Imagine if Sunny Ade (African music legend) sings happy birthday to your mom on a jumbo screen during her 60th birthday party or imagine proposing to your girlfriend with Davido (Popular Nigerian Artist) telling your girlfriend to please SAY YES as you are proposing. Your fiancé then gets to post the proposal video on her Instagram account for all her friends (and haters) to see.
Celebrity obsession may be nothing new, but how we interact with them and who’s even considered a celebrity has seen a significant evolution. Social media has given the public unprecedented access to their favorite celebrities, while simultaneously creating a new class of people known as influencers (non-traditional celebrities with significant social media following).
The US-based app, Cameo was founded in 2017 as a platform where users pay celebrities to make personalized video messages. The users give a brief description of what they want the celebrities to say or who the message is for, and within a few days or even hours, a video is delivered. The celebrities set their rates some as low as $25 dollars and some as high as $2,500. Once the message is delivered, the celebrity collects 75% of the payment while Cameo keeps a 25% commission.
-Source: cameo.com
I first heard about Cameo about a year and half ago and the first thing that came to my mind was OMG, what country will this business be 10x more successful, you got it………Nigeria. Nigeria has the perfect culture and economy for this model because:
- There is a phenomenon in Nigeria in which people go out of their way to brag and show others that they are living a better life than they actually are. It is so prevalent that a movie was created, Lagos Real Fake Life to expose this issue.
- Nigerian celebs even though they are very popular still result in participating in side gigs to maximize revenue, for example, it is common for current celebrities and influencers to promote local businesses for a fee on Instagram and youtube
-Source: mymovieviews.com
An African version of Cameo will tap into our celebrity fascination while simultaneously providing a new revenue stream of celeb and influencers. This will be a fun and flashy way to surprise family and friends aligning with the “we’re doing well” phenomenon.
Imagine if Sunny Ade (African music legend) sings happy birthday to your mom on a jumbo screen during her 60th birthday party or imagine proposing to your girlfriend with Davido (Popular Nigerian Artist) telling your girlfriend to please SAY YES as you are proposing. Your fiancé then gets to post the proposal video on her Instagram account for all her friends (and haters) to see. You know these events will be posted on social media shared multiple times, thereby increasing the popularity of the new platform.
We reached out to developers to understand how much it will cost to develop an app and website identical to Cameo, including similar capabilities such as pricing information, chat functionality and financial transaction processing. We received a quote from Sands Technologies, based in India that it will cost $12,000 to replicate this platform. We believe that this price point is too low, however it provides some perspective.
A few entrepreneurs either in the diaspora or in Africa can come together to develop this platform for Africa. For illustrative purposes, we will call the app “BookMe”. Below is an overview of how to execute this project:
What it is
BookMe is an African based app where users can book personalized 30-second video shout outs from their favorite celebs and influencers. Users can pay celebrities to make personalized video messages. Users give a brief description of what they want the celebrity to say and within a few days or even hours, a video is delivered. The user can download the video message or share it on their social media profile. In addition, users can purchase a video as gifts for the girlfriends, wives or friends.
How it works
- BookMe solicits celebrities in Nigeria to join the platform
- Celebrity fills out short online form indicating their price as well as bank account info to deposit payments
- A user wants to congratulate his friend on his 30th bday, so he goes on the platform to find his friend’s favorite artist
- User creates an account including bank account details
- User searches for the celebrity, selects the celeb and types in less than 250 words what he wants the celebrity to say in the video
- User pays the artist’s fee (for example: 20,000 naira)
- Celebrity gets a notification on the user’s request
- Celebrity makes the video using their smart phone and uploads the video to the user’s account
- Once completed, the user receives a notification and the funds are released to the celebrity
- The celebrity gets 75% of payment (N15,000) while BookMe keeps 25% (N5,000)
- The user can then show the video to his friend during his birthday and/or share on their social media page
Growth (Additional Revenue Opportunity)
- Include A-List celebs that command more cash, local rich individuals or those in the diaspora could afford high priced celebs e.g. Wizkid might charge 50,000 naira for a 30-second video and an African in the diaspora can afford it because Wizkid saying happy birthday is roughly $140 (affordable for the African diaspora).
- Have celebrities start shouting out products for businesses, e.g. a local Nigerian beverage company might have a celebrity shout them out to appeal to their young target market. This will be a higher charge, which BookMe will get a larger commission.
- Leverage user and celebrity information such as name, email, phone number for future marketing opportunities
- Build a chat function, where instead of you asking for a shout out video, you ask celeb a question, thereby building a relationship with the celebrity
Next Steps
- Come up with a name for the app
- Get a Nigerian A-List celebrity to endorse the platform and become a partner (may be make the celeb a part owner). The celebrity will provide relevance to the platform and encourage their fellow celebs to join.
- Develop marketing campaign for users and celebrities
- Develop a list of celebs and influencers that will be a test run for the project
