The Nation Newspaper

Category: Brand week

  • Skye Bank begins instant ATM card issuance

    Skye Bank begins instant ATM card issuance

    Skye Bank Plc has started instant card issuance service to both new and existing customers for improved customer experience in its branches. This service is available in selected branches, but is being gradually deployed to all branches of the bank.

    Instant Card Issuance is a process of personalisation and issuance of debit cards to customers immediately upon request, at any branch of Skye Bank. It delivers speed, convenience and value to customers and aligns with customers’ lifestyle.

    Head of Technology and Service Delivery Channels at Skye Bank, Markie Idowu, indicated that henceforth, all branches of Skye Bank will prime debit cards instantly on new accounts and when cards are reported lost, stolen or damaged; customers can expect instant replacements.

    “Instant Card Issuance will improve our customers’ banking experience by eradicating logistics problems that have resulted in delays in debit card delivery.

    Instant card issuance is seamless, so customers can walk into any Skye Bank branch, request for a debit card and collect it instantly,” she said.

    On the bank’s recent strides, the Head, e-Channels at Skye Bank, Akinwale Ojo, said the company has improved its uptime and responsiveness through a series of initiatives that have significantly increased the efficiency of its automatic teller machines.

    “We have entered into strategic alliances with leading card providers to improve card use and promote e-commerce for the economic development of Nigeria. Our cards have been restructured, segmented and streamlined for optimum performance,” he noted.

  • Should CEOs be their firms’ models?

    Should CEOs be their firms’ models?

    As their brands’ ambassadors, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) should not be seen in the foreground of their products’ adverts, but the reverse is the case, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    Should a chief executive officer play his company’s model? Yes and no, say experts.

    Take this scenario, in a 45-second television advert, the camera zooms in a conference room setting as the management meeting ends. Uzoma Dozie, the Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Bank, nods to conclude the meeting made up of the bank’s staff as characters in the commercial.

    As he picks his black suit, he walks through the office walkways across the office workstations and pulls out his iPhone from his pocket. “As the CEO of Diamond Bank, time is precious and ensuring that things get done is important, quickly, easily and efficiently,” he says.

    Created by X3M Ideas to sell the bank’s Mobile App for easy transaction, Dozie while walking out of his office is waylaid by an office assistant who holds a file labelled, “personal assistant candidates”, Dozie seemed not to concern himself with those craps which he glances and waves.

    The camera pans to the elevator, a staff member of the bank tries to help him hold the open elevator but the CEO shakes his head and heads for the stairs as all his gestures show that he doesn’t need anybody’s help.

    “There are some things you just can’t want to delegate, like booking my wife’s flight tickets,” he says as he taps the Diamond Bank’s mobile app on his iphone and navigates to the “book flight menu.” The next scene, a few floors down, he grins and remembers a movie ticket for his kids. He works the app over to that section in the mobile app of his bank and buys some tickets.  “I can do all of these on the new Diamond Bank Mobile App. It goes beyond banking. On my personal favourites … getting tickets to an event I really want to attend,” he says.

    As he walks across the lobby,  out of the building to his car, the back door opens for him to sit where car owners normally sit, Dozie jumps in and pauses to look at the camera with mischievous grin as he signs off his appearance in the Diamond Mobile App ad, “S o, who needs a PA?”

    He closes the car door, which wipes into a transition of animated Diamond Bank apps as its pops open transformers to show all the new offerings the Diamond Mobile Apps can do to relieve customer’s burden of delegating task.

    While the TV Ad is meant to sell the bank’s Mobile app, which according to the bank, is reloaded with more exciting features to make your banking better, faster, and smarter by searching, booking and paying for flights, among others, the use of the bank’s CEO as a front man in the ads to drive the new product has raised a concern whether it is a good creative strategy to use a CEO as front man in an advertising campaign.

    On a good day, many brands turn to actors or celebrities to star in their marketing campaigns, but only few brands in Nigeria have adopted this creative strategy, which is termed ‘CEO branding’ and find it effective by putting their chief executive in front of a camera. The fear of putting such creative ideas in work is underscored by the fact that most CEOs are boring, dull or fail to positively differentiate a brand which is the kiss of death in advertising.

    In the telecom sector, some years ago, Glo Nigeria featured its brand owner as a face of Glo Ad in a billboard. In the aviation sector, Slok Airline featured its owner, Orji Kalu on its global TV Ad on CNN.

    Also, Steve Jobs and Richard Brandson are some of the global CEOs who are regular advert model for their brands. A research by Ace Metrix TV analytics firm shows that commercials featuring CEOs generally outperform those that do not.

