The Nation Newspaper

Category: Brand week

  • Apple’s product marketing: So far, so good?

    Apple’s product marketing: So far, so good?

    When developers started building Apple’s phones in 2007, they were given one format for the four-inch iPhone screens. A larger format came along three years later, when the iPad made its debut.

    Google, on the other hand, gave developers an array of options, so they could build apps for its ever-evolving cache of hardware partners and devices.

    With Apple, the format options remained limited.Until June, when its latest software update blew those restrictions apart.

    It was one of several signs that the nation’s top smartphone-maker was ready to expand its portfolio. On Thursday last week, the New York Times nailed several persistent rumours: at Apple’s much-anticipated Tuesday event in Cupertino, Califonia, it will unveil two iPhones with larger screens, a wearable computing device and a mobile payment system within its devices.

    For the coming holiday season, there are various things to be gleaned from Apple’s history of launching products. The company has given significant support to new product launches. And it typically couples expensive media buys – in high-profile television, print and outdoor ads — with lucrative product placement, a tactic the company pioneered.

    There are other considerations. For one, Apple may be venturing into two categories — wearable devices and mobile payments – unproven in consumer adoption and untested in the ad world. Apple’s wearable device will not ship until 2015, according to multiple reports. Also, Ad Age extensively reported that Apple is undergoing a significant marketing overhaul, building a sizable internal creative team to pit against its long-time agency TBWA/Media Arts Lab.

    Apple’s creative strategy has also evolved since the death of its founder, Steve Jobs, in 2011, and the rise of its combative competitor Samsung.

     

    Hello iPhone

    Little netted Apple more media attention than Mr. Jobs, in his token black turtleneck, unveiling the first iPhone on stage in 2007. Yet, Apple still felt the need to advertise.

    The first iPhone spot, “Hello,” made debut during the 2007 Oscars. It showed the Apple logo, but not the iPhone name — Apple was battling Cisco over the rights.That year, Apple reported an increase of $129 million in ad spending, to $467 million.

     

    Big support for new products

    As digital media expanded, Apple avoided a centralised strategy, letting its videos proliferate across the web. Its first commercial for the iPad, in March 2010, went viral. The new tablet also found its way into mainstream television shows, such as Modern Family, a coup that came, quite likely, without paid promotion from Apple.

    The handset-maker still spends a considerable amount on TV. Last year, 80 per cent of its measured media spending – $626,972 – was spent on TV, according to the Ad Age DataCentre.

    For its size, the world’s most profitable company spends little. Only 0.64 per cent of its revenues went to marketing last year. Samsung spent 1.82 per cent of global revenues on ads and 3.51 per cent on sales promotion. But Apple’s revenues are massive. When it needs to spend on ads, it can.

    The firm dropped $51.9 million on adverts for its new iPad in the second quarter of 2010, and kept up that pace for the remainder of the year, according to figures from Kantar media.

    Apples’ ad spend leapt three-fold between 2010 and 2011, and its revenues grew faster than that. Apple spent $31.1 million in the fourth quarter of that year to promote the new MacBook Air. It spent about the same amount two years later, during the holiday season, for the MacBook Pro.

     

    Shape of ads to come

    Apple has run ad campaigns promoting specific services, like its App Store, in 2008, and its FaceTime video feature, in 2010. But the iPhone, the source of more than half of its revenues, remains the biggest beneficiary of ad spending. More than 40 per cent of Apple’s measured media spending, from 2009 to 2013, promoted the smartphone.

    This year, however, it has hinted at the shape of ads to come, as it builds devices and services that orbit the iPhone. “Parenthood,” a spot from June, slyly featured plugs for Apple’s growing presence in the connected home industry. Two more spots, “powerful” and “strength,” showed off the numerous ways iPhone consumers deploy the device, including for fitness-tracking.

    Apple has also increased its marketing presence abroad, particularly in China. In August, it released a mini-film with a Chinese electro-pop band. Its marketing shift is following sales. In 2009, China and Hong Kong accounted for 1.8 per cent of sales; this past quarter, they neared 16 per cent. For Apple, Asia is an incredibly competitive market – one that, incidentally, loves large-screen phones.

  • ‘Say it loud, I’m black and proud’

    ‘Say it loud, I’m black and proud’

    Guinness Stout is known for its thick, rich black colour. With a new campaign, #Made of Black, Guinness seems to be promoting the black colour and its brand. ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI critiques what the television advert portrays

    The hardest cause to fight, is correcting the stereotype about being ‘black.’ While ‘black’ is simply the colour of coal, its status as it relates to the complexion of a specie of the human race has suffered abuses from others.

    Described as the darkest color, its absence or complete absorption of light, has made it vulnerable to different interpretations, as against white which is seen as the symbol of holiness,peace, tranquility and  every-other-good-thing.

    Unlike white, anything associated with  black often attracts negative perception. This perhaps is why some races perceive black people as inferior, abnormal, weak, criminals and not inspiring among others. From sports, entertainment, other human endeavours, issues of racisim against the black colour have assumed global attention.

