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EDITOR’S NOTE

OUR TEAM

Many years ago, when Niccolo Machiavelli declared that “there is nothing more dif-ficult … than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things”, he probably did not visualize that, even after many centuries, this fact would come alive among some revolutionary media players in a developing African economy called Nigeria.

Today, as BrandiQ takes the lead in the introduction of a new order of things in Brand Journalism- the way we relate with our markets, our contact points with an expanding audience and new enormous opportunities for visionary partners, Machiavelli’s postu-lation has propped up sporadically.

However, despite various challenges, BrandiQ is poised to position itself as a multi- media platform with a radical forward shift in the business of Marketing, and the mar-keting of businesses.

Each edition of our monthly magazine will be dedicated to stirring the creative energies of all stakeholders by researching, packaging and presenting a relevant range of content that will always impact our readers beyond the lines.

Prior to the emergence of this publication, we undertook several surveys with a wide range of stakeholders to really identify and understand what it is that brand builders and consumers need, and how best to address those needs. It is one of the identified Lacunas that our Marcom Tutorial segment is poised to fill by providing positive mentoring experiences for about 1 million industry trainees in various universities, polytechnics and professional institutions within Nigeria and abroad. Our BiQ Journal seeks to em-power those of us in the world of brands and marketing who need the encouragement to move things in the industry to a higher level. Our feature stories in each edition would be in-depth and informative. In all issues we would be factual, enlightening without necessarily avoiding controversies.

In the not too distant future, we will extend our involvement and coverage to interactive events and innovative initiatives to expand your sphere of experience. We know you would have strong opinions after reading this maiden edition. So kindly share every detail with us.

If you would like to draw from your depth of professional experience to contribute to our subsequent editions, please take the liberty to contact us by phone or e-mail. It is indeed our goal to provide a solid platform where the best brand analysts and handlers can share their wealth of experiences.

Our thanks will always go to those who have helped us to sharpen this idea to life, through their response to our questionnaires, constructive criticisms, prayers and posi-tive wishes. To all lovers of branding, brace yourself up for an exhilarating experi-ence every month. We bet, you will find us very interesting. Welcome to the world of BrandiQ.

Usukuma Ntia

A New OrderEditor-In-Chief: Desmond Ekeh

Deputy Editor-In-Chief: Agbo Agbo

Editor:

NtiaUsukumaSnr. Editorial Researcher

Nathaniel UdohStaff Writers: Sola OgbodoHenry Otalor

Biodun ObisesanIntern Reporter/Researcher

Modupe BankoleSub Editors

Umoh EtuknwahGbenga Kayode

Head, Visuals and Creative Aloaye Momoh

Graphic Artist (Consultant)Akeem Oduwale

ContributorsJames AgamaOfuma Agali

Tomi OgunlesiEkene Odiari

Head, Bus. & MarketingMartins Ogumah

Mkg/ Subscription ExecutivesNike Moses

Damilola Omitogun

External Marketing Consultants2CD Communications, 4 Bankole

Crescent, Adeniyi Jones, IkejaTel: +234 1 8026266181

Head, AdministrationYemisi MbakaPhoto EditorPeter Bassey

Logistic ExecutivesEno Anthony

Zacharia Bonard

Editorial Advisory BoardDr. Phil Osagie

Apostle Hayford AlileMr. Idorenyen Enang

Dr. Josef Bel-Molokwu

Legal AdviserEmeka Anolefo & Co.

Financial Consultant/AuditorsLorex Consulting:

Ghana Bureau Chief/OfficeValentine Onwuka,

Plot 2, Mango Close, Adenta, AccraTel: +233 246 905879, +233 264 325 915

USA Contact Office:BiQ, 3384 Omega Driver, Columbus OH.

43231, USA.Tel: +161 43169181. Email: micbas2000@

yahoo.com

BrandiQ Office: 12A Aba Johnson Street, Harmony Enclave, Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Lagos. Tel: +234 1 8028359098, +234 1 8023215535, info@brandiqng.com, www.brandiqng.com. All editorial enquiries to be directed to BrandiQ: Tel: +234 1 8037251638.

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1 EDITOR’S NOTE

3 GUEST EDITOR

4-11 INDUSTRY NEWS Local and Int’l

12-13 PR DIMENSION Public Relations, CSR and the Bottomline

14-17 PERSONALITY INTERVIEW

18-20 INDUSTRY FEATURE:

22-24 DIALOGUE

25-29 COVER INTERVIEW Marketing is the Bedrock of Civilisation

30-33 TRAFFIC BRANDS

34-44 MARCOMM TUTORIALS

45-46 BIQ JOURNAL

47-65 SPECIAL FOCUS How Star connects with the Phoenix Phenomenon

66-69 SPECIAL INTERVIEW

70 GHANA BRAND SCOPE

71-72 DESTINATION BRANDING

74-75 BRAND IN FOCUS

76-77 NOLLYWOOD DIGEST

78-79 INDUSTRY AMAZON

81-82 AUTO MARKET

83-84 SPORT MARKETING

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Mr. Idorenyen Enang

G U E S T E D I T O R

Leadership: Fundamentals for Building an Enduring Business

Recently, businesses across the globe have witnessed a large dose of drawbacks and slow growth oc-

casioned by economic conditions almost worse than the Great Economic Depres-sion of 1930s. While we are in a recovery period, this recovery may not provide a very strong start off for businesses and companies. Yet, some companies are still growing and many are also achieving sig-nificant revenues and results.

These companies are proving that if a business has strategic growth drivers in place from the beginning, it will have the opportunity to grow, no matter the eco-nomic climate. The fundamental thing to do is ensuring the business model in place promotes value creation thus ensuring sustainability.

To help companies build and maintain momentum through their various stages of growth, the management team has to develop strategies that will help weather economic uncer-tainty which include Effective Leadership amongst many other fundamentals.

Effective leadership is the driving force in any business, be it private or public. This involves the setting of goals and achieving results, making positive impact out of diffi-cult situations; and influenc-ing members of a business concern to voluntarily pursue set goals. In the course of my career at Guinness, The Coca-Cola Company, Cadbury and Samsung, I observed with keen interest and understand-ing how value driven leader-ship envisioned the future, and charted the course of these companies.

Value driven Corporate Executives are vi-sionary in nature and not only give direc-tion but serve as role models and symbols to the external environment. Effective leadership is central to strategic change and sustainable growth in any business; no matter the economic climate.

Although, some people may differ from this point - effective leadership streams from spiritual foresight and divine sub-mission. It obviously will be difficult to talk about leadership without reference to service and the need for responsibility.

Without sounding puritanical, if we take a cue in the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who leads will be the one that serves. Here, taking responsibility

through humility and service becomes the hallmark of effective leadership. There are so many elements that blend together to guarantee the success of any business (that is if there is anything like guarantee in business), these enablers are: having the right team, good financial base and discipline, transparency and good gover-nance all begging for one item - A Leader. Without good and sustainable leadership all of those will collapse like a pack of cards.

In this short testament on leadership and building enduring businesses I want to confirm based on experience and reason that, a leader must surely lead by posi-tive example and must not shy away from being criticized, opposed, disdained, at-tacked without justification, misunder-stood or even chastised – but even in those trying times he/she must not give in to doing things in the normal, ordinary, pedestrian way, if he must achieve distin-guishing success.

Good leaders learn from past mistakes and experiences. We need to learn from the mistakes that we have made, but im-portantly, we also have to identify our ar-eas of strength, work on the blind spots and ensure there is a feedback mechanism for self evaluation.

Periodically, we have to evaluate where the business is and where it is heading to. If we’re thinking strategically and acting tactically, we’ll be making the necessary adaptations that will keep our business afloat during tough times.

Since success is not a straight line item, it comes with setbacks along the way. For this reason, we need to be flexible to alter our skill set to keep the company relevant based on changes that will take place ex-ternally, no matter what the economic cli-mate may be.

