The Nation Newspaper

Category: Brand week

  • ‘How packaging boosts brands’

    Product branding and packaging are important to the success of a brand in the corportae world. In this age of globalisation, there are many brands competing in the market.

    As a result, they have to analyse not only the product but also the manufacturer, brand name, packaging, price and contents.

    Despite the quality, price, content and other aspect in products, brand builders often place great value on the product packaging, described as the first point of appeal to consumers.

    In a consumer report titled: Universite Laval, France Influences of Brand Name and Packaging on Perceived Quality, an expert, Benny Rigaux-Bricmont, said  packaging plays greater role on product quality perception and reputation. As a result, it can be an indicator of product quality.

    “Research has shown the important role of brand names and brand packaging on quality perception. Brand reputation can be either a common surrogate indicator of product quality or an effective strategy to reduce risk when ease of evaluation is low,” he said.

    “Being almost a part of the product, packaging does not only act as a means of communication but may also interact closely with the evaluation of the product itself,” Rigaux-Bricmont said.

    He submitted both brand names and brand packaging influence the consumers’ quality evaluations. “For example, in a study conducted in Michigan, Roberts and Taylor (1975) investigated with mixed results the effects of the visual cue of granule size on ratings of various coffee types. But here, only the first two cues were suspected to be potential troublemakers for the client firm. In a managerial perspective, the finding that-brand and packaging images help the consumer in differentiating the brands, accentuates the importance of the various firms’ marketing efforts, and more particularly, their interdependence,” Rigaux-Bricmont added.

    While many products continue to realise the importance of product packaging across all market categories to survive the dire competition, brand builders are not relenting in sustaining their brand equity as their product lifecycle move from one stage to the other. As a result of the growing competition in the fruit juice market, one of the brands of juice from Chi Limited, Chivita Active, was given a new packaging as part of marketing efforts to strategic makeover to reposition and convey tangible and intangible attributes of the brand to the consumer.

    According to the Managing Director of Chi Limited, Mr. Deepanjan Roy, the new pack is a fresh and new design that is aimed at effectively communicating the core value of Chivita Active as an “active healthy lifestyle” brand to consumers.

    He added that the new pack parades a bold new logo that is refreshingly modern while exuding the core essence of active health. “With rounded contemporary edges and the forward pointing red triangle, the logo emphasises on advancement, achievement and success,” he said.

    “The design is cutting edge. The rich fruit and juice visuals combine perfectly with the simplistic design and colour pallet to reveal a truly sophisticated pack. It is a pack that exudes confidence and fitness and will resonate with those who lead an active lifestyle and are primed to achieve more,” Roy said.

    The pack features a nutritional information on the six citrus fruits mixed together to form the juice while “Fortified with Vitamin C” is positioned on the pack to further identify with the health conscious consumer.

    Further examination of the pack reveals active images on the side panels that urge consumers to embrace the active lifestyle and an inviting motif of fruits and juice splash.

    The brand managers used the package to message contents in the new package and the product variant. “It contains six citric fruit juices and added vitamin C. The citric fruit juices are Orange, Grapefruit, Lime, Tangerine, Lemon and Mandarine,” he said.

  • Brands to tackle counterfeiting

    With the wreck activities of counterfeiters has done to the market share and value of many brands, there is a wave of anti-counterfeiting movement against brand counterfeiters in other to protect brands, ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI reports.

    Brand counterfeiting has been described as ‘the crime of the 21st century’ and it affects almost every brand-owning company at some point in time. The subject of intellectual property, into which this fits, has attracted a great deal of attention in the legal world too but very little in the marketing literature. Counterfeiting can be a problem for the brand, but even more so, it’s a problem for the profits of the brand owner.

    The real HP LaserJet printer may cost N100,000 and the fake one costs N40,000, but many customers don’t believe the real one is ten times better than the fake… anyone who can’t afford the former will be happy to settle for a cheapo substitute yet the cost implication for both brand owners, the customers who patronise cheap brand and the economy which tolerates counterfeiters to thrive is huge and could be devastating.

    With the cartel of counterfeiters growing day by the day in sophistication and funding, luxury brand owners are becoming more vulnerable after spending millions to effectively attract the affluent people towards their brands. The threat pose by counterfeiters to their priced brands has been described as momentous. As a result, the growth rate of counterfeiting has been epochal during the last two decades, posing challenges for the governments, genuine-item manufacturers and consumers as well.

