The Nation Newspaper

Category: Brand week

  • ‘Where is TSTV?’

    ‘Where is TSTV?’

    Telecom Satellite Nigeria Limited launched a pay-per-view TV —TSTV — on October 1. TSTV was launched with the hype of affordability and flexibility of payment, and also amidst euphoria by Nigerians, who saw the pay TV as an alternative to the industry leader, DSTV. However, since the celebratory launch of the Pay TV brand, Nigerians have been asking: “Where is TSTV”.

    A day after launch, Nigerians went in search of TSTV decoders and found out that they were not available. The company explained that “operations would commence on November 1st”. The support for TSTV was defined as an extension of patriotism and in furtherance of promoting local brands. “Even if it takes till next year for the TSTV to be available, I will wait and get it”, wrote a twitter follower of TSTV.

    On November 1st, the company reeled out apology that the decoders would not be available due to accreditation of dealers and operational logistics. Subscribers of TSTV were viewing a football match on BeIn Sports Channel on November 2nd when the screen froze. And a  message came up: “You are viewing Beln Sports content illegally via TSTV in Nigeria.” This corroborated an earlier leaked memo from BeIn Sports to TSTV, warning the pay TV not to proceed with illegal transmission of the international sports channel.

    By November 3rd, TSTV has become a channel on ABS Satellite service. “Kindly track ABS 3 and you will receive TSTV on frequency 11052, free to air”, the company wrote on social media. The channel TSTV is, therefore, transmitting on ABS as free to air. This is a laughable development, considering the trust reposed in the company by both the government and the people of Nigeria.

  • B2B marketing: Content marketing not a campaign

    Widely-read scholar and Vice President of Global Marketing Adele Sweetwood once wrote: “Content has become an especially critical component of the modern approach to marketing. Everything we do as marketers now involves some kind of content that has to be designed as channel-appropriate.”

    According to a survey carried out by Content Marketing Institute (CMI), 89 per cent of Business-to-business (B2B) marketers now use content marketing to generate leads and convert prospects. It is more interesting that “73 per cent of B2B marketers include a plan to operate content marketing as a business process and not a campaign”.

    This information is contained in the 2017 Report on B2B Content Marketing published by the US-based institute. The report also highlighted that only 41 per cent of organisations are “clear on what an effective or successful content marketing program looks like”.

    B2B Content Marketing is not as pedestrian as social media marketing for small businesses. Success factors include quality and efficiency of content; strategy development and adjustment; targeting the right people and at the right time; managerial decisions such as new content marketing roles; and content measurement.

    B2B organisations that are successful with content marketing operate it as an ongoing business process and not a campaign. It is a continuous business process of aggregating analytics about prospects and analysing trends. Strategy is involved, and it is more about promoting the contents to generate leads. No focus on fluffy metrics such as likes, shares and new followers.

    B2B marketing tactics rely depends on the same 4Ps of marketing: product, place, price and promotion. Unlike consumer marketing, B2B marketing is executed in a unique way, as the target makes buying decision based on imperative needs, cost-effectiveness, and profit potential. The customers here aren’t emotional.

    Big corporations such as General Electric are said to be spending an estimated N21 billion a day on products and logistics, which aid operations of the business. At this level, a lot of analysis goes into buying decisions. However, social media provides an opportunity for businesses to connect with businesses. IT companies with large portfolio of B2B products, such as Accenture and Cisco are using content marketing to build trust and generate corporate leads.

    Of the organisations surveyed by CMI, 24% has centralised content marketing team that works with multiple brands within their organisations. 5 per cent of the organisations has content marketing teams focusing on specific brands. Even as organisations are now employing content marketers, some of these personnel have complained that they have not been given enough time to focus on content marketing.

    In most cases, social media personnel are being given extra responsibilities to justify their enumeration instead of appraising their performance against some certain key performance indicators (KPIs). According to the 2017 B2B Content Marketing report, 52 per cent of B2B Marketers attributed stagnant success to “not enough time devoted to content marketing”. Fifty-seven per cent of them attributed decreased success to the same reason.