    Very little is known among the people who abuse blacks, that black was one of the first colours used by artists in Neolithic cave paintings. In the 14th century, it began to be worn by royalty, the clergy, judges and government officials in much of Europe. It became the colour worn by English romantic poets, businessmen and statesmen in the 19th century, and a high fashion color in the 20th century.

    As a result of growing influence and impact of the black people in the world today,there is a renewed belief that black is not about colour, but that it is about attitude. That is reflected in a new campaign by Guinness in its recent global campaign #Made of Black.

    The ad campaign runs at over two minutes long and features a range of African performers and artists. It is set to a soundtrack of Kanye West’s Black Skinhead. The spot launched on MTV Base, as part of a four-hour takeover by Guinness on the channel, featuring guest appearances by musicians including Fuse ODG and Phynot.

    The Ad has sparked debates on whether black is a colour, or an attitude with the aim of inspiring the youth to achieve greatness and overcome limitations.

    The new Ad campaign – Made of Black- was launched across key markets in Africa with a takeover of MTV Base. The co-produced Guinness/MTV Base show, was broadcast simultaneously on 12 satellite and terrestrial channels across Africa.

    This kick-started an extensive through-the-line campaign (a marketing campaign that combines both expensive activities like national TV adverts (‘above the line’) and less/inexpensive activities, like direct mail executions (‘below the line’) which is rolling out across Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon to promote key conversations around ‘’what is BLACK’’ in a new positioning for Guinness on this continent.

    With the latest campaign, #Made of Black, created by  ISOBAR SSA, a global digital agency, in collaboration with a UK Ad agency which is the third largest agency network in the world-AMV BBDO, there is a new message set to reposition the back race.

    Described as simple, yet undertaking a serious task, with the instruction to re-position Guinness in the African market, the Group Planning Director, Isobar, SSA, Michael Zylstra, said: “Africa is about creativity, we do and see things from a different perspective. It’s about working together to harness creativity that speaks to all.

    “For us, it was more than just producing incredible work, it was about starting and then sustaining key dialogue on our continent about what being BLACK means. It was about embracing the unique cultures of Africa and tailoring approaches to those individualised markets, whilst also introducing the concept as part of our languages, our culture and harnessing the true African creative spirit.

    He went further: “Black is not a colour – it’s an attitude. It was not about launching a hashtag and a website that has an interactive platform. The campaign celebrates ‘Black’.  Black is not a colour. Black is an attitude. It’s a mind-set; it’s a way of life. Black represents the best of Africa.  It features real people with real talent from Lagos, Accra and Cape Town to Nairobi, Gaborone and Johannesburg. People who are made of Black are people who are made of more”, says Zylstra.

    He said within the first six hours of launching the campaign, the #madeofblack had sparked over 22 000 conversations. “We estimate that by the end of the launch’s six week phase, we will have achieved over a million conversations,” he stated.

    The team at Isobar has built an incredible home for the campaign online, as well as producing over 20 video pieces which run both on TV and online. These stories are well worth a watch – interesting characters across Africa share what defines their “Made of Black”.

    On the local adaptation of the campaign to suit various markets, the Managing Director/Chief Executive, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. Seni Adetu, said the new #made of more campaign by Guinness will also ignite the Nigerian spirit and the choice of musical stars, Phyno, Olamide and Eva as the campaign Ambassador is to encourage everyone to positively show what they are made of and what makes them unique. He said Guinness is positioning black, not just as a colour, but an emblem of uniqueness for which Africans and indeed Nigerians are known for.

    The Head, Consumer Planning And Research, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Ms. Tayo Salami, explains why the campaign was developed:“This campaign has been in development for almost two years and we have strived to create a campaign that we will reverberate with, and also shine a light on a movement that has been created by a new generation of Africans whose boldness cannot be contained. #Madeofblack is not about colour; Black is an attitude,” she said.

    Although the ‘Made of Black’ tagline aims to assert Guinness’ uniqueness as a black beer, experts believe it would be confusing to audience from Europe and US.

    “This can feel a little confusing to European fans of Guinness, who associate the stout firmly with Ireland. Yet in Africa, this link is not particularly strong,” an article on the Smithsonian.com indicated.

     

    Audience perception of the Ad

    Well, this ad – the video, especially – is very visually stimulating, for one. I believe it is exceptionally well done. It is fast paced, ties with the music, and gets the audience to pay attention to it. The visuals definitely catch your eyes and keep you entertained, as it features a wide-array of clips. Not to mention, the tagline #madeofblack certainly grabs someone’s attention before they even view the video.

    This ad definitely takes a part of Guinness and makes it unique and relevant, which makes it catchy for the audience – a good play on the advertiser’s role. Although, I do think the connection is a little bit of a stretch, and is almost overdone, just for the sake of being relevant.

