Pocket (formally Abeg) has emerged as the headline sponsor in the season 7 “level up” edition for the second time to boost its brand to the enabling market.
The social commerce and payment app from PiggyVest were launched in 2021 as a payment platform for sending and receiving money but has now evolved into a complete social commerce app with payment embedded.
Odunayo Eweniyi, co-founder and CEO of PiggyVest in a Twitter space, stated that when the company went to big brother in 2021, it intended to solve half of the problems in the peer-2-peer app it has built.
“The Abeg app encountered two major problems while trying to incorporate merchants, these problems were mainly attracting users and businesses to the platform,” she said.
According to Eweniyi, Big brother affords us a massive platform to build up our user base and attract more merchants because the reality Tv show was so commercial, Abeg was able to achieve that.
The fintech platform noted that after sponsoring the sixth edition in the 2021 BBNaija show its users base grew from 20,000 to over 1.8 million, amid a 7000 percent increase, and the huge return on investment was the rationale for the sponsorship of the Season 7 reality TV show in 2022.
Eweniyi further explained that after evolving the product road map our company realised that the combination of the strategy needed to actualize while going into Big brother for the second time can’t be justified with the name Abeg as it presented a limitation to where we are headed.
She further stated that in order to make sure that both users and merchants feel that the app is suitable for their needs, and other aspects like lending, the platform decided that it needed to do a brand refresh and build the end-to-end of what the product will look like from the merchant perspective.
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The rebranded Abeg app to Pocket by PiggyVest new feature enables micro-entrepreneurs to upload items directly from their Instagram with one click, add delivery options and rates, set price, and quantity, add pictures, and videos, escrow funds and can even allow for negotiation within one secure app.
In addition, the platform’s new name references its added functionalities for users to buy and sell items via virtual pocket shops and reinforces its push into a social commerce market estimated to reach $23.8 billion by 2028 in Nigeria alone.
Speaking on the increase in its customer base she stated that Pocket now has a 2 million user base and it’s likely to reach 5 million users before the end of the year.
Over the years, different major brands vie to become official sponsors of the show. Other associate sponsors also take turns coordinating and sponsoring weekly events in the house.
Payporte was the major sponsor of the 2017 ‘See Gobe’ and 2018 ‘Double Wahala’ editions of the show. Bet9ja signed a $5 million sponsorship deal to take over as headline sponsor of the 2019 ‘pepper dem edition. Betway followed the trend in the 2020 ‘Lockdown’ edition with a $1.5 million investment. Abeg app in the 2021 “shine ya eye” edition with a $5 million investment, and Pocket by PiggyVest also became the lead sponsor in the 2022 “level up” edition with a $5 million investment.
Asides PayPorte, Patricia, and Pocket, other fintech companies have previously co-sponsored the show, including Flutterwave and Kuda, however, these brands have no problem signing multi-billion dollar sponsorship deals on big shows like BBN, this is because there are numerous benefits to be gained by being a major sponsor of the show, which go beyond mere brand advertising.
The awareness didn’t only boost Abeg but also the PiggyVest platform which paid out over N242 billion to over 3.5 million customers in 2021, said Somto Ifuezue, chief executive officer and co-founder at PiggyVest.
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