    But the CEO of Ace Metrix, Peter Daboll, said in a Forbes’ report that the way CEOs are leveraged in a campaign and the strength of their message are often factors that determine these ads’ success or failure.

    “In general, when used correctly, the CEO really can convey sincerity, genuineness, and the whole ‘the buck stops here’ attitude,” he says.

    Daboll CEO Patrick Doyle points to Domino’s Pizza ads from 2010, saying the company’s pizzas weren’t as good as Domino’s wanted them to be. In instances like this, he said CEOs could grab consumers’ attention in ways others might not.

    While the mien displayed by Dozie in the Diamond Mobile App TV commercial suggests that consumers don’t need all the help of others to get some things done in all honesty and simplicity, Daboll said consumers really respect such honesty and the commitment a CEO can deliver when used as a front man in front of a camera. “I think people really respect the honesty, the trust, and the commitment that only a CEO can deliver,” he says.

    But the question most brand experts ask is, should a CEO feature as model in a TV ad when there lots of models out there? In a case study by Forbes magazine, it is stated that not a CEO-branded Advert work while some have really helped many brands who adopted that strategy.

    “The results of our analysis show that, in general, ads featuring CEOs outperform ads that do not feature CEOs. Across every metric we measure, ads featuring CEOs had slightly higher average scores vs. other ads in the same category. However, this is not to say that ads featuring CEOs always perform well. Averages are averages, and certain brands—two in particular—were more successful than others at producing effective “CEO as front man” advertisements.  In particular, ads that feature CEOs have considerably higher “Desire,” “Relevance “and” Information” scores than ads that do not feature CEOs,” the magazine’s research stated.

    Experts, however, said the brand handlers should consider many factors before choosing a CEO as a front man in an advert campaign. “Not all CEO ads work. CEOs that are dull, boring, or fail to positively differentiate a brand are the kiss of death in advertising.  Viewers are looking for the CEO to be interesting, relevant, and truly understand consumer desires,” says Daboll.

    Daboll warned agencies to know the CEOs before making creative decisions for the ads. He said not all CEOs are born communicators. For the CEO adverts that failed in the past, he urged the creative agency to test the messages before flying the materials.

  • Glamour, class as AMVCA reignites Nollywood brand

    Glamour, class as AMVCA reignites Nollywood brand

    If Lagos were a ship, the city would list, come March 7. In few days, the coastal city will swarm with the crème of Africa’s movie crowd for the third edition of the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA). As the days draw nearer to the event, Associate Editor OLATUNJI OLOLADE, examines the impact of the awards initiative on the brand equity of Nollywood in Africa.

    Few people knew Nse Ikpe-Etim until her cameo appearance as an extra in film Director, Reginald Ebere’s ‘Venom of Justice.’ One decade later, she re-emerged in the Nigerian movie scene, commanding the attention of the sector’s most virulent critics courtesy her arresting interpretations thus luring movie enthusiasts to hate her and love her, just as her characters demanded.

    Either as the ambitious upstart alongside Nigeria’s movie sweethearts, Ramsey Nouah and Stephanie Okereke in the 2008 flick, “Reloaded,” the embattled character, Mariam Idoko in “Broken,” (2012) alongside Kalu Ikeagwu and Bimbo Manuel or the seasoned actress and animated “Nse” in “Journey to self” (2012), Ikpe-Etim captures the subtleties of fiction effortlessly and quite impressively, thus making her simplest interpretations memorable.

    It was for this reason that she was recently awarded the 2014 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) for Best Actress in a Drama for playing “Nse” in “Journey to Self.”

    Although Ikpe-Etim is no stranger to merit awards – with two past nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the fifth and eighth Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMMA) for her role in “Reloaded” and “Mr & Mrs” respectively – her AMVCA win last year unarguably broadens her horizon and improves her chances in the local and international movie sectors.

    According to her, “I’m happy that when you do work, no matter how little, someone out there sees it and says ‘hang on a minute, we might want to reward her or at least give her a mention because she’s done something…I honestly didn’t know I’d be nominated; it came as a shock that I was nominated. Secondly, I had loads of fights with people because I stayed in character and couldn’t get out … I was still acting it. (Laughs) It was worth it after all.”

    Like Ikpe-Etim, Amarachi Onoh is ecstatic about his win at the recently concluded AMVCA.

    Onoh, a graduate of the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, won the Best New Media: Online Video Award for his film, “Mother Tongue.” The new category was created to help usher in the arrival of a new generation of African storytellers.