    Partially, I am surprised they are able to get away with someone like this. It is just a bit “too relevant”, in light of Ferguson in the United States. However, this ad was done specifically for Africa, which obviously has a different culture.

    Here in the United States, if something like this were to air, I think the response would be less-than warming. Although the ad is nowhere close to degrading or hostile, it definitely segregates “blacks” and makes them seem like a completely separate culture, even calling it an attitude. I definitely think that in the United States, it would receive a lot of negative attention.

    Shayna

     

    As an advertisement, I thought of it as trying too hard to reach an African audience, especially with the use of the song “Black Skinhead,” by Kanye West. The video seemed like it was using techniques, seen in many recent advertisements to grab the viewer’s attention; being very sporadic and colorful. This line of advertisement is comparable to ads demonstrated by athletic shoe advertisements like Nike and New Balance, using visual cues, like bright lights and colorful characters who are expressive.

    Troy Cayon

     

     

    ADWEEK View

    “Made of Black” ties in with Guinness’ global “Made of More” campaign. That initiative has generated some memorable advertisement, including a short film from AMV BBDO about the Society of Elegant Persons of the Congo, better known as the Sapeurs. That campaign won seven Lions this year at Cannes.

    “Made of Black” takes a multimedia approach that includes lots of video, social outreach by Fuse OGD and other stars, sharing their personal stories, along with hand-painted print ads by Dan Funderburgh and Steve Caldwell.

  • APCON: Stakeholders reject Fed Govt’s appointee

    APCON: Stakeholders reject Fed Govt’s appointee

    When the Federal Government dissolved the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) chaired by Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi and replaced him with Prince Ngozi Emioma, little did it know it was threading on an ‘illegal’ terrain.

    The Heads of Advertising Sectoral Groups (HASG), who met in Lagos, for the first time after the government’s action,  rejected the appointment.

    HASG is made of AAAN, Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN) and Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN). NPAN did not attend the meeting because of its litigation against APCON.

    The group lamented that 11 months after the three-year tenure of Akinwunmi ended on September 27, last year, the position was still without a ‘legal’ council and  head.

    “The delay in inaugurating a new Council for APCON has expectedly slowed down some of the operations of APCON, particularly in the area of initiating fresh regulatory policies and carrying out certain operations that require the approval of the Council,” said APCON’s Registrar/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Garba Bello Kankarofi.

    President of AAAN, Mr. Kelechi Nwosu, said:  “In 2013, the Federal Government announced the reconstitution of federal boards of parastatals and regulatory bodies. During this exercise, a new Council was allegedly also announced for APCON; Prince Ngozi Emioma was appointed as Chairman,” he said.

    He said Emioma was rejected based on the Nigeria Advertising Laws, Rules and Regulations.

    A copy of the Law made available to The Nation, states: “The Nigerian Advertising Laws, Rules and Regulations Act 55 of 1988 (as amended), states that a chairman shall be a distinguished fellow of the profession… Seven persons to be appointed by the Minister, one of whom shall be from the Ministry and others from among other interests in advertising, which in the opinion of the Minister ought to be adequately represented. Thirdly, 10 persons to be elected by AAAN and two persons to represent institutions of higher learning in Nigeria offering courses leading to an approved qualification to be appointed by the Minister in rotation, so that the two persons shall not come from the same institution.”

    Nwosu said the ‘council’ purportedly ‘appointed’and headed by  Emioma is illegal as their appointments flouts the law.

    “Prince Emioma and other members of his ‘Council’ are not qualified to be on the APCON council. None of them fulfills the expectation of the APCON law, and are, therefore, not qualified to be members of the APCON council,” Nwosu said.

    Also,  Nwosu said Emioma was aware of his deficiency. One of those setbacks is not a fellow of the body,  a big factor in determining who becomes APCON chair.

    “But he is relying on the Act 55 Part 1 Subsection 3, which states that the council may, if it deems it fit bestow an honorary fellowship on any deserving person has distinguished himself in his calling and whose contribution is such that it is in the interest of the council to be associated with such person,” Nwosu added.

    He continued: “On the part of the law, Emioma is relying on, it is important to note that the council that is supposed to confer the honorary fellowship on Emioma for him to qualify is not in place. Emioma, who is relatively unknown in his chosen profession, may not be described as distinguished as his achievements are barely known.”

    Besides, the Executive Committee member of ADVAN, Kachi Onubogu, said: “There is no council in place to confer an honorary fellowship on Emioma, so he is disqualified.”

    Though the media blamed the HASG for keeping quiet too long, the Executive Secretary of AAAN, Mr. Lekan Fadolapo, said the group wrote to the President and Minister of Information when the appointment of Emioma was announced.

    In a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan dated June 13, last year, the group expressed their grievance  over the appintment. The letter states: “We write to seek your Excellency’s support in ensuring this illegality is reversed and permanently resolved.”

    The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said there were mistakes in the appointments.

    “It’s a specific professional board and we are sorting it out. We are praying that very soon, the various issues that violate the APCON Act in the composition of the membership of the board will be resolved,” he assured.