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Apple’s profile is set to take another leap in the Nigerian market, and further enhance the lifestyle of its users as one of the world’s most phenomenal brands enters Nigeria officially. Core Group Africa, the Value Added Distributor (VAD) for Apple in Nigeria, announced recently, that the new iPad will officially be launched locally from the starting price of just N105 000 . The new iPad will be available from now as part of the next global rollout by Apple. This is the first time it will be available through the official Apple chan-nel in Nigeria.The new iPad Wi-Fi and iPad Wi-Fi + Cel-lular will be available in black or white in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models. It features a stunning new Retina display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics and a 5 megapixel iSight camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video. The new iPad delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life, is amazingly thin and light and runs almost all of the over 650, 000 apps on the iTunes App Store. It provides the most versa-tile, on-the-go user experience whether checking email at home, reading a maga-zine while waiting in a queue, watching a movie on a plane, updating documents before a meeting, checking sport fixtures, uploading a Facebook status, or sharing a bedtime story. “Apple’s category defining mobile device, the new iPad, has revolutionised the mobile computing industry and delivers the most amazing experience people have ever had with technology. We are thrilled to make this unbelievable product available to Nigerians”, says Rutger-Jan van Spaandonk, Executive Director of Core Group Africa.

Core Group Africa has appointed Apple Authorised Resellers to en-sure the product is available through official channel partners. The new iPad will initially be available from Friday, 27 July throughi-Connect, The Orchard, Meed Networks and Cross Energy Supply Authorised Resellers, with a plan to authorise more channel part-ners post launch.

Core Group Africa are including an unbe-lievable benefit for Nigerian customers dur-ing the launch period - an additional years warranty free of charge. The extra year of warranty extends the standard warranty to a 2 year period for new iPads that are sold by Core Group Africa through Apple Autho-rised Resellers. In order to qualify, custom-ers must provide proof of purchase from an Apple Authorised Reseller from the of-ficial launch date and register their iPad on www.isocietynigeria.com. Any additional terms and conditions are listed on the www.isocietynigeria.com website. In addition to the 2 year warranty support, there are other benefits in purchasing from an Apple Au-thorised Reseller. Nigerian customers will have peace of mind that if repair issues arise during the warranty term, the product will be repaired or replaced by an Apple Autho-rised Repair Centre and they will have ac-cess to the required level of support that is mandatory for Apple Authorised Resellers. Accoding to Van Speandonk, “Nigerians

are now able to purchase with confidence that their iPad has been bought through the official distribution channels”, We want custom-ers to have the best Apple experience possible and to be able to take advantage of the benefits of purchasing their iPad from an Apple Authorised Reseller”.

New Apple iPad Launched in Nigeria

MultiChoice, Nigeria’s leading pay-TV provider, has an upward review of its subscription fees. The new subscription fees are: DStv Family, from N2,

800 to N3, 000; DStv Compact, from N4, 800 to N5, 000; DStv Compact Plus, from N7, 000 to N7, 500 and DStv Premium, from N10, 000 to N11, 000. There is however no increase in the prices of DStv Access which remains at N1, 500, while the Dual View Ac-cess fees and the access fee for HDPVR both remain at N1, 800. MultiChoice, said the price increase has been necessitated by ongo-ing increases in the company’s operational and ancillary costs which include, content acquisition and development, technical infrastruc-ture, satellite lease, facilities and maintenance. The company em-phasized that while it is committed to keeping subscription prices low, it is forced to implement an increase in order to continue to pro-vide quality programming, improved customer service and deliver on its promise to remain the choice pay entertainment destination on the African continent. However there are some empathetic offers is subscribers who re-

new their subscription before it expires. The pay-TV provider will be offering a 10% special discount off the new subscription rates to subscribers who make payments before their subscription expires as part of a special offer which comes into effect from October 1. This implies that each month a subscriber pays ahead of the service ex-piration, they get a 10% rebate on the subsequent month’s payment and this continues as long as the circle is unbroken. “We are mindful of the current economic challenges and the impact on the purchasing power given the myriad of competing needs. As a family-oriented company, we have proposed this deal aimed at creating a WIN-WIN situation that ensures that this increase has no negative impact on our subscribers who take up our offer,” said Mr. John Ugbe, Managing Director of MultiChoice Nigeria.Mr. Ugbe added that with this new price regime, subscribers may pay less than the current subscription rate if they keep their sub-scription running without interruption. He also emphasized that DStv will continue to avail its subscriber’s quality programming and more value.

MultiChoice Nigeria Announces Subscription Price Increase

L O C A L N E W S

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The Nigeria marketing communi-cations industry is getting robust as more brand owners engage the

services of account handlers for proper projection of their brands. The latest of such engagement is the signing on of CentrespreadFCB to handle the adver-tising angle of Keystone Bank and The Quadrant Company (TQC), one of the companies within TROYKA Group to now work on Dana Group.Following the recent crisis of Dana Air-line, the Dana Group employed the ser-vices of Quadrant to project the public relations angle of both the airline and the

group. The account, which was managed in-house by the company was said to have been clinched by Quadrant withoutopposition. This accounts joined the leagues of other notable brands such as Etisalat, Standard Chartered Bank, Vir-gin Nigeria, Emirates Airline, Nigerian Breweries Plc, iTouch, Champion Brew-eries, TSKJ Oil and Gasn in the agency collections.The Bolaji Okusaga-led Quadrant Com-pany recently won an award from the larg-est PR awards competition in the world, 2012 Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation (SABRE) Award.

Huge Catch for Quadrant, CentreSpreadFCB.

In a keenly contested marketing com-munications industry where accounts are hard to come by, Sesema PR, a

Lagos-based public relations consultancy agency with a –UK based associate, has clinched the mouth-watering Etihad Air-ways public relations account.A statement on the agency’s website reads: “Sesema PR is delighted to announce that the agency has been awarded the PR con-tract for Etihad Airlines, the national air-line of the United Arab Emirates, ahead of its launch in Nigeria, in July 2012.”When contacted, the Managing Director of the Sesema PR, mrs Alima Atta con-firmed the development and added that “In an effort to consolidate the brand strat-

egy of global penetration, Etihad Airways, decided to pick Lagos as it first entry point into the West Africa market. Sesema PR would be expected to support the airline’s PR activity in Nigeria, and promote its hub in Abu Dhabi and its global network to African leisure and business travellers wishing to fly to key North and Southeast Asian destinations and markets in the In-dian sub-continent and Australia.

Etihad Lands at Sesema

Nigeria’s candy market came alive last week when Cadbury Nigeria Plc reinforced its market leadership with the launch of Tom-Tom HoneyLemon, the latest variant of Tom-Tom. Dubbed ‘the new taste of relief’, Tom-Tom HoneyLemon is a yellow candy, with white stripes that has the sweetness of honey, freshness of lemon and coolness of menthol, giving consumers more soothing relief in the throat, while leaving them cool and calm.In his welcome address at the media launch event for the new TomTom HoneyLemon, which was held at Protea Hotel, Ikeja GRA, Lagos recently, the Marketing Director, Cad-bury Nigeria Plc, Dele Anifowoshe revealed that the new TomTom HoneyLemon was borne out of research that revealed a consum-er desire for a warm and calm candy in their

mouth and to ease throat discomfort.“The uniqueness of the new TomTom Hon-eyLemon lies in the distinctive blend of three interesting flavours; Honey, Lemon and Menthol to create a soothing relief”. He add-ed that, “this latest variant of TomTom, is one which cannot be found in any other candy brand as it truly soothes while maintaining fresh breath”.

Tom Tom’s New Test of Relief Unveiled.

It was celebration galore in La-gos recently as the sixth genera-tion of the BMW 3 Series (F30)

sedan, the world‘s best-selling pre-mium car, made a grand entry into the nation’s auto market, courtesy of Coscharis Motors Limited. Described as “the car that talks’ and

setting new benchmarks in prowess, elegance and comfort, the pioneer-ing history of BMW 3 Series serves as an inspiration for the new sports sedan, whose powerful styling rep-resents a fresh interpretation and conscientious development of the traditional BMW design curves.The new face, which comes with

flat headlights reaching as far as the BMW kidney grille, emphasises the elegant and dynamic design of the new BMW 3 Series.The sixth generation of the 3 Series

has also grown in size compared to its predecessor, with its wide track (front + 37 mm, rear + 47 mm) par-ticularly prominent and the car‘s increased length (+93mm) and aug-mented wheelbase (+50mm). Inside the new BMW 3 Series Sedan, the noticeable increase in space benefits the rear passengers above all.