    At a cross-industry Anti-Counterfeiting Abuja Conference, hosted by Hewitt Package (HP), it was gathered that the global trade in counterfeit goods is growing in Africa, and particularly, Nigeria is increasingly being targeted as a market for counterfeit merchandise as result of its growing middle class and position as new economic frontier for global brands.

    This, perhaps, had led Multinational and national companies, government officials, representatives of ministries responsible for Anti-Counterfeiting in education, trade, economy, health, etc, procurement officials, press, top tier partners of tech companies, law enforcement organizations responsible for Anti-Counterfeiting, around the country to gather at the HP anti-counterfeiting summit to discuss consumer, brand protection and lobbying as ways to raise awareness, challenge the legal framework on counterfeiting in other to stem the tide of sales and purchase of counterfeiting brands.

    The Director-General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Joseph Jamodu during the summit lamented that brand counterfeiting has been a long standing global problem which poses a great concern to Nigerian government and legitimate businesses. Because of its huge negative impact on the economic growth of the nation, he said SON has made seizures estimated in excess of five hundred million naira in Nigeria. Putting the globally loss at $400 billion as estimated by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) put the value of these losses, he said music software and video market in Nigeria is languishing in over N100 billion loss.

    “In the past, counterfeit products were distributed largely through informal markets but in recent times, these products are increasingly infiltrating legitimate supply chains and now appearing in the shelves of established retail shops and trade fairs. The internet which is a virtual market place has provided counterfeiters and pirates a new powerful means to sell their products via auction sites, stand-alone e-commerce sites and email solicitation. The online environment is attractive to counterfeiters and pirates for a number of reasons, including the relative ease of deceiving consumers and the market reach,” he observed.

    Worried about how counterfeiting is affecting its brand value in its market category, the Brand Protection Programme Manager for HP, Jeff Kwasny, complained that HP cartridges are refilled or remanufactured print cartridges packed in unauthorised or fake reproductions of HP packaging, which are meant to mislead the consumer into believing that they are buying genuine HP products. He said as growing markets, many African countries are a major target for counterfeiting networks.  “HP’s ACF Programme is supporting African authorities in order to tackle counterfeiting before it gains a larger foothold in Africa. HP is active in protecting African economies from illicit trade of HP branded products. Customers are mostly unwitting victims of counterfeiting. Only six per cent of corporate customers who purchased counterfeit print cartridges did so intentionally,” he said.

    The District Manager, Printing and Personal System Western, Southern and Eastern Africa, Jean-Paul Pinto said with rate at which brand protection is becoming difficult as a result of growth in technology, there is need to protect consumers, customers, investment from the impact of counterfeiting. “It destroys economy and business investment and trade partners. The fight against counterfeiting is beyond HP but it’s everybody’s fight,” he said.

    Also, the President of Intellectual Property Law Association of Nigeria, Professor Bankole Sodipo said any brands that refuse to innovate on new ways to protect its brand identity will go into extinction. He, however, advised that a reform should be canvassed by joint-industry stakeholders in other to change certain aspect of the Nigerian anti-counterfeiting laws which adjudicate weak punitive measure for offenders, hence, encouraging them to commit the crime. “For brands, if you don’t do what is right you will go into extinction? Counterfeiting is one of the greatest things that can kill an industry. We need a reform to fight counterfeiting. We need lobbying to effect changes in the law in other to fight the current legal framework so that the fight against counterfeiting will be easy for brands,” he said. Sodipo, however, warned brand owners against the activities of their authorized distributors who are easy prey for counterfeiting rings. “I am aware of a brand that has gone into extinction as a result of the activities of its distributors who allowed counterfeiters to use their channels for distribution of its principal’s counterfeit,” he said.

    Currently, a lot of brands are waking up to the challenge posed by counterfeiting. The Senior Brand Protection Manager, Unilever Africa, Mr. Desmond Adeola disclosed that Unilever has internal solutions to check counterfeiting of its brands. “At Unilever, we employed internal solutions. We look at our supply chains. We do lots of tiding of company policies to stamp out opportunities for counterfeiters. We know that they clone our packages and that is why we look at the issue of editable artworks, engagement of law enforcement agents and give them needed information to protect our brands,” he said.