  • Man wins 9mobile photography competition with borrowed camera

    A self-taught and emerging photographer, who borrowed a friend’s camera to shoot image, Oluwaseun Otitoola, has been named the 2017 9mobile Photography Competition.

    Otitoola’s image titled, Fragment of CMS Bookshop Building, was first from the top 100 images selected from hundreds initially received.

    This year’s edition of the annual competition opened on August 7 with a call for entries and closed on September 11. After weeks of assessment, with theme tagged: Capturing Solid Memories in 9ja, focusing on “Architectural buildings”, the judges announced Otitoola’s Fragment of CMS Bookshop Building as winner.

    “I didn’t have a camera of my own but I love photography so I borrowed my friend’s camera to participate,” according to the 24-year-old engineering graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).

    According to the judges, Otitoola’s image illustrates the “perfect” blend of classic and modern architectural Lagos (Nigeria) which was theme of this year’s competition

    “It was exactly what we were looking for,” one of the competition’s judges Kola Oshalusi said.

    As first place prize winner Otitoola went home with a hi-tech Canon digital camera and N30, 000 worth of airtime. The finalists: Amanda Ihemebiri’s “The Nest Oil Tower” and Taiwo Omotosho, Lines Side by Side, who bagged the second and third positions, went home with Samsung device and some airtime. The newly-introduced category, the voters’ choice category, was won by Ikenna Ogbenta’s Skies and Scrapers, which came with a Samsung device. The winners were presented their prizes at the office of 9mobile.

    “The competition serves as a platform to discover, reward and empower budding photographers to fulfil their passion and capture compelling images that celebrate our Nigerian heritage,” according to the Chief Executive Officer, 9mobile, Boye Olusanya.

  • GoTV leads in marketing innovations

    GoTV leads in marketing innovations

    GoTV kick-starts pay-per-day

    In the Pay TV sector,  GoTV is leading in terms of marketing inno-vations. The Pay TV platform launched “GoTV Lite” which offers pay-per-day at  the rate of N13. The platform is also currently running #GoTVMax which offers live LaLiga matches. On  October 24, #GoTVwAWU was launched; it offers special channels and rewards to subscribers. The crescendo of GoTV’s brand innovations was on  October 26, when it  brought the European Premier League’s trophy to Lagos. On  October 29, Nigerians were able to sight, touch and take a selfie with the EPL trophy, courtesy of GoTV. It is getting exciting.

     

    Kwese TV builds traction

    However, Kwese TV stole the show with the Nigerian-British Antony Joshua’s victorious boxing match against Cameroonian Carlos Takam, which was aired live on the free-to-air sports Channel of Kwese TV known as Kwese Sports. Nigerians were able to follow the match and the company also live-streamed the boxing match in Sagamu, the hometown of the boxing champion.

     

    TSTV delays operations

    The much-awaited commercial operations of TSTV postponed till November 1 2017 did not begin on that particular day. And fans of the indigenous Pay TV brand took to social media to decry the company’s failure to keep to promises. The social media account of TSTV tried to handle the situation by releasing a statement.

    In the statement, Telecom Satellite Limited, owners of TSTV, said the operations could not commence due to an exercise “to ensure the proper monitoring and evaluation of the signal strength”. The company also explained that “the accreditation of selected dealers is ongoing in addition to the full branding of the dealers’ outlets across the country”. Nigerians who were initially excited about a Nigerian brand venturing into the Pay TV business are expressing their disappointments and worries over the delay of operations.

  • Aboliki balm : Nigerian brand gone global

    A hot balm being hawked on the streets, Aboliki Balm, has never appeared on any advert. The product is an awesome representation of what a brand should be. It thrives on consumer experience and a wide distribution network. The product is used to temporarily relieve minor pains. It is also used for the relief of flu. The brand has been awarded by European Society for Quality Research, Institute For Government & Leadership Technology, West African Direct Marketing Award, and West African Corporate Achievement Award.

    The ointment is manufactured and distributed  by J. C. Udeozor Global industries Ltd. The company’s head office is in Iduowinna, Edo State and it has an international office in Nottingham, United Kingdom. With a unique service proposition of ensuring “healthy muscles”, combined with minimalist branding, the product is being sold in Europe, North America and some other parts of the world.

