Ednah Gacheri

Marketers must look beyond dashboards and see the human truths hidden within data if they hope to build brand experiences that last. This was the core message delivered by Feyi Olubodun Founder of Open Squares Africa and author of The Villager, at the just concluded Experiential Marketers'​ Association of Nigeria (EXMAN) Brand Experience Summit held in Lagos. Read more: https://lnkd.in/d683nRwQ

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In case you missed it — last week, I had the opportunity to join a panel discussion with the Takealot Group at Seamless Africa 2025 to talk all things retail media. It was a great platform to share our perspective on the growing value of Retail Media Networks (RMNs) in South Africa, along with some key learnings and insights from our journey. RMNs are transforming the local advertising landscape. As more brands tap into this space, breaking through the clutter becomes more important than ever. Here are a few of my top tips to fuel your retail media growth: ➡️Be data-obsessed: Get close to the numbers. Dig into the detail. ➡️Adopt a test-and-learn mentality: You don’t need to break the bank. Start small, be bold, and scale as you go. ➡️Ditch the once-off campaigns: “Always-on” strategies keep your brand consistently in the consumer’s line of sight. ➡️Rethink performance: It’s not just about ROI — brand equity matters too. Define what performance means at each stage of the journey to strike the right balance.

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Why Coca Cola Relevance No Longer Guaranteed One of the quietest shifts in Africa’s consumer markets is that global symbols still dominate shelves but not the story. For decades, Coca-Cola wasn’t just a beverage; it was arrival. A red passport into modernity and a global altar of aspiration where taste met prestige. From dusty kiosks to wedding tents, Coke didn’t just sell refreshment, it sold belonging to a story larger than us. But the question now is whether it still moves meaning. If you observe consumption patterns, the African consumer is rewriting its story. The continent that once looked outward for validation is now looking inward for vocabulary. And in that shift, the myth of the global standard is fading. Because Africa no longer seeks to taste like the world. It seeks to taste like itself. Coca-Cola still leads in carbonated soft drink sales across Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa . But leadership in volume doesn’t equal leadership in meaning. Coke’s deepest threat isn't a new competitor; it’s the rising irrelevance of 'global standardization' itself. This isnt about rejecting global brands but about reciprocity. Africa isn’t rejecting modernity; it’s demanding that modernity speaks its languages, honor its rhythms, and share its risks. Coca-Cola’s model was built on quantitative scale, but Africa’s markets now reward qualitative wisdom. Micro-palates, health consciousness, regional identity, the continent is splintering into a thousand small hungers. The “secret formula” that once united the globe is becoming a cage that cannot bend to local soil. Coca-Cola appears to be learning through defensive delegation: increasingly appointing local MDs and amplifying regional voices. But that’s delegation at the edge, not a reset of the core. Representation without reimagining the underlying operating logic keeps the fundamental myth intact. The brand remains a monument to consistency, while Africa now celebrates context. There’s also a deeper paradox: Coca-Cola’s greatest input is water, the very resource that defines Africa’s struggle. In a continent battling scarcity, a product built on consumption faces a moral question: Can a brand thrive on extraction in a future built on conservation? Water stewardship programs help, yes but they read as mitigation, not mission. In this new moral economy, values are the new value chain. The red logo still glows but its symbolism has shifted from global modernity to global memory. Because Africa no longer buys what it remembers. It buys what remembers it. Legacy once meant being everywhere; today, it means being of somewhere. Coca-Cola is not failing yet. It is being questioned — philosophically, culturally, existentially. And that’s a far harder battle than market share. The question is no longer “Can Coke sell?” It’s “Can Coke still belong?” Legacy is comfort. Relevance is conversation. And in Africa, comfort never lasts long.

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