Category: Brand week

Jumia is rated as one of the thriving e-commerce brands in Nigeria. It became a household brand within two years. The owners’ decision to sell all their equity to some global investors has sparked interest, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

Emotions ran high the day co-founders of Jumia Raphael Afeador and Tunde Kehinde broke the news to their young team of 500 experts at their Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos campus that new owners are taking over the business.

Inside the long horizontal office dormitory built beside their 90,000-square foot-warehouse, the largest campus in West Africa, where young men with an average age of 23 attend to thousands of online shoppers at the speed of light, Afeador, noted: “Jumia was an exciting one and a-half-year journey for us. We are extremely proud of Jumia and wish all the best to the company and all the people here.”

If Afeador’s message was not clear enough, his partner, Kehinde put the message succinctly. “As we move on to start our own businesses, we owe a lot to every member of the team, together we made history, together we have built Nigeria’s first and biggest online retail brand; a fate we never would have achieved without you.”

The meeting ended an era in Jumia, which has won several local and international awards for pioneering Nigeria’s first e-commerce website.

In a brand life cycle, the growth stage is a level when sales start growing exponentially.

During that stage, brand managers or investors often chart a new strategic direction to increase distribution to further enhance sales, according to netmba.com. As a strategic option, a company may also improve the quality of their product brands, adding various flavours or features as the success could attract one or more companies, more competitors into the market with their own competing brands; in effect, some competitors may try to lower prices to gain marketing share.

However, for the Jumia co-founders, to increase market share and sustain its leadership position against growing competition in Nigeria’s rising e-commerce market, bringing venture capital appears to have become the option. This option necessitated the founders’ exit to build a new brand. Experts are wondering what could have pushed founders of such high networth company to sell the brand to African Internet Holding, which is owned by a controversial German e-commerce cloning king.

The total global investment in Jumia later saw MTN, Rocket Internet and Millicom International Cellular acquire 33.3 per cent equity each in Africa Internet Holding, a partnership that will expand MTN online retail and other essential digital services on the African continent.

To marketing experts, the brand is reputed to have rebuilt trust among online shoppers who in the past were skeptical about online transactions. Also, considering the growing rate at which banks are adopting online transactions payment, just as the online payment system is beginning to encourage consumers to shop online, brand and marketing professionals wonder why the founders are letting go of their gold mine. The brand success, however, has drawn rising interest to venture into their own online platform to push sales. Konga.com, Dealdey, tafoo among thousands of market followers have become major competitors to Jumia.

While the allure of impressive growth of the industry, whose total worth in 2014 is project at N150 billion, the Millicom President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Hans-Holger Albrecht, said: “We are pleased to welcome MTN as a strategic partner to accelerate the growth of our online alliance in Africa. It is a significant vote of confidence in its future. Between us we have more than 220 million mobile customers in the continent with very limited overlap.”

However, after announcing their departure from Jumia, Kehinde told The Nation that they no longer have stake in the company, a decision that spark debate among marketing communication experts. Under the new arrangement, the co-founders have parted ways to start up new businesses.

Kehinde is venturing into logistic business while Afaedor’s next move remains unknown for now. “We have left Jumia going to a month now and we no longer own a stake in the company. Afeador and I have also parted ways but a time will come when I will talk about my new business, a logistics management company. For now, everyone will do his businesses separately,” he said.

Now that the new investors have taken over, announcing Nicolas Martin and Jérémy Doutté of AIH as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Jumia a few months ago, marketing communication experts, who spoke with The Nation, assumed that many factors could be responsible for the sale of the Nigerian e-commerce brand by its co-founders.

The Marketing Services Director, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Mrs Iquo Ukoh said: “Before you talk about a brand, you talk have to talk about the business. If the owners decide to sell, maybe, they have seen something more profitable. Maybe they are moving to a more profitable venture that could have better value. They might be going into something bigger than Jumia in terms of value and profit because I know that these guys are good business people. So, they could have decided whether to sell the brand at maturity or growth stage, however, they might feel the value of selling it at growth stage is better for them.”

Looking at how the vision of a brand builder defines its future, the former Chairman of Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Lagos Chapter, Mrs. Nkechi Ali-Balogun, feels bad about the sale of Jumia. She said such a local brand that has assumed a national brand trademark should still reside with the founders because the vision of the founders repose trust on brands.