    The Partner & Head Intellectual Property Department, Aluko & Oyebode, Uche Nwokocha urged that collaboration among industry players will change the game against counterfeiters. He, however, urged to enhance a successful collaboration, industry players should seek for legal assistance. “Whatever kind of partnership that is embarked upon, Brand Owners require the services of legal practitioners to ensure that such actions are carried out within the limits of the law. Relevant regulatory agencies carry out raids upon successful investigation into the complaint lodged by the owner of brand. Legal assistance is often required to ensure that such actions are carried out within the limits of the law,” he noted.

    To stop the menace, Kwasny said HP has adopted five strategies in fighting counterfeiting. The steps include investigation and Enforcement; Prevention and Education; Channel Management (that management of suppliers activities) and Product and Packaging.

    Meanwhile, the Comptroller General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko Inde said it is most important that every nation fights Counterfeiting and Piracy to protect their economy. He advised that there is need for all relevant border agencies to collaborate to ensure success in this endeavour. “Protection of Intellectual Property (IP) Rights is an obligation upon each country that accedes to the WTO TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement. The TRIPS, which Nigeria has ratified, provides certain minimum standards for protection which should be accorded by governments to IP Right owners including border enforcement,” he said.

  • Index for outdoor advertising

    Index for outdoor advertising

    For long, there was nothing to show the impact of outdoor advertising to justify the millions of naira spent on it. The Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) has come to the rescue, with its introduction of the Outdoor Audience Measurement System (OAMS) in line with global practice. The system will restore advertisers’ confidence in the use of outdoor advertising to promote brands, reports ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    The Outdoor Advertising industry faces  a lot of challenges some of which are multiplicity of taxes, over regulation, the emergence of social media, land speculation and touting. While these challenges have been cited as reasons for its shrinking advertising budget and fortune yearly, little is done about lack of audience measurement, which advertisers often use as the yard stick for determining advertising spend and its effectiveness on brands success.

    At a presentation, the President of Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Mr. Tolu Ogunkoya, said outdoor spend declined from 40 per cent to 27 per cent between 2010 and 2011.

    Reacting to the decline, Babs Fagade, publisher of Outdoor Republic said: “What can be attributed to the lack of justification for spends on outdoor by advertisers is the absence of matrix and reliable data.”

    Indeed, what is affecting the industry, most is audience measurement. These worries appear over as the Lagos State Government has introduced the Outdoor Audience Measurement System (OAMS). The system produces audience estimates for Out-of-Home advertising and the data captures how many people saw an advertisement, how often they saw it and the profile of those who saw it.

    The system fundamentally changes the focus of outdoor media planning from panels to audience. It is designed around people’s daily movements on a hyper-local level, making it possible for planning by each geographical area at day time.

    How it works

    The system, the first of its kind in West Africa, follows the global practice of published audience research for radio, television and press. It will produce audience estimates for Outdoor advertising.

    The published data will tell advertisers how many people see an Outdoor advertising campaign in specific locations in the state as well as how often they do so. The audience will be broken down into many typologies, including age, sex, class, and lifestyle. The information is expected to be used by advertisers in planning and evaluating advertising campaigns in the Outdoor medium.

    The need to introduce audience measurment has become a subject of debate in the last 50 years when outdoor advertising business started, but the Managing Director of LASAA, Mr. George Noah, said: ‘’This is a defining moment in outdoor advertising practice in Nigeria. For advertisers to make informed buying decision, data analysis of the target audience is very essential.

    “Outdoor advertising markets in developed economies are flourishing because data is available for both buyers and sellers of outdoor spaces to make informed choices and careful planning. We need to embark on a scientific audience research measurement to enable the sector compete favourably with radio, TV and press.”

    Noah said the Outdoor sector needs a people focused measurement system which will analyse audience estimates.

    In his words: “Scientific audience measurement will provide details of Realistic Opportunity To See (ROTS) with eye-tracking studies which will gauge the likelihood to see (LTS) factor of the various types of display. This will also account for scale, orientation, distance, movement, illumination and spatially analyse the sites in relation to competitors, customer locations as well as traffic patterns.”

    He promised that traffic audit would offer immense value to advertisers in accurate audience figures and also encourage advertisers in making informed outdoor advertising purchase.

    “The medium is changing at a rapid rate and we must think from the point of view of the audience, not from the position of a billboard structure. If we start with a deep knowledge of how people move about, advertisers can have the flexibility to decide what they put in their way in terms of communication opportunities.

