Corporate event sponsorship has become a tool for promoting firms and their products. At the just-concluded Osun-Osogbo Festival, alcoholic beverage manufacturers promoted their low premium products targeted at low-end markets. ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI reports.
For the people of Osogbo, in Osun State, the month of August is very symbolic. It is a month of celebration, traditional cleansing of the city and cultural reunion of its people with their ancestors and founders of the Osogbo Kingdom.
Yearly, the Osun-Osogbo, a traditional festival unique to the town, has proved to be a rallying point for both residents and the sons and daughters of the town in the diaspora. Besides, seven years ago, the festival received a further boost with its elevation to the status of World Heritage site by UNESCO, attracting tourists globally.
With the international status of the festival comes huge business opportunities for both individual and corporate bodies, as well as various sponsorship opportunities for the event. It is, therefore, not surprising to find several organisations falling over themselves to exploit the week-long Osun-Osogbo celebration to the advantage of their product or brand. The just concluded edition of the festival was not an exception, as it enjoyed greater sponsorship than previous editions from several organisations.
Though many brands are yet to feel the significance of the festival in building their brand, however, operators in the alcoholic beverage sector now have a better understanding of the potentials for their products, especially in the low-end markets. One company that is taking good advantage of this is Nigerian Breweries (NB). The firm is capitalising on the inherent opportunities offered by the festival to build a sustainable brand awareness in the Southwest regional market for its Goldberg Beer brand. With this, NB may have strategically positioned its Goldberg beer to eat into the market share of this region in a market where Trophy Larger beer from the staple of International Distilleries, has held sway as leader.
However, with the struggle for the regional market, especially in the low premium beer segment becoming more intense between NB and International Distilleries, findings by The Nation revealed that the NB is building up a war chest to further take over more market share. Trophy beer, which is also growing in brand equity in the region, also enjoys the financial backing of SABMILLER, a South African firm, which just acquired International Distilleries, the producers of Trophy beer. The effect of this acquisition is that the brand has become more popular and visible as seen in its demand across various bars visited in some Southwest states.
“I have personally observed that Goldberg’s involvement with the festival this year hss actually taken the long-standing support from Nigerian Breweries Plc. to a new level with their activities. A look around the palace today tells me they are ready to do some outstanding things this year and I think that is quite good for the brand,” said the Araba of Osogboland, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon.
He is of the opinion that the festival has provided a viable platform for the Goldberg brand, considering the sales recorded at the festival. From his observations, Elebuibon said Goldberg appears to be gaining more market share around Osogbo town and its precincts, especially since the NB began to actively associate with the festival.
Said he: “I noticed that a lot of beer consumers around here have switched to Goldberg since they started sponsoring the Osun- Osogbo Festival. The reason is simple; anybody or corporate organisation that shows interest in what the people are passionate about will gain the people’s loyalty. Osun-Osogbo is one thing Osogbo people are passionate about.”
In a similar vein, Goldberg brand manager, Mr. Mfon Bassey, described the brand as one that identifies and celebrates the cultural/traditional values of the people. “The aspirations and passions of our consumer are of importance to the Goldberg brand. The Osun Oshogbo Festival is the encapsulation of passion, aspirations, cultural and traditional values of not just the Osogbo people but the entire western Nigeria. It is about the traditions and cultural heritage of Osogbo people which they hold in high esteem. The festival, therefore, is a veritable platform for the brand to connect with the consumers in the region through their traditional values,” he affirmed.
Also, the Managing Director, INFOGEM Ltd, the official consultants for the festival, Mr. Ayo Olumoko, said the corporate presence brought by Goldberg to this year’s edition of the festival is unparalled. “In the 26 years of Nigerian Breweries’ sponsorship of this festival, I have not seen the level of corporate presence that Goldberg is bringing to the festival this year. Their branding is unprecedented. Their presence is practically swallowing those of the other stakeholders. People around here are quite impressed with what they are doing,” he said, adding that the sponsorship of the festival by the brand has increased and it has become a stirred competition.
Not long ago, NB hosted its key distributors as well as selected stakeholders from the South West to the re-launch of its Goldberg premium lager beer in the city of Ibadan; the event served as a formal introduction of the repackaged Goldberg beer.
The marketing director of Nigerian Breweries, Mr. Walter Drenth, gave an insight into why Goldberg is targeted at the low premium market consumers. “A lot of our consumers who desire high quality premium lager beer who cannot afford the likes of Heineken, Star or Gulder lager beer now have Goldberg, a premium beer with excellent bottle look, stamped with a crest quality, now brewed under the supervision of Nigerian Breweries Plc.”
Analysts at Financial Derivatives Company suggested in a recent report that beer market generally witnessed a decline of about 10 per cent in 2013 on the back of increased pressure on flexible income resulting from high cost of living, and heightened security concerns in certain parts of the country which has added pressure on distribution and cost of commodities thereby restricting beer consumption to safe locations, among other factors. This, experts say, may work for the new brands to survive in the south west market.
For now, the three big operators in Nigeria’s beer sector, which are among the biggest global operators in the sector are on their wits end to ensure that they maintain, if not improve on, their market share. Nigerian Breweries Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc and SAB Miller are making sure that they supply enough of their various brands. Apparently, Beer is a very big business in Nigeria, and it is growing all the time. It is said to have been expanding at 10 per cent per annum for some time now. The average per capita beer consumption is still only 10 litres a year, a sixth of the rate in South Africa, meaning the potential for growth remains huge, especially given that Nigeria has a population of about 170 million people.
As the brand waits to benefit from the sponsorship of the festival, the structure of the market share still give the maker of the brand an edge as the market leaders opportunity to harness its fortunes to challenge any threat to his various product categories across the country. According to Financial Derivatives Report, Heineken controls 71 per cent of the Nigerian market share through its subsidiaries, Nigerian Breweries and Consolidated Breweries with Nigerian Breweries Plc (NB Plc) having 61 per cent market share and Consolidated Breweries with a 10 per cent market share; Diageo has a 17 per cent market share through its stake in Guinness Nigeria. South African Breweries Miller (SABM) is a more recent entrant to the market and has a growing but very significant stake in the industry but expert feels it will be a tall dream for the brand to edge a brand from the market leader.
NB Plc has the largest capacity and coverage, with about eight breweries located across the country, (estimated to have total annual capacity of 13.5mn hl). Guinness operates four breweries (total annual of 7.5mn hl by 2014 due to on-going capacity expansion).
SABM has built up its capacity (by acquisition) to approximately 1.8mn hl, which includes Pabod Breweries in Port Harcourt, International Breweries in Ilesa and Onitsha.
The Osun-Osogbo Festival is a two-week long programme. It starts with the traditional cleansing of the town called ‘Iwopopo’, which is followed in three days by the lighting of the 500-year-old sixteen-point lamp called ‘Ina Olojumerindinlogun’.
Chief Elebuibon, who is also a top member, Advisory Committee for the Osun Osogbo Festival, said in the last hundred years, the festival never had sponsors while the little financial support coming from government has not been enough.
He told The Nation that with the growing popularity of the festival across the globe and the huge number of spectators, visitors, media coverage enjoyed by the festival; it has become a platform for brand promotion and brand awareness optimisation. “We are amazed by the number of sponsors coming to talk to us and it is growing day by day,” he said.
And just as the festival grows, so may the market share of the sponsors continue to grow, a situation that will continually ignite competition.