However, she cautions that the move might have to do with the goal of the founders from the outsets. “I thought Jumia is good initiative as a local brand but I’m not impressed that the young guys that founded it have sold it to foreign investors. However, it depends on the challenge that propelled them to sell it. It might be for profit, if that was the initial goal.

“They brought e-commerce to awareness; create a run for competitors such as Konga and the rest. Building a brand has to do with integrity, trust but how equipped are the new owners in meeting up the trust they have built. The impact of founders of businesses has a lot of influence on the life of a brand reputation. But when consumers are aware of your dented image they won’t patronise you.”

She also raised issue of safety of credit cards under the new investors, which if negativ,e will rob-off on the brand. “There is a trust issue because for me to give my ATM pin to new people could be difficult because you are dealing with faceless people. E-commerce is a faceless business,” she said.

While the Managing Director of Quadrant Company, Mr. Bolaji Okusage, affirmed that Jumia was incubated with venture capital and abi nitio set up for sale, there are fears that the company might witness job loss for some of the Jumia team. But Jeremy, a new Co-CEO, told The Nation that would not be the case.

“We support our local entrepreneurs to build up their businesses and employ many people who one day will also be founders – in fact we want that over 50 per cent of all our previous employees start their own businesses. Currently, we are creating an ecosystem, supporting startups to have more customers and visitors by building up trust in online companies and all startups in general. We accelerate the online industry in Nigeria,” he said.

Branded diaries, a below-the-line advertising platform, helps to promote corporate brands, but budget constraints seem to have made the unrented media scarce in the past two years, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

It used to be a must item on companies’ budgets. At the end of every year, it was one of the corporate gift items they gave out to their public. Along with calendars, diaries were on the “must do list” of companies. That era seems to be gone. Diaries are rare to come by these days from companies, whether blue chip or not, at the end of the year. Why? Business analysts blame it on budget tightening with makes the companies give attention to more pressing issues.

The dairy corporate gift was the brand managers’ way of building relationship with customers, shareholders, directors, staff, suppliers and other value chain whose relationship with their organisations is key to business in the New Year. For long, the personal attachment to diaries has remained the touch-point where companies strove to build affinity with critical target market. Old shareholders and retirees value diary as gift from their former companies or where they have investment. Though, this gift may not matter to the upwardly mobile and social-media-centric market segment, but for corporate purpose, branded diaries, according to experts, play a greater role in customer and government engagement.

In the last two years, however, there have been few branded diaries going round in December. On a good day, people receive more than one branded diary every New Year but the Executive Secretary of Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Mrs. Ediri Ose-Ediale, observed that she only received a diary last December unlike before when many corporate brands showered her with such gift. “I remember that I collected only one in December,” she said.

She blamed the scarcity on budget constraints. “I observe that in the last two years, companies appear to have cut down their print run and budget for diaries. More companies are looking for ways to ensure that budget is maximised and printing out more branded diaries might make no business sense to them,” she said.

For FirstBank Nigeria, a company must ensure that customers and shareholders’ money is well spent to ensure high return and value for business partners. The bank, according to the Head, Marketing and Corporate Communication, FirstBank Nigeria, Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney, in an attempt to ensure cost-efficiency did not give out diaries in December. She said business partners and key stakeholders would receive diaries between January and February. Ani-Mumuney said the bank is always looking for the best touch-point to engage customers and add value to their life at cost-efficient manner.

Printers and publishers are complaining that only leading companies print diaries these days, though most of the jobs are done abroad, hence, distributing it to only critical stakeholders. The Chief Executive Officer, KushMedia, a Lagos-based graphics communication agency, Mr. Yemi Kushimo, said this made some local printers to concentrate on other promotional items than branded diaries.

“We used to print branded diary for a leading bank but suddenly they stopped printing with us. Later, our insider in the bank told my client service person that the bank has contracted the job to a Dubai-based printing press though we still do the design. The good thing about the Customized diary printing is the fact that everyone needs at least one diary. Irrespective of their situation, people have to remember essential events, note down schedule, birthdays or anniversaries. A diary is a great way to do that.

On the importance of branded diary, he said, “Giving your own customers, prospects and suppliers, a promotional diary is a great way to keep your business in their mind on a daily basis. You can give customised and personalised diaries that are foiled on the cover to give you that professional edge and give your customers value and keep promoting your business but I was amazed when the bank I serviced failed to make order for diaries in 2013,” he said.

Kushimo said: “To print an A4 and A5 diary, it costs between N700 and N2, 500 per copy and most times big companies order from abroad, except for those that couldn’t afford the foregn quotes.”

