Recently Legend extra Stout started a campaign targeted at gaining more market share. The brand owners also repackaged the Legend brand. Walter Drenth, the Marketing Director of Nigeria Breweries Plc who spoke with Daniel Obi after the event assessed the stout market and reasons for the repackaging of the Legend brand.
Recent developments in the beer market indicate a somewhat stagnant market. What is your view on this?
The beer market in terms of lager and stout is still growing. Though, I admit that the rate of growth seems to have dropped slightly, but it is still growing. The population and economic indicators in Nigeria are looking good. We are optimistic that the beer market will pick up by the second half of the year.
Is the dip in the beer market due to economic performance or what?
I think overall, there is pressure on disposable income in the economy which determines whether an average consumer has access to what he or she wants. We also as an industry feel that. When there is pressure in the economy, it affects many operators in the FMCG sector.
Are you cutting down your production because of this dip?
No! We are not cutting down production, rather we will continue to re-invent to bring excitement to the market and contribute our quota to Nigeria’s economic development.
What has been the effect of this development on the bottom line of your business?
I believe that stakeholders got the report from our Pre-Annual General Meeting, Media Briefing which was held last week. We delivered a paper on our performance which was a comprehensive report about our activities in the year under review. For those who attended the AGM, it was an avenue to get adequate information on our performance.
What informed the re-launching of Legend?
Basically there were two things: change and innovation. Here in Nigerian Breweries, change and innovation are important to our success. Also, our consumers are open to change and often ask for it. In line with this philosophy, innovation is part of Legend’s growth strategy and we showcased this through the re-launch, which everybody cherished.
Now, from the brand perspective, because this brand is quite exciting, the thinking behind the ‘Blackrealvolution’ was to take our consumers through a journey in change. We conceived an idea that would give them something better and something they will never forget in a hurry. So that is from the brand perspective, we want to move forward, we want to improve on how to serve our consumers better.
The second angle is from consumer insight. We try to talk to our consumers and know what they want and how they could easily adapt to change. We are also interested in protecting the brand to ensure that our consumers always get the authentic Legend brand. Now, looking at the physical appearance, the colour inside is the original colour of Legend stout which we know. We also choose to give it a metallic labeling in order to stand out in the industry.
It could be recalled that another stout brand, some time ago did something similar, could this be a response to competition?
I don’t think we are responding to any competition. Innovation is our driving force for Legend. A quick flash back about our support for Legend in the last few years will convince all that rather than responding to others, other players are following our footsteps. This explains why the brand has, in the past years remained the fastest growing stout in the market. We have to keep growing; we want to give consumers the best by emphasising the quality of our brand. This is part of our strategy. And again, I want to reiterate this; it is part of our ways of showcasing premium quality.
At the blackrealvolution event, the Legend brand did not mince words about its desire to take over the stout market in Nigeria. How realistic is this goal?
To answer this, I think I should first touch on the campaigns that were put together to support the brand. Our television and radio campaigns come from the personality of the Legend brand; it’s an authentic brand, a young and courageous brand. And again, the real personality of Legend is all about delivering the values that will make patrons consider Legend extra stout as second to none.
Back to blackrealvolution, why did you choose this theme?
It is a ‘revolution’ because we believe in change, the idea behind the realvolution is all about change, and we want to take our consumers on a journey of change for the better. Meanwhile, because ‘real’ is the essence of Legend, we must emphasise that legend is the only ‘real’ stout. So, it is real, it is realvolution, and black because we believe it is real with a different excitement.
Before we did the official launching, we started a campaign, and lots of our consumer keyed into this journey with excitement. And when you look at the reveal at the launching, lots of people commented that realvolution was actually fantastic for Legend and they also appreciated the beauty of it. When you talk about the blackrealvolution, it is not far away from the real meaning of revolution, but this time around it is not a revolution against the state, but a movement towards a better place to be when it comes to dark beer. In other words, the movement of the consumers from the current point where they are, to a better and a more relaxed point.
Before now, stout used to be seen as a drink for the masculine gender, but at the official reveal of the new look of Legend, there were some elements of romance, that seems to make the brand appeal to both the masculine and feminine market. Is this a change in positioning for the brand?
This is about being real, and I think it represents a man, a brand for the real man. A guy who makes Legend extra stout his choice doesn’t make the choice because every other man does that, but because of what he tastes and feels about the brand. That also means he is courageous enough to make his own choice and that is what Legend stands for.
A few years ago, Legend won an international award – Gold Quality Award at the 51st Monde Award ceremony in Greece. What has been the impact on the brand and where should we expect the brand in the next five years?
It’s amazing; Legend is growing in the market year in year out. The award was a symbol of confidence and encouragement for us to do more. When you look at the quality of Legend from the inside to the outside and also look at the consumer profile of the brand, you will realise that more and more people are drinking Legend as the days go by. We have won a large share of the stout market in Nigeria, and there is no doubt that the leadership of stout market is within our fingertips. In a few years we will be there.
Can you please be specific and a number to your current market share?
We cannot reveal that, we don’t reveal financial figures.
Legend is taking 30 consumers to Dubai for its Real Deal National Consumer Promo; obviously more than last year’s number. Why not prizes such as TV sets, generators and refrigerators to benefit more consumers?
Last year, we took twenty five people to Dubai, and this year we are increasing it to thirty. They will have the opportunity to shop free in one of the beautiful Dubai Malls. Again, this year, we have another consumers’ reward initiative through which consumers would win three hundred million naira worth of instant airtime reward. We are very sure that our consumers will appreciate all these. For us at Nigerian Breweries, we are aware of the unique position consumers occupy in brand building, reward must therefore be put in place to appreciate and compensate them.
Does the new repackaging have anything to do with price of the product?
It does not have anything to do with price; the price still remains the same, so there is no price increase. It is also worthy of note, that it is exactly the same Legend. There is no change in the quality either.