    He said by defining the audience, it will be possible to use the data to plan, trade and compute valuation for the medium, adding: “We need to encourage outdoor advertisers to consider more populated areas, such as Ikorodu and Alimosho. The LASAA Outdoor Audience research we believe, will reveal the marketing potential of previously ignored areas.”

    Global examples

    The Lagos initiative followed breakthroughs in Europe and America. Only recently, ROUTE, an outdoor audience advertising measuring system, was launch in the United Kingdom (UK) where there has been a huge £19million investment   in its research. Also, a report by Outdoor Republic, a publication for outdoor advertising, stated that the launch of POSTAR in the UK in 1996 marked a further improvement in measurement with the audience estimation process involving six stages: Traffic counts, Pedestrian counts, Coverage, Estimate of dispersion factors, Visibility Adjusted Impacts (VAIs) and Refinements (illumination factors). This is an indication of a continuous study dating back to 1952 when travel patterns were conducted among 5,359 people in nine towns.

    Also, the Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB) in the United States of America introduced EYES ON Impressions (EOIs) as the new audience measurement currency for buying and selling out of home media in the US, to replace Daily Effective Circulations(DEC) as the core metric.

    EOIs represent the average number of persons who are likely to notice an ad viewed on an outdoor display. EOIs are available in all US media markets and are reported as weekly impressions, reporting all demographic audiences available to other media. This helps marketers to understand the true value of the medium when combined in a multi-media campaign.

    In 2005, Nielsen Outdoor in collaboration with South African Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF), the advertising industry sponsored body that controls advertising audience research in South Africa harnessed the power of the GPS through the market-proven Npod™ device (Nielsen Personal Outdoor Device) to provide demographic audience information plus reach, frequency and outdoor ratings data, to all SAARF stakeholders — advertisers, agencies and outdoor media companies. Outdoor media buyers and sellers in South Africa got empowered to use audience measurements that are similar to traditional ratings data used to plan radio, television and print.

    In 2007, Outdoor Finland released an audience measurement system that provides the planners and buyers of outdoor advertising with commensurate and reliable performance indicators. Visibility Adjusted Contact (VAC), which is more highly developed and appreciably more precise than the traditional performance indicators used by the media. The Outdoor Impact system is based on a landmark international research concept as well as on extensive Finnish research and research data. A project conducted by Outdoor Finland and the association’s corporate members, Clear Channel and JCDecaux, that lasted many years, and was the largest development investment in the industry’s history in Finland. Key of note is that the system is based on an international concept derived from the well-known British POSTAR.

    Upon the birth of this in Finland, the association’s Executive Manager was quoted to have said: “The system’s enhanced measuring accuracy substantially boosts the competitiveness of outdoor advertising in Finland. Now advertisers can use precise facts and figures on outdoor advertising, so they can be certain about what they’re buying. We fully expect Outdoor Impact to increase outdoor advertising’s share of the media market.”

    In February 2010, the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) launched Australia’s first industry-wide audience measurement tool for outdoor media known as MOVE (Measurement of Outdoor Visibility and Exposure). MOVE is owned by the OMA and its five largest members – APN Outdoor, EYE, Adshel, oOh!media and JCDecaux. The OMA represents the interests of other OMA Media Display Members with inventory in the MOVE system.

    With this new system introduced in West Africa by LAASA, industry observers, especially advertisers, believe the outdoor advertising budget will increase.

  • Largest LED board unveiled

    The Optimum Exposures, an outdoor advertising agency, has unveiled a billboard described as the largest free standing LED Board in sub-Sahara Africa, measuring 42m by 12m.

    The billboard was the outcome  of the company’s penchant for trend setting innovations.

    Targeted at premium brands, the Managing Director, Bayo Adio, said this informed the decision to invest huge resources in the LED billboard.

    He added that the board was a result of the need to place the industry on the same pedestal in terms of global best practices thereby offering brands unrivaled out of home platform to showcase their brands.

    Adio, at a briefing in Lagos, said the board was an investment that keeps the firm and brands on display ahead of competition.

    “The iconic digital billboard located on the Adeniji Adele access route was a product of our  penchant for innovation as a way to stay ahead of competition. Of course being a premium billboard it does not come cheap, huge resources was invested in it which is why it is targeted at premium brands,” he said.

    The digital billboard, according to him, is though relatively new in the country, it has the potentials to arrest the decline in advertising spending, adding that opportunities available for out of home advertising is on the increase with the introduction of digital billboard to the local industry.

