By Princewill Ekwujuru

Overtime, legend extra stout has continued to position itself as a credible stout choice in the stout market, despite daunting challenges. This invariably has given it the toga the ‘Real Deal.’ This proposition has however sustained the brand’s growth since its re-launch in 2009 in the midst of other high profile stout brands;

like Williams Dark Ale, Wilfort, Castle beer which have been playing in the regional markets, except for Guinness and Castle beer.

Legend’s current campaign tagged: ‘Taste and Tell,’ which berthed in Owerri, Imo state, precisely, Umunkoto on the ever busy Nekede road cannot be mistaken for a town meeting going by the gathering.

With displays, even a visitor could tell something was up in the vicinity. The event was the 2nd edition of the Legend Extra Stout, ‘Taste and Tell’ campaign which had transversed parts of Lagos and Benin, rewarding consumers who took the blind taste test, and able to differentiate Legend stout from the three glasses filled with other stout brands marked ‘A’ to ‘C.’

The venue littered with a few other brands from Nigerian Breweries, NB Plc, where consumers swayed to contemporary hit songs from the blast of strategically positioned speakers within the arena. The event went full blast when the compere De-Don came on stage reeling out rib cracking jokes hulled at the Igbo extraction.

Like the Lagos and Benin activations which featured Yoruba and Benin cultural performances respectively, the Owerri leg also featured a performance by ‘Nna Nyelu Ugo’ cultural group. The audience were taken aback to the soulful rendition of traditional folk songs. However, the high point of the event was when the audience played the ‘Taste & Tell game.

The ‘taste-and-tell’ game, involved a blind taste game where volunteer tasters taste several drinks poured into cups marked ‘A’ to ‘C’ after which they were asked to identify the cup that contained Legend Extra stout. Participants who correctly identified the cup were rewarded with prizes such as 9.5kva generating set, LED TV and a refrigerator among other things.

The game conducted in batches of three volunteer tasters produced two out of the three tasters- Vitalis Chilaka, a 300 Level under graduate of Quantity surveying, Federal Polytechnic, Uwana, and Augustine Chukwuebuka, and upcoming artiste correctly identified the glass that contained Legend Extra Stout after tasting the unidentified drinks in the first batch. For their feat, Vitalis and Agustine were rewarded with a 32’ inch LED TV and refrigerator respectively.

Reacting to their winnings the duo attributed it to their loyalty to the Legend brand for a long time during which period they have become accustomed to the bitter taste of the brand. From Augustine, “Legend has been my best drink for over four years now. You can’t be loyal to a brand like that and fail to distinguish it from other brands even when blind folded. Almost all stout brands have bitter taste, but the bitter taste of Legend Extra Stout is unique”.

Gift Chukwuoti, a 500L medical Student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka emerged the winner in the third batch and was rewarded with a 9.5kva generating set. His words: “this is quite surprising for me; I’m really short of words. “I’ve been a Legend Extra Stout loyalist for four years now, so I couldn’t have missed that unique bitter taste.”