Coscharis Unveils BMW 3 Series in Lagos

L O C A L N E W S

Bolaji Okusanya, Quadrant

The Managing Director, 141 Worldwide, Mrs Bunmi Oke, the Corpo-rateAffairs Manager, Cadbury West Africa Mr. Kufre Ekanem, and the Brand Communication & Media Manager, Miss Kemi Awonusi at the me-dia launch of the new TomTom HoneyLemon held at Protea Hotel, Ikeja Lagos last Friday.

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In a bold move to serve its consum-ers better, Guaranty Trust Assurance plc, one of Nigeria’s foremost insurance companies has been rebranded Mansard Insurance plc. The rebranding marks the conclusion of the company’s evo-lution from a subsidiary of a leading Nigerian bank into an independent Insurance Company. Mansard Insurance plc’s new corporate identity was unveiled at a well-attended function recently in Lagos.Mansard Insurance plc was incorporated in June 1989 and has gone through many phases includ-ing a nine-year ownership by Guaranty Trust Bank which ended in 2011 with the acquisition of majori-ty shareholding by Assur Africa Holding. Mansard Insurance was listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in November 2009 and its market capitalization is currently N16 billion, mak-ing it the insurance company with the highest mar-ket capitalization on the Exchange today.

Clean Break!From GT Assur to Mansard In-surance

In an effort at strategi-cally developing and growing public rela-

tions practice in Nigeria, the Lagos State Chapter of Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) recently signed a Memorandum of Understand-ing (MOU) with PIELLE Consulting U.K, a world-class public relations consulting firm that specialises in fa-cilitating constructive engagement, mutual understanding through com-munication, training and management consultancy.The MOU was signed in the U.K by Barr. Jide Ologun, MNIPR -Chairman, NIPR, Lagos State Chapter on behalf of the Lagos NIPR. The chairman noted that the Lagos State NIPR body entered into a professional collabora-tion with PIELLE Consulting for the purpose of promoting corporate gover-nance and excellence through bilateral professional networking.According to Barr.Ologun, “with this

collaboration, NIPR Lagos and PIELLE Consulting shall jointly develop strate-gic international Pub-lic Relations/knowl-edge programmes

(which include seminars, workshops, media, networking and tribute events and conferences) as well as promoting initiatives aimed at ensuring maximiz-ing PR in corporate governance.”In a related development, the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN) has urged unregis-tered public relations agencies to legiti-mise their business by registering with the umbrella body for public relations consultants in Nigeria and join hands in enhancing the growth of public re-lations in Nigeria. This call was made by Vice-President of PRCAN, Chido Nwakanma, recently at the beginning of the Fourth Public Relations Master Class training programme in Lagos.

NIPR - Pielle Partnership: Hand-shake Across the Ocean

In what could be best described as the most remark-able milestone by any advertising agency in Nigeria, Noah’s Ark Communications Limited, one of the new

generation ad agencies in Nigeria, has placed the nation’s creative industry on the world map by emerging the first agency in Nigeria to have its work published in the world renowned Luezer’s Archive.Luezer’s Archive is a worldwide advertising archive that

is globally regarded as the ‘Bible’ of advertising. The Ar-chive is a bi-monthly publication that showcases the best of ad-vertising from around the world. Out of the thousands of entries received, only 70 of the best got published.Briefing journalists during a Media Open House event held at the

Agency’s office, at Maryland, in Lagos, on this enviable milestone recorded by his company, the Managing Director, Noah’s Ark Ad-vertising Limited, Mr. Lanre Adisa, described the feat as a bold statement and great achievement not only for Noah’s Ark’s team but also a triumph for Nigeria’s creative advertising industry.

Noah’s Ark ups Stakes, gets Published in Luezer’s Archive

After six years of successfully navigating the marketing terrains of the West African sub-region, Dmessage, an integrated marketing communications outfit has finally decided to set up the control post of her business operations in the country. The new office located In Magodo GRA, near Ikeja Central Business District would serve as the hub for the company’s West African business operations.Speaking to a select group of jounalists at his posh Magodo office, The Group Managing Director of the company, Sola Odeja explained that the goal of his company has always been to create a niche in the West- African Sub region, having discovered that many Nigerian companies desire to expand their businesses to other parts of the con-tinent. Since there was desperate need for competent hands to handle

marketing communication briefs across West Africa, according to Odeja, His company had to position itself to meet this special need.According to Odeja, his company’s first point of call was the Gambia in 2006 where they handled the launch of Access bank, Bank PHB, and Skyebank . They also worked with Trust Bank Gambia, and Standard Chatered bank. The company also made forays into Siera-Leone in 2007, where the struck a retainership deal with Airtel Sierra Leone. They also handled UBA, Acess bank and Bank PHB in Sierra Leone. In 2008 Dmas-sage entered Guinea, Conakry to handle Skyebank Guinea. Other businesses they handled in Guinea include Glaxo Smithline (GSK) and ECOWAS.

Lagos Now Hub for Dmessage’s Continental Operations

L O C A L N E W S

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Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria has announced its deci-sion to strengthen its customer offerings in Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Banking. The bank noted

this is to meet up with the dynamic needs of fast-growing SMEs in Nigeria as it further reinforces its brand promise of ‘Here for good’. The announcement was made during a customer event at the new Opebi SME Centre in Ikeja, Lagos. Commenting on the importance of SMEs to the Nigerian

economy Carol Oyedeji, Head of Consumer Banking, West Africa said. “SMEs in Nigeria are the backbone of our economy. 96% of

Nigerian businesses are SMEs and they currently contribute about 50-70% of employment, and over 90% of the manufac-turing sector. It is therefore critical for the banking sector to come along and support their needs.”Tim Hinton, Global Head of SME Banking, Standard Char-

tered Bank further confirmed the role of SMEs in the global level:“The SME segment has grown almost double the rate of GDP

in most markets, and is expected to grow at 10-12 percent per year across our footprint in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

In light of the changing needs of SMEs and their growing im-portance in the economy, we have strengthened our SME cus-tomer offerings. Our ambition is to be the leading international bank for SMEs, building the segment into a multi-billion dollar business over the next two to three years.” This strategy is underpinned by focusing on customers’ needs,

and investing in the right people, solutions, and infrastructure.

Standard Chartered Bank Puts Smile on Faces of SMEs in Nigeria

Red Star Express, the franchisee of the globally respected courier brand, Federal Express, popularly known as FedEx, has announced the commencement of the celebration of its twentieth anniversary the unveiling of the anniversary logo in Lagos. The company which opened office in Nigeria in 1992 with sixty operational outlets and barely 100 staff members has grown to become a multibillion naira business, serving the entire nation and beyond with over one thousand five hundred direct employees and 158 offices.Speaking at the unveiling of the Red Star Express anniversary logo and program, the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Sule Bichi said, “We are truly humbled by our growth as a company over the past twenty years. We attribute the growth to our resolve as a logistics company to remain customer focused at all times, offering not just logistics services but also peace of mind through quality and innovative services that deliver real solutions to our customers. The last twenty years has been a worthwhile journey with our customers and other stakehold-ers.“With Red Star Express, we are not building just a business we are building a legacy that will outlive us. Our vision is that the company will remain strong after we are gone. So at twenty, we are just getting started; we are still young. In our tradition of constantly improving on our achievements, we have con-tinued to upgrade our ISO certification which we first got in 2002 when we were first certified by Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON). Today, we have the ISO 9001: 2008 certifica-tion and we are still working hard to improve on it.

Red Star Express Commences Anniversary Celebration

As the official malt drink of Arsenal in Nigeria, Malta Guin-ness gave 175 lucky consumers the chance to interact with Arsenal FC’s first team players, Bacary Sagna, Per Merte-

sacker and Lukas Podolski, when they visited Nigeria this weekend. As one would expect from the nation’s favourite malt, the sessions were full of energy and vitality.Emmanuel Agu, Marketing Manager, Malta Guinness, commented: “As the Official Malt Drink of Arsenal in Nigeria, we were delight-ed to work with Arsenal FC to reward Malta Guinness consumers with exclusive opportunities to interact with the Arsenal FC players. We have more exciting activities planned with Malta Guinness Low Sugar over the coming months including giving more consumers the chance to get active with the Malta Guinness Low Sugar work-out! Make sure you visit our Facebook page to be amongst the first to find out about our activities and how you can get involved.”Over the next two months, the Malta Guinness Low Sugar workout will be touring the country as Kaffy and her crew gives consumers across Nigeria a chance to join in the workout sessions. With a great taste and no compromise on quality, Malta Guinness Low Sugar is the drink of choice for those who follow a healthy lifestyle regime, but still want the refreshment and top of the world

goodness, energy and vital-ity that Malta Guinness pro-vides.

