Nigerian brands dominate #Africa20ChallengerBrands report
Nigerian brands dominate the top four spots in #Africa20ChallengerBrands report. The report, launched by Lagos-based brand and design agency, FourthCanvas, highlights the emerging brands that have earned the most loyalty for their technology-powered innovation.
The evaluation of brands in the build-up to the report was based on a combination of internal expertise, data analysis, and the informed opinions of selected external judges. Only brands established within the last decade were considered as ‘challenger brands.’ All top-four brands- Cowrywise, Flutterwave, Helium Health and Eden Life- which span across the financial, healthcare and hospitality sector, are Nigerian.
The other challenger brands analysed in the report were from Uganda, South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania and Egypt. According to FourthCanvas, the challenger brands are those successfully engaging customers across their favourite platforms and growing loyalty in ways that traditional heavyweights are struggling to grasp. The brands foster user-generated content as many users share their experiences with products and services on social media and other digital communication platforms, like in-app pop-up messages.
Cowrywise, a savings app in Nigeria, for example, is renowned for its interesting push notification messages that remind its users to spend less and save more, especially on Fridays and paydays.
According to the report, challenger brands are also those fostering brand connection and winning brand representatives by building tribes. These brands also build strategic partnerships, strengthening their brand association and increasing overall brand reputation locally.
Partnerships is one of the reason why Chipper Cash, a Ugandan fintech company that builds software to enable instant cross-border payments in Africa, was deemed a challenger brand. Chipper Cash collaborated with the Italian football club, AS Roma, to foster an impact-driven community project which combines financial education with football training.
"With the Africa Challenger Brands project, of which the report is only a start, we intend to advance the overall quality of conversation and thoughts around building brands, standing out, and winning with people. Hopefully, this can be of some help as we build great and high-value brands from Africa and grow our national economies," says Victor Fatanmi, managing partner at FourthCanvas.
To download the #Africa20ChallengerBrands report, click here.