    The Head of Marketing, Optimum Exposures, Bob Ononuju, said the bilboard is the best in quality.

    He added that it was custom-built for the site by leading digital billboard manufacturer, Daktronics, United States.

    Adio refuted claims that a digital billboard was a distraction to road users, noting that a fifth study on national and local roads in the United States has exonerated digital billboards. He stressed that it has helped to further illuminate and beautify the environment the more.

    “Digital billboard does not cause road accidents and this has been proven and documented. In fact, a fifth survey conducted on local and national roads in the United States clearly showed so. Rather, it beautifies the environment,” he said.

    Ononuju explained that it comes with Intelligent Device Management (IDM) system, which allows  engineers to detect and correct errors.

    He added that besides that the board regulates itself during hot weathers – its fully tropicalised for Nigeria, as such it does not require air-conditioning like other LEDs.

    “Our iconic billboard comes with a handful of unique features which helps to further project the brands on it.  It comes with Intelligent Device Management (IDM) which helps to swiftly detect errors so that our back end people can promptly fix it.

    “Besides, it comes with Dynamic display, Social media integration – Twitter/scrolling messages, time and temperature It regulates itself in line with the prevailing weather.” Ononuju added.

  • Brands to tackle counterfeiting

    With the wreck activities of counterfeiters has done to the market share and value of many brands, there is a wave of anti-counterfeiting movement against brand counterfeiters in other to protect brands, ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI reports.

    Brand counterfeiting has been described as ‘the crime of the 21st century’ and it affects almost every brand-owning company at some point in time. The subject of intellectual property, into which this fits, has attracted a great deal of attention in the legal world too but very little in the marketing literature. Counterfeiting can be a problem for the brand, but even more so, it’s a problem for the profits of the brand owner.

    The real HP LaserJet printer may cost N100,000 and the fake one costs N40,000, but many customers don’t believe the real one is ten times better than the fake… anyone who can’t afford the former will be happy to settle for a cheapo substitute yet the cost implication for both brand owners, the customers who patronise cheap brand and the economy which tolerates counterfeiters to thrive is huge and could be devastating.

    With the cartel of counterfeiters growing day by the day in sophistication and funding, luxury brand owners are becoming more vulnerable after spending millions to effectively attract the affluent people towards their brands. The threat pose by counterfeiters to their priced brands has been described as momentous. As a result, the growth rate of counterfeiting has been epochal during the last two decades, posing challenges for the governments, genuine-item manufacturers and consumers as well.

    At a cross-industry Anti-Counterfeiting Abuja Conference, hosted by Hewitt Package (HP), it was gathered that the global trade in counterfeit goods is growing in Africa, and particularly, Nigeria is increasingly being targeted as a market for counterfeit merchandise as result of its growing middle class and position as new economic frontier for global brands.

    This, perhaps, had led Multinational and national companies, government officials, representatives of ministries responsible for Anti-Counterfeiting in education, trade, economy, health, etc, procurement officials, press, top tier partners of tech companies, law enforcement organizations responsible for Anti-Counterfeiting, around the country to gather at the HP anti-counterfeiting summit to discuss consumer, brand protection and lobbying as ways to raise awareness, challenge the legal framework on counterfeiting in other to stem the tide of sales and purchase of counterfeiting brands.

    The Director-General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Joseph Jamodu during the summit lamented that brand counterfeiting has been a long standing global problem which poses a great concern to Nigerian government and legitimate businesses. Because of its huge negative impact on the economic growth of the nation, he said SON has made seizures estimated in excess of five hundred million naira in Nigeria. Putting the globally loss at $400 billion as estimated by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) put the value of these losses, he said music software and video market in Nigeria is languishing in over N100 billion loss.

    “In the past, counterfeit products were distributed largely through informal markets but in recent times, these products are increasingly infiltrating legitimate supply chains and now appearing in the shelves of established retail shops and trade fairs. The internet which is a virtual market place has provided counterfeiters and pirates a new powerful means to sell their products via auction sites, stand-alone e-commerce sites and email solicitation. The online environment is attractive to counterfeiters and pirates for a number of reasons, including the relative ease of deceiving consumers and the market reach,” he observed.