The Chief Executive Officer/Publisher, Posterity Media, Mr. O’Femi Kolawole, also blamed the scarcity on budget constraint. He said the sharing of diary may no longer be on their brand item priority list. “Many of the companies and organisations sharing many of these branded corporate items are reducing their brand management budget in such area. Sharing such, as result, may have been dropped from their priority list,” he said.

Despite budget constraints, some high profile stakeholders still receive branded diaries. The Chairman of Zenith Bank, Mr. Steve Omojafor, told The Nation that he received diaries in December. “I have no clue as to whether it’s declining. I received some in December,” he said.

There are many promotional items through which corporate brands engage their stakeholders but expert says the rich history of diary makes it a strong platform to share information about corporate brands, their history, services and full contact details.

The dearth of innovative ideas is making advertisers to seek help from global agencies for one. In this interview with ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Verdant Zeal, Tunji Olugbodi, speaks on what makes an advertising agency tick.

What is your assessment of the marketing communi cations industry?

The marketing communication industry has evolved as a dynamic and vibrant one over the years. The key ingredients that make the industry stand out are innovation, creativity and exceptional service delivery. These notable features are displayed by the new generation agencies who are redefining the pace in the industry. The industry needs to embrace new thinking and break new grounds to remain dynamic and forward looking. The time has come for the industry to embrace innovation more than before and also remain vibrant to address the needs of the clientele. The industry is dynamic and there is need for all to leverage competencies for significant advantage. It is such that clients really want to know what we want to offer them in terms of value and expertise. This is the more reason there should be a multi disciplinary and multi dimensional approach to agency practice in terms of expertise and professional depth.

In your own opinion, what are the attributes of a tested practitioner?

A tested practitioner must be passionate about advertising, must be passionate about marketing communication, must be passionate about being able to bridge the interface between the consumers or the clients on the field and your own direct clients; people who need to make the product or service known in the market place. You need to have a helicopter ability that makes it possible for you to be able to look at things from all perspectives. You must be able to play roles other than what you represent and what you stand for in terms of your profile. A good practitioner should also stand for something and express who he is at every particular point in time. A practitioner must be able to develop communication campaigns that resonate with identified target groups regardless of his age or status in the industry. In all ramifications, a sound practitioner should be an all rounder because according to him, you should be able to attend to what makes a good brief. For him as a practitioner, his aim is to breathe fresh air into an industry that needed the desired impetus to wake up from its slumber. He has indeed achieved this with the array of clients that seeks value from the Verdant Zeal Group. It is his cherished dream to engender a definite change in the industry and there are several milestones to buttress this. For Tunji, the business of marketing communications is for those who can break new grounds and explore new frontiers that will deliver unique solutions that grow the bottom line. He has remained focused as a visible advocate of multidimensional and multi-disciplinary skills in marketing communications.

Can you tell us the vision behind verdant zeal?

Verdant Zeal Group is a young and promising agency established to embrace innovation and invention. I head the agency after 15 years with Prima Garnet. The agency since inception in 2007 has left no one in doubt about its mission to raise the bar in the industry. Verdant Zeal Group is renowned for its innoventive approach as a platform to distinguish its offerings to clients. The Verdant Zeal Group was the potent force behind the Unilever brand- Close-Up Naija concert which had over 7,000 people in attendance. The concert which shook the entire industry registered the imprints of Verdant Zeal as factor domo in the industry. This single event elevated the status of the brand and deepened equity for it.

What are the key success factors for industry practitioners?

Every practitioner needs to embrace different high grounds as against the generally held belief of a straight path to make it. His own definition of making it is relevance. This is because it is about value, it is about value proposition and it is about being able to reinvent the wheel as often as necessary without necessarily boring people. The audience should not suffer from what is referred to as audience fatigue. To be successful, that means a practitioner has worked on major campaigns that have become landmarks in the industry. A successful professional is one who has track records of innovative campaigns that were executed.

How is Nigeria faring in corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Poor, says Mr Douglas Kativu, Head, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Africa Focal Point, South Africa.

Nigeria, he said, still accounted for two per cent of CSR standard practice in Africa. South Africa has 92 per cent.

Addressing stakeholders on G4, a reporting standard designed by GRI for companies willing to adopt best global CSR and Sustainability practice, he said many corporate organisations still perform below standard in reporting their sustainability practice.

Although, he maintained that reporting was not the goal of GRI but corporate organisations should address sustainability issues on a day to day basis through putting in place policies that promote sustainability.

