As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape global marketing strategies, Nigeria is no exception to this transformative wave. From AI-powered chatbots to customer relationship management (CRM) automation tools, businesses in Nigeria are increasingly exploring the potential of AI to enhance marketing efficiency and improve customer experiences. However, as this adoption grows, it raises critical questions about the challenges, including data privacy, AI literacy, and the adaptation of AI models to Nigeria’s diverse cultural landscape.
Noel Nonso Ozoemena, a marketing expert with deep expertise in the fintech industry, in this interview with Oluwafemi Mayowa Olusola, Opinion Page Editor, explores the evolving role of AI in Nigerian marketing, exploring both the opportunities it presents and the hurdles that lie ahead. This discussion further examines the potential of AI to create personalised experiences, address data privacy concerns, and leverage cutting-edge tools to drive marketing decisions. As Nigeria embraces the AI revolution, it is essential to understand the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Excerpt:
How do you see the adoption of AI technology evolving in the Nigerian marketing landscape, and what challenges do you anticipate?
It’s important to note that before the current attention to AI technology, various forms of AI-driven tools and resources had already been adopted in the global marketing landscape, including in Nigeria. From chatbots providing 24/7 customer support to customer relationship management (CRM) automation tools that enhance customer experience and assist the sales process, AI has been a part of our marketing toolkit. However, it is only not as widespread and perhaps powerfully dynamic as we are currently witnessing, especially with large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and similar bots.
“Additionally, since the success of AI technology largely depends on the availability of large, structured, and clean datasets, which many Nigerian businesses lack, it raises questions about how well these technologies will suit Nigeria’s dynamics.”
With these new models, along with other non-text-focused AI technologies like Clarifai, Amazon Polly, and Affectiva, AI’s potential to optimise marketing strategies and maximise ROI is being increasingly recognised by organisations and marketing professionals across the country. As a result, we can expect a broader integration of AI tools across various sectors. However, the major challenges I foresee include low levels of AI literacy and concerns about data privacy. Additionally, since the success of AI technology largely depends on the availability of large, structured, and clean datasets, which many Nigerian businesses lack, it raises questions about how well these technologies will suit Nigeria’s dynamics.
Can you provide examples of how AI can be used to create personalised marketing experiences for Nigerian consumers, considering the diverse cultural and economic landscape?
Dynamic pricing strategies employed by ride-hailing providers in major cities like Lagos easily come to mind. If you’ve ever wondered why rides booked at the same time on different days or in different parts of the city, covering the same or similar distances, cost differently, you can thank or blame AI and dynamic pricing strategies for that. Ride-hailing providers leverage AI algorithms to analyse real-time data on traffic conditions, demand fluctuations, and consumer behaviour to adjust prices dynamically.
This approach can also be explored in other marketing aspects, such as cinema or event tickets. For instance, during peak hours or in high-demand areas, AI could dynamically increase prices to reflect the heightened value of the service while offering discounts or promotions during off-peak times to attract more users. Personalised product recommendations and targeted advertising are other great use cases. AI can segment audiences based on demographics, behaviour, and preferences and recommend products that align with their interests and past behaviour. These strategies are already employed by leading e-commerce platforms in Nigeria and can deliver significant value for related businesses. AI-driven chatbots can also provide personalised customer service, keeping businesses available 24/7 to answer queries and offer product suggestions based on users’ previous interactions.
In Nigeria, where data privacy laws are still evolving, how do you ensure ethical use of AI in marketing campaigns while maintaining consumer trust?
As stated earlier, while AI has been used in marketing, its adoption is still in its early stages in Nigeria. A publication by the Africa Fintech Summit estimated AI adoption (within the fintech ecosystem only) to be around 14 percent to 29 percent. This gives a great opportunity for regulators, marketing professionals, and relevant stakeholders to work proactively towards implementing robust data protection measures and adhering to global best practices adapted to local realities. For starters, attention must be paid to obtaining explicit consent from consumers before collecting or processing their data, providing clear information on how their data will be used, and offering opt-out options. The Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), modelled after the GDPR, is a great start but needs to be updated to fully accommodate new realities.
Whatever measures are implemented must be clearly communicated to consumers so they understand and appreciate the stakeholders’ commitment to transparency, accountability, and respect for consumer privacy.
Which AI tools or techniques do you find most effective for analysing consumer behaviour and driving marketing decisions in Nigeria? Can you share a specific case where these tools made a significant impact?
That will be machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) for me. Both enable predictive analytics and text analytics, which are crucial for analysing consumer behaviour and making predictions. ML facilitates pattern identification from vast datasets to predict consumer behaviour and optimise marketing campaigns, while NLP is essential for analysing textual data like social media posts, reviews, and customer feedback to understand sentiments, preferences, and trends.
How do you adapt AI models to reflect the local dialects, languages, and unique consumer behaviour patterns in Nigeria?
Theoretically, incorporating Nigerian-specific language patterns, local dialects, and cultural nuances into AI training datasets can address this issue. For instance, NLP models can be fine-tuned to understand and respond to Pidgin English and other indigenous languages commonly spoken in Nigeria. Additionally, AI professionals and experts globally need to pay attention to this reality and ensure that developed models, while global, can account for local contexts and regional dynamics.
Practically, this is a major concern. I’ve had experiences where certain LLMs misappropriated cultural norms, traditions, or even provided erroneous language translations because they couldn’t differentiate between the three major Nigerian languages—how well will they fare when we introduce the over 500 distinct languages?
How has AI changed the way marketers in Nigeria gather and utilise consumer insights? What new opportunities has it created?
Traditionally, doing market research for different marketing purposes, such as competitor analysis or gathering consumer insights, was often time-consuming and limited in scope. This has been transformed by AI-powered features across different tools such as ad analytics and CRM for faster and better pattern identification, trend predictions, and audience segmentation. As a result, new marketing opportunities and strategies are being explored to facilitate more successful marketing campaigns. Most importantly, AI helps justify and measure marketing budgets and ROI.
What emerging AI trends do you believe will shape the future of marketing in Nigeria over the next 5-10 years, and how can companies prepare for these changes?
While the current focus is mainly on AI-driven content creation and task automation, such as generating media sentiment reports, “old” implementations like AI-driven chatbots will become more popular and even more powerful or personalised with the increased use of AI-powered voice assistants. Similarly, as non-text-based content creation becomes more prevalent, voice search optimisation (VSO) will become so critical that current search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies might be seen as incomplete or irrelevant without plans for VSO.
Beyond marketing strategies, campaigns, and communications, marketing professionals in the country could also expect to become key players in two major areas. First, successful training of AI algorithms to ensure that developed models account for cultural nuances and consumer dynamics will require significant contributions from professionals with real-life and practical understanding of the Nigerian marketing landscape, not just learnt experiences. This also applies to the anticipated increased focus on developing ethical AI practices and regulatory frameworks for responsible and sustainable use. Investing in AI research and development, upskilling, adopting a data-centric approach to marketing, and staying updated on the latest AI developments and tools with proactive ecosystem-wide collaborations will help both businesses and marketing professionals stay ahead of the curve and harness AI’s potential in the Nigerian marketing landscape.
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