    As industry players await the minister’s response, it was learnt that a former President of AAAN, Funmi Onabolu, has been tipped  as the new APCON chairperson.

  • Food seasoning market on fire?

    Food seasoning market on fire?

    The drive for market leadership, greater brand equity, awareness and market share has pitted food seasoning brands against one another, with seasonings such as Maggi, Knorr and Royco employing every trick to winthe battle. The entry of a leading seasoning powder into the cube market may, however, set the market on fire, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    Food seasoning plays a very significant role in family bonding if the right brand  is used in preparing delicacies. A good meal makes the family to yearn for  mummy’s food. This is because with culinary expertise, especially when the right brand of seasoning that makes people salivate is used, the meal becomes something of an experience the family relishes.

    From the interpretation of some great television commercials, which though look real, some house wives have made their children to inhale the aroma emanating from  neighbour’s kitchens while some have even lost their husbands to other women’s pots. This scenario has for long been played up by makers of various food seasoning brands and have made them to understand consumers’ behavoural pattern to stay ahead of competition.

    Currently, Nigeria’s seasoning market parades great seasoning brands such as Maggi from the staple of Nestle Foods; Knorr and Royco, from the staple of Unilever. These brands are leaders in their various market segments. None of them can be pushed aside in terms of brand equity, sales,  consumer loyalty and quality market offerings.

    Food seasonings belong to the food and beverage sub-sector of the consumer market. BGL Research and Intelligence, one of the foremost investment banking companies in Africa, estimated that the seasoning sector is worth N14.7 trillion. It also estimated that the total national demand for various types of food condiments and seasonings at 5,475 tonnes per annum.

    A ValueFronteira’s Food Seasoning Report showed the market potentials maintaining a continuous growth with long list of brands produced locally and abroad competing for appreciable market share.

    However, as keenly competitive the cube seasoning market is, it has continued to attract new entrants while old brands are not relenting on offering innovative products to stay ahead of competitors.

    Before now, Doyin Group of Companies; Unilever Nigeria; Daily Need Nigeria Limited and Nestle Nigeria Plc were among players dominating the market. Then, Unilever’s Royco Seasoning Powder variants – one for stew and the other for soup, and the popular Maggi brand successfully caused a stir in the market. The entry of more brands, however, is unsettling dominant brands, while incursion of powder seasoning such as Onga seasoning powder with its variants has provided alternative for consumers. Yet the cube market has remained huge.

    While big corporate brands such as Unilever and Nestle appeared intimidated with the level of sophistication of the technology, which drives innovation, market followers such as Doyin Group of Companies, manufacturers of Doyin cubes and Daily Need, manufacturers of Suppy brand have made little inroad into the market which has other strong brand, Knorr, that has carved out a niche for itself in the seasoning market over the years. Knorr cubes, after it was bought over from Cadbury Nigeria by Unilever, has remained a force to be reckon with.

    Obviously, the brand is growing very fast beyond Unilever’s heartland of Europe, especially in Africa, Latin America, Middle East and Asia. In Nigeria, Knorr has been the taste benchmark for Unilever. Based on this, the conglomerate was committed to building on the premium credentials of Knorr. No wonder, the company said, in the past one year, it has invested in machines and a new savoury hall. This, according to the firm, ‘is to enable us to adequately supply the market and continue to give consumers premium quality cube they have come to associate with Unilever’.

    The game is becoming tougher and every brand is tightening its belt to avoid a catastrophic market share slide with the entry of one of the leading powder seasonings, Onga, into the cube market.  Onga had dominated the power seasoning market for 10 years and in the last two years Promasidor, owner of the brand, had gone to its Research and Development (R&D) department to create a Onga Cube. From the look of things, the leading cube brands seem prepared to welcome the power seasoning giant with a defensive marketing. Months before the unveiling of the Onga Cube, both Maggi and Knorr  deepened and engaged various activations to sustain their market share and build new mindshare. Market analysts, however, said  it is a reflection of fear despite the firms’ market leadership.

     

    Fear or market insight?

    On Monday, October 7, last year, Unilever  deepened its campaign for Knorr to sustain its brand equity and share-of-mind among consumers through its Knorr Taste Quest Season 2, a cooking TV show. The firm’s Brand Building Director, Mr. David Okeme, said the show was expanded to increase participation hence, the need to create additional regional auditions in Lagos, Calabar and Abuja.

    Three months after, it re-launched its Knorr Beef and Chicken cubes to deliver superior taste with a new package believed to be a winning concept with a compelling insight and proposition for its consumers.

     

    NESTLE Maggi

    On February 17, this year, Nestle Nigeria Plc upset the market with a strategic partnership with Nokia to build more mileage for the Maggi cube, using the mobile phone to connect with Maggi offering. While Nokia is one of the leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the mobile telecommunication market category, Maggi has also been touted as the market leader in the food seasoning market category.

