Experience is the best teacher. When something is experienced, it is real and practical, not a theory or phantom. It lasts longer in memory.
Gulder Club Ultimate in Enugu.
Consumers have to interact with a brand for it to be on top of their mind. This is why brands now engage and connect with consumers through experiential marketing that creates conversational encounters and chain reactions before, during, and after the event.
This is what Nigerian Breweries has been doing with Club Ultimate, with the club moving from one state to another.
The ship had berthed in Port Harcourt and Lagos. Last week, it made a stop over in Enugu where, for days, the city hosted The Gulder Club Ultimate ship.
Members of the club were entertained by two deejays, who dished out hit songs from across the continents.
As the first day wound down, guests started walking into the Polo ground, which hosted the Club Ultimate ship. The towering ship on land prepared the mood for something extraordinary in the ship.
Welcoming the club members into the ship were pictures of outstanding personalities from different fields of endeavour – sports, politics, entertainment – from across the continents, who have positively shaped their immediate environment and the world.
They included Sunny Okosun, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Oliver de Coque, Fela Kuti, Nelson Mandela, Pele, Bruce Lee, Serena Williams, Muhammed Ali, Tiger Woods and Sunny Ade.
The list was a mixture of the living and the dead.
In the ship were two deejays on a wheel on both ends of the hall. They played songs that got the hall vibrating, and the guests danced and sang along.
Though the hall was filled to the brim, the loosely arranged seats, which allowed club members to move around freely and danced unhindered, ensured that the setting was not too rowdy while the atmosphere was convivial.
While in a typical hall, all kinds of drinks and alcohol are on hand for guests, in this, it was only Gulder on offer.
There were two giant screens mounted at both ends of the hall which showed different scenes in the hall. This served as fillers for many to watch, as they were not left blank, especially those who had to stop dancing occasionally.
The majority of those in the hall and outside were youths.
Those inside refilled their beer glasses over and over again. This helped to connect Gulder to the youth, a segment the brand seeks to entice.
Gulder is being gradually repositioned in the minds of Nigerians. Many who were present at the venue had held the notion that it is a beer for the elderly.
One participant, Theodora Mark, said it was an amazing experience, because the spirit in the hall ignited fire and the crowd was awesome.
She thought it was going to be a small club setting. “I never expected it to be this good as everything was to the point.”