Today, brands are navigating a new era where the foundation of loyalty extends far beyond transactions. In this feature,  marketing experts explored how resonance, cultural relevance, and intelligent personalisation are becoming the strongest currencies in today’s trust economy.

As a result, the emerging blueprint grows clearer. To stay valuable, brands must evolve from offering products to co creating meaning with the people they serve.

 

The Cultural Lens: Where Consumption Becomes Personal

Ayodeji Ajayi, Strategy and Creative Director at Hephzibah Experiential Ltd., argued that brands must first understand the cultural forces that shape behaviour before attempting to influence it. He maintained that true market intelligence begins with listening to the people the product is made for.

“When I check those subject matter experts, those people are either a recipient of a similar product or service… or the people that will be the consumers or the makers of that,” he said.

He insisted that the culture shaping an experience is what ultimately brands a consumer, pointing out that choices in real life are emotional before they are functional.

He illustrated this through social rituals deeply rooted in communities, like the decision to drink beer not just for taste but for belonging, identity, and a feeling of inclusion at the “table of men.”

Ajayi warned that brands that ignore such nuances or attempt to generalise audiences risk becoming disconnected. He described this gap as a risk, one that can either elevate or erode value depending on how deeply a brand understands consumer sentiment. “Value,” he stressed, “is the satisfaction of whoever it is that consumes the product.”

 

When Calculated Risk Redefines Value

To demonstrate how a positive risk can transform an entire sector, Ajayi referenced the launch of GTBank’s 737 USSD banking service. This simple but revolutionary code allowed millions of customers to perform transactions quickly and affordably without internet access.

Its convenience and accessibility created instant satisfaction, shifting consumer expectations and forcing competitors into reactive mode. According to Ajayi, this move proved that meaningful innovation begins with understanding the user’s emotional and practical needs, not merely pushing technology.

 

The Journey to Loyalty: A Consumer’s Evolution

Ajayi mapped out the life cycle of loyalty through his personal relationship with Samsung. He explained that consumers evolve through stages of distribution, registration, growth, and maturity. At first, price may be a barrier, but sustained value eventually draws even the hesitant consumer into a lasting relationship.

He described how early Samsung devices were financially out of reach, but over time, quality and delivery created an emotional bond. That journey transformed him from a sceptic into someone who willingly pays a premium for the brand.

“The same consumer that were priced when the T Series were out were no longer priced,” he explained. “Now they were buying those values.”

This transformation, he noted, is the essence of true ROI—the moment buyers stop purchasing features and start buying trust.

Value Defined Through Co Creation

Obinna Ojekwe, Marketing Lead at Hydrogen Pay, expanded the conversation by redefining value as a unique cheat code for success. For him, brands that excel are the ones that narrow their focus to a specific audience and master its needs.

He cited Breakin’ Bars, where customers wait up to three years to purchase a product, and elite automotive brands like McLaren, which produce as few as 50 units globally. Their success, he said, is not built on scale but on extreme clarity of value.

He argued that the era of one directional product creation is over, replaced by a world where consumers play a direct role in shaping what they buy.

“Co creation means you can create products with your final consumer because they know what value means to them,” he explained.

For Ojekwe, brands that want to win must prioritise audience input over assumptions and adopt feedback not as data but as direction.

 

AI: The Future of Trusted Personal Experiences

Osato Evbuomwan, Marketing Director at Moët Hennessy Nigeria, then shifted the conversation toward artificial intelligence, describing it as the engine powering modern retention. According to her, AI is the key to delivering personalization at a scale previously unimaginable.

She highlighted Netflix as a dominant example, explaining how its recommendation system studies browsing patterns, rewatch rates, devices, and even time of day to create custom thumbnails, trailers, and suggestions.

This technology drives more than 80 percent of the platform’s viewing choices, an achievement grounded entirely in personalization.

Evbuomwan noted that AI’s strength lies in blending utility with emotion. It:

• Strengthens loyalty
  • Reduces churn
  • Enhances creativity
  • Solves consumer pain points

She pointed to Coca Cola’s AI co created Y3000 Limited Edition flavour and Starbucks’ Deep Brew AI engine, which customizes app recommendations while improving internal operations. Tools like Sephora’s Virtual Artist and the Nike Fit app demonstrate how AI can eliminate friction, boost confidence, and reduce product returns.

Yet, she warned that AI’s potential comes with boundaries. Over personalisation risks becoming invasive, and ethical concerns around privacy and bias remain critical. AI, she said, must be seen as a co creator, not a replacement.

 

The Emerging Brand Blueprint

Across every angle explored by the experts, a unified truth emerged. The brands that will thrive in the coming years are the ones that build trust through cultural intelligence, co creation, and personalized technology.

They understand that loyalty today is emotional, behavioural, and experiential. And they recognise that the most powerful brand stories of the future will be crafted not in isolation but in partnership with the people who live them.

The next wave of brand success, they agreed, will belong to those who treat culture as a strategy, consumers as collaborators, and AI as a creative ally.