Malta Guinness Low Sugar Consumers Interact with Arsenal Players

L O C A L N E W S

L-R: Bakary Sagna, Sola Oke, Head, Innovation Guinness Nigeria, Per Mertesacker, Wole Adedeji Brand Man-ager Malta Guinness, Lukas Podolski and Emmanuel Agu, Marketing Man-ager Malta at the launch of the Malta Guinness Low Sugar Workout at Ball Room Eko Hotel yesterday.

BrandiQ 9

PAU, AAR to Set up Rhetoric Forum in Nigeria By Desmond Ekeh

In no distant time, the study, research and practice of rhetoric in the socio-political and economic life of Nigerians will become a real-ity - following the partnership between the School of Media and

Communication - Pan African University, Lagos and the African As-sociation of Rhetoric based in South Africa to set up a Rhetoric Forum in Nigeria. This was the outcome of a 2 Day Colloquium organized by the two in-stitutions at the Pan African University, Victoria Island, Lagos themed: “Rhetoric and Political Leadership”, with several sub-themes on the role of rhetoric in various areas of life in Africa. The colloquium was attended by scholars and researchers from various academic disciplines and variegated intellectual dispositions and per-suasions - including the arts, media and communication, environment, film studies, culture and the social sciences. The Convener of the colloquium and founder African Association for Rhetoric, (AAR) Dr. Segun Ige, and the co-Convener, Professor

Emevwo Biakolo, Dean, School of Media and Communication, Pan African University, welcomed the participants to the colloquium and explained the objectives and the role of rhetoric to our national life and enjoined both the paper presenters and participants to ensure the col-loquium is not only intellectually engaging but effective in shaping our understanding of public discourse.The keynote address for Day One of the event was made by a former member, House of Representatives, Honourable Farouk Adamu Aliyu. His paper titled “Rhetoric and Political Leadership: A Practitioners Per-spective” elicited so much interest from the participants as he led them into the practical functions of the lower chamber and some of the un-wholesome odium that emanates from the chambers into the political terrain.Professor Pat Utomi, a political economist, mass communicator and founding member of the Lagos Business School, Pan African Univer-sity who was a keynote speaker for Day Two spoke on “The Changing Dynamics of Political Leadership in the 21st Century: Implications for Africa”. According to him, one of the challenges of African politics is when power is placed above purpose. He emphasized that, people who lead must be ones who understand the two dimensions of leadership as espoused by late Dr. Steven Covey -which are Knowledge and Ser-vice. He said that, a leader must have deep knowledge of issues and

should also understand communication and how to use it to translate his/her vision to the followers. He added that, service should be that of the ‘Otherness’ and not service to self, which is presently what obtains in African politics.

There were about 28 papers presented at the colloquium by scholars and even graduate students including: Professor Biakolo, “Intrigues of the Word: Counter-faces of Writing and Speaking in Public Addresses of High State Officials in Nigeria” chaired by Dr. Josef Bel-Molokwu; Dr. Segun Ige, “Remaking Africa: Political Leadership with an Architec-tonic Apparatus”, and Austin-Tam-George, “Towards a Development Rhetoric for Nigeria’s Political Class”, chaired by Dr. Austin Nwaeze.Others were Dr. Wale Okediran, “Rhetoric, Dirty Hand Politics and Public Ethics”, Dr. Issa Momoh, “Rhetorical Communication as a Pre-cursor of Democracy and Political Development, Globally, in Africa and Nigeria”, Dr. James Tsaaior, Rhetoric without end: A Literary Ne-gotiation of the Political Speeches of President Goodluck Jonathan and Barack Obama”, Barrister Paul Onifade, “Rhetoric, Financial Crisis and Africa”, Akin Iwelade, “Reframing the Environmental Discourse: NGOs and the Democratic Struggle in Nigeria”, Tunde Onikoyi, “Sub-versive Rhetoric in Popular Nigerian Films”, Dr. Stephen Solanke, “Humans, Cockroaches, Ants and Leadership: An Appraisal of the Ab-surdist World of Tewfik al-Hakim’s Fate of a cockroach” and others.The colloquium was rounded off on the second day with a dinner and awards presented to some deserving Nigerians at the Four Points Hotel, Victoria Island Lagos with a resolution to establish a Forum for Rheto-ric in Nigeria to be housed at the School of Media and Communication, Pan African University, Lagos.

Left: Dr. Segun Ige, Hon. Farouk Aliyu and Prof. Emewo Biakolo

Prof. Pat Utomi

L O C A L N E W S

BrandiQ 10

Sony New Range of Cyber-shot Digital Cameras

Sony, the leading consumer electronics brand has unveiled nine new Cyber-shot cameras. According to a statement from the company, the new device include the WX series (DSC-

WX100, WX150), HX series (DSC-HX200V, HX20V, HX10V), W690, TX series (DSC-TX20, TX66), and H series (H90), which offer superior optical performance in some of the world’s slimmest and lightest cameras ever designed.The world’s smallest and lightest camera in its class, DSC-WX100

takes full advantage of the newly-developed Advanced Aspherical (AA) lens, which dramatically reduces camera body thickness to as slim as 17.5mm while increasing optical performance to deliver amazing image quality. The new 10x optical lens (25-250mm) cap-tures wide expanses and dramatic zoom shots, enhanced by Clear Im-age Zoom for 20x zoom while resolution is maintained. The Extra High Sensitivity technology has helped reduce the noise of the image

to 1/6 without affecting image quality.Furthermore, Sony’s 18.2 megapixel (effective) Exmor R CMOS

image sensor, teamed with the BIONZ image processing engine’s adaptive noise reduction and other low noise technologies, enables the WX100/WX150 to deliver exceptionally high quality images. Both cameras also feature quicker autofocus approximately 0.13 seconds in daylight and as fast as around 0.20 seconds in low-light conditions and advanced Optical SteadyShot image stabilisation for blur-free shooting in challenging conditions.

MasterCard is looking to maintain the momentum of its Priceless London cam-

paign with an ad drive showing the benefits of taking part in one of the experiences offered by the payment brand.With rival Visa ramping up market-

ing around its sponsorship of the Lon-don 2012 Games, MasterCard is look-ing to increase interest in its Priceless London rewards programme, which offers exclusive dining, theatre and museum trips through partnerships.After last year’s campaign to introduce the Priceless London

concept, the ads will feature a return of the use of ‘Priceless’

as a punch line. Ads will feature lines such as, “Within touching distance of your heroes: Priceless,” and, “One dessert, two spoons: Priceless.”The campaign launch is for July and

will run for four weeks. Activity takes in poster sites, taxi liveries, a weekly partnership with freesheet Metro, ac-tivity with Time Out, and promotions in arrival halls at UK airports.Shaun Springer, head of brand, spon-

sorship and digital, UK and Ireland, at MasterCard, said: “When we launched last year, it was about educating con-sumers about what Priceless London had to offer and getting them to visit the website.

MasterCard Defies Olympic Clutter with Campaign

As the event of the London 2012 Olympic Games continues to light up T.V screens across the globe, Coca-Cola is poised to be the brand’s largest-ever Olympic Games activation. Never before in the Compa-ny’s 84-year Olympic partnership has the brand gone for marketing gold in a campaign that has teens at its core. Chief marketing and commercial officer, Joe Tripodi said “The Co-ca-Cola Company “As a proud sponsor of the Olympic Games, the company is excited that London 2012 has finally arrived. The Move to the Beat campaign has inspired teens all around the world, through their passion for music and sport, to get engaged in the London 2012 Olympic Games. Now that the Games are upon us, we’re delighted to be able to bring our campaign fully to life and show teens around the world how the host city moves to the beat during Games time.”Coca-Cola will also feature Beat TV, a Broadcast every weeknight of the Games from July 30 - 10 August. Beat TV is presented by Laura Whitmore, Darren McMullen and Dave Berry.