    Worried about how counterfeiting is affecting its brand value in its market category, the Brand Protection Programme Manager for HP, Jeff Kwasny, complained that HP cartridges are refilled or remanufactured print cartridges packed in unauthorised or fake reproductions of HP packaging, which are meant to mislead the consumer into believing that they are buying genuine HP products. He said as growing markets, many African countries are a major target for counterfeiting networks.  “HP’s ACF Programme is supporting African authorities in order to tackle counterfeiting before it gains a larger foothold in Africa. HP is active in protecting African economies from illicit trade of HP branded products. Customers are mostly unwitting victims of counterfeiting. Only six per cent of corporate customers who purchased counterfeit print cartridges did so intentionally,” he said.

    The District Manager, Printing and Personal System Western, Southern and Eastern Africa, Jean-Paul Pinto said with rate at which brand protection is becoming difficult as a result of growth in technology, there is need to protect consumers, customers, investment from the impact of counterfeiting. “It destroys economy and business investment and trade partners. The fight against counterfeiting is beyond HP but it’s everybody’s fight,” he said.

    Also, the President of Intellectual Property Law Association of Nigeria, Professor Bankole Sodipo said any brands that refuse to innovate on new ways to protect its brand identity will go into extinction. He, however, advised that a reform should be canvassed by joint-industry stakeholders in other to change certain aspect of the Nigerian anti-counterfeiting laws which adjudicate weak punitive measure for offenders, hence, encouraging them to commit the crime. “For brands, if you don’t do what is right you will go into extinction? Counterfeiting is one of the greatest things that can kill an industry. We need a reform to fight counterfeiting. We need lobbying to effect changes in the law in other to fight the current legal framework so that the fight against counterfeiting will be easy for brands,” he said. Sodipo, however, warned brand owners against the activities of their authorized distributors who are easy prey for counterfeiting rings. “I am aware of a brand that has gone into extinction as a result of the activities of its distributors who allowed counterfeiters to use their channels for distribution of its principal’s counterfeit,” he said.

    Currently, a lot of brands are waking up to the challenge posed by counterfeiting. The Senior Brand Protection Manager, Unilever Africa, Mr. Desmond Adeola disclosed that Unilever has internal solutions to check counterfeiting of its brands. “At Unilever, we employed internal solutions. We look at our supply chains. We do lots of tiding of company policies to stamp out opportunities for counterfeiters. We know that they clone our packages and that is why we look at the issue of editable artworks, engagement of law enforcement agents and give them needed information to protect our brands,” he said.

    The Partner & Head Intellectual Property Department, Aluko & Oyebode, Uche Nwokocha urged that collaboration among industry players will change the game against counterfeiters. He, however, urged to enhance a successful collaboration, industry players should seek for legal assistance. “Whatever kind of partnership that is embarked upon, Brand Owners require the services of legal practitioners to ensure that such actions are carried out within the limits of the law. Relevant regulatory agencies carry out raids upon successful investigation into the complaint lodged by the owner of brand. Legal assistance is often required to ensure that such actions are carried out within the limits of the law,” he noted.

    To stop the menace, Kwasny said HP has adopted five strategies in fighting counterfeiting. The steps include investigation and Enforcement; Prevention and Education; Channel Management (that management of suppliers activities) and Product and Packaging.

    Meanwhile, the Comptroller General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko Inde said it is most important that every nation fights Counterfeiting and Piracy to protect their economy. He advised that there is need for all relevant border agencies to collaborate to ensure success in this endeavour. “Protection of Intellectual Property (IP) Rights is an obligation upon each country that accedes to the WTO TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement. The TRIPS, which Nigeria has ratified, provides certain minimum standards for protection which should be accorded by governments to IP Right owners including border enforcement,” he said.

     

  • Firm introduces smartphone

    TECNO Mobile, a brand under TRANSSION Holdings,has unveiled what it described as the Smartphone of the year – Phantom Z.

    The event, held at the Sheraton Hotel, elicited excitement as 10  won a Phantom Z each.

    Deputy General Manager, TECNO Mobile, Mr. Chidi Okonkwo, said the entrance of Phantom Z was a milestone because it offers superior features for Smartphone users.

    He said: “Phantom Z is about to revolutionalise how Smartphone is being used in Nigeria. It also comes with a data bundle from MTN, Etisalat, Glo and Airtel.”

    The Phantom Z is in  competition with Samsung’s newest revelation, Samsung S5.

    The Head of Public Relations, TRANSSION Holdings, Mounir Boukali, said: “What we have seen in Nigeria is an increased adoption of TECNO Mobile’s Smartphone products, the Phantom A+ was a huge success in Nigeria and we believe Nigerians are ready for a high-end Smartphone experience.”

