In today’s article, more examples will be discussed to reinforce the point that consideration of the culture and taste of the people is critical for the success of any product.
What makes the Nigerian market particularly fascinating and particularly unforgiving for the brand manager who approaches it without adequate granularity is that cultural and taste differences are not just an international marketing problem. They are also a domestic one. Nigeria is not a single consumer market wearing a single flag. It is a collection of over 250 ethnic nationalities, each with distinct food traditions, flavour preferences, and cultural values. The Hausa-Fulani consumer in Kano does not have the same taste profile as the Igbo consumer in Onitsha or the Yoruba consumer in Ibadan. These are not marginal differences. They are significant enough to determine whether a product succeeds or fails.
I have seen brands blame their regional sales teams for underperformance in markets where the product itself was the problem. The sales team in a Northern state being held accountable for the poor offtake of a product whose flavour profile was built for Southern palates. The disciplinary memos. The performance improvement plans. The sales targets maintained or increased despite the market’s clear and consistent signal that the product was not what the consumer in that region wanted. That signal was being sent from the shelf every day. The organisation was not listening to it.