    Onoh enthused that the AMVCA has opened up new opportunities to him. “It has given me some kind of leverage to talk to and approach people. It has given me credibility. More people want to work with me and those who I approach are comfortable working with me. AMVCA puts a good stamp on one’s credentials,” he said.

     Other winners

    Other winners at the 2014 AMVCA include Osita Iheme who won the Best Actor in Comedy category for his performance in The Hero; Tope Tedela clinched Best Actor in Drama award for his performance in the film, “A Mile from Home” and Olufunke Akindele won the Best Actress in Comedy award. There were a total of 29 awards in different categories and while Nigeria, the host country won 18 out of the 29 categories, Ghana won five awards, Kenya won five, while Zambia got one. However, the South African, Tanzanian, Ugandan, and Gambian nominees did not win any award.

    Building personality brand for Nollyhood

    The industry has produced The AMVCA, an initiative of Multichoice Africa, was basically established to highlight and reward the efforts of African film makers and artistes. The award, which has been commended severally as the premium merit awards for film makers in Africa, recognises outstanding achievements in the African film and broadcast sectors.

    According to the Managing Director of Multichoice Nigeria, John Ugbe, “There have been two editions of the AMVCAs and, so far, the improvement that this award has brought to African film production cannot be ignored. For us as MultiChoice, the success of these awards further showcases our commitment to recognising the amazing skills that exist in this ever-growing industry.

    Ugbe said further: “The very essence of most awards is to recognise and reward talent. We share the same objective for AMVCA at MultiChoice. Through AMVCA, we hope to promote creativity and versatility. It has often been said that competition is a good driver for improvement. So, yes AMVCA might ultimately lead to improved movie production standards across Africa. With higher stakes, comes the need to do better and continuously improve on previous performance. We aim to rank our African stars alongside international stars.”

    In pursuit of this objective, Multichoice Africa has invested heavily in the African film industry. In Nigeria for instance, Multichoice in cooperation with its partners has made a brand investment of over N55 Billion (nearly $350 Million), since it birthed in Africa. This includes: N32.4 billion invested in content via its premium channel providers, M-Net and SuperSport, N21 billion invested in technology, N1.7 billion in people development, N8.4 billion ($54.2 million) to the construction of a new head office in Ikeja, Lagos, N9 billion ($58 million) in outside broadcast (OB) vans and commissioned Africa’s first high definition (HD) studio in sports, training, production and broadcasting coverage, N135 million ($871 000) in Nigerian basketball sponsorship, N15 billion ($100 million) in VAT and various company taxes since 1999; and N5 billion ($30 million) invested in the business as capital investment.

     Impact on Nollyhood brand

    So far, practitioner in the Nigerian film industry popularly called Nollywood, have expressed delight over AMVCA’s contributions to the brand equity of the local film sector. According to them, The AMVCA serves as a remarkable fillip to local film makers’ bid to create quality and memorable African stories by collaborating with gifted scriptwriters and film makers in the country.

    Khabira Kafidipe, an actress, commended the initiative for its commitment to the advancement of local film and television production. The AMVCA, she stressed, inspires the average film maker in Nigeria to rebrand by committing themselves to the pursuit of personal development and professional excellence. The “Saworoide” and “Iwa” star noted that the awards initiative has also created a more participatory and interactive network of film makers committed to the development of African film and entertainment. “This rubs off positively on Africa as it has created a new breed of film aficionados even as it reinvigorates tested veterans and spurs us all to rededicate ourselves to the development and elevation of African film to world class status.”

    Rita Dominic, winner of 2014 AMVCA New Era award said the award serves as inspiration for local actors and film makers to do more while charting fresh and promising vistas for quality film production on the African continent. Dominic is particularly excited about AMVCA’s recognition and celebration of every professional involved in the production of a film.

    No doubt, the impact of the AMVCA extends beyond the confines of the local film sector as it also gives audiences a voice to express their heartfelt wishes and opinions about the African film industry. Through the awards, MultiChoice Africa situates itself positively as a brand in the minds of its subscribers; the broadcast organisation reemphasises its brand by acknowledging and giving exposure to the contribution of its subscribers. The awards initiative also manifests as a natural appendage of the company’s social investment portfolio which includes education and the media.

    As the continent awaits the third edition of the awards, which is scheduled to hold on March 7 at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, movie enthusiasts anticipate a reenactment of the glamour and class that heralded previous editions of the event.