    A consumer based in Europe, Afrilaskan Jules, who got Aboliki Balm from Amazon, said: “It works wonders”. In his testimonial to the product, he said:”I put it on my feet at night to get rid of a cold and on my muscles when they are sore. It works so good”.

    But some users of the balm have also complained about the intense heat it generates on the skin.

    A user who gave his name simply as John said when the balm strayed into his a larceration on his skin,  he saw hell.

    1. C. Udeozor Global industries Ltd has demonstrated that a brand is just a great product; a product that meets the consumers’ needs and translates to a wonderful experience. The company has also metamorphosed into a corporate multinational with competence in marketing and distribution.

  • CPN’s confab focuses on retooling workforce

    How best to retool the national workforce to be IT compliant, among other industry issues, will dominate discussion at the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) IT CEOs roundtable slated for next month in Lagos.

    The forum is part of the eight-point agenda of the President and Chairman-in-Council of CPN, Prof. Charles Uwadia, in his manifesto to become the CPN boss.

    At the forum where Dotun Suleiman, a high profile industry stakeholder will speak,  CPN is expected to have engagement with CEOs of IT industry at all levels, and discuss fiscal policy on empowerment of IT professionals and companies.

    CPN, an agency under the Ministry of Education is empowered to control and supervise the Computing/IT profession in Nigeria.

    Secretary/ Registrar to the Council, Mr. Allwell Achumba, in a  statement, said  the forum was conceived as a gathering of IT CEOs in Nigeria with the objective of discussing and strategising on emergent issues in IT in order to come out with recommendations and decisions that would impact positively on the IT industry, profession and government policies of the nation.

  • Business overview: Prospects of events sector

    Business overview: Prospects of events sector

    A survey on the event industry took this writer to Remi Olowude Street in Lekki; nearby there is a multi-million naira edifice.  There are well-furnished suites similitudes of a 5-star hotel, marquees having central air conditioning systems, professional performance stage with concert lights installed, immense watts-driven sound system, and LED projection screens.

    This is not an hotel, it is an event centre. Records showed that the facility, known as Glitz Event Centre, hosted 1,612 hours of events and about 90,500 guests within its first year of existence, from October 2016 to October 2017. This is the events and meetings (E&M) sector and these numbers mean millions of naira annually.

    Glitters and Owanbe, as we have come to know the events business, is another industry that is showing prospects as much as agriculture does. However, the meetings and events industry is either under-reported or not at all. The industry provides jobs for over one million Nigerians within allied-businesses such as event planning, cakes and confectioneries, event photography and video coverage, food and beverage, event decorations, and make up.

    Omawumi Eyekpimi, a blogger with mrpepe.com, puts the estimated cost of an affordable wedding at N1,590,600. However, the cost of planning a wedding can go as high as N200 million depending on the number of guests, and expectations of the couple.

    “Charges are based on event type, number of hours, the day of the week, and other specifications of the client”, explained Adetola Juyitan, managing director of Glitz Event Centre.

    Averagely, it takes N5 million to put a wedding together in Lagos.

    Research agencies have always bundled the events and meetings (E&M) sector with hospitality and tourism and also with entertainment. This has not helped to track growth and recognise the immense potential of the booming informal sector.

    Besides hotels, the meetings and events sector boasts of $25 billion in terms of investment, according to an event booking site, ogavenue.com. This accounts for the thousands of event centres across the nation. Also not reported is the foray of the event centres into the core of hospitality – rooms for lodging guests after events. Most importantly, analysts have to evaluate the quota of events and meeting to the GDP.

    Experts estimated that about 20,000 events happen in Lagos annually. This comprises entertainment shows, corporate events, conferences, annual general meetings, religious meetings, weddings, and other forms of celebration in and out of the formal sector. The volume of events implies that the industry generates about N100 billion annually in Lagos only. This sector also needs to get the support of government and the banks. If properly invested in, it can employ a substantial number of our unemployed youths, and also drive the economy towards growth.

  • SERAS unveils 2017 judges

    The organisers of the sustainability, enterprise and responsibility awards otherwise known as The SERAS CSR Awards Africa have announced a list nine erudite professionals and global CSR and sustainability industry leading figures for the 2017 jury panel.