However, the CEO of Thistle Praxis, Mrs Ini Onuk, affirmed that one of the challenges faced by organisation is regulation. She said Nigerians do not just fall in line on issues unless there is something compelling or pushing them to do so.

“Absence of regulatory agencies has continued to be a challenge. We do not have framework for regulation to ensure that sustainability and CSR standard reporting and practice are obeyed,” she said.

She said, companies should adopt the G4 framework because it aligns with other global CSR framework such as ISO 26000.

Meanwhile, Access Bank representative at the Dialogue, Mr. Temitayo Ade-Peters of, observed absence of regulations on sustainability would not foster level playing grounds, hence making measuring commitment hazardous.

However, the Lead, ICE, Shell Petroleum Development Company, Nigeria, Dr. Uwem Ite, described the using regulatory agencies to drive the sustainability compliance as counteraction. He said using stakeholders to drive it would be a better option than “mandatory stick of government through regulations.”

In the same vein, the Managing Director, Quadrant Company, Mr. Bolaji Okusaga, also argued that “implementation of sustainability principles should be through voluntary commitment and not enforcement by government regulations.”

While writing sustainability reports remain a vocal point for measurement of standard practice globally, the Advisor, Learning and Development, Chevron, Nigeria, Professor Yomi Fawehinmi, maintained that “if companies comply with writing the reports demanded by the different sectoral regulators in their industry, producing the sustainability report would become easier.”

He observed that some of the organisations that have started producing its sustainability report do not report the germane and critical issues of their business; rather the reports contain non-core areas.

Airports as major gateways show what nations have to offer. They are a visitor’s first point of contact with a country and they leave lasting impressions. For some time, the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Ikeja (MMIA), Lagos, served that purpose before it became seedy. Will the ongoing remodelling of MMIA and other airports change things? ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI writes.

Brand Recall! Or, simply put, memories, linger. They are, as people say, forever. In most cases, they make people to form an opinion about a brand. For this reporter, it is his experience as a first-time visitor to South Africa to watch the final match of the last Orange African Cup of Nations inside the Calabash Stadium, South Africa, between the Super Eagles and the Chipolopolo of Zambia.

This reporter marvelled at the architectural piece of the stadium, which confirmed talks about the high ratings and perception about South Africa’s touch-point which comes higher than those of many African nations’ in terms of brand offering as claimed in South Africa’s TV commercials on destination branding seen on CNN before the trip. That was on the night of February 9, last year.

The brand recall of the former apartheid enclave came from the reporter’s first-touch point with the country, the O.R Tambo Airport in Johannesburg. The airport presents visitors with a cherished consumer experience, such as convenience and hospitality. Beginning from the airport, ranked as third in Africa and 28th globally by Skytrax, a United Kingdom-based company specialising in airline and airport research, everything appeared in order.

As the plane landed, passing through the Avio Bridge, which leads visitors to the arrival lounge, the in-flight adverts adorning the the airport walls, confirmed why South Africa is leading other African countries in the chase for Cannes Lions, the global advert festivals where the world best adverts are picked.

The conduct of the airport officials, spectacular billboards, wall and pillar wraps, airport bus transport among electrifying indoor hoardings, all provide an ambience for brand promotion. The quick conveyance of luggage and a fast-tracked immigration counter cut short the amazing experience and sight at the airport. The O.R Tambo Airport is not the best in South Africa. It trails South Africa’s Cape Town International Airport and Durban’s King Shaka International Airport.

While the allure of modern technology in SA O.R Tambo reflects monster media digital platforms, baggage carousel wraps, mobile media, the Digital Passenger Assistance Service Systems, DPASS and massive LED screens enhance traveller’s experience such that most travellers that passed through major airports in Nigeria on their way to watch the final write them off. The airport they argued, seem not to key into the multi-billion naira rebranding of the facilities.

The Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos, like others, has remained a sour point in the branding project. From the hassles of travelling through the dilapidated road to the MMIA, the heat at the departure lounge, the long queues at the immigration points, all the way to the waiting lounge, it was a harrowing experience, contrasting rebranding message being aired on CNN.

While airports of countries like France leave travellers with memories of its Eiffel Tower, New York for to Statue of Liberty, Singapore for its cleanliness, and Malaysia for the Petronas Twin Towers, Nigeria’s touch point remains an issue brand experts have yet to fully place.

