The Ama Kip Kip Story.

“Careful what you wish for, you might receive it he said…” — Jay Z | Blueprint II.

I have been privileged to talk to tons of guys who own and run urban fashion brands in Nigeria and one recurrent sentiment is the desire for their brands to grow and stay relevant for a very long time. In other words, they are willing to play the long game. This is neither good nor bad, it is what it is. What puts brands in precarious positions is when they are not sure what game they are playing or worse, play one game while making opposing moves (long term game vs short term moves and vice versa).

I believe the latter to be worse than the former as it’s equivalent to brand suicide (you’d probably still die from the former but only from exhaustion induced by running around in circles). The first time I noticed this phenomenon was with the Ama Kip Kip brand circa 2005/2006. For those who may not be familiar with the brand, Ama Kip Kip is a South African based urban fashion brand that was very popular in the mid 2000’s. Originating out of Johannesburg (Ama Kip Kip is actually “colored popcorn”, a local Jo’burg delicacy), the brand became a continental hit when the newly formed MTV Base Africa started beaming South African videos to the rest of Africa. With very visible colorful imagery and a catchy slogan, the brand became an instant hit in Nigeria. Ideally, this would have been a good thing but the brand hadn’t anticipated the sort of demand they had just unlocked in Nigeria and were very slow to respond. In hindsight, they probably envisioned that they would conquer Jozi and then move on to other parts of South Africa. Darn Nigerians!!!

It was only a matter of time before knock-offs made their way into the Nigerian market after the young Nigerians who had been inundated with AKK imagery couldn’t find any to lay their hands on. The slaughter that followed was unprecedented and ultimately led to the brand losing a lot of equity. The AKK guys were probably playing for the long term but the brand went viral and unwittingly switched them to the short term game. They didn’t adapt fast enough and the rest is history.