Big beauty brands are already the leading forces of the industry, producing mountain of content to reach consumers on platform like Instagram and YouTube.
It is no news that African brands collectively spend millions on social platforms. Telco (Airtel) and Game (Bet King) are investing heavily in content marketing to achieve this.
In case you are asking what content marketing is, content strategy is the planning, development, and management of content—written or in other media.
Every year, these companies create content to put a smile on our faces, to keep consumers engaged and even to get us thinking about trivial topics. Yet they are missing massive opportunities to take their content strategies to the next level, by linking it to TV and films.
Lionheart starring Genevieve Nnaji was Netflix’s first original Nollywood movie, produced by Chinny Onwugbenu and directed by Genevieve Nnaji herself. This drama follows the plight of a woman taking charge of her father’s company after he unexpectedly passes away. She navigates grief and the chaos of being the boss of a highly sought-after company in a sexist society.
With more African content becoming mainstream and audience across the globe plugged to Netflix, this platform has become a canvas to express creativity from the continent.
While the movie Lionheart wasn’t such a revolutionary storyline, I believe it was quite interesting and had a millennial touch. However, I can’t explain why Genevieve, as director, did not come up with what I call “a Va va voom look” for the main character, Adaeze.
I can’t help but ask, why wasn’t a specific beauty pattern created for this character? Why couldn’t we get more of Adaeze’s character through her make-up, and her fashion? And most importantly, when are we going to see an “African Jacqui Kennedy” or a “black Grace Kelly” on television if she wasn’t seen in Lionheart?
Well, only the directors of photography, the make-up artists, the fashion designers and the stylists have the answers to this last question. Only a community of creative minds can make this possible.
Currently, it seems the beauty ecosystem is going thru an important disruption, with many actors trying to make a name for themselves while focusing on getting the right collaborations. But definitely, there is a void in the up-end beauty segment that is seeking for attention. A call that only African beauty professionals and beauty entrepreneurs can respond to, in order to call it up-end African Beauty.
Blogger’s conclusions
Netflix, television, and films remain great channels for African beauty professionals to showcase talent and creativity. However, current changes in the industry calls for an up-end expression of female and male beauty on television. Which means, beauty professionals need to move pass tradition and background to express such level of creativity.
