Through the Grand Dinner, GreenHunters Sports International wants to give NPFLStars the chance to interact with some of the most powerful business people and brand Managers in Nigeria.
Brand partnerships and endorsement deals provide unique opportunities for football players to build their personal portfolio and set themselves up for long term financial success. So far, here in Nigeria, there has been a disconnect between football stars, brand managers and fans in general.
GreenHunters Sports International, a Football Marketing and Players management agency founded by Benson Chukwueke, is providing this unique opportunity through The Grand Dinner Series – an initiative designed to cultivate relationships between NPFL players, business leaders, and brand managers here in Nigeria.
Benson Chukwueke, president and the Chief Executive Officer of GreenHunters Group has been vital to the launching of this series. Through his vision, to build a brand strategy for GreenHunters and NPFL Stars by seeking out unique and authentic opportunities for them to align with the corporate world. One of the ways he plan to achieve this is through the Grand Dinner event series.
“The idea behind it was to provide NPFL stars and our young footballers the opportunity to interface with brand leaders, CEOs, COOs, CMOs, so that they could develop relationships with these brand managers throughout Nigeria, understand what their brands are all about and begin to create a personal relationship with these Corporate leaders.”
"Most NPFL stars are largely unknown because they are not well promoted by the media...and the Grand Dinner set out to promote them and their profiles directly to brand managers for possible endorsement deals. The bigger picture is these, NPFL stars sign up to become brand Ambassadors and make more media appearances for the brand. And their association with the brand expose them more to fans and the public at large."
In June, just before the world cup, GreenHunters will be hosting the first Grand Dinner event at the Eko La Merida Hotel Victoria Island. The event is expected to bring together Nigeria football ambassadors like Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha, and Lobi stars striker Anthony Okpotu, Plateau United Godwn Bajare, Enyimba Benedict Ibenegbu and Kano pillars star striker Junior Lokosa among others.
For brands, GreenHunters has extended invitations to Aiteo, Eunisell, 9ja Bet, NairaBet, Coca cola,
“It’s an opportunity for the brand leaders to get quality time with these personalities and the opportunity to interface with these football celebrities in their backyard,” says Chukwueke
The events is strstrategically positioned to help footballers familiarize themselves with brands in the areas where they are living or playing their football. Once the markets have been identified and the footballers have expressed an interest in participating, GreenHunters works with them to determine their passion brands and send out invitations accordingly.
This is an important step in the process as Chukwueke and his GreenHunters want to be sure there is a genuine connection between the players and the brands at the events.
“For us, it’s all about authenticity. We’re not an agency that just does transactions. We’re an agency that really tries to build partnerships that are rooted in authenticity so that if a player aligns with a specific brand, it makes sense. It’s real and it’s genuine,” explains Chukwueke
For the brands, the opportunity is exciting, which Chukwueke attributes to the uniqueness of the program.
“Quite honestly I don’t think any other agency is doing anything like this,” he says. “We try to do things that are a little different, a little out of the box for our clients and find opportunities for them that they, quite frankly, can’t find anywhere else.”
Chukwueke and his GreenHunters are optmistic that they will achieve success in their unqiue thinking. "We expect every participating football star to develop mentoring relationships and secure brand partnerships through conversations at the dinner. We are determined to broker more brand endorsement deals between participating NPFL stars and big brands in Nigeria and beyond.
