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REGIONAL TRENDS Left: The city of Abidjan in Ivory Coast. Aspirational consumers in the region are highly brand- conscious and receptive to global brands West African is about connecting with the different needs of people in every country and across the regions within these countries. market reveals However, although consumer types and segments are diverse, the human truths are almost universal. After analysing a few of the trends and its potential dynamics that are shaping the marketing landscape, there are a number of pointers that we can offer to help newcomers navigate and thrive in this new ‘Wild West’ of brand-building. With Nigeria now the largest economy on the Hybrid cool continent and Ghana among the 10 fastest The rising, aspirational consumer classes growing economies in the world, international in the key West African markets are highly businesses are increasingly starting to focus on brand-conscious and receptive to global brands. Many wealthy Ghanaian and West African markets. David Blyth provides them Nigerian consumers, for example, travel with some useful pointers on doing business. outside Africa to shop for Western products, which they perceive to be of a superior quality. They are now excited by the arrival OR MARKETERS LOOKING include the regional powerhouses of of global brands in their home markets. from the outside – whether Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast. Like the Coupled with this, though, is a fierce F they’re from other parts of Africa rest of the continent, it is hugely complex pride in local customs and culture and, in or further afield such as Europe, Asia or and diverse in many ways – from the many cases, traditional style and design. North America – the West African region is languages spoken to the relative stage Younger consumers embody this tension, attractive because of its large and relatively of economic development. And as with being more technologically connected urbanised population, rapid economic many other developing regions, there are and influenced by global trends, while growth and developing consumer class. challenges with infrastructure, corruption also being more confident of where they Increasing numbers of global brands in some markets and cultural nuances that come from than previous generations in search of growth have been expanding get lost in translation. are. As the people of the region become into the region over the past few years, There is no shortcut for consumer more confident in their national identities, with varying levels of success. Some have understanding; no simple blueprint for the it becomes increasingly unappealing for reported solid growth, but others have West African consumer, because there brands to trade only on ‘being foreign’. had their fingers burnt. is no such thing as the ‘West African In some West African markets, PHOTOS: SUPPLIED For newcomers, marketing is not consumer’ – nor, even, the Nigerian, these two opposing forces will play out always easy in a region whose nations Ivorian or Ghanaian consumer. Marketing differently across consumer segments – 42 strategicmarketingafrica Third quarter 2014 42-44 Regional Trends v2.indd 38 2014/06/26 12:29 PM