    Already, Nollywood is agog over the country’s nominations in the awards categories. At a special screening event held at Four Point By Sheraton, Lekki, Lagos, prolific film maker, Kunle Afolayan, heaved with excitement when his dark psychological thriller written by Tunde Babalola, scooped 13 nominations including the highly coveted Best Movie Drama and Best Movie of the Year.

    Other movies that earned multiple nominations at the 2015 AMVCA are Rita Dominic’s “The Meeting;” Lancelot Imasuen-Oduwa’s “Invasion 1897;” and Ayo Makun’s “30 Days in Atlanta” amongst others.

    There is no gainsaying the impact of the AMVCA on the Nigerian film industry; besides promoting healthy rivalry, collaborative enterprise and world-class production the awards elevates the awardees in social and professional ranking even as it furnishes them a huge platform for growth and global visibility within the shortest possible period.

    Ask AMVCA recipients like Ikpe-Etim and Onoh, they would gladly tell you how their chances had improved since they won the awards. In the same vein, AMVCA nominees like Adebimpe Adebambo, will gladly enthuse that as a film maker, all you need is one chance. Adebambo is an AMVCA nominee in the Best Costume Designer category for her work in veteran film maker, Tunde Kelani’s “Dazzling Mirage.”

    Company’s Investment on Nollyhood brand

    • N32.4 billion invested in content via its premium channel providers, M-Net and SuperSport;

    • N21 billion invested in technology;

    • N1.7 billion in people development;

    • N8.4 billion ($54.2 million) to the construction of a new head office in Ikeja, Lagos;

    • N9 billion ($58 million) in outside broadcast (OB) vans and commissioned Africa’s first high definition (HD) studio in sports, training, production and broadcasting coverage;

    • N135 million ($871 000) in Nigerian basketball sponsorship;

    • N15 billion ($100 million) in VAT and various company taxes since 1999; and

    • N5 billion ($30 million) invested in the business as capital investment.

     

  • Students to show talent at academy

    The Roger Hatchuel Academy
    Nigeria has been scheduled
    to hold from March 19 -21.

    The event organised by CHINI Productions, official Cannes Lions representative in Nigeria, is in its eighth year and has grown from being a one day affair to a three-day residential event.

    The organisers told The Nation that the extension is to give participating students from campuses around Nigeria more time to learn from senior industry professionals.

    The organisers have also announced the facilitators for the programme. The Dean of the Academy for the year is Yomi Omotehinwa, Executive Creative Director, Cosse TTL, who will coordinate the faculty and the judges for the competition.

    The competition jury includes Maurice Ugwonoh, Deputy Creative Director, DDB Lagos; Fafunso Oladipupo, Creative Director, IMS Advertising; Dipo Adesida, Creative Director, Verdant Zeal Group; Fome Ozuwo, Creative Director LTC-JWT and  Oje Ojeaga, Head of Creative X3M Ideas.

    “The list of speakers at the event will soon be confirmed. The programme is traditionally supported by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and this year, APCON accredited schools are able to send participants for the programme at no cost to the students or their school.

    “The programme serves as an early immersion into the competitive world of advertising for the students. They will have the opportunity to work on briefs individually and in teams and they will also be tested in their general understanding of advertising.

    ‘’At the end of the programme, each student will receive a certificate of participation, the second runner-up will receive a consolation prize, the first runner-up will attend the next Dubai Lynx Festival, and the winning student will represent Nigeria at the international version of the Roger Hatchuel Academy during the Cannes Lions International Festival ofCreativity in June.

    The best supervising lecturer will win the Lecturer of the Year Award and the institution that produced the best works will win the Roger Hatchuel Academy Nigeria School of the Year Award.

    According to the Managing Director of CHINI Productions, Nnamdi Ndu, “the Roger Hatchuel Academy is an excellent opportunity for the industry to identify and engage young talents while they still have the chance.”

    On APCON’s  continued  participation  in  the  Roger  Hatchuel  Academy,  the Assistant Director Operations, Joe-Eugene Onuorah, said: “APCON undertakes the sponsorship of students who show promise in advertising creativity to be part  of  the Rodger Hatchuel  academy experience.”

  • Coca-Cola: Bonding with consumers

    Coca-Cola: Bonding with consumers

    To draw customers closer, Coca-Cola Nigeria has introduced Share a Coke activation through which it puts their names in its bottles, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    Customer is king”, so goes the adage. The reality in this aphorism is brought home in the marketplace where the consumer determines what to buy and who to buy from.

    Consumers want more than the functional satisfaction of a product or an informative and interesting advertisement. They want brands to see and relate with them not as statistics or mass targets but as persons with their own views and emotional needs. Simply put, consumers want an experience! Brands that can meet this craving will win consumers over.