    Experts say the partnership between the two firms is meant to deepen the market of both brands. As a way of engaging its customers through first hand experience, consumers of both brands were treated to a special night of food and photography tagged: “Eat. Shoot.Repeat”. The event was organised to showcase Nokia’s flagship brands- Nokia Lumia 1520 and Lumia 1320. It was also a great platform for Maggi to penetrate the market of phone users, whose exponential growth, has placed Nigeria top in the global graph for phone users.

    Nestle’s, Business Manager, Culinary,  Guy Kellaway, said: “MAGGI, Nigeria’s leading cooking brand, is synonymous with good food. Good food means great memories, and of course, great stories, which is why we are creating and capturing good food-moments-the essence of the Maggi Brand. It was for this reason that Maggi was able to associate strongly with Nokia for this event.”

    Nestle again entered the Lagos market to give retailers and consumers a first look and taste of the new Maggi Chicken cube.  The move, according to Kellaway, was part of ongoing efforts of the firm’s brand managers to constantly improve Nestlé products and make them tastier, healthier, and affordable with better nutritional value.

     

    Promasidor’s Onga powder joins the Cube league

    With the buoyant cube seasoning market expanding yearly, Promasidor has taken a bold step to dare dominant brands from the staple of leading  companies by creating the cube form from its Ongaseasoning powder. Early this year, when Promasidor  launched the product, its Executive Director, Commercial, Mr. Kachi Onubogu, said: “After almost two years of insightful and innovative work by the Promasidor team, I am happy to welcome Onga Cube into the Promasidor Nigeria family of brands.”

    He remarked that the new OngaCube comes in singles of 4gm and in two variants. It is packaged with 50 cubes in a pouch and 24 pouches in a carton.

    To sell a new value-creation for consumers and still retain its powder market dominance, Onubogu said: “Onga in cubes is a completely different formulation from the existing Onga powder because we did a complete reformulation from scratch, paying particular attention to what the consumers want in an ideal brand of seasoning cube.”

    Onga is arguably the number one in the seasoning powder segment and it was introduced in 2004. The big players (and smaller brands) have launched variants of their brands, attesting to the fact that Promasidor did the right thing by pioneering the powdered segment of the seasoning market in Nigeria. However, they have hardly made any success in that category.

     

    Can Ongaupset Maggi, Knorr in cube category?

    The Managing Director/ Chief Executive of Promasidor, Chief Keith Richards, said the success of the Ongabrand in the powder form will be replicated in the cube market. He said this is evident considering the success of the company in other market offerings.

    Analysts believe that with Promasidor innovation in making average consumers have access to milk by bringing the first sachet milk into the country, the company could upset market leaders in the cube seasoning market. This is evident in Richard’s statement: “At Promasidor Nigeria Limited, we pride ourselves in pioneering cutting-edge innovative solutions to the delight of our consumers in terms of our product offerings. Twenty years ago, we set out to improve the lives of every Nigerian with the introduction of nutritious Cowbell milk in single serve sachets that made milk affordable to every Nigerian household.

    “Since then, we have continuously raised the bar of innovation with the introduction of Top Tea in round tea bags, Onga Seasoning in powdery form and flavoured milk drink: Cowbell Choco, Cowbell Strawberry, Cowbell Sweet Milk and Cowbell Coffee. This is a true testament to our vision of providing quality products and empowering the lives of Nigerians.”

    Meanwhile, as the competition intensifies, market observers are of the view that the entry of Onga into the cube market category will re-configure the market share of the leading brands and this might come with some consumers switching brands to experience the new entrant.

  • Food seasoning market on fire?

    Food seasoning market on fire?

    The drive for market leadership, greater brand equity, awareness and market share has pitted food seasoning brands against one another, with seasonings such as Maggi, Knorr and Royco employing every trick to winthe battle. The entry of a leading seasoning powder into the cube market may, however, set the market on fire, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    Food seasoning plays a very significant role in family bonding if the right brand is used in preparing delicacies. A good meal makes the family to yearn for  mummy’s food. This is because with culinary expertise, especially when the right brand of seasoning that makes people salivate is used, the meal becomes something of an experience the family relishes.

    From the interpretation of some great television commercials, which though look real, some house wives have made their children to inhale the aroma emanating from  neighbour’s kitchens while some have even lost their husbands to other women’s pots. This scenario has for long been played up by makers of various food seasoning brands and have made them to understand consumers’ behavoural pattern to stay ahead of competition.

    Currently, Nigeria’s seasoning market parades great seasoning brands such as Maggi from the staple of Nestle Foods; Knorr and Royco, from the staple of Unilever. These brands are leaders in their various market segments. None of them can be pushed aside in terms of brand equity, sales,  consumer loyalty and quality market offerings.

    Food seasonings belong to the food and beverage sub-sector of the consumer market. BGL Research and Intelligence, one of the foremost investment banking companies in Africa, estimated that the seasoning sector is worth N14.7 trillion. It also estimated that the total national demand for various types of food condiments and seasonings at 5,475 tonnes per annum.

