Why Community Is the New Competitive Advantage
In 2024, one truth stands tall in the food and beverage industry: Products are everywhere, but only a few are building communities. Anyone can copy your packaging, undercut your pricing, or replicate your formula. But no one can copy the tribe you’ve built. Having a tribe of customers that love, and speak about your product is an asset every business strives for.
That’s why the most future-focused Nigerian F&B brands are no longer just running ads, or creating content, they’re also building communities. And they’re doing it in ways that are bold, local, emotional, and impossible to replicate.
In this piece, we’ll unpack why community is your most under-leveraged asset, how brands are using it to advance loyalty and lifetime value, and the proven steps to start building yours today.
CMOs in the food and beverage space are under pressure to:
- Cut through a crowded shelf (and screen).
- Drive deeper engagement beyond impulsive purchases.
- Win the kind of loyalty that survives price increases, market shocks, and changing trends.
But here’s the thing: people trust people, not just products. A strong community helps you:
- Build organic brand advocacy (hello, free marketing).
- Get high-quality feedback and faster product iteration.
- Boost retention through shared identity and values.
This is especially true in Nigeria, where social connection and identity run deep across culture, food, and entertainment.
Nigerian Brands Doing It Right
Let’s bring it home. Here’s how some Nigerian brands have activated community-first strategies:
1. Coca-Cola Nigeria – The “Share a Coke” Campaign
While globally renowned, Coca-Cola’s success in Nigeria is worth mentioning because of its use of personalization. Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign had Nigerians searching for bottles with their names on them, turning a simple product into a personal experience. The campaign included strong social media engagement, where users were encouraged to share pictures of their personalized bottles.
Key takeaway: Personalization goes a long way. When your product speaks directly to the individual, it creates an emotional bond that turns consumers into a community.
2. Peak Milk – “Made for Moments” Campaign
Peak Milk has built its reputation in Nigeria by consistently engaging with the core of family life. Their “Made for Moments” campaign encouraged families and communities to share precious moments together with Peak Milk as the companion in their meals. They used local influencers, but it was the grassroots nature of the campaign that made it powerful.
Key takeaway: Align your brand with deeply rooted values in your community. Build content around real-life moments that resonate with your audience.
3. Fanta Nigeria – “Fanta Fun Club”
Fanta Nigeria has created a vibrant community by launching the “Fanta Fun Club,” where young Nigerians could engage in games, contests, and events both offline and online. By encouraging users to share their fun moments on social media, Fanta created a sense of belonging that went beyond just drinking the beverage.
Key takeaway: Make your brand part of the fun. Engaging your audience in entertaining and playful ways fosters a community around shared enjoyment.
4. The Indomie Fanbase
Over the years, Indomie has gone from noodle pack to national treasure, largely thanks to consistent campus tours, meme culture integration, and youth influencer tie-ins. Their brand isn’t just consumed, it’s lived.
Key takeaway: Meet your audience where they are. Reinforce their culture.
5 Steps to Building Your Own Brand Community
Here’s how you can replicate the same energy even if you’re just starting out.
Step 1: Identify the Core Belief Your Brand Stands For
Your product solves a need, but your community should reflect a belief. Is it cultural pride? Hustle culture? Wellness? Togetherness?. The goal is to be known, perceived and recognized for something. Once that’s defined, it becomes your guiding light for content, partnerships, and activations.
Step 2: Pick a Platform to Host your tribe
Where does your audience gather?
- WhatsApp or Telegram for closed communities
- Instagram or TikTok for public storytelling
- Offline events or food markets for real-life connection
Find where your tribe is, and start building from there.
Step 3: Co-create With Your Audience
- Let customers name your new flavour.
- Feature their recipe hacks.
- Encourage UGC challenges (like Zobo Art Fridays or Cocktail Saturdays).
For a food and beverage industry, share of voice is an important factor to the growth of your business. Want to grow your food and beverage brand to achieve revenue target and build an online tribe using content, contact us here.
Step 4: Launch with a “Campaign” Activation
Consider a launch moment that gets people talking:
- A street sampling tour or a university tour
- A loyalty-based “secret menu” only for core fans
- A hyperlocal brand story docuseries on YouTube
Step 5: Sustain It With Rituals
Communities don’t thrive on vibes alone, they need rituals.
- Weekly Q&A with your team
- Monthly community-only discount codes
- Quarterly in-person meetups or virtual cook-alongs
Whoever Builds the Tribe, Wins the Market.
Building a community isn’t a feel-good exercise. It’s a growth strategy. It lowers your CAC, increases retention, and builds emotional defensibility your competitors can’t copy.
At Intense Digital, we help F&B brands like yours build acquisition engines that convert, and communities that stick. So, if you’re ready to turn your audience into loyalists, and your loyalists into brand ambassadors, send us a DM
