Marketing vs Reality in Nigeria
The Persona vs The Person
Picture Efehi, a 26-year-old Nigerian. She is smart. She is put-together. She has a Notion board for her plans. Online, she is a vision. She has discipline and always plans ahead.
This is most brand personas today. Clean, curated, and charming on paper. But the moment they step into real-world interactions?
She is… well… a full-blooded Nigerian. She sometimes does not notice when she slips up on the very things she prides herself in. She is prim and proper until she meets a mental patient role-playing as a driver in Lagos.
We are creating full identities that look great in pitch decks but completely fall apart in the real world. We have brands speaking fluent Gen Z on social media, then sending tone-deaf emails that feel like a dinosaur on Outlook wrote them.
This is the marketing vs. reality problem.
Why Brand Personas Fail in Real Life
Somewhere between strategy and execution, someone forgot to look in the mirror. Or worse, looked and did not recognise the reflection. We get so caught up in persona-building that we stop reality-checking. What is left is a carefully crafted mask with no soul behind it.
Marketing tells a beautiful story. But reality is always holding the receipts.
You cannot shout “community” on launch day and then ghost your audience when the product glitches. You cannot call yourself “bold and quirky” but freeze when your audience actually engages. And you definitely cannot serve Gen Z language with Gen X rigidity. Or worse, not even stan what Gen Z stans.
The Branding Problem in Nigeria
This mismatch happens a lot in Nigerian marketing. On paper, the brand is aspirational, community-driven, inclusive, and cool. But when it is time to deliver, to respond to real-time feedback, or to handle complaints, the brand turns passive-aggressive, corporate, or outright tone-deaf.
The consumer’s energy is chaotic and full of curveballs. Your brand persona has to be ready for that. Because if the experience does not align with the expectations you set, your audience will not give you a second chance.
What to Do When Your Brand Persona Doesn’t Match Reality
We match the socks.
We stop overbranding and start realigning.
We align the tone with the experience, the promise with the process, and the persona with the person behind the screen.
Because when your persona wears mismatched socks, customers do not see it as quirky. They see it as confusion. Or worse, fake.
Consistency builds trust. Not perfection.
How to Build a More Authentic Brand Persona
Do not aim to be perfect. Aim to be consistent, honest, and human.
A little less Efehi-on-a-good-day, a little more Efehi-who-checked-the-mirror-before-leaving-the-house.
At the end, it is simple:
Marketing is what you say.
Reality is who you are.
Make sure they match.
You’re welcome.