Such last brand recall has continued to linger in the memory of Mrs. Funmilola Ashaye, a Void and Allocation Officer at Genesis HA, a United Kingdom based company. She recalled that eight years ago when she left the country, the MMIA was in bad shape, crying for maintenance. On her home coming last December, Mrs Ashaye was amazed at the transformation of the MMIA.

Speaking to The Nation from her United Kingdom base, she described the MMIA as “new improved” terminal, which when completed will be befitting for all Nigerians. “There was a painting and extra baggage claim roller (carousel). I saw an attempt to make a change and I think this should be commended by all. . I think there are works in progress and it will be amazing when completed,” she said..

Underscoring the importance of airports in national rebranding campaigns, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), DDB Lagos, Mr. Ikechi Odigbo said the airport is the first touch point to position Nigeria as a brand. “It’s the very first touch point to brand Nigeria at the international market place. Whatever brand message you want to pass across to a first time visitor starts from your airport. Although, its goes beyond the rebuilding but also the maintenance must be robust so that visitors can experience convenience,” he said.

The Chief Executive Director of Noah’s Ark, Mr. Lanre Adisa said airports say a lot about a country. The environments have a way of positioning a nation as a brand seeking good perception. “It’s a perception thing. Investing in the airport is a worthwhile venture. To a first-time visitor, it tells the nature of the government.”

While the conduct of airport officials dents brand perception of a country, Adisa said how airport official presents themselves is how a country is positioned. “How do the airport officials present the brand that you are trying to position? A good airport makes visitors see your country as a good investment destination, as a good destination for brands,” he said.

The parlous state of the airports remains worrisome. For instance, three decades after it was built, no major maintenance work was done on the MMIA. But the times are now changing. The Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, under the aegis of an Aviation Industry Master Plan, is institutionalising world-class safety and security standard, development of infrastructure, transformation of key airports into a network of domestic and international hub. The master plan also includes branding the airports into major centres of shopping, trading and hospitality.

The General Manager, Communication of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, said one of the efforts aims at improving the touch points and bringing them to compete with others not only in Africa but across the globe. To also make the airports a new place for advertising hoardings, he said FAAN has appointed a concessionaire to manage how advertising agencies will explore the new structure into a point of exposure for brands.

“A lot of work has been going on to rebrand our airports. There has been a lot of decay in the system in the last three decades. Every part of the aviation sector was declining rapidly until two years ago when the present minister, Princess Stella Oduah came on board to change the face of the airport and create new consumer experience for travelers,” he explained, adding that the immigration counters in both arrival and departure sections have been increased to about 30 units.

Similarly, six new the carousels have replaced the old ones which had been in use since the construction of the terminal over 30 years ago. “You can’t really change people’s perception with mere talking until people go there to see and have a good impression the new change is creating for our Nigeria as a brand. This is what you can see there now though some are still work in progress,” said Dati.

Former Managing Director of Grandstride, an outdoor advertising agency, Mr. Banji Idowu, complained about the monopolisation of operating license for outdoor players. However, Dati said, there is a new structure that will guide advertising agencies in mounting their advert hoarding at the airport when completed.

“We are also not satisfied. That’s why we did not renew the contract we had the concessionaire. You know advertising is crucial part of business development. We have not appointed an ad agency for now because of we believe the proper thing must be done. We don’t want to do things the way it was done in the past. That’s why if you go around, there is no form of outdoor advertising for now because we want to take our time and do the right things. We want to refocus and change the way business is done in the Aviation sector as regards advertising also,” Dati affirmed.

Meanwhile, Odigbo said with the level of work going on at the airports, it could be the beginning of good experience for travelers. “I believe the ongoing rebuilding is a step in the right direction to complement the rebranding efforts of the FG. We will only like to see a robust culture of maintenance to sustain this effort. We have developed a concept that will advertise us to the world and there has been a significant improvement in terms of where to collect your luggage and I still believe there is room for improvement,” he said.

And for Adisa, the effort to remodel and rebrand our airports is a step in the right direction, but only needs proper maintenance after the completion of the remodeling. “An airport experience for travelers should exhibit convenience. The rebuilding will open up the country. A lot of travelers under this new rebuilding will be able to take direct flight to their destination rather than having to come to Lagos from US and still take another flight to another state,” Adisa reckons.

It is projected that by 2015 total domestic and international passenger movement in Nigeria would rise from the present 12 million to 16 million, and with better airport facilities and commercial offerings at the airports, air travels is also expected to increase by a minimum of 10 per cent every year.