Femi Odugbemi, award-winning filmmaker, producer and creative industry leader, has challenged brands to move beyond the superficial use of culture in marketing, stressing that culture is fundamentally about value, investment and the future.

Speaking at the MARKETING EDGE National Marketing Stakeholders’ Summit 2026, themed “Cultural Authenticity as Currency: Turning Heritage into Modern Branding & Marketing,” Odugbemi argued that brands must look beyond aesthetics when engaging with culture and instead consider the value they carry, project and contribute to the wider creative ecosystem.

According to him, “Culture is not aesthetics, it is about value,” highlighting the need for brands to examine the substance behind their cultural storytelling rather than treating culture merely as a visual or creative device.

He further challenged marketers to consider how much value their brands actually carry and project when associating themselves with cultural narratives.

For Odugbemi, the conversation must also extend beyond what brands communicate to what they contribute. He questioned the level of investment being made by brands in the Nigerian creative economy ecosystem, suggesting that meaningful engagement with culture should include tangible support for the creative industries that produce and sustain cultural expression.

His position places greater responsibility on brands operating within Nigeria’s increasingly influential creative economy, particularly as music, film, fashion, art and other creative sectors continue to shape how Nigerian and African culture is experienced and consumed globally.

Odugbemi also described culture as an “opportunity for futurism,” pointing to the need for brands and marketers to see culture not simply as a representation of the past, but as a resource for imagining and creating the future.

He stressed that culture is evolving, making it necessary for brands to continuously understand how cultural values, expressions and behaviours are changing.

His remarks added an important dimension to the summit’s broader conversation around cultural authenticity, urging marketers to rethink the relationship between brands and culture from one based primarily on representation to one that also considers value creation, investment and the development of the creative economy.

The discussion reinforced the growing need for brands to approach culture as a living and evolving ecosystem, one capable of influencing not only how brands communicate today, but also how they participate in shaping Africa’s creative future.