The show will present the social side of the Games and feature inter-views with sports stars and celebrities, comedic sporting challenges with a host of international talent and live musical performances from some of the world’s greatest artists. Confirmed guests include Mark Ronson, Katy B, Dizzee Rascal, Rupert Grint, The Wanted, Paloma Faith and The Stereophonics. Digital & Mobile Application - Enabling fans to put their own stamp on Anywhere in the World, The company has launched innovative desktop and mobile applications, that allow teens to create their personal ‘Beat’ and share it with others using social media platforms. The brand’s 80-plus years of support to the Olympic Games allows athletes to compete who otherwise would not be able to. Today, The Coca-Cola Company supports more than 250 physical activity and nu-trition education programs in over 100 countries. In Great Britain, the Company’s three-year partnership with Street Games will bring more than 110 000 youth closer to sport.

Coca-Cola Ramps up Activation for Olympics 2012

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Facebook’s latest figures showing growth in global us-ers also highlights concerns that some may come from dubious sources, duplicate accounts, pages for pets and those designed for spam.

Facebook members grew to 955 million at the end of the second quarter, but as many as 83 million may be dodgy, the company said in its quarterly filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

There are “inherent challenges” in measuring usage “despite our efforts to detect and suppress such behav-ior,” the social network said.It said duplicate accounts, when a same user maintains more than one account, may represent some 4.8 per-cent of active users. Another 2.4 percent may be for a business, group or “non-human entity such as a pet” and 1.5 percent are likely “undesirable” accounts that use the accounts for spam or other malicious activity.

“We believe the percentage of accounts that are dupli-cate or false is meaningfully lower in developed mar-kets such as the United States or Australia and higher in developing markets such as Indonesia and Turkey,” Facebook said in its filing.“We are continually seeking to improve our ability to identify duplicate or false accounts and estimate the to-tal number of such accounts, and such estimates may be affected by improvements or changes in our meth-odology.”

The number of real users is critical for Facebook as it seeks to get advertising revenues from the world’s biggest social network. Some analysts have expressed doubts that the company can boost revenues.

Facebook Growth Clouded by Dubious Accounts

Bu i l d i n g on the p r e v i o u s

campaign, ‘Alive with Possibilities’, Brand South Af-rica’s new slogan ‘Inspiring New Ways’ officially launched recently through a televi-sion commercial filmed both do-mestically and abroad. (video)This is the view

of Miller Matola, Brand South Africa’s CEO, who believes that the 60-sec-ond commercial first screened on eTV on 5 July, encapsulates the ‘can do’ spirit of South African people across various walks of life, illustrating the determination of the country’s citizens to overcome obstacles and find new and better ways of doing things.The commercial features well known South Africans such as Yvonne Chaka

Chaka, Baby Jake Matlala, Natalie du Toit, Trevor Noah, Lucas Radebe, Brian Mitchell, Greg Minaar, Trevor Rabin, John van der Ruit, Shaun Thom-son, David Tlale and KhotsoMokoena and lesser known ones who have also defied the odds to become top achievers in their fields - such as ToyaDelazy, Colin Thornton, OyamaMatomela, AndileDube, Andy Higgins, TebogoSk-wambane, NhkensaniNkosi, Emile Engel, Simon Ratcliffe, ZibusizoMkh-wanazi and Fatima Vawda.“Through this television commercial, we want to get across the message

that Inspiring New Ways is an over-arching country position for South Af-rica relating to everything we do and what we are including our people, our culture and heritage, tourism, exports, governance and investment and im-migration,” said Matola.

SA unveils New Campaign Slogan

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s (NMMU) activation received a silver award for the best use of social media in the Council for Advancement and

Support of Education (CASE) Circle of Excellence Awards. NMMU placed second to American higher education insti-tutes, John Hopkins University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). (video)Boomtown Strategic Brand Agency, together with its cli-

ent, created the NMMU Flash Mob, which was uploaded to YouTube. “The results of the activation have been incredible, but it

has been a culmination of a number of factors. What con-

tributed to this working so well was the bravery of the client and the trust it put in the agency to make a success of this in a medium that it hadn’t delved into in past campaigns. The Flash Mob has proven to be a major brand building exercise, both within the institution and worldwide,” said Jared Louw, business unit manager at Boomtown.This award followed the nomination for a Cannes Lions

award for a Direct Lion in the Business Products & Services category for the agency’s ‘Always On’ campaign, imple-mented for global power generation service provider, Ag-greko. It was reportedly selected out of 34 301 entries from 87 countries.

Mandela Varsity Recognized for its Campaigns

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Toyota has retained its top position in a new report identifying global brands that have had the most suc-

cess in marketing their sustainability ef-forts and establishing a green reputation.Marketing consultancy Interbrand to-

day launched its second annual study assessing the green credentials of the top 100 companies in its annual Best Global Green Brands report. The rank-ing is based on analysis by consultancy giant Deloitte of companies’ actual sus-tainability efforts that is then compared with how they are perceived by consum-ers, based on a global survey of 10,000

people.Automotive and technology brands

dominated the 2012 rankings, with Toyota retaining the top spot from last year as a result of its flagship hybrid Prius model and efforts to re-duce waste sent to landfill.Honda, Volkswagen and BMW also

appeared in the top 10, while Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and Nissan were ranked in the top 50, suggesting automotive brands’ investment in de-veloping and marketing fuel-efficient

and alternative fuel vehicles is paying off.Meanwhile, Panasonic jumped four

spots to number six; HP retained its posi-tion at number five, while Siemens came in at number eight, falling five places from last year.As sustainability initiatives continue to

gain relevance in the C-suite and with consumers, companies in all sectors are striving to strike a winning balance be-tween building a green business and ef-fectively communicating sustainable practices in the global marketplace.

Toyota Keeps Top Spot as ‘Greenest Global Brand’

At a recent keynote presenta-tion at VidCon, YouTube vice president of product manage-

ment, Shishir Mehrotra announced Video Creation Marketplace, a plat-form that will connect content creators on YouTube with marketers or agen-cies looking for viral buzz.Since 2007, YouTube has partnered

with producers on the video site to share ad revenue, allowing people to create YouTube content for a living. “We pay out millions of dollars to part-ners each year,” said Baljeet Singh, group product manager at YouTube. “Thousands of channels are generat-ing six figures a year.”The idea is to create a more formal

revenue stream for the long tail of YouTube creators. YouTube has been very focused on launching and pro-moting its first 100 “Original Chan-nels,” but its message to VidCon is to the YouTube stalwarts: We’re here for you, too. Today, YouTube’s partner program has more than a million con-tent creators globally. The marketplace platform will allow

partners to set up profiles indicating what they do, their past successes and the demographics or types of brands they are best suited for. Advertisers or agencies will be able to search by parameters, such as content type, tar-get demo and keywords, to find the right YouTube star for their campaign. Then, they can negotiate separately. YouTube will play no part in the ne-gotiation stage. The program will be particularly

useful for small businesses that don’t always have the resources to create video ads, said Mr. Singh. “The cre-ativity coming out of YouTube rivals that coming out of creative agencies any day of the week,” he added. “And we already know that their content performs really well on YouTube.”

Samsung executives at the highest level made a decision to copy “every element” of the iPhone to compete in

the smartphone market, a lawyer for Apple said as arguments began in a huge patent trial.Harold McElhinny, a lawyer for Apple in the blockbuster patent trial underway in San Jose, California, told the jury that Sam-sung began the effort as soon as the iPhone was publicly unveiled in January 2007.“At the same time (Apple co-founder Steve) Jobs introduced the iPhone, he warned his competitors that he had filed for patent pro-tection on more than 200 new inventions in the iPhone,” McElhinny said.“Samsung was faced with a choice. Sam-sung could come up with its own designs, it could beat Apple fairly in the marketplace. Or it could copy Apple... it’s easier to copy than to innovate.”

The lawyer said Samsung copied specific features, including a “bounce-back” feature during the scrolling process and a design with a black-on-black face.“At the highest corporate levels, Samsung decided to copy every element of the iP-hone,” he said.“This was not accidental. Samsung’s copy-ing was intentional.” He argued that Sam-sung made continual changes as Apple up-dated its products.“Over 100 times Samsung made detailed changes to its phones and tablets so that the end result was identical to Apple products,” the lawyer said.