    Some consumer-focused brands, such as Coca-Cola, understand this shift in consumer orientation they are putting in efforts in ensuring that they offer unusual consumer experiences. Coca-Cola appears to have taken this response a notch higher with its ongoing Share a Coke campaign.

    With the Share a Coke campaign, not only is Coca-Cola satisfying its consumers’ cravings for recognition and brand experience, it is doing so in a very personal way that has struck the right chords with consumers everywhere.

    This reality was evident when the brand thrilled students and other consumers at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) campus with on-the-spot customisation of Coke cans. Teens and adults thronged the venue to get their names and those of their friends branded on Coke cans. A majority of the lucky persons who got the personalised cans, even if they consume the content, but will leave certainly keep the cans as prized memento.

    This campaign speaks to them and appeals to that basic human need to be recognised.   It was their moment in the sun and they were not deterred by the scorching Lagos Sun; they basked in the excitement of having their names and that of their loved ones replace the iconic Coca-Cola logo on the cans.

    The event started with interested students standing in line to get their names on Coca-Cola cans. As they approached the attendants clad in Coca Cola tee shirts, they offered the names they wanted on their cans of Coca Cola and in less than 10 minutes, they were given their customised Coca Cola cans.

    The consumers also got an opportunity to capture the moment at the Coca-Cola branded selfie stand.

    Nnamdi Ekechukwu, a second year student of Psychology,  said iconic brand Coca-Cola got it right again as always in reaching out and bonding with consumers.

    According to Nnamdi, the experience was satisfying for him as he was able to get his nickname customised on a Coca-Cola can. Similarly, Olayinka Daramola, a 22-year-old final year Chemistry student echoed the sentiment, adding that the experience was fantastic that and she was grateful to Coca-Cola for the chance to get various customised cans of Coca-Cola for her friends and family.

    A platform for sharing happiness among friends and family, the Share a Coke campaign kicked off in December and has captured the hearts of Coca-Cola lovers nationwide.

    Speaking to journalists at the event, Senior Brand Manager, Colas at Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Gbolahan Sanni, who was excited about the large turn-out, explained that the Share a Coke campaign was conceived to bring about a fusion of happiness and sharing among Nigerians nationwide.

    “For us at Coca Cola, we have made it a point of duty to constantly evolve well-tailored campaigns which enable us effectively retain the confidence of our consumers in their preferred soft drink, Coca-Cola. To this end, we are thrilled to bring the Share a Coke campaign directly to the University of Lagos. We believe it is important to share love and happiness with one’s friends and family,” he said.

    Sanni said the company is aware that a lot of individuals have been unable to find their names on Coca-Cola bottles in their local stores. That’s why we are taking Share a Coke to the next level, customising Coca-Cola cans for everyone in their locations at a give-away price of N100 only,” he added.

    The Share a Coke campaign will be taken to several other locations across Nigeria, giving many more Nigerians the opportunity to experience thrill of the Share a Coke campaign first-hand for themselves.

     

  • Forbes break advert taboo

    A native advert for Fidel-
    ity, an investment company,
    appears on the cover of the latest issue of Forbes, which hit the newsstands last Monday.

    Native advertising is a form of online advertising that matches the form and function of the platform on which it appears. It is a publisher-produced brand content, similar in concept to a traditional advertorial, which a paid placement is attempting to look like an article.

    The advert is on the actual cover – it’s not part of a foldout or second cover.

    Forbes as among the first publications to fully embrace native advertising – a tactic where adverts seek to mimic editorial content – but the cover treatment takes the practice into mostly uncharted waters for magazines.

    According to Adage, world-renown  advertising magazine, “that’s because putting ads on magazine covers remains one of the last remaining taboos in an industry under so much financial pressure that it’s now enlisting editors to work with advertisers.”

    Last year, Time Inc., the nation’s largest magazine publisher, ran tiny ads for Verizon Wireless on the cover of Time and Sports Illustrated. But it has not repeated the tactic.

    The Fidelity advert on Forbes’ cover teases an infographic about retirement, which is the editorial theme of the issue. Fidelity paid for the two-page infographic to appear in the issue as part of a larger ad buy with Forbes that includes print and digital.

    “We view this as strong content that’s part of the retirement package,” Forbes Media’s chief revenue officer, Mark Howard, said. Forbes’ brand newsroom, a department that works with advertisers to create content, helped produce the infographic, he added.