    A ValueFronteira’s Food Seasoning Report showed the market potentials maintaining a continuous growth with long list of brands produced locally and abroad competing for appreciable market share.

    However, as keenly competitive the cube seasoning market is, it has continued to attract new entrants while old brands are not relenting on offering innovative products to stay ahead of competitors.

    Before now, Doyin Group of Companies; Unilever Nigeria; Daily Need Nigeria Limited and Nestle Nigeria Plc were among players dominating the market. Then, Unilever’s Royco Seasoning Powder variants – one for stew and the other for soup, and the popular Maggi brand successfully caused a stir in the market. The entry of more brands, however, is unsettling dominant brands, while incursion of powder seasoning such as Onga seasoning powder with its variants has provided alternative for consumers. Yet the cube market has remained huge.

    While big corporate brands such as Unilever and Nestle appeared intimidated with the level of sophistication of the technology, which drives innovation, market followers such as Doyin Group of Companies, manufacturers of Doyin cubes and Daily Need, manufacturers of Suppy brand have made little inroad into the market which has other strong brand, Knorr, that has carved out a niche for itself in the seasoning market over the years. Knorr cubes, after it was bought over from Cadbury Nigeria by Unilever, has remained a force to be reckon with.

    Obviously, the brand is growing very fast beyond Unilever’s heartland of Europe, especially in Africa, Latin America, Middle East and Asia. In Nigeria, Knorr has been the taste benchmark for Unilever. Based on this, the conglomerate was committed to building on the premium credentials of Knorr. No wonder, the company said, in the past one year, it has invested in machines and a new savoury hall. This, according to the firm, ‘is to enable us to adequately supply the market and continue to give consumers premium quality cube they have come to associate with Unilever’.

    The game is becoming tougher and every brand is tightening its belt to avoid a catastrophic market share slide with the entry of one of the leading powder seasonings, Onga, into the cube market.  Onga had dominated the power seasoning market for 10 years and in the last two years Promasidor, owner of the brand, had gone to its Research and Development (R&D) department to create a Onga Cube. From the look of things, the leading cube brands seem prepared to welcome the power seasoning giant with a defensive marketing. Months before the unveiling of the Onga Cube, both Maggi and Knorr  deepened and engaged various activations to sustain their market share and build new mindshare. Market analysts, however, said  it is a reflection of fear despite the firms’ market leadership.

     

    Fear or market insight?

    On Monday, October 7, last year, Unilever  deepened its campaign for Knorr to sustain its brand equity and share-of-mind among consumers through its Knorr Taste Quest Season 2, a cooking TV show. The firm’s Brand Building Director, Mr. David Okeme, said the show was expanded to increase participation hence, the need to create additional regional auditions in Lagos, Calabar and Abuja.

    Three months after, it re-launched its Knorr Beef and Chicken cubes to deliver superior taste with a new package believed to be a winning concept with a compelling insight and proposition for its consumers.

     

    NESTLE Maggi

    On February 17, this year, Nestle Nigeria Plc upset the market with a strategic partnership with Nokia to build more mileage for the Maggi cube, using the mobile phone to connect with Maggi offering. While Nokia is one of the leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the mobile telecommunication market category, Maggi has also been touted as the market leader in the food seasoning market category.

    Experts say the partnership between the two firms is meant to deepen the market of both brands. As a way of engaging its customers through first hand experience, consumers of both brands were treated to a special night of food and photography tagged: “Eat. Shoot.Repeat”. The event was organised to showcase Nokia’s flagship brands- Nokia Lumia 1520 and Lumia 1320. It was also a great platform for Maggi to penetrate the market of phone users, whose exponential growth, has placed Nigeria top in the global graph for phone users.

    Nestle’s, Business Manager, Culinary,  Guy Kellaway, said: “MAGGI, Nigeria’s leading cooking brand, is synonymous with good food. Good food means great memories, and of course, great stories, which is why we are creating and capturing good food-moments-the essence of the Maggi Brand. It was for this reason that Maggi was able to associate strongly with Nokia for this event.”

    Nestle again entered the Lagos market to give retailers and consumers a first look and taste of the new Maggi Chicken cube.  The move, according to Kellaway, was part of ongoing efforts of the firm’s brand managers to constantly improve Nestlé products and make them tastier, healthier, and affordable with better nutritional value.

     

    Promasidor’s Onga powder joins the Cube league

    With the buoyant cube seasoning market expanding yearly, Promasidor has taken a bold step to dare dominant brands from the staple of leading  companies by creating the cube form from its Ongaseasoning powder. Early this year, when Promasidor  launched the product, its Executive Director, Commercial, Mr. Kachi Onubogu, said: “After almost two years of insightful and innovative work by the Promasidor team, I am happy to welcome Onga Cube into the Promasidor Nigeria family of brands.”