YouTube Launches

‘Marketplace’ to Connect YouTube

Stars, Brands

Copycatism: Apple vs Samsung

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In 2009, Senator Uche Chukwumerije sponsored a Bill on the floor of the Sen-ate which seeks to create a commission

to supervise the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by businesses in Nigeria that would compel them to pay 3.5 percent of their profits towards “corporate social responsibility”.

The Bill proposes among other things, to “create a standard of social responsibility for corporate organisations that is consistent with international standards, integrate social responsibility in Nigeria trade policies, and make sure that the rest of the corporate bod-ies in Nigeria come under the arena of mod-ern corporate ethics”. When Senator Chuk-wumerije introduced his Bill, he said that only 150 out of 5,000 registered companies in Nigeria “are alive to their social respon-sibilities”.

As expected, Corporate Nigeria condemned the Bill and asked the National Assembly to focus on devising creative solutions to the myriads of problems besetting the economy. To confront struggling entrepreneurs with one more impediment, they argued, would simply cause many of them to fold up. They stressed that as they already pay tax to the government they see the Bill as a ploy to in-ject more cash into government coffers which will bring the concept of CSR into disrepute.

According to sponsor of the Bill, “CSR is responsibility shown by a company for the broader interests of society as a whole, and for other stakeholders other than sharehold-ers. It teaches companies that a business organisation does not exist simply to maxi-mise profit but includes concern for the envi-ronment, employees and society in general, especially their host communities.” But the Chukwumerije idea of CSR appears to be that it is the responsibility of companies to engage in infrastructure spending like roads, schools etc.

At a roundtable conference held in Protea Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos with the theme: ‘Under-

standing the Concept of Corporate Social Re-sponsibility and the Implications of Legislat-ing It’ sponsored by Promasidor Nigeria and MTN Nigeria, Nigeria’s business leaders ex-pressed their misgivings of the Bill. Accord-ing to them, the proposed law was capable of hamstringing businesses from perform-ing optimally, as it would saddle them with avoidable burden.

They queried the clause in the bill that em-powers the proposed CSR Commission to suspend the operations of a company for 30 days for non-compliance with the CSR law. This, according them, is a potentially dangerous clause that would not benefit the economy and would ultimately hurt the poor as many of the products and services priced within their reach might become unafford-able to them when companies begin to make adjustments to accommodate some of the social burden being imposed on them by the government.

It was argued that there are existing laws that can be refined and many government agen-cies are already doing what the proposed commission is expected to do as the proposed commission would be a waste of taxpayers’ funds.

Another position they held was that it is glob-ally agreed that CSR is a voluntary initiative that emanates from companies which seek to positively impact their immediate sphere of influence beyond the demands of law.They argued that legislating CSR eliminates the very essence of CSR being a voluntary socio-economic commitment to society, add-ing, “The thrust of the bill implies that the Nigerian Constitution has failed”.

The premise upon which the proposed CSR Commission is to operate, it was further ar-gued, could lead to an assumption that Ni-geria intends to manipulate the business community which has been responsible for wealth creation. This could send wrong sig-nals to the international community, particu-larly would-be investors.

Public Relations, CSR and the Bottom-Line

Corporate Social Respon-sibility has of late been a topical issue in the market-ing communications in-dustry. Agbo Agbo writes on the controversy sur-rounding the call for the establishment of a CSR commission, opposition from corporate brands and whether brands should be compelled to engage in

CSR activities.

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Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Christopher Kolade, said even though the senator meant well, the bill would create more problems than it was meant to solve. He said government always made the mistake of creating a com-mission any time a problem arose, pointing out that creating a CSR commission as the bill seeks to do would merely create another avenue for some government officials to corruptly en-rich themselves. Frank Aigbogun, publisher of Business Day, lamented that businesses could no longer put up with all man-ners of frivolous taxes, levies and fines from federal, state and local governments. Government should work with, not against, business operators to pull through the hard times, Aigbogun ad-vised.

So we ask ourselves how CSR should operate. Is it proper for a company to donate a few cartons of some products and engage a PR firm to blow their “contribution to uplifting the poor” out of proportion? Ideally, CSR policy would function as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby businesses would monitor and ensure their adherence to law and ethical standards. Busi-nesses would embrace responsibility for the impact of their ac-tivities on human rights, employee rights, and the challenges of environmental protection and community development as core values in Corporate Social Responsibility.

This notwithstanding, we can identify three key strands of CSR expression in Nigerian organizations. They include Philanthrop-ic, Economic Support and Compensatory. Philanthropic refers to a humanitarian and charitable service projected to the people by the corporate organisations. Firms, through their benevolent ac-tivities, make the people to feel good about their operations. The firms in the local communities have often embarked on donation of meagre sum to community development, cultural practices and celebrations.

The other strand of CSR practised in Nigeria is tagged as eco-nomic support. In this case the corporate organisations help by providing social amenities like potable water, building and maintenance of schools, maintenance of parks, promotion of ba-sic and primary health care schemes, launching of empowerment schemes for the less privileged etc. Lastly, compensatory CSR strand is gradually gaining ground. Organisations compensate the Nigerian government, communities and individuals for cer-tain operational breaches that have occurred during the produc-tion process. These three expressions or strands of CSR can be seen in several organisations in Nigeria such as United Bank of Africa (UBA) and MTN Nigeria.

Yes, CSR is very beneficial but the argument lies in the method of enforcement. Should CSR be imposed on businesses by regu-lation or should they be allowed to apply CSR in their opera-tions voluntarily? Opinions in the CSR world are diverse, some favouring a legal framework for CSR and others fearing it would destroy business and enterprise. Despite this, CSR continues to be one of the most debated management philosophies.

The dilemma for some companies in Nigeria is that they feel CSR does not positively impact on their bottom-line or some mistake sponsorship for CSR. But the benefits of CSR, it must be stated, do not immediately translate to a rise in profit. It usu-

ally creates a dent to the financial bottom-line. However, though not immediately quantifiable in monetary terms, the critical ben-efits of concerted commitment to CSR could include: A strong reputation and improved corporate brand recognition; being identified as responsible by stakeholders; Sustainable product brand loyalty and improved government and community rela-tions. These qualities would enable a brand to keep riding the tide when others may have fallen.

But the question remains; how many Nigerian companies have programmes that directly affect the people or in essence benefits society positively? Can the sponsorship of a dancing competi-tion, for instance, be referred to as a CSR programme as some brands would want us to believe?

My take on this issue is that CSR should be left to individuals’ and organisations’ morality. While law is a coercive order, mo-rality is a persuasive system. Law seeks to bring about a specific mode of human conduct by force, but morality appeals to the conscience of the individual required. A rule is a rule of morality if by common practice of the community, it applies only to the conscience of the addressee for ultimate compliance, but a rule is a rule of law if by the common practice of the community it will eventually be enforced by a power external to the addressee, i.e. the state or community.

But one thing is clear, engaging in CSR may initially create a dent in the bottom-line but the benefits in the long run far out-weighs the investments as brands are creating brand loyalists and ambassadors, albeit subtly, through their CSR activities that have direct bearing to the people. This is the main reason why some brands’ equity may take a long time to be eroded because of the impact the particular brand may be making on the society. When it comes to CSR, Nigerians know the brands they take seriously and those that engage in activities purely from a PR standpoint.

Yes, CSR is very beneficial but the argument lies in the method of enforcement. Should CSR be im-posed on businesses by regulation or should they be allowed to ap-ply CSR in their operations volun-tarily? Opinions in the CSR world are diverse, some favouring a legal framework for CSR and others fear-ing it would destroy business and enterprise. Despite this, CSR con-tinues to be one of the most debated

management philosophies.

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The Brain, as Factory of the Future can be Located

Anywhere - Phil Osagie

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Dr Phil Osagie, President, Public Relations Consultants As-sociation of Nigeria (PRCAN), known in industry circles as the doyen of modern PR in Nigeria, runs JSP Communica-tions, a PR outfit based in Lagos. Recently, he established JSP Canada, now positioned as the leading information ad-visor for external entrepreneurs interested in doing business in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. During his re-cent visit from Canada, he spoke with Ntia Usukuma on the peculiarities of PR practice in Nigeria in comparison with the global market.

