Where’s Daddy’s Plate?
An expose into understanding branding as done in an African home
If you grew up in an African home; I mean the typical African home, then you might be able to relate to this. If you didn’t, ask your friends.
In a typical average Nigerian home, like mine, you’d grow to quickly realize that there are sacred items that are older than you and might also outlive you in your parent’s house. On rare occasions, you get to be the one to send them out of the house, but not without adequate disciplinary actions meted on you.
At this point, I am hoping you already have mental images of what I am talking about. I apologize if I hit any nerve that triggers your PTSD, but it’s inevitable.
I grew up in an atypical Nigerian home, we had a fine mix of different societal strata embedded in our day-to-day activities. And in our home, we had sacred items, set apart for specific purposes, for brevity’s sake; we called them, Daddy’s Plate and Daddy’s Cup.
These two items were more often than not regarded of higher importance than any other things present in the house. I broke a large number of them, (the ceramic ones), and I saw the stainless steel ones to an early grave; they began losing screws in some important areas.
PS: This was not an intentional attempt to get rid of them. I tried, but it didn’t work.
However, what we’d be focusing on is how we came to recognize these items as we called them and many of us still call them; Daddy’s Plate and Cup. We are aware of regular kitchen items that exist in the house, sometimes they might even be similar, but we somehow can differentiate between Daddy’s plate and cup from every other plate and cup that finds itself in the kitchen.
So, how did these items rise above the rank in a crowded marketplace to be known for what they do and represent?
It’s simple! Branding.
The plate and the cup were branded.
Now don’t stop reading at this point. If you’ve gotten this far, it’s only proper you dig into the interesting part of the whole article.
Firstly, we need to understand that branding is an effort by people to amplify a particular perception about a person, service or organization. It’s a deliberate effort to ensure you’re recognized in a crowded space.
This process involves putting together several elements that ensure the right ideology or perception is built in the minds of people. This series of actions is carried out on a person, service or organization called a brand.
A brand is simply a reputation you want to uphold, an ideology you want to protect and a perception you want to strengthen.
Again, the efforts you put in to ensure the above is done is called branding.
So, how did a single cup and plate work so hard to ensure that they gain acceptance and a reputation in a crowded market (the kitchen), among similar people in their market (other plates and cups). As earlier said, they used the power of branding.
A series of consistent efforts were put together to ensure the message was passed across to everyone present in the house and even visitors who came.
I am going to highlight a few scenarios that would be relatable to the average Nigerian or African reading this article. Three key things were done to ensure the plate and cup became Daddy’s plate and Cup, I’d list them out in no particular order.
- Name Calling
- Functionality
- Adoption
Name Calling
It all begins with either name-calling or functionality, but whichever you start with, you are correct. The plate and cup are either selected and called Daddy’s plate and cup.
So, being the last born child at home, some tenets have been laid down which I met and adopted without any questioning.
Why? You’d find out while I’m explaining point 3
However, when you come of age, there’s a not-so-ceremony done to announce your transition into pre-adulthood. And that ceremony is an invitation to a life of responsibility; I started washing plates at home which allowed me to have close contact with the cups and plates.
Over a long period, there is a consistent reminder that these items are sacred, one of such reminders is name-calling.
Not for a day did my mother not call those items by their brand names.
This can be better structured as leveraging the credibility of an influential figure among your target audience. You can call it, brand endorsement, influencer marketing or the good old, word of mouth marketing.
Whatever you choose to call it, it forms an integral part of the whole process of branding; being able to generate organic conversations to ensure your brand name is found in the mouth of people in your market, that’s a genius move.
If a plate and a cup can do it, you obviously can.
Consistent communication of the same message passed across in several ways over a set period ingrained the name into my head. Even though the original set of plates and cups has since gone, I still call any other item that performs that same function by that brand name.
The above is a good example of a product upgrade or a rebrand, however, that retains an existent name already accepted amongst the customers.
And one of the things that helped solidify this perception in my mind was their functionality.
This leads us to our second point I guess.
Functionality
A brand is as useful as the solution it provides. That’s one of the ways to ensure that you remain relevant in the mind of your customers. I know it’s just a plate and cup, but those guys never for once did not meet the need that they were defined and designed for — holding my dad’s food and drink.
A brand is defined by its functionality.
This functional aspect of the brand can start with meeting physical needs, but over time can transcend just physical to emotional. Now there is an irregularity when my dad is served with just any plate, this only happens on rare occasions and upon request.
Just like some classes of people feel it’s taboo to ever wield an Android device, hopefully, when they eventually do, Steve Jobs will not haunt them in their sleep.
And when a brand gets to that point where it now fills an emotional spot in your mind, it becomes adopted.
Adoption
This is where every brand should strive to get to; a place where the customer now feels that a certain need can never be met if it’s not you meet the need. They do not feel complete without you.
I have a friend who only wears the Converse shoes, nothing, not even in the slightest makes her consider a Nike, Adidas or a Night Wolfe. She believes Converse gets her, they were made for her.
Therefore, think of it…
(Take 60 seconds to think of it. Don’t just read this and pass)
Hey! I said, take 60 seconds, don’t do that, you’d lose the feel of the whole article.
After 60 seconds…
Do you now understand why you’re stuck on that one brand for a long time and feel incomplete without them?
Yea, It’s the effect of branding!
The same reason why if I travel back home today and I need to serve my dad food, I’d ask “Where is Daddy’s Plate?”
PS: If you have clearer images of these plates, please share with me🤭😁
