair, Grandex stores, Revolution Plus property, Glover, and Getfit.ng, BuyPower.ng, Ciroc are not part of this year’s sponsor.
Likewise in 2020 season 5” Lockdown” Oppo Mobile, Indomie, Hawaii Soap, Scanfrost, Kuda Bank, Amatem Forte Softgel, and Wax Nigeria didn’t go further with their sponsorship with the show.
According to Samuel Odusami, SBI Media Group UK & Nigeria noted that even though BBN is a good platform for brands to leverage but brand objective, budget, audience, and current reality also determine if there will be continuity in such investment.
His words: “Some brands make use of the platform because they want a particular percentage of the market share, while others may be targeting audiences like the GenZ so they will likely use such a platform as the best marketing strategy to communicate to their audience.
He added that in the same vein: “There are also lots of reasons why some brands don’t continue to with their sponsorship on a platform like Big brother, sometime it could be that the communication strategy has changed or it may be that these brands consider their budget and chose to split the funds into different platforms instead of using one. It may be that the brand objectives changed and this will definitely determine their plans. Another thing that can also be one of the factors that may affect the plans of these brands is the current realities.”
For instance inflation, COVID-19, Ukraine/Russia war, Micro and Macroeconomy. Last year, yes there was inflation but it wasn’t this bad, the traces were there but it didn’t get to this point, some brands were struggling but could still manage but that has really changed today. Also, there was no war last year and COVID went back to China but all these factors that have come into play this year will affect some of the decisions that brands will make. Don’t forget these brands are also running businesses and sometimes business plans do change. The boards also have to deliberate on what is best for them and the possible reasons for some of their plans to change the way they are positioned.
Pointing out how inflation has affected the global world he said: “If you look at the Telco’s one will think they would jump on a platform like this but that is the case but this is not to say they are not doing other things. Some global companies like Google etc. were also affected by all of these changes and had to lay off some of their staff so it is a global issue that affects all countries. Big brother is still a good platform because of the numbers.”
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