Your experience in PR cuts across many continents. Can you compare PR practice in Nigeria, with what is obtainable in Europe, America and other countries?Whether it is America, Europe or anywhere in the world, the fun-damentals of success, business and marketing are the same. The principles don’t change. Value systems don’t change. However, it is in the practice and interpretation of those systems and values that you have some differences. Before I go into a comparison of PR practice in Nigeria and PR in other territories, it is probably better to do a bit of comparison between the Nigerian environ-ment and a more developed environment. The things I see about the Nigerian environment are not particular to Nigeria alone. They are also peculiar to developing countries commonly referred to as emerging markets.

I would pick out three key characteristics of the differences be-tween Nigeria and other more developed markets not just from a PR point of view, but from the market generally. Firstly, what we have in Nigeria and how it differs from other developed markets, is the issue of work ethics and attitude. Work ethics and attitude means you do what is right even when no one is watching you.

You do what is expected of you. Also, here in Nigeria, a lot of people work hard but only few people actually work very smart and that is a major difference in how the developed world op-erates from the developing nations. Developed countries don’t work as hard as their developing counterparts, but they work much smarter and what they achieve is incomparably more than what is achieved in the same space of time.

Another difference is also in the application of technology. The development of technology has made things a lot easier. Many things are automated and that reduces manpower and saves en-ergy for things that are less demanding mentally. As a result of inefficiency in the application of technology, there are a lot of shortfalls in our system. It makes cost higher.

Thirdly is the area of infrastructure. What a lack of basic infra-structure does, is that it reduces the overall level of efficiency and morale. When there is no power, no water or good roads, moral gets diluted a bit. These are just general principles; let’s now go into public relations in terms of the differences. The fundamentals of public relations are the same. I’m proud to say that the way public relations is practiced here, in terms of the principles that we profess and stand for, are the same principles out there. The difference however is that in the more developed environment,

fewer people would do more work. So you find a PR company with staff strength of about 30 people regarded as a very big com-pany. There is also a whole lot of outsourcing.

What this means is that people are able to get the best hands for a task. Rather than an agency sometimes tying itself down by keeping about a 100 people, they have lean but very efficient staff strength. They work with experts as the need arises. They can have these experts on permanent engagement. At any point in time, they always have a pool of experts. They go to clients with a complete solution. What you find here sometimes is that an agency would go to a pitch and make a fantastic presentation, but the follow-up is poor. In a more developed environment, this is not so. There, they put machinery in place which would ensure that the service that is provided after the pitch is consistent; that the delivery is consistent with the promise. This is probably one of the biggest differences that I have seen in relation to the PR practice in developed and developing countries. But in this mar-ket the gap between service and delivery is very wide. These are some fundamental differences between the developed markets and Nigeria which is an emerging market.

What about the use of technology, especially new media and social media, how do you rate the level of their usage in Ni-geria?For technology, we are doing the best that we can here given the constraints in our environment. No matter how much one em-braces technology, the technology must first be available for you to use. The technology available to us here is very limited but it is getting better. Our internet broadband is not at the level it should be. It is a general problem that reduces your efficiency a bit. Things are getting better, I believe. We have a long way to go. We have the gadgets, but not the right infrastructure. We have the latest hi-tech devices but no foundation to exploit them to the maximum.

In the area of social media, I would say Nigeria is getting better in terms of application and embracing of social media. Nigerian practitioners are getting better at it. But there is still a big gap. You find out that a lot of marketing communications agencies still fail to offer that as a service to their clients. They have not acquired the competence yet. It is still seen perhaps wrongly.

Quite a number of professionals still see social media as a tool for the youths. This is a misconception. Yes it is true that a large number of users are in the youth category, but it is such a massive phenomenon that can’t be ignored. Facebook right now has over 700 million users which is about one tenth of the world’s popula-tion. Social media cannot be ignored considering the bewildering statistics. It is a dynamic media that people cannot ignore. Also in our environment, clients and even agencies still tend to re-duce public relations to just media relations. They have what I call a ‘minimalistic approach’ to public relations. They just reduce it to media relations. Once you have an event and it comes out in the newspapers, then there is a level of satisfaction on the client side and on the agency side. I do agree that one of the ways the client measures the success of a campaign is through the amount of me-dia coverage. But it is very wrong and incomplete to just reduce public relations to media relations alone. Public relations should be complete service. You cannot just offer a mono-solution; you

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have to be pluralistic in the solutions you provide to clients.

Abroad, PR agencies have specialisations. Here they all go for any available account. Is there any disadvantage of not hav-ing specialized PR agencies here?Because of the state of our development right now, most PR agen-cies are general practitioners. They offer everything. It also re-flects the state of the market. It is the next stage we are going to get to. We should have agencies that just specialise in entertainment PR, sports PR, technology PR, or financial PR. I envisage that in the next five years that we would start having PR agen-cies focusing on specific sectors. I believe the reason why there hasn’t been specializa-tions in Nigeria is the pressure of survival. Agen-cies can’t resist the lure of getting other business because it would bring in more money. They feel they may not be able to generate enough revenue if they focus. I think the market has also not reached that state of ma-turity whereby practitioners can feel comfortable and confident to set up an agency that caters for just one end of PR.

Lately we have been having security challenges, to what extent has that affected the image of the country abroad? As a PR profes-sional, is there any way to remedy the situation?

Yes! Security has affected the image of Nigeria. It’s probably the biggest single determinant of how we are perceived. The two ways unfortunately by which Nigeria is perceived, is in terms of security and fraud. In the past, a large percentage of our nega-tive perception was as a result of fraudulent transactions and the famous 419. This perception of Nigerians is very unfair because those who are involved in this practice constitute less than 1% of the population which is insignificant. Like we all know, bad news sell. Everybody remembers bad news. One Nigerian who does something fraudulent, is equivalent to a hundred thousand people who do good things. When people do good things, the public takes it for granted.

Security definitely affects how we are perceived around the world. It has affected our image very badly. The recent security crisis has had very serious implications on our image as a country. Peace and stability is the language of business and money. Business thrives

on security. The risk factor of investors bringing their businesses to Nigeria is very high. Nigeria has lost a lot of opportunities to other African countries as a result of these security issues. Nigeria has one of the highest Return on Investment (ROI) in the world. On the face of this, Nigeria should be a very attractive market for investors, but the security issue has diluted it. People look at the risks involved before bringing their businesses here. As a result, we lose opportunities to other countries like Mozambique, Ghana, Angola, Kenya, and South Africa. Nigeria poses a good investment ground because of our population, oil and resources.

Good public re-lations is based on good deeds. No matter how much you try to claim that you are good, it is the reality that determines it. So what we should work on as country is to ask how we can change this reality. Gov-ernment needs more sincer-ity than rhetoric. Less rhetoric, more sincerity and more plans. Have a plan, say little, execute and say much. This is the best form of PR.

So many people gatecrash into PR practice without proper training and knowledge, do you see this abroad?This is common in developing countries where the level of the entry points in most professions is not very high. It is virtually non-existent in the developed world. So what you find is that even those who do not qualify to practice PR, profess they can do PR. And because the client does not know better, he can’t tell what a PR practitioner does. My belief is that cream always rises to the top. Quality is always louder than words and eventually qual-ity and professionalism would always stand out. So the challenge for PR people is not to cry about the quacks that come into the profession. The challenge for PR people is to raise their game by becoming extremely professional and becoming indispensable in the minds of the clients. When this is achieved, the quacks would be non-existent.

On the issue of pitching fee, what is the global practice com-pared to what obtains in Nigeria?Different countries have different practices. In some countries, they don’t have pitching fees, in some they do. I personally sub-scribe to pitching fee in terms of bringing in a bit of sanity into the whole process. Some agencies do expend huge amounts to make a pitch. It is only appropriate that pitching fee should be taken

Osagie

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into consideration. There is no amount of money that can cover for creativity. What the agencies just need to do is constantly up their game and issue of pitching fee would just be a different mat-ter.

What are the challenges that you face as a PR person trying to operate outside Nigeria?Nigeria is my base. What I have just done is to expand the prac-tice and become more global in outlook. For anybody to achieve greatness, they must have a global outlook. Take a look at Chi-na, its growth is driven by internationality, by its open market in terms of its exports. The more global a country is, the faster it grows. You have a situation whereby we are able to offer our services anywhere in the world. And the whole focus is to create a synergy whereby JSP as a company, gives expertise for com-panies that are planning to come to Nigeria and Africa. This is the positioning for JSP worldwide. JSP would help companies that want to consolidate and expand in the Nigerian and the West African market.

