The relationship between brands and their stories on the one hand and customer affinity on the other is simple and direct like a crow’s flight path. The more compelling the brand story, the higher affinity the brand will enjoy among consumers.

 

In Africa, as a continent, anecdotal evidence suggests a high affinity for global brands like Addidas and Nike for sports, Apple and Samsung for gadgets and Coca Cola for beverages. This says two things about consumers in Africa. The first is that, purchasing power allowing, they are willing to go for the best and for brands that have a compelling global story. And even when they do not have purchasing power, these brands are aspirational, meaning that the day the potential consumers will have the income that will allow them to indulge, they will go these brands.

 

The second this it says is that quality is king and, as such, consumers in Africa are unafraid to look outside the continent if what they aspire to own is not locally produced. Alive to this challenge, African manufacturers have started telling their stories differently, emphasising the point that brands made in Africa can hold a candle to the best that there is in the world. This is an important narrative because, all too often, African manufacturers presume that by patriotism alone is sufficient to drive brand affinity, yet is not always the case.

 

The overall picture of brands in Africa morphs when looked at from national lenses. For instance, a brand like Safaricom has high affinity in Kenya compared to international brands like Barti Airtel yet Safaricom is a home-grown brand albeit connect with the international Vodafone brand. But in the minds of Kenyan consumers, the brand is distinct from Vodafone. But why has Safaricom grown its affinity? Simply because its story is tied to the idea of Safari, an idea that evokes a journey of discovery, exotic destinations, new landscapes, fun, adventure. These evocations, as much as the fact that Safaricom is constantly innovating with the customer in mind help to drive its affinity.

 

In the same way, a brand like Isuzu has grown its affinity by changing the way it is viewed. In the past, you knew that if you wanted to build a house, for instance, you needed a strong lorry to deliver the construction material. More often than not, that lorry would be an Isuzu. But what if you were not building, or transporting goods to the market? That is where the idea of associating the brand with a strong ambassador – Eliud Kipchoge – came in. Kipchoge is an inspirational figure. He believes that “no human is limited”, a view that evokes Lupita Nyong’o’s mantra that “every dream is valid”. In the minds of potential consumers, if you believe in your potential, you are, at an unconscious level, believing in the Isuzu brand because in the mind’s eye, one represents the other.

 

What is more important in the Isuzu brand story, in my view, is the fact that it is also positioning itself as a local brand, first, when it went into local assembly of its vehicles and then, more recently, when it partnered with banks and matatu saccos to improve health and safety in public transport. For years, road crashes have hanged like a sword of Damocles over the heads of Kenyan families, many of who have lost or have had to take care of someone who has been injured on the road. By position itself as a brand that cares, that is keen to address this challenge, it will drive its affinity even among people who do not plan to buy vehicles because they know, if they board an Isuzu matatu they that much safer.

 

Another brand that has driven affinity by going local is Absa, formerly Barclays. For a long time, it was positioned as a bank for the wealthy and for people in towns, and also as a colonial bank. However, when it transitioned to Absa and adopted the tagline “Africanacity”, it has driven affinity, first by positioning itself as an African brand and, secondly, by evoking the idea of “African values” and “City” implying that it is bringing these traditional values – of justice, equity, shared prosperity and oneness – into the modern ways of doing business in Africa.

 

This is a path that had been tried and tested by its rivals, such as the home grown Equity Bank, which positioned itself as a bank for the unbanked. In a sense, it democratised banking, working on the narrative that it was born as a housing society in rural backwaters and had grown to become everyone’s financial partner. It, in essence, became a link between workers in town and their rural families, meaning that wealth could move from towns to villages and now, from America and the Diaspora to Africa.

 

All these are compelling stories. They evoke the idea championed by Thomas Friedman that “the earth is flat” meaning that the playing field has been leveled and everyone in the economy has a fair chance to compete if they believe their dreams are valid and that they themselves are not limited.