Let’s set the table…
Awards in Nigeria have always told us more than the trophies. They’re mirrors — showing us where culture, consumer demand, and marketing budgets are moving.
So when the Nigerian Marketing Awards (NMA) 2025 released its entry categories last week, two new ones jumped out:
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Best Use of AI in Marketing
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Best Spice Brand
And yes, you read that right — spice. Not telecoms, not oil & gas, not even fintech. Seasoning cubes and sachets just earned their own throne at Nigeria’s marketing high table.
On the surface, it sounds quirky. But dig deeper and you realize: this is one of the sharpest cultural moves we’ve seen from a Nigerian award body in years.
Why Spice Deserves the Spotlight
If you think “Best Spice Brand” is small, you’re not paying attention.
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Every Kitchen Is a Billboard
Maggi, Knorr, Onga, Sonia — these aren’t just pantry fillers. They’re emotional triggers. A sachet of spice shows up at every point of culture: weddings, Christmas cooking, YouTube recipe tutorials, and even TikTok trends. They don’t just season food — they season memory. -
The Quiet Digital Dominance
Go on Instagram or TikTok today. Type “Jollof rice recipe.” You’ll see spice brands embedded in reels, often without even paying for placement. The hashtags are theirs. The recall is theirs. In other words: while banks chase influencers, spice brands are owning organic engagement. -
Nigeria’s True Mass Market
With inflation biting, sachet brands are more relevant than ever. Everyone might not buy a Martell cognac bottle or open a fintech account, but everybody buys seasoning. That’s scale you can’t ignore.
The AI Category: Another Quiet Signal
Adding “Best Use of AI in Marketing” was less shocking but just as symbolic. It’s an admission that:
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Nigerian marketing has moved past “AI as buzzword” to AI as budget line.
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Agencies that don’t experiment with AI copy, targeting, or predictive analytics will soon be obsolete.
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But — and here’s the kicker — most brands are still messing it up. (See our earlier post: Prompt-and-Pray: Inside Nigeria’s New Era of Lazy Copywriting).
What It Really Means for the Industry
The new award categories are less about trophies and more about signals. They’re saying:
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Relevance is shifting. Yesterday’s “big ad spenders” (telcos, banks, breweries) are losing cultural share to food and FMCG.
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AI is no longer optional. It’s not “future of marketing” — it’s the now. If you’re not testing, you’re behind.
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Culture > Cash. Spice brands get an award seat because they represent where Nigerians actually live.
TL;DR
The Nigerian Marketing Awards didn’t just add two categories. They confirmed what we’ve been saying at SoroSoke:
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The battlefield for relevance is shifting to brands that feel close to the skin — or in this case, the tongue.
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The future of Nigerian marketing belongs to those who can balance culture (spice) with technology (AI).
The SoroSoke Brand Tip
Stop thinking awards are about trophies. They’re forecasts. If your brand strategy can’t earn a “Best Spice” level of cultural intimacy or an “AI” level of smart execution… you’ll be sitting out the next wave.