  • Alcoholic drink launched

    An alcoholic drink, Bacardi Breezer, has been launched.

    It was unveiled at The Oriental Hotel, Lagos, where famous faces, including Sean Tizzle, Yemi Alade and Seyi Shay, were on the colourful carpet to celebrate its arrival.

    The Brand Manager, Olugbe-nga Lawrence, said: “We are thrilled that we can announce that Breezer has landed in Nigeria. Breezer is the perfect drink for all free spirited Nigerians who want to enjoy the colourful side of life.

    “Breezer is designed for free spirited Nigerians who enjoy the colourful side of life.  It is already enjoyed in over 150 countries and we are excited to launch it in Africa’s most colourful country.  Breezer lives life in colour – and we’re asking Nigerians to show us their passion for life, show us their true colours!”

    With three brand ambassadors, Sean Tizzle, Seyi Shay and Yemi Alade, the Breezer has been described after a taste of experience as a delicious drink which will be activated with some brand activities over the next few months.

    Breezer is available in a ready to drink 330ml bottle and is a refreshing blend of Bacardi Rum and fruit flavour in three delicious varieties – Orange, Pineapple and Watermelon RRP N170.

  • ‘My agenda for stockbrokers’

    The Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) would enhance  its capacity for training and professional development  to ensure the highest quality of human capital for the Nigerian and sub-Saharan African capital markets.

    Its new president, Mr. Albert Okumagba, who spoke at his investiture  on Monday,  outlined the main agenda of his administration to include creation of knowledgeable professionals that will help deepen the Nigerian financial markets.

    According to him, the CIS would enhance its professional training to provide the requisite professionals to trade on the four markets platform including the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NASD Plc, FMDQ Plc and the Nigerian Commodities Exchange as stipulated in the institute’s charter.

    He said the institute has set an ambitious, but achievable target of training 1,500 students in 2014 and one million students by the end of 2015.

    Okumagba added that the institute would work with other capital market stakeholders in the public and private sector to craft a Nigerian saving strategy that will embrace all platforms in the financial system.

    He also highlighted that his administration would work to move the CIS to its permanent  head office that would house its secretariat as well as create additional income streams.

    Okumagba noted that after 22 years of the institute value-adding existence, providing the needed human capital base for the capital market, it is unacceptable that the CIS operates its secretariat in rented premises.

    “As we work on changing our story, we will also undertake a comprehensive rebranding of the institute to take its rightful place in the financial market and the Nigerian economy. We will develop a new, differentiated identity in the minds of our different publics and distance ourselves from the negative connotations of the past. We will work to ensure that our members are proud of their association,” Okumagba promised.

     

  • Brazil trip winners relive experiences

    WINNERS of the Coca-Cola consumer promotion grand prize – trip to Brazil – have continued to relish their experiences.

    For the 22 lucky Nigerians, their experiences were spectacular, starting from the search for three crown corks of any of the Coca-Cola brands in 50 or 35cl bottles to the day their plane landed in Brazil.

    Since their return, the glimpses of the beautiful cities of Rio-De-Janeiro and Brasilia, La Maison hotel where they stayed; the breakfast of ‘Queijo de coalho’ (a tasty, salty grilled cheese) and Pão d’água (a specialty bread that’s crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside), served warm and fresh, with guava paste and mozzarella cheese — a combination popularly known as ‘Romeo and Juliet’ are still fresh in their memories.

    Nuhu Dalyop, a young football enthusiast, was one of the winners. Upon arriving in Brazil, he sought companies of some of ‘Carioscas’, also known as ‘Rio Locals’.

    He said: “When we got to Copacabana, I felt I was at home; the locals were always happy to let us join in the games, just roll up your shorts, so long as you are confident enough. I had a lovely time.”

    On the significance of the ‘Maracana’ stadium to the world football, another winner Fakorede Saheed, described without mincing words, the atmosphere in the stadium as electrifying.

    Fakorede enthused: “I jumped and hugged a football legend Luis Figo, who was sitting beside me, that for me is an unforgettable moment.”

    The climax  for most of the winners was when they visited the monumental statue that welcomes the world to Brazil – ‘Christ the Redeemer’. Hoisted at the top of the 710 meter (2,330 feet)  Corcovado Peak, the statue, which was made of concrete and soapstone is considered the largest in the world. It  stands with arms outstretched, gazing serenely over the city.

