Calling Bloggers together to Rebrand Nigeria – the Green Light Project

There’s the need to remove the negative and let the world see the brighter side of Nigeria. We’re rebuilding our image, and we need Nigerian bloggers to come together to be part of the re-branding process.

Why Re-brand Nigeria?

A lot of our citizens are achieving great milestones both home and abroad. A lot of good things are happening everyday in this country. But mainstream media outlets keep beaming the ‘red light’ – reporting more of terrorism, corruption, deserters and death tolls – which signals danger as well as forms the world’s opinion about Nigeria and her people.

There’s no denying that these things do happen like anywhere else in the world, but the excessive reporting of the negative has terribly drowned the laudable achievements and virtues of this great country Nigeria. There’s an urgent need to consciously engage some ‘opinion formers’ to start flashing the ‘green light’ – this quickly falls on the desk of Nigerian bloggers.

As content become ever more niche, bloggers can fill ‘holes’ like this, which mainstream media outlets are unable to cover. Bloggers can offer a more ‘subjective voice’ to the brand Nigeria than journalists can. Popular blogs like ‘Linda Ikeji’s Blog,’ ‘Nairaland Forum,’ ‘Cheer on Nigeria’… are helping to shape opinion and perceptions on a world scale. These blogs can mobilize a lot of support for the brand Nigeria. But they can’t do it alone if your blog doesn’t add up and join to run the cause.

As BBC journalist, Cherry Healy puts it, “The perception of blogger has really changed. They used to be a bit twee and silly, but bloggers have huge power now.” Government and businesses have begun to explore the benefits of using bloggers network to drive policies, show case new products or recent advancements. Bloggers are powerful opinion formers that can change the mindset of the people in one sweep.

For instance, ‘Brit-mums’, a network of over 500 parent bloggers are regularly consulted and used to drive household policies in UK. Today, over 34 high profile companies sponsors Brit-mums Live, an annual event worth £50 million sponsorship revenue.

Green Light Project

The ‘Green Light Project (GLP) is building a community of bloggers supporting (publishing blog posts that project Nigeria in a positive light), providing honest commentaries from respondents. So whether you blog Lifestyle, technology, sports, fashion, music, photography… what matters is the shared value between individual bloggers to use their publications in promoting the brand Nigeria.

There are lots of benefits for members of the network. GLP can give the bloggers a ‘stronger voice’ to influence policies, penetrate government and other world institutions. It can give the group a ‘strong bargaining power for sponsorship/ advertising revenue.

GreenHunters Sports International, Sport marketing company in Lagos Nigeria is the ones behind the Green Light Project. “We just want to create a platform where our favorite bloggers could share their blogging passion and in doing so help us tailor the Nigeria brand communication to their preferences and interest,” Helen Chukwueke, Media Officer of the company, explained.