    But Fidelity did not pay a premium for the cover treatment, according to Mr. Howard. Instead, it was a byproduct of the deal – something people in media and marketing call “added value” for the client. The decision to include the cover line came from Forbes Chief Product Officer Lewis D’Vorkin.

    “Lewis deemed it was appropriate for Fidelity to be called out on the cover just like any other great piece of content would be,” said Mr. Howard, who declined to discuss the terms of the deal.

    The stated rate for BrandVoice, as Forbes calls its native advertising product, is a minimum of $600,000. Media executives not affiliated with the company suggested the rate Forbes charged Fidelity for the entire package is likely in the million dollar range. Fidelity declined to comment.

    The cover line doesn’t specifically state that it’s an advertisement. It does, however, include the term “FidelityVoice,” which is how Forbes marks its native ads – melding the advertiser’s name with the word “voice.”

    Howard doesn’t think the cover line is misleading. “When you look at the colour scheme and the box, it’s separated, it has a different background,” he said. “For readers of Forbes, they’ve known for four years that when you see FidelityVoice that that is content that’s coming from one of our partners.”

    He described the cover treatment as “the evolution of where we’ve come from and where we are in today’s world.”

    Forbes introduced its native-advertising product in 2010, when it was called AdVoice. It allowed advertisers to post content directly to the magazine’s website. Media critics bristled then at the notion. Today, of course, nearly every publisher has adopted a similar strategy, although some vocal critics remain.

    The American Society of Magazine Editors’ guidelines for editors and publishers, meant to protect readers’ trust in publishers’ editorial independence from advertisers, still begin: “Don’t Print Ads on Covers.”

    The bold move into native advertising hasn’t protected Forbes from the stiff headwinds facing print-media brands, which are seeing declines in both newsstand sales and advertising revenue. Last year, the Forbes family and its backers sold a majority stake in Forbes Media, including the iconic namesake magazine, to a Hong Kong-based investment group. The magazine staff also relocated from its longtime headquarters on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to an office in New Jersey.

    Mr. Howard said to expect more taboo-breaking tactics in the future. Last month, the magazine produced a second cover – which readers noticed after opening the magazine – that closely resembled the actual cover. But it was an ad for AT&T.

  • Firm gets MTN job in Benin

    Firm gets MTN job in Benin

    A Nigerian experiential marketing firm, Keskese Limited, has won the experiential marketing business of MTN Benin Republic.

    Consequently, the company is set to open a new office in Cotonou to serve the area.

    According to the Project Consultant, Keskese Limited, Mr Tade Adekunle, the success of the company at the pitch is another evidence of the depth of creativity that drives its experiential business.

    He noted that the creativity of the activation ideas at the pitch presentation was driven by research and deep understanding of the brand’s target audience earned it the business.

    “We are very proud and excited to announce that Keskese Limited has just won the experiential business of MTN Benin Republic. It was a very keenly contested business pitch, but at the end of several rounds of presentations, we were announced and appointed the Agency to handle the business’’, he said.

    Arguably, one of the fastest rising experiential marketing firms in the sub-region, Keskese emerged the agency of choice to handle the brand activation business of the leading telecom company after rounds of keenly contested business pitches which involves several big agencies within Benin Republic, Nigeria and other West African countries.

    The pitch was coordinated by the Dubai office of the MTN Group, which is in charge of MTN business in Middle East and Africa.

    The pitch, which lasted for about two months, started in December, last year and ended in the last week of January with the announcement of Keskese as the winner.

    With this development, the Keskese Project Consultant revealed that the company also plans to open the Keskese East Africa office in Nairobi, Kenya before the end of the year.

  • Online, offline marketers clash over sales

    Online, offline marketers clash over sales

    There is a competition between online and offline marketing channels as a result of the desire for increased sales and consumers’ satisfaction. This is already sowing seeds of discord among brand owners, authorised distributors and online stores. Experts believe such rivalry can threaten trade channels, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGUJI.

    E-Store has emerged as a significant retail force that is putting pressure on the traditional brick and mortar retailers. With even more  pressure on traditional distributor channels of product supply chain, the increasing competitive marketing environment is pushing online stores into offline where traditional supply chains thrive.

    As a result, The Nation gathered that a leading electronic company, LG, is facing pressure from its traditional distributors to call its online sales partner, Jumia, order.

    While this introduces new twist to the debate over threats online stores pose to traditional supply chains, regarded as offline market, some distributors are facing hard times, hence prompting LG, according to a source, to accuse Jumia of receiving products for online sales but end up selling them offline to make their books good.

    “They get products at very low cost much better than distributors of established companies, such as LG + other electronics. They sell to keep margins since their sales don’t move too well,” an LG source told The Nation via email.