    The judges would serve a two year tenure that could be renewed. The list comprises Deborah Leipziger, Tunde Arogunmati, Maria Silanpaa, Jonathon Hanks, Adesuwa Onyenokwe, Dr. Ini Usoroh, Scott Walker, Indira Kartallozi and Olusegun McMedal.

    The committee would be presided over by Deborah Leipziger, author of the Corporate Responsibility Code Book and SA8000: The Definitive Guide to the New Social Standard.

    She also advises companies, governments and UN agencies on corporate responsibility issues. Other members are Tunde Arogunmati, a specialist in business strategy and former president of the Nigerian- British Association who sits as the vice President of the panel. Jonathon Hanks is founder and director at Incite, an advocacy-based consultancy network in South Africa.

    Maria Silanpaa is an internationally recognised corporate social responsibility and sustainability leader and founder of Sustainability Advisory Group (SAG). In 2011, CSR International rated her third amongst global practitioners.

    Adesuwa Onyenokwe, a successful broadcaster who has spent the last 35 years in the industry promoting the rights of girls, women and children and publisher of Today’s Woman Magazine. Scott Walkeris the founding Director of N.Y.l on Consulting, which provides public policy, public affairs and corporate sustainability solutions.

    Dr. Ini Usoroh holds a Ph.D in corporate social responsibility and sustainable development from Nottingham Trent University, U.K. and currently consults for several organisations in Nigeria and the UK.

    Others on the list include Olusegun McMedal, a media entrepreneur, public relations advisor and current chairman of the Lagos state chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), and Indira Kartallozi, founder and director of Chrysalis Family Futures- a social enterprise that stands for protection and empowering of human and socio-economic rights of vulnerable and marginalised families and children.

  • Pay TV: Many brides few suitors

    With competition growing stiff in the pay TV, it is anybody’s guess how that will affect pay-per view market segment. Of course, across pay-TV market segments, it has been widely held that Multichoice the owner of GOtv and DSTV may have had a field day, especially with its pricing as many Nigerians believe that DSTV and Gotv could cost a lot less than Multichoice is charging. Those who hold this view also believe that with competition, there will be an opportunity to extract greater value from Multichoice Nigeria.

    Conversations around this issue have been on for many years and each time, Multichoice would come out with responses to suggest that the price regime in the country was the lowest in Africa. This has made the agitation to have more operators in the pay-tv markets deepened. In what looks like response to this move, investors begin to look in the direction of the pay-tv industry and Nigeria customers started witnessing various competitors

    With the growing competition among pay-tv players in the country and calls for affordable subscription plans by customers, Kwesé TV entered into the Nigerian market with the launch of three, seven and 30-day subscription plans. The entertainment and sports television network owned by Econet Media will be competing with Multichoice’s DStv and GOtv; Startimes, TStv which will begin sales soon and other players for market share with its novel ‘pay-as-you-watch’ subscription plans.

    Kwese pioneered ‘pay-as-you-watch’ subscription packages for premium programming which enables consumers to purchase three and seven-day subscriptions at N990 and N1, 850, respectively, as well as a 30-day subscription option for only N6, 275.”

    The company at the media launch recently in Lagos said that it is in the country to take over the leadership of the pay-tv market. Joseph Hundah, CEO, Econet Media said “To say the future of Kwesé in Nigeria is exciting is an understatement, Kwesé is here to make its mark, redefine the norm and offer viewers true choice, convenience, flexibility and access to a whole new world of TV. This is truly beyond TV.”

    Similarly, Elizabeth Amkpa, General Manager, Kwesé TV Nigeria explained that the company was launching its platform based on consumers’ yearning for convenient payment system. She said, “We are excited to launch our dynamic content business in Nigeria; a market that we know is hungry for a compelling alternative pay TV network. At Kwesé we pride ourselves in having selected a strong general entertainment and sports programming line-up which we believe will be well received by viewers of all ages – kids, young adults, men and women, alike,” adding that subscribers can access premium content from across a number of platforms namely in ear TV, mobile and digital platforms which provide unlimited viewing options for subscribers.

