#KeepTheChangeBae: Of brands, banters and the benefit of trendsspotting

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The Internet again gave many Nigerians something interesting to tweet and talk about, other than the daily rants of #BBNaija and the musical performance of a Nigerian senator. After a faux pas from one Pablo (not Escobar) who thought drawing the first blood meant winning.

God forgives no doubt, but Nigerians do not forgive easily; neither do they suffer fools nicely. No not once. In a world where the voices of the female folks are beginning to reach a much desired high note, it was only normal for the harmless tweet to be flagged while passing their radar.#KeepTheChangeBae

Still wondering the ‘Orijin’ of the story? Ok

In summary, Pablo took a lady out in the city of Ibadan (why always Ibadan *sobs*), wanted a relationship after the date, the lady refused, Mr. Pablo (not Escobar) called out the lady on twitter and the lady with no iota of chills itemized the date expense (N3,800) and gleefully refunded N5,000 hence the title #KeepTheChangeBae

A win-win situation it was as Nigerians had their moments (even saw someone convert the misdemeanour to a prayer point) and some wise brands had their exposure.

It is no news that brands that market in the moment win the larger share of the consumer’s attention not the ones who claim to, but stay rigid to their content calendars or are too scared to take risks.

Quite remarkable was how some brands leveraged on this phenomenon including Wema Bank that was dragged into the crazy love affair. Small businesses were also not left out as the epic response of MissMoshiku triggered a couple of freebies, lying fallow in their hands.

Two key lessons from the act of some brands to the docility of the others.

First is that, Leveraging on trends works well, Remember #MannequinChallenge and its global effect?. Social FB_IMG_1490907532619media in itself is a fast paced environment and only brands that are truly willing to adapt and evolve can truly survive. Spotting trends and leveraging on them gives your brand heightened level of exposure that if quantified in monetary value might scare your marketing manager away.

Rewind some years ago some of these brands might probably have referred to it as bad press and ultimately rolled out a release dissociating themselves from it. But hey, times have changed.

Secondly, your brand’s style doesn’t have to change because of a trend: Jumia Travels, Orijin and even Frist Bank that was not invited to the party took the opportunity to announce its product offerings to their respective consumers whilst still maintaining its usual tonality.

Leveraging on trends could be dicey because when it fails, it can be really bad but like someone rightly said you miss all the chances you never took.

What are your thoughts?

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(Brandish Nigeria)