Brands/Products
How Brands Should Leverage Digital Marketing to Capture Africa’s Future Customers
By Ebun Ikenze
Unless they cater specifically to an older niche, most brands want to grab the attention of young people. That makes sense too. Young people are tastemakers and the guardians of what’s cool and what isn’t. And, if you grab their attention while they’re still young, there’s a good chance they’ll stay loyal for a very long time. It is no wonder, then, that so many brands are showing an interest in Africa.
As other major population centres age out and face stagnant (or even decreasing) birth rates, Africa remains home to a young and growing population. In fact, as of 2022, around 40% of the population was aged 15 years and younger. Its overall population, meanwhile, currently sits at around 1.4 billion and is expected to grow to 2.5 billion people by 2050. And by 2030, young Africans are expected to constitute 42% of global youth.
But attracting all those young people to your brand is more complex than launching it and hoping they’ll come. You also have to market it actively. And the best way of doing so is through targeted, relevant messages on the digital platforms that most young Africans spend the majority of their time on.
Connected, savvy, and cool
That focus on digital platforms might seem strange given that overall levels of internet access in Africa (currently at 43%) remain below the global average (66%), but internet connectivity is growing rapidly across Africa. Thanks to the increasing number of undersea cables linking African countries with each other and the rest of the world, connectivity has become faster, more ubiquitous, and more affordable. That impact can be seen in the fact that, by 2022, the continent had more than doubled the number of internet users it had in 2015.
Internet traffic has grown too. In fact, between 2018 and 2022, Africa saw the most rapid growth in international internet bandwidth. While global average bandwidth growth during that period was 28%, Africa saw 44% growth in the same period. Young people are a major driving force behind the growth in internet adoption and traffic. While not an exact proxy for internet connectivity, it’s illuminating that in 2019, sub-Saharan Africa was expected to add more than 160 million mobile subscribers by 2025, driven primarily by the youth population.
With those improvements in connectivity come increased levels of consumer savviness. That means that consumers increasingly want the same kinds of brand experiences as their counterparts in other countries and will actively seek out those experiences.
Being where they are
Therefore, brands must do everything they can to be where those young people are when they’re seeking out those experiences.
That means those brands must have presences on major digital platforms, including those owned by Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram), as well as on the likes of Snap and Spotify. It’s also telling how invested those platforms are in the continent. Spotify, for example, views Africa as crucial to its ambitions of doubling its global user base by 2030.
They clearly see the potential in Africa’s young and increasingly connected population, so shouldn’t you too?
Partner with the experts
Of course, as much as those platforms have made it as easy as possible to advertise on them, brands can’t simply launch a campaign and hope for the best. They should instead partner with experts who can help ensure that their campaigns are as effective as possible.
Such a partner will have expertise in each of the most important platforms as well as extensive experience in the markets your brand is trying to break into. That on-the-ground knowledge, in particular, should never be underestimated. It can be the difference between a successful campaign and a total flop.
The right partner will also help you deliver creative excellence at a transparent price, maximising the impact of your digital campaigns.
Embracing Africa’s big digital shifts
There is no doubt that Africa is undergoing massive shifts and that its growing, youthful population represents a massive opportunity for the brands willing to take advantage of it. And if they’re to take advantage of that opportunity, they also need to ride the continent’s growing levels of connectivity. Crucially, they shouldn’t do it alone and should instead partner with people who understand both the continent and the most relevant online platforms used across it.
The brands that get that right stand to see serious and lasting gains.
Ebun Ikenze is the Client Relations Director at Ad Dynamo by Aleph
By Adedapo Adesanya
Canal+, which now owns MultiChoice, a pay-TV firm, has announced its decision to discontinue the streaming service, Showmax.
The company said the Showmax board has made the decision to discontinue the service in the near future.
“This decision reflects our focus on strengthening our overall digital offering and ensuring long-term sustainability in an increasingly competitive streaming environment.
“Importantly, at the moment, there will be no interruption to your current service. You can continue streaming as usual, and no action is required from you at this time,” it said.
It added that it will share further details in the future, including timelines and any future steps, should they be required.
MultiChoice launched Showmax across Africa 10 years ago in August 2015 to compete with the advent of streamers like Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon’s Prime Video, Disney+ and others, which all became available on the continent and started biting into MultiChoice’s legacy pay-TV subscriber base on DStv and GOtv.
However, it soon faced some challenges and couldn’t hit its target.
In February 2024, MultiChoice, in partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniversal, relaunched Showmax, utilising the technology behind the Peacock streaming service.
The investment, which was pegged at over $300 million, still did not bear the expected fruit, with other streaming giants seeing growth over the years.
With Canal+’s takeover and its aggressive cost-cutting moves, it was no doubt that Showmax got the axe.