    Though whether their products are old online or offline, brand owners still make good sales but the threat the practice poses to trade channels baffles marketing experts, who also accused marketing activation agencies of similar practice. “The practice is all about recording high sales figure. Activation agencies also engage in this practice when they are given targets in a specific area but they decide to go outside the coverage area. This is diversion which defeats the purpose of the manufacturers. In most cases they short-change the manufacturers by destroying their trade channels which is the main challenge in the case,” a brand expert, Andrew Akinyemi.

    Though LG refuses to comment on its channel conflicts between Jumia and its traditional trade channels, with the challenge online stores is giving traditional trade channels, the Jumia Head, Offline Marketing Afam Anyika, seems to see such practice as a consequence of competitive business environment. He doesn’t see anything wrong in having an online stores competition in the offline market, especially when physical stores are  present in the online market to compete with offline stores.

    “First of all, we are an online marketing sales channel. You should understand that the way you have competitors online you also have competitor’s offline like Spar, Shoprite. We are also competing within the retail industry. Our competition is not limited to online but we have our own sales strategy. Everybody has their own sales strategy and our own mission is to deliver value for Nigerian consumers,” said Anyika.

    He said further that there is no marketing rule that prevents online marketing channels from venturing into offline market. “There is no rule in the book that says I can’t. As I said, it comes down to strategy. Offline guys are setting up online stores now. The world is growing bigger and bigger and bigger opportunities are coming, the market is opening, there is rise in middle class and spending is growing. You don’t sit down and fold your hands. Every successful business thrives on innovation. So, off-line guys are doing online stuffs now but the most important thing is how do I satisfy you customers?” he asked.

    On the concern against alleged Jumia’s involvement in selling LG products offline having been given an attractive discount for online sales of the product, he said: “The issue is that the information is very new to us. We have never heard and we know nothing of it. From my own side, we will ask our partner to find out if the allegation raised is true and if so, why not communicate? So far, even my partner doesn’t know where this is coming from. There is no way that an organisation that has very strategic partnership with this brand will complain. The LG you spoke about are our partner in a marketing campaign in the last three months. We have developed that level of partnership and trust. So, there is no way such an issue will happen and they won’t tell us within the space of five minutes and we find a way around it. But we need to understand where this information is coming from through our investigation. There are certain things that we are bound by confidentiality. As I mention, understand that we are also competing for market share on sales of this product. We will get it from them, and we know what we discuss with them,” he told The Nation.

    Experts believe that channel conflict occurs when manufacturers (brands) dis-intermediate their channel partners, such as distributors, retailers, dealers, and sales representatives, by selling their products directly to consumers through general marketing methods and/or over the Internet.

    Some manufacturers want to capture online markets for their brands but do not want to create conflicts with their other distribution channels. The Census Bureau of the United States Department of Commerce reported that online sales in 2005 grew by 24.6 percent over 2004 to reach $86.3 billion. Total retail sales in 2005 grew by 7.2 per cent from 2004. These numbers made the online marketplace attractive to manufacturers, but raised the question of how to participate without harming channel relationships.

    According to Forrester Research and Gartner from 2007, despite the rapid growth of online commerce, about 90 percent of manufacturers did not sell their products online. Of these, 66 percent identified channel conflict as their single biggest issue. However, results from a survey show that click-and-mortar businesses have an 80 per cent greater chance of sustaining a business model during a three-year period than those operating in one of the two channels.

    However, E-commerce is the most popular second distribution channel because of its low overhead expenses and communication costs. This advantage is also a disadvantage, since consumers can also communicate less expensively and more easily with one another in the online marketplace. Therefore, price and product differentiation is more challenging in online markets.

    To avoid a channel conflict in a click-and-mortar business, experts said it was necessary to ensure that both traditional and online channels were fully integrated. This reduces confusion with customers while providing the business benefits of a dual channel.

    Manufacturers sell their products through various channels. Sometimes they find themselves competing to reach the same customers like Jumia and LG.

  • AAAN laments unethical political adverts

    AAAN laments unethical political adverts

    The Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), has criticised  the spate of unvetted advert campaigns by the political parties and shadow interest groups across the various media.

    In a statement signed by its President, Kelechi Nwosu, the association said in obvious disregard of the advertising code and ethics of APCON (Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria) and the AAAN, most of these political advertisements have been exposed without going through the vetting procedures and consequent approvals from the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) of APCON.

