Friday night in Victoria Island, BYD Nigeria did something most car brands wouldn’t think to do. Instead of a product reveal with spec sheets and press kits, they threw a private screening.
The occasion was the debut of Hey BYD, an in-transit podcast hosted by actor Ibrahim Suleiman, recorded inside a BYD electric vehicle moving through Lagos traffic. The concept is simple but hard to replicate: no studio, no controlled environment, just people in a moving car with Lagos doing what Lagos does outside the window.
That setting matters more than it sounds. The road strips away the performance that comes with formal interviews. Nobody is seated across a desk or mic’d up in a soundproofed room. The car is moving, the city is loud, and conversation tends to go places it otherwise wouldn’t. It’s a format that works precisely because it’s slightly uncomfortable and Lagos traffic ensures nobody is getting out anytime soon.
The private viewing was held at BYD’s showroom on Plot 642F, Akin Adesola Street, VI. Mehdi Slimani opened the evening before Suleiman took over. Guests on the episodes included Chef Amaka, actress Linda Ejiofor Suleiman, Charles Ugochukwu Born, actress Folu Storm, and media personality Elozonam. The conversations are candid — the kind you get when the environment does half the work.
L-R: Chef Amaka, Ibrahim Suleiman
For BYD, the partnership is well-timed. The brand is still establishing itself in Nigeria, and associating with a format built entirely around the Lagos experience puts the car in a context that resonates. Hey BYD doesn’t feel like a sponsored product. It feels like the product is part of the story.
The full podcast is expected to drop publicly soon. If the private viewing is anything to go by, it’s worth the watch.
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