Regardless, it said, “Streaming remains central to our strategy. We will continue to invest in premium content, technology innovation and partnerships to deliver the best possible entertainment experience to our customers.”
Canal+ is looking to cut a combined €400 million by 2030, which will affect content.
NBCUniversal has a 30 per cent stake in Showmax as a joint venture. In its last annual results before the Canal+ takeover, MultiChoice revealed that Showmax’s trading losses had worsened by 88 per cent while revenue significantly declined.
According to the company, “The decision to axe Showmax was made by the Showmax board and reflects the continued focus of MultiChoice, a Canal+ company, on financial discipline and investment optimisation, in an increasingly competitive and capital-intensive global streaming environment.”
Since Canal+, as part of its agreement to take over MultiChoice, isn’t allowed to get rid of any staff for a period of three years, MultiChoice won’t let any Showmax staff go but will reassign them to other positions within the broader company.
MultiChoice has already started to quietly rebrand Showmax Originals as Africa Magic, M-Net, kykNET and Mzansi Magic Originals, with original series that will transition to these various DStv linear TV channels on the MultiChoice pay-TV platform.
Showmax’s closure comes two years after Amazon MGM Studios shocked Nigeria and South Africa’s creative community in January 2024 when it announced that it would stop commissioning any new local original content in Africa, and also ended already-existing development deals with a dozen production companies.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Marketing Manager of a leading bleach brand in Nigeria, Hypo Bleach, Mr Adebayo Adeyemo, has condemned the presentation of the brand as a beverage for trends, jokes, or views by influencers and bloggers.
In a statement, Mr Adeyemo said Hypo Bleach was formulated to “remove stains, whiten your white fabric, deodorise and kill 99.9 per cent of germs” and not produced as a “drink.”
“We have observed people seeming to have fun creating and sharing videos and AI-generated images designed to make Hypo look like a beverage.
“Your health and safety are serious business. We want to be unambiguous: those images are fabricated, that framing is false, and anyone encouraging others to consume Hypo, even as a joke, even for views, is putting lives at risk. It is not something to consume for the sake of trends,” the Marketing Manager stated.
He further said, “To every influencer, blogger, and content creator. Your reach is real; so is your responsibility. A trend that ends in ill-health is not a trend worth starting.”
“To every young Nigerian seeing this content, you do not have to prove anything to anyone. Not online. Not offline. Not ever. If someone is pressuring you to try this, that is not a dare. That is harm.
|If you or someone you know is struggling emotionally or feeling pressure they cannot handle, please reach out to someone you trust.
A guardian. A counsellor. A healthcare professional. Asking for help is not a weakness; it is a strength.
“Also, we urge people to prioritise their mental health. Evaluate the quality of your conversations with people. Should you notice inconsistencies in their thinking, encourage them to seek professional help. Depression is real and should be treated with utmost concern. Let’s keep social media fun, but safe,” Mr Adeyemo added.
By Dipo Olowookere
A conference designed to examine how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fundamentally reshaping crisis communication, institutional response systems, governance frameworks, and reputational risk management is slated to take place on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in Lagos, at 10 am.
The event, planned by a renowned Public Relations (PR) firm, CMC Connect LLP, is themed Crisis Management in the AI Milieu: New Threats, Smarter Responses.
It is an offshoot of the company’s flagship industry initiative, Crisis Management Advocacy Month, scheduled to be held throughout March 2026.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, is expected to deliver the keynote address, while the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Mohammed Idris Malagi, is the Special Guest of Honour.
Earlier in the month, the Vice President for Corporate Communications and CSR at Airtel Africa, Mr Emeka Oparah, will headline a closed-door media workshop convened exclusively for senior media executives in Lagos.
The 2026 edition will also feature strategic collaborations with the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) through its Monthly PR Clinics in both the Lagos and Abuja Chapters, where the Senior Corporate Communications Analyst at CMC Connect LLP, Ms Affiong Edet, will deliver a thematic presentation aligned with this year’s focus.
The initiative will also partner with the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Legal Practice through its weekly webinar series to interrogate the intersection of AI, Crisis Management, and the Law.
“Artificial Intelligence has fundamentally altered the crisis landscape. Crisis Management Advocacy Month 2026 is intentionally designed to convene cross-sector leaders to interrogate emerging risks, strengthen institutional preparedness, and promote smarter, ethical response architectures in an AI-driven environment,” the Project Coordinator, Ms Bright Emmanuel Okon, commented.
Also, the Lead Partner of CMC Connect LLP, Mr Yomi Badejo-Okunsanya, said, “In today’s digital ecosystem, crises evolve at unprecedented speed. Institutions must move beyond reactive communication toward intelligent crisis architecture. Crisis Management Advocacy Month represents our commitment to advancing national and institutional resilience in the age of AI.”
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