Timaya was crying, in
front of 20,000 people at the Joseph Yobo Mini Stadium in Port Harcourt.  Timaya, recently the strident, swaggering dancehall superstar,  bent his knees and shed some tears. Naturally, some people thought such a sudden  outpour of emotions was unseemly for someone of Timaya’s stature. To many others, however, it was just the  perfect treat. Crying in front of thousands of fans who have come to watch you entertain them was a special gift, they reckon. It’s nothing to be embarrassed by at all.
Timaya’s stunt on this particular night became the icing on an already good cake for Legend and it made the stories from that gig even  more sharable. These  stories are about unpretentious. The beer brand has come a long way from these hard-core leather-jacket-slinging adverts it used to run on TV. These days, it looks like it is embracing its growing popularity among an aspiring urban crowd whose reality is anything but fake.
Legend is doing less of the macho club swash buckling it tried so hard to own before and more of a down-to-earth “Original Naija’ tone of voice. This may be because another brand already does something  not so different  from that  but what’s currently good for Legend is the fact that public  reactions to its new strategy  suggest that its  advertising  campaign Real Deal Experience concerts, and other properties in the mix are making the desired impact on the intended  audience.
Timaya, you see, was not making a mess of himself in front of total strangers. He was at home with his own  people and sharing his unfettered emotions with them was a way of showing them how much he trusted them and how grateful he was to  them. Indeed we are talking about a great crowd here, not a handful of close neigbours but those are the words he used.
“I always love performing in Port Harcourt”, he said after the show. It brings back so many memories and the crowd  tonight was spectacular. They made me feel at home. Almost like I never felt. His success, he explained, could be credited to Port Harcourt. It is the ‘town most instrumental in shaping my early days,’ he said and promised to ‘give my people every thing  they want and  more. If I don’t do this for them who else would, I do it for?, Timaya stated.
As he said that, the crowd cheered him on and that was the moment that Legend won the evening. Even if the brand had paid for a night to remember, it couldn’t  have engineered this priceless outcome. The star and  his fans were in  harmony. Legend  could simply  take that night, stick its logo on it and run it as an advert.
‘The Real  Deal Experience is about making people appreciate realness and  authenticity. Bring fans  face to face with one of  their favourite music superstars is a very engaging way of putting across this message, said Oluseun Lawal, brand manager, Legend.
The concerts have now held in four locations: Lagos, featuring Oritefemi at Okokomaiko, Onitsha featuring KCee at Ekwulobia Township Stadium, Port Harcourt, starring Timaya at the Joseph Yobo Mini Stadium, and Ibadan headlined by 9ice at Cultural Centres, Mokola. At each of the venues, the ravers sand performers appeared to be relating like old friends.