    Egbejiogu Oyinye, one of the few women among the winners, described the statue as inspirational, forgiving and full of hope.

    The trip has given the winners exposure on several fronts: culture, people and appreciation for the greater things in life, an opportunity made possible by Coca-Cola Nigeria’s commitment to consumer satisfaction, delivering on the global message of the World Cup.

     

  • Seven-Up, Red Star Express to declare dividends next week

    The boards of directors of Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc and Red Star Express Plc may announce dividend recommendations for the immediate past year next week as the directors meet to authorise the annual reports and accounts for the year.

    Regulatory filings at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indicated that the two quoted companies might have finalised their audited accounts and reports and were ready to make dividend recommendations. Both Seven-Up and Red Star Express operates similar year-end of March 31.

    Under the listing requirements and corporate governance standards at the NSE, the two companies are expected to submit their audited report and accounts for the year ended March 31, 2014 on or before June 30, 2014.

    Post-listing rules at the NSE require quoted companies to submit their earnings reports, not later than three months after the expiration of the period. However, a general extension of one-month grace period earlier granted by the NSE would still apply to both Seven-Up and Red Star Express, indicating that the final deadline for the submission of their earnings reports might be extended to July 31, 2014, after which they would be sanctioned by the NSE if they failed to submit their earnings reports.

    Reports at the Exchange indicated that the board of Seven-Up has scheduled a meeting for next week’s Monday with two main agenda; including final review and approval of the audited report and declaration of dividend.

    Also, the board of Red Star Express will later in the week meet to discuss the company’s audited accounts and make dividend recommendation to shareholders.

    The two boards are expected to immediately communicate their decisions at the respective meeting to the NSE.

    Many market analysts said they expected Seven-Up to increase its cash dividends given its dividend trend in the previous years and the strong performance it had recorded by the third-quarter of the immediate past year.

    Seven-Up had doubled pre and post tax profits in by the third quarter ended December 31, 2013, underlining strong top-down growth and efficient sales and financing cost management.

    The interim report for the nine-month period showed that the soft drink bottling company optimized appreciable increase in sales with efficient cost management to deliver its strongest growth in recent period. With nine-month earnings per share already 37.4 per cent above full-year earnings per share in the immediate past year, Seven-Up significantly scaled up performance during the period. Turnover rose by 23 per cent while gross profit increased by 32 per cent. Pre and post tax profits jumped by 191 per cent and 180 per cent respectively.

    The nine-month report underlined improvement in the profitability of the company. Gross profit margin increased to 39.42 per cent in 2013 as against 36.65 per cent recorded in comparable period of 2012. Profit before tax margin more than doubled at 9.28 per cent in 2013 compared with 3.91 per cent recorded in 2012.

    The nine-month report showed a turnover of N54.95 billion, 22.7 per cent above N44.78 billion recorded in comparable period of 2012. Gross profit increased from N16.41 billion to N21.66 billion. Profit before tax rose from N1.75 billion by December 2012 to N5.10 billion in December 2013. Profit after tax also leapt from N1.40 billion in 2012 to N3.92 billion. Earnings per share for the nine-month period thus stood at N6.13 as against N2.19 recorded in comparable period of 2012.

    Against the background of 70 per cent increase in net earnings per share in 2013, the company had increased cash dividend by 10 per cent. Audited report and accounts for the year ended March 31, 2013 indicated that basic earnings per share improved from N2.62 to N4.46. The company increased cash dividends to N1.41 billion compared with N1.28 billion distributed for the 2012 business year. This implied a dividend per share of N2.20 in 2013 as against N2 in 2012. Notwithstanding the increase in cash payout, dividend cover increased from 1.3 times to 2.0 times. Net assets per share also increased by 22 per cent from N16.09 to N19.63.

    Also, Red Star Express had slightly increased cash dividends in the previous year. Audited report and accounts of the company for the year ended March 31, 2013 showed that turnover rose by 5.0 per cent from N5.03 billion in 2012 to N5.29 billion in 2013. Profit before tax however dropped by 12 per cent from N617.93 million to N544.96 million. Profit after tax was almost flat at N304.53 million in 2013 as against N304.8 million in 2012. Notwithstanding, the company increased cash dividends slightly from N176.85 million to N188.64 million. Dividend per share thus improved from 30 kobo in 2012 to 32 kobo in 2013.