It is great our Ghanaian Celebrities have gotten to the stage where they think they’ve rallied enough fans and have strong brands to the extent that they can come out with their own products—hoping to rack the market with their investments and obtain mammoth profits…
As much as I commend those who have started putting out their own brands for fans consumption, I am extremely worried about the returns they may receive and the level of thinking that went into these enterprises.
Few days ago, a certain Ghanaian Celebrities shared her vision of wanting to start her own perfume line with me and to be frank, I must have ended it all for her—though harsh, it was still the truth and I told her.
Greatly inspired by Beyonce, this female Ghanaian Celebrity wanted to join the likes of Confidence Haugen, Reggie Rockstone, John Dumelo, Sarkodie and Prince David Osei to start her own brand, hoping her massive followers (fans) will patronize it.
Conceptually, this seems like a perfect investment considering the huge fans most of these celebrities have worked hard to achieve.
Using similar investments made by western celebrities like Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Jay-Z , etc as precedents, there is no way you will think they should not give it a shot in Ghana too. After all, they are celebrities and they all have substantial number of fans.
My worry and pessimism rest on what I call ‘purchasing powers of the fans of our Ghanaian Celebrities’.
Equally, our Ghanaian celebrities have fan base just like some of the western celebrities who have been able to achieve great success with their own brands/products.
However, the purchasing powers of these fans vary and this is where the success and failure come from.
Using Beyonce as an example, her die-hard fans are mostly college students and in the West, such students have spare cash from their part time jobs, student loans and other activities to patronize her products such as perfume line and others…
Let’s say a Ghanaian Celebrity like Mzbel or Efya decides to trail the line of Beyonce and invest her life savings into putting out a perfume line, would their fans be able to purchase these products?
Who are the real die-hard fans of most of these Ghanaian Celebrities? It is obvious they are the students and middle age working class individuals…
In Ghana, the purchasing powers of these groups of people do not suggest that they will be able to patronize brands of their favourite Ghanaian Celebrities to the extent that profit will be adequately maximized.
Apart from the issue of purchasing powers, the mind-set of most Ghanaians when it comes to buying foreign and local products does not make it worthy of investing in own brands as Ghanaian Celebrities…
I am yet to see any of my friends or family members who will opt for Nadia Buari’s perfume or Sarks Collection when they can stretch to obtain Channel or Gucci.
I am not saying our Ghanaian Celebrities cannot enter into branded investments, but they just have to carefully evaluate the purchasing powers and mind-set of their fans—targeted market.
If I was to be a Ghanaian Celebrity with enough cash to gamble with in Ghana, I will consider investing in hotels, hostels, farming, transportation schemes and related investments which can be patronized by each and every one provided the quality is great…
Could’t agree less, just my exact thoughts.