    “Our concerns are that the professional values of the advertising practice and, indeed, public sensibilities, as well as the very stability of the polity have been severely undermined by the continued character assassinations, wanton abuses, unrestrained attacks, threats and counter threats that have become the bane of the political communication building up to the elections,” he said.

    “As a non-partisan but patriotic association, committed to the promotion and consolidation of democratic ideals, the AAAN implores the various stakeholders: political parties, candidates, interest groups, traditional and religious leaders to temper their campaign messages and public utterances with decorum. We would all become losers, if the continued improper politicking; unbridled bloodlust for power overheats the system and tilts the polity into chaos and anarchy.

    “Then there would be no political prize to be won only reversals and crises that would seek to prise us apart as a nation and plunge our generation and possibly those to come into a dark age. These are trying times for our dear nation which demand a high level of maturity, tact, and discipline from everyone,” the association said.

    AAAN urged media houses and the relevant regulatory bodies that have a role to play in moderating and channelling political campaigns and public discourse to institute stronger editorial controls that give ultimate priority to the public good and national interest.

    “Extreme caution must be applied, so as not to ignite the polity, especially now that we’re a few weeks away from the elections. Elections will come and go but Nigeria and Nigerians will remain one. Let’s keep it that way by shunning violent and improper rhetoric, and by comporting ourselves as Nigerians first, and political gladiators second, during and after the election,” he added.

  • TV advert underscores new spirit of Lagos

    TV advert underscores new spirit of Lagos

    To inculcate a new behavourial change, the Lagos State government has adopted a new communication approach, tagged Spirit of Lagos, to enhance discipline among residents.

    The advert comes under various names to tackle the defacement of public properties, undermining of environmental sanitation and neglect of pedestrian bridges.

    Titled: Do The Right Thing – and a-call-to-action body copy: Change Your Thinking, the advert, according to experts, conforms with creative principles as it raises serious issues which the the government is bent on tackling.

    Adapted for various media – TV, radio and press as well as social media – and described by communication professionals as a social- cause advert, the Spirit of Lagos explores various lifestyles of Lagosians and their attitudes towards their environment.

    One of the adverts is targeted at passengers onboard a public bus. The 30-second TV version, which frowns at scribbling in public buses, three teenagers sketch an image of an old man sitting on the last roll of a BRT bus. The old man becomes an artistic object to the teenagers as a result of his white mustache, spectacle, white trilby-style hat, brown French suit clad on a white shirt and black tie. With a green marker pen, the teenager sketches the old man using the bus seat as the drawing board.

    As the bus stops over, a young woman of the same age group with the teenagers boards the bus, walks majestically with a charming smile towards the boys and cleans the sketches. Warning the male characters to desist from such an act with gesture, a background music fades in with a male voice over warns: “Do not deface public property, Do the Right Thing, Let’s change the way we think.”

    As a pay off, the logo of the TV advert campaign Spirit of Lagos, Restore, Share and Protect signs off the commercial.

    One of the striking features of the  advert is the way it communicates how the residents filled the gutters with dirt and risks their lives in crossing highways instead of using pedestrian bridges. This version of the Spirit of Lagos advert theme personifies conscience using an image of an errant resident. The copy shows a young man trying to cross the highway but his conscience which comes to him as his own image taps him from the back and asks him to use the pedestrian bridge just as a woman who dumps refuse on the ground is asked by her image to make use of the government street refuse bin.

    The TV version of the market setting theme shows a woman sweeping the dirt from her shops into the gutter, but her image which symbolises her conscience warns her to desist and offer her a refuse bin.

    Beyond the creative brilliance of the advert, the campaign is premised on four cardinal points. It addresses civic responsibility to make residents understand that they have a part to play in developing and sustaining the communities and public services.

    It also x-rays citizens wanting to contribute to the society while displaying the right actions and attitudes associated with environmental sanitation or quality of life issues.

    A creative expert, Mr. Yemi Kushimo, said the public service advert is a departure from the old ways which do not apply creativity in grabbing the attention of citizens to civic responsibility. He said personification of conscience as a creative strategy to enhance behavourial change underscore the creative spark in the Spirit of Lagos advert.

    According to Kushimo, the use of public service advert is very effective in making citizens responsible. “The advertising techniques used to promote commercial goods and services can be used to inform, educate and motivate the public about non-commercial issues, such as HIV/AIDS, political ideology, energy conservation and deforestation, environmental issue among others.

    He noted that public service advertising, non-commercial advertising, public interest advertising, cause marketing, and social marketing are different terms for sophisticated advertising and marketing communications techniques (generally associated with commercial enterprise) for non-commercial, public interest issues and initiatives.