Japa to Prime Video: A Masterclass Campaign in Driving Local Relevance

Amazon Prime Video is a popular streaming service that offers a wide variety of TV shows, movies and documentaries to its subscribers. In 2022, the company partnered with Insight Publicis to launch its services in Nigeria as part of Prime Video’s expansion plans across the EMEA region. The objectives: create awareness, increase customer subscriptions and make the brand appealing to a new range of consumers.

By tapping into cultural nuances, recognizable talent within the Nigerian community itself and local media buys, the “Japa to Prime Video” campaign was impactful in making the brand locally relevant and effectively established the platform as the only place to go when looking for quality curated content.

The strategy

Market and consumer research revealed that the market was at a nascent stage and there was a low adoption rate, which meant that switching was crucial. The consumer insights revealed that 71% of Nigeria’s population is under 35 years and the pressures on the average Nigerian consumer in this demographic (i.e.: inflation and unemployment).

The campaign idea was built around the insight of “escape,” locally known as “Japa,” a term that represents the reality of most Nigerian youth who are looking to travel to other countries for a better life. Through this idea, we demonstrated that Amazon’s Prime Video is a Swiss Army knife for those looking to escape; messaging encouraged consumers to choose better for themselves and established the platform as the go-to when looking for quality curated content.

“Japa to Prime Video” messaging played two roles. The first was convincing consumers to escape to the platform for quality content and the second encouraging consumers to switch over from competitor streaming platforms.

The execution

The campaign launched with an entertaining viral stunt using an unexpected Nigerian influencer, Davido, to spark a viral conversation on Twitter. Davido is one of Africa’s and Nigeria’s biggest Afrobeats musicians, known for his unique sound and connection with millennials and Gen Z. He’s arguably one of the most loved musicians in Nigeria because of his generosity and philanthropy. For reference, he has a famous quote: “We rise by lifting others.”

To increase brand visibility, Amazon Prime Video used a mix of digital and traditional advertising strategies, including social media, display ads and OOH deployment. The brand also leveraged the power of influencers of different scales, including nano, micro and Twitter army, to help drive massive conversation for the brand on launch day.

The results

The Amazon Prime Video launch in Nigeria was successful in creating awareness, increasing customer subscriptions and top-of-mind awareness amongst the target audience, especially with the ability to pay in naira using local cards and access to quality content without using VPNs.

The brand recorded 111.2M-plus impressions on social media. The campaign reached a total of 26.6M users with 48k video views, 43k engagements, 580k profile visits, 6.7k website taps, 3.5k brand mentions and gained 5.4K-plus followers on Twitter within three weeks of launch.

The most successful performance was display, which exceeded expectations, delivering twice the planned impressions. OOH deployment effectively dominated the OOH space in Lagos, controlling the share of voice, which led to increased brand visibility and talkability of the campaign. The campaign exceeded delivery goals on YouTube and Twitter.

Overall, the “Japa To Prime Video” message was seen as bold, relevant and audacious. It was audacious because it was unexpected for a global brand to speak in the local language. It was relevant because it tapped into the cultural zeitgeist of Nigerians who are looking for ways to escape the everyday. And it was clear in its intent, which was to position Prime Video as a platform that offers a unique and immersive viewing experience.