    He remarked that the new OngaCube comes in singles of 4gm and in two variants. It is packaged with 50 cubes in a pouch and 24 pouches in a carton.

    To sell a new value-creation for consumers and still retain its powder market dominance, Onubogu said: “Onga in cubes is a completely different formulation from the existing Onga powder because we did a complete reformulation from scratch, paying particular attention to what the consumers want in an ideal brand of seasoning cube.”

    Onga is arguably the number one in the seasoning powder segment and it was introduced in 2004. The big players (and smaller brands) have launched variants of their brands, attesting to the fact that Promasidor did the right thing by pioneering the powdered segment of the seasoning market in Nigeria. However, they have hardly made any success in that category.

     

    Can Ongaupset Maggi, Knorr in cube category?

    The Managing Director/ Chief Executive of Promasidor, Chief Keith Richards, said the success of the Ongabrand in the powder form will be replicated in the cube market. He said this is evident considering the success of the company in other market offerings.

    Analysts believe that with Promasidor innovation in making average consumers have access to milk by bringing the first sachet milk into the country, the company could upset market leaders in the cube seasoning market. This is evident in Richard’s statement: “At Promasidor Nigeria Limited, we pride ourselves in pioneering cutting-edge innovative solutions to the delight of our consumers in terms of our product offerings. Twenty years ago, we set out to improve the lives of every Nigerian with the introduction of nutritious Cowbell milk in single serve sachets that made milk affordable to every Nigerian household.

    “Since then, we have continuously raised the bar of innovation with the introduction of Top Tea in round tea bags, Onga Seasoning in powdery form and flavoured milk drink: Cowbell Choco, Cowbell Strawberry, Cowbell Sweet Milk and Cowbell Coffee. This is a true testament to our vision of providing quality products and empowering the lives of Nigerians.”

    Meanwhile, as the competition intensifies, market observers are of the view that the entry of Onga into the cube market category will re-configure the market share of the leading brands and this might come with some consumers switching brands to experience the new entrant.

     

     

  • Ad spend hits N18.5b

    The print media attracted a total of N18.5 billion from advertising last year, more than doubling the N9 billion it recorded in the previous year.

    This is contained in the just-released 2013 Mediafacts, a key media resource for marketing experts in West and Central Africa produced yearly by MediareachOMD, a specialist media firm that provides media planning, buying, control and inventory management services.

    According to Mediafacts, “due to new publication launches and increased brand activities in print media, the spends in the print media increased more than 100 per cent and thereby set a new record for the sector. In the past 10 years, the highest revenue the print media had from advertisers before now was in 2010 when advertising spend was N16.5 billion.

    However, “Print medium was largely used only in Lagos and a marginal one per cent spend in the Northern region,” the report said.

    Also, quarterly analysis of the total print advertising expenditure, shows that though there is almost an equal dispersion of spend across the four quarters, there is a marginal skew in spend in the second quarter with a total value of N5.1 billion. The first, third and fourth quarters attracted advertising worth N4.2 billion, N4.5 billion and N4.6 billion.

    Further, the Mediafacts revealed that the growth in the spend was primarily driven by the personal paid, corporate, banking and finance, telecoms, education, hotel, public service, motor vehicles,  lager and handsets adverts.

    According to the report, Globacom, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, MTN, Guaranty Trust Bank, Etisalat, Guinness Stout, Airtel, Diamond Bank, Zenith Bank and Skye Bank are the top 10 big advert spenders in the year under review.

    According to the Managing Director/CEO of MediareachOMD, Mr. Tolu Ogunkoya,“besides the in-depth coverage of Nigeria and Ghana’s media markets, this latest edition of mediafacts provides deeper insight into the Cameroonian market.’’

     

     

  • Ad spend hits N18.5b

    The print media attracted a total of N18.5 billion from advertising last year, more than doubling the N9 billion it recorded in the previous year.

    This is contained in the just-released 2013 Mediafacts, a key media resource for marketing experts in West and Central Africa produced yearly by MediareachOMD, a specialist media firm that provides media planning, buying, control and inventory management services.

    According to Mediafacts, “due to new publication launches and increased brand activities in print media, the spends in the print media increased more than 100 per cent and thereby set a new record for the sector. In the past 10 years, the highest revenue the print media had from advertisers before now was in 2010 when advertising spend was N16.5 billion.

    However, “Print medium was largely used only in Lagos and a marginal one per cent spend in the Northern region,” the report said.

    Also, quarterly analysis of the total print advertising expenditure, shows that though there is almost an equal dispersion of spend across the four quarters, there is a marginal skew in spend in the second quarter with a total value of N5.1 billion. The first, third and fourth quarters attracted advertising worth N4.2 billion, N4.5 billion and N4.6 billion.

    Further, the Mediafacts revealed that the growth in the spend was primarily driven by the personal paid, corporate, banking and finance, telecoms, education, hotel, public service, motor vehicles,  lager and handsets adverts.