    General Manager Sport, Kwesé TV, Chichi Nwoko, said sport lovers will be able to enjoy National Basketball Association (NBA) league, ESPN, the NFL and Premier League on channels such as Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City and Spur TV.

    She added that subscribers will be able to watch free sports on Kwesé Free Sports and other channels even when their subscription finishes.

    “We believe free sports address the desire that many Nigerian sports fans have, which is the desire to access premium sporting content in the way that works for them. Premium being the most important thing.”

    “Gone are the days when viewers were happy to consume any content purely on the basis of it being free, Nigerian viewers demand exceptional quality programming and that is what we deliver through Kwesé Free Sports,” Nwoko concluded.

    The Pay TV has over 65 channels of pure entertainment with well-known international channels such as CNN International, Dream Works, DTX, ESPN, VICELAND, Diddy’s REVOLT TV, among others.

    As if GOtv saw this coming, recently, the pay-tv came up with GOtv MAX where customers now enjoying access to over 60 of the hottest local and international channels featuring everything from the freshest series, music and sport to the latest in fashion reality, celebrity and kiddies programming.

    Launched October 1, Gotv customers got affordable price of N3,800 only. But all active GOtv Plus customers will have a taste of the GOtv MAX package with an open view period of the channels from October 1-31, 2017. During this open viewing period, GOtv Plus customers will be treated to GOtv MAX’s wide variety of entertainment programmes like La Liga on SS Select 4, Fox Entertainment, Sony MAX, CBS Reality and more. The GOtv earlier package GOtv Plus was with over 50 channels. In the Nigerian space, as a matter of fact, the package really helped to leapfrog many Nigerians into the digital space.

    Uniquely with Kwese, customers have the option of taking their viewing experience online using the Kwese apps downloadable from their Android and iOS. Unlike TSTV, Kwese dishes and decoders are already available and as it should be done, they already have their dealers holding the devices across all the geo-political regions of Nigeria. TSTV is having too much suspicion around them as to their credibility and only time will do justice to tell where their place really is in the Nigerian payTV market.

    Another pay-tv operator, Startimes Nigeria, come November 1, will be granting its existing and potential subscribers in Nigeria the access to pay per day for its offerings. There is also the option of N300 a week subscription.  The Chinese owned company has listened to Nigerians clamoring for a pay as you go model. Funny enough, Startimes has been offering this pay-as-you-go model in Uganda and Zambia, and have been reportedly test running it in Southwest Nigeria for over eight months before its final announcement.

    This move obviously is also coming at a time when TSTV triggered the possibilities of having such flexibility with how consumers can subscribe to get Pay-TV content. TSTV which its coming to the pay-tv markets marred with uncoordinated communications promised to offer customers N200 per day.

  • ‘Why competitors want to acquire 9 Mobile’

    ‘Why competitors want to acquire 9 Mobile’

    Africa’s biggest telco MTN and India’s Bharti Airtel (operating as Airtel Nigeria) have respectively expressed interest in acquiring 9 Mobile, formerly known as Etisalat Nigeria.

    Earlier in the year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had to save the company from collapse when the foreign investors pulled out of the company and stripped it of their patented brand, Etisalat. Etisalat Nigeria had defaulted in repaying a credit facility worth $1.2 billion got from a group of 13 banks. CBN’s intervention led to the banks agreeing to stop collecting the principal and interest payments until the company gets new investors.

    If acquired by any of the two telecom giants, which have expressed interest, the acquisition will bequeath 9 Mobile’s over 20 million subscribers and 14 market share to the new buyer. “Companies would only want to buy their competitor to kill competition,” said Abiola Ajala, financial analyst and associate member, Institute of Credit and Risk Management of Nigeria (ICRM). “They sometimes buy competitor to liquidate it, so there won’t be competition,” he added.

    Eighteen other companies have submitted Expression of Interest (EoI), in respect of the bid, to Barclays Bank, the organisation appointed to find new investors for 9 Mobile. Besides MTN and Airtel, other telcos interested in the bid are Ntel, which acquired both NITEL and MTEL; and Lebanon-based Lintel Group of Companies, which owns Africell, a telco providing cellular communication in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Uganda.