Fading reading culture, poor self branding bane of writers as brand ambassadors

Operators in the creative industries – advertising, photography, films, art as well as literature convened in Lagos recently to find the reasons professional writers such as journalists and novelists were rarely employed as brand ambassadors, a market valued at over N500 million, where musicians, artistes and sportsmen and women have found another source of income.

While the operators who discussed the state of creativity and the future of the industry in Nigeria with the theme ‘The Business of Creativity, What’s next,’ at Noah’s Ark Communications fifth anniversary workshop tagged ‘Creative Safari’ agree that Nigerian brand owners associate with creative personalities in music, acting and sports, to further their brand, but infrequently use writers.

Some of those who spoke at the workshop attributed the non use of writers as brand ambassadors to lack of deep understanding on what writing is, while others said brand owners were looking for popular faces, especially through TV that the public would easily identify.

According to Jumoke Verissimo, who is involved in literature, winner of Carlos Idize Ahmad Prize, writing is more of intellectual work. “If people are not reading the work of writers, how can you connect with them,” she said, regretting that there was bit of shift from reading to playing games.

For Biola Aloba, CEO, Comedy Factory, writers need to brand themselves, saying it is lack of positioning and lack of branding that deny writers the opportunity to be used as brand ambassadors. Other speakers who include ace photographer, Kelechi Amadi-Obi, said “brand owners are looking for persons with TV faces who can connect simply with the target audience.”

Bolaji Alausa, creative director at Noah’s Ark, said the clients primarily dictate in their brief to agencies who they want as brand ambassadors.