    According to the report, Globacom, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, MTN, Guaranty Trust Bank, Etisalat, Guinness Stout, Airtel, Diamond Bank, Zenith Bank and Skye Bank are the top 10 big advert spenders in the year under review.

    According to the Managing Director/CEO of MediareachOMD, Mr. Tolu Ogunkoya,“besides the in-depth coverage of Nigeria and Ghana’s media markets, this latest edition of mediafacts provides deeper insight into the Cameroonian market.’’

  • Caritas, Investis partner on digital communication

    Caritas, Investis partner on digital communication

    Caritas Digital, a subsidiary of Caritas PR Limited, has signed a deal with Investis Limited, an international digital communication firm, to deploy digital corporate communication to firms in West Africa.

    On the partnership, the Chief Executive Officer, Caritas PR Limited,Adedayo Ojo, said: “We are delighted with the partnership with Investis. The agreement will enable us to combine our expertise to offer clients the best in corporate and digital communication.”

    He added that the agreement was a response to an independent research report which showed a sharp rise in digital products and services globally and an encouraging increase in the number of corporations investing in their overall digital corporate communication in the past one year.

    “Annual Reports are no longer shared during Annual General Meetings; rather, these are deployed through IR applications to targeted investors, and shareholders with enhanced user interface for interactive engagements. The lack of these applications place some quoted companies in Nigeria in a disadvantage position,” Ojo said.

    Ojo stated that the partnership has been designed to provide products and services including designing; building, hosting and managing corporate or investor websites and online annual reports, Investor Relations apps development, webcasting and social media solutions to quoted Nigerian companies listed on the London and Nigeria Stock Exchanges.

    With this partnership, Caritas Digital and Investis will offer flexible solutions compatible with iPad, iPhone, and Android phones and social media for Investor Relations and Corporate Communication.

    Other solutions include iPad-compatible webcasting player; social media compatible widgets with a wide range of new corporate and investor-focused iPad, iPhone and Android Apps.

  • Caritas, Investis partner on digital communication

    Caritas Digital, a subsidiary of Caritas PR Limited,has signed a deal with Investis Limited, an international digital communication firm, to deploy digital corporate communication to firms in West Africa.

    On the partnership, the Chief Executive Officer, Caritas PR Limited,Adedayo Ojo, said: “We are delighted with the partnership with Investis. The agreement will enable us to combine our expertise to offer clients the best in corporate and digital communication.”

    He added that the agreement was a response to an independent research report which showed a sharp rise in digital products and services globally and an encouraging increase in the number of corporations investing in their overall digital corporate communication in the past one year.

    “Annual Reports are no longer shared during Annual General Meetings; rather, these are deployed through IR applications to targeted investors, and shareholders with enhanced user interface for interactive engagements. The lack of these applications place some quoted companies in Nigeria in a disadvantage position,” Ojo said.

    Ojo stated that the partnership has been designed to provide products and services including designing; building, hosting and managing corporate or investor websites and online annual reports, Investor Relations apps development, webcasting and social media solutions to quoted Nigerian companies listed on the London and Nigeria Stock Exchanges.

    With this partnership, Caritas Digital and Investis will offer flexible solutions compatible with iPad, iPhone, and Android phones and social media for Investor Relations and Corporate Communication.

    Other solutions include iPad-compatible webcasting player; social media compatible widgets with a wide range of new corporate and investor-focused iPad, iPhone and Android Apps.

     

     

     

  • BATN tackles anti-tobacco groups

    British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) Limited has restated its commitment to the implementation of the Lagos State Public Place Smoking Law, which came into effect last week.

    The firm said it would continue to support its key stakeholders to drive a fully compliant and well- regulated sector.

    The statement came against the backdrop of a reaction to BATN’s recent sensitisation of officers of the Lagos State Police Command on the Lagos State Public Place Smoking Law.

    The firm said it was surprised that a Lagos-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) would fault the sensitisation of enforcement agents on the new Lagos Public Smoking law.

    The Area Director, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, BAT West Africa, Freddy Messanvi, said the firm believes that this was a task which such NGOs should spearhead.

    He said help was needed from NGOs and other stakeholders to  boost the understanding and appreciation of the law and not engage in industry de-normalisation tactics.

    Other issues requiring the attention of stakeholders include stemming the tide of illegal trade in the sector and using the funding that the NGOs get from their international partners to build the capacity of agencies who work on tobacco control to ensure that there is compliance with the regulations.

    He said engagement with stakeholders, such as the sensitisation of officers of the Nigeria Police in Lagos was held in accordance with the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, FCTC, Article 5.3.

    The Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), charged with enforcing the Lagos State Public Place Smoking Law, had embarked on sensitising   residents on the provisions of the law.

    A public hearing was held by the Joint Committee on Health and Justice of the House of Representatives. Stakeholders welcomed further regulation of the sector, charging the legislators to ensure that the law was balanced and enforceable.

    Pro-industry stakeholders at the event asked the law makers to ensure that there is a balance in whatever law that is passed.