The challenges of being a global player are just the same as that of any global business. The challenge of also being able to raise your standard so that the PR you offer here is the same seen ev-erywhere. Ideally, every good PR person should be able to prac-tice anywhere in the world. What we should aim for in Nigeria, should be the global best standards. Public relations in Nigeria should be world class; it should not be seen as mere Nigerian PR. A client should see that the standards here are the same anywhere in the world. The Coke sold in Nigeria is the same sold in New York; we must emulate these multinational companies.

For a Nigerian company that intends to go global, what would you advise?The company that wants to be global must have a strong reck-oning at home. Secondly, you must grow your personal level of competence and knowledge so that when you offer services, it is extremely valuable. The intellectual investment must be made in terms of offering better quality of service and better advice. Then you can look at the structure.

Right now, there is no true Nigerian global brand. This shouldn’t be. We should have a brand from Nigeria which is recognized worldwide. The way to go about it is that Nigerian companies should produce products and offer services that are aimed at the global market. The standards should be very high. Nigerian adver-tising agencies and PR agencies should also be looking forward to a Nigerian brand that is global. The beauty of this is that, aside from the monetary point of view, it is also good for the country. It is good for the country to start exporting our services beyond just raw materials like cocoa, crude oil and other resources. The brain is the factory of the future and can be located anywhere. Nigerian companies need to think along those terms.

How would you advise a young practitioner who feels he needs to practice Abroad? I would say charity begins at home. Who you are is very impor-tant. The first priority of a young practitioner should be how can I be of excellence? How can I be the best in the world? Young people should ask themselves how they can be so indispensable. You find this trait in very few people. That is why there is plenty of room at the top, but the road there is very crowded. Just very

few people have that mindset of excellence. Money should not be the focus. Money will always follow excellence.

How do you see the impact of the training being offered by the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN) so far?Training is like planting a tree; you don’t harvest it in just one season. It takes years. With training, we have a long term view. What we want to do in PRCAN is to be consistent. We realize that we can’t just be saying our people need to get better and not do anything about it. It is good to start from somewhere. We haven’t seen a dramatic result yet. Our goal is to help individual practitio-ners and companies see the need for training. Anybody that wants to grow must have a desire to be better. Growth is self-driven; it comes from within. When it comes from within, it is better.

Is PRCAN planning any international training for mem-bers?At present we are looking at some global strategic alliances with the likes of London Business School, Harvard Business School. It would be at a very senior level whereby we can help CEO’s and top practitioners become more strategic in their thinking.

Why is Nigerian government is reluctant to use PR consul-tants frequently? That is something we need to make government understand. The responsibility is for PR people to be so visible and competent so that using them would become imperative. The governments of South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries, when they do their campaigns, use professional PR companies. Most times, when they use a global PR agency, they still use a local PR agency. That is the level our government needs to operate at be-cause these countries are developing economies too. We are also looking for ways to create more awareness within government because sometimes they are sincere but don’t know where to go. Very soon, we are going to come with a list of accredited PR agencies and we are going to write a letter to government and to all companies in Nigeria that these are the companies in PRCAN. They are the ones who can do quality PR business.

Osagie

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From an economic perspective, Markets are the context, both physical and conceptual, where exchange takes place. Marketing therefore holistically incorporates all activities

from the producer to the final consumer including processing and distribution systems.

In this discourse, I will highlight the foregoing introduction, es-sentially due to the general inclination often times to attempt at delineating ‘Marketing’, as a management function from the ‘logistics/supply-chain’ aspect. On the contrary, my belief is that those companies which have come to be perceived as the world’s best marketing companies have actually been able to achieve this via seamless supply chain operations. After all, what’s the use of a ‘well-articulated’, ‘perfectly-on-strategy’, ‘single mind-ed’ and ‘effective’ product campaign, when the product is not even readily available on the shelves to meet consumer demands in a certain area?

Marketing itself, as a discipline, has played an important role in the development of industrialized nations. Until recently, how-ever, the extent of its real potential as a source of development in the Third World has been largely ignored (Kotler 1982; Dholakia 1984; Wood and Vittell 1986). This piece has therefore been put

together to highlight and discuss the potential role of marketing in national economic development, leading up to the conclusion that it could play an active and simulative role in the develop-ment process.

Now, there should be no dissention over the fact that Marketing and trade play vital roles in the economic growth and overall development of a nation. From the perspective of developing strong and exportable brands which generate wealth, there is no doubt that the case studies of global brands such as Nike, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and others (which are icons that clearly have greatly contributed to the national wealth, ‘larger-than-life’ perspective and global competitiveness of their ‘country-of-origin’, the United States of America) are instructive for this purpose.

We have come to realize, in the past few decades, that brands have undoubtedly become the most phenomenal wealth-creation properties in the contemporary business context on a global scale. Branding as a concept therefore has had more premium being placed on it in this critically challenged economic period, a situation which has seen it ascend up the value-chain of business.

At present, many more organizations and business concerns have come to appreciate the pivotal role the concept of branding plays in making the overall outlook of their organizations (from a corporate perspective) and also their offerings (i.e. products and services) much more desirable to target markets and stake-holders. This is why, for instance, a Rolex timepiece or a Louis Vuitton clutch bag can be priced at thousands of US dollars, as against generic items in the same category which cost only a negligible fraction of what their branded counterparts cost.

The potentials inherent in carefully building brands are intrigu-ing – or how else can one describe a scenario in which Uganda, reckoned to be the 8th largest grower of coffee in the world, is paid a regulated commodity rate which essentially translates to peanuts, in comparison with the US$400 which the global coffee retailer megabrand, Starbucks, is estimated to earn per kilogram of the same commodity, the only difference being that Starbucks’ coffee has got added value with the huge benefits accruable from branding, making it no longer a commodity but an experience treasured by millions of its consumers globally.

National Development: Competitive Marketing Paradigms to Move the Nigerian Economy By Tomi Ogunlesi

President Goodluck Jonathan

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Unfortunately, when one appraises the dynamics of marketing development in Nigeria over the course of the years, it is evident that marketing in Nigeria has been neglected, apparently due to the country’s prevailing economic philosophy. Over the years, this philosophy has been characterized by slowness to deregu-late as well as an import-orientation. In the late 1990s however, first through the Vision 2010 vision statement, we saw a move by the leadership at that time to attempt to change this status quo by incorporating the marketing process into their framework for economic development. How effectively this has been pursued is however another subject of debate entirely.

Now, for the country to accomplish its goals by the year 2020, our national marketing process would essentially have to accom-plish, among other imperatives, four major tasks of:• Bridging the gaps between production and consumption• Creating truly world-class entrepreneurs and business managers• Integrating society with the economy, and• Linking local communities with the larger worldThere still remain, however, a host of major challenges related to the poor communication and transportation infrastructure and the legal infrastructure not being open to interpretation by mar-keters that are impeding progress. Slow deregulation continues to be a problem. Other issues are the unstable power supply, the corrupt dual exchange rate system, and the struggling treasury, which are fundamental areas in which far reaching and sustain-able reform would necessarily be needed if any meaningful progress is to be expected.

With a view to developing truly competitive marketing para-digms which are capable of moving the Nigerian economy for-ward, the three underlisted imperatives will need to Deliberate Specialization in activities of comparative advantage.

A comparative advantage is said to exist when an individual, region or nation as the case may be can produce a good, relative to the price of other goods, more cheaply than another individual or region.

Now, the truth is that specialized activities will invariably facili-tate favourable terms of trade for a nation. The gains from trade will be the value of additional production made possible through specialisation and trade. The exact gains from trade will depend on the market prices of the goods with and without trade. This concept applies to countries that are able to use their compara-tive advantage to specialize in certain endeavours, selling their products to trade for the other goods they need.

Enhanced resource use efficiency and tradeThis is another critical consideration. Through specialisation and trade, a community is better able to utilize its limited resources. Specialization and the consequent efficiency of resource-use is therefore a strong basis for economic growth and development. As markets and economies develop, surpluses occur more fre-quently in profitable activities, creating new wealth, while prod-ucts are moved greater distances than before. Thus, trade is a necessary ingredient for economic growth. Marketing, within this context, is simply the means by which trade occurs.

Advances in marketing with economic growth

As economic growth proceeds, several changes as far as the dy-namics