I’m usually thrilled by a mandate that tends to place priority on the masses, especially as a business decision. Therefore, when Chichi Nwoko, General Manager of Kwese Free Sports expressed to me, her brand’s firm approach for mass market, at the last Olamide Live in Concert #OLIC4, held on December 16, 2017, I knew what long-term benefits lie in enthroning the grassroot fans.
For as cheap as N1, 000 gate ticket purchased for the popular side at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos where the event held, two fans of the hip hop artiste, and three more, to be selected through other activations, will join the rave singer on all-expense trip to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, courtesy of the management of free-to-air channel, Kwese Free Sports.
“We are not only partnering with him,” said Nwoko.
“We are also giving him the opportunity to engage with our audience of young men. We want them to enjoy the World Cup with us. So, what we have done is, not only are we going to be taking Olamide to the World Cup, we are allowing him to take five of his fans; and these are regular people on the street who wouldn’t have the opportunity. We are proud to sponsor that experience. This is in line with our brand’s promise to not only show the matches but to also be on ground. So, it’s important for us to be at these places and there is no Mainland/Island division here. We will continue to look forward to this kind of platform to expose and encourage our audiences as they watch us.”
It is interesting to know that for Kwese Free Sports, it is about the fans and Olamide and his music is only serving as a veritable medium.
“It’s about having impact and connecting with our audience,” she says.
“We know Soccer is very big, we know that the World Cup is a big event and Super Eagles will be playing, and if you look around, you would find a lot of young people. So we are looking for interesting ways a connecting with them. For us, sports is entertainment, there is a mix in there. Even as we do a lot of these viewing centers, we will be having a lot of music as part of the experience. So, at every point, the first thing that drives us are the fans.”
I wanted to know if the ideology of this fans attraction would be confused with music and entertainment, especially since, according to Nwoko, “There is a natural synergy between sport and music, and that’s what we are trying to bring back.” Would Olamide still be the golden boy of this project, if he were to be playing some elitist kind of music?
“I know my market,” said Nwoko.
“I’m not lost and I’m also happy with where we are; we are a free-to-air channel which is the very premise to make sports available to the masses. A lot of the elite people may have other means of consuming sport. But I think we are very targeted in our approach for mass market and musicians that appeal to that, that we can work with and leverage to create some experiences that otherwise wouldn’t have been there. Yes, we will consider other artistes but our focus is how we can elevate and impact the mass audiences with free sports.”
To underscore the place of Olamide in the brand equity of Kwese Free Sports, Nwoko says “we found there is an amazing love and respect that people have for Olamide, and so for us to be able to connect to that humility- that story that resonates with a lot of our viewers – someone that’s humble, someone who started from the bottom and is now a success story – as a brand that’s something we love to align with.”
Now, this is how the Mundial show is expected to play out:
“We are hoping that when the Super Eagles win, we break out into a party, and his (Olamide) music. We are a very musical people. For me I think that on the other side of entertainment is sport. Just to reiterate, we want to plug in to what our fans enjoy. We are going to pick one match, and it’s definitely going to be with the Super Eagles, probably at the group stage. We are working closely with Integral Media who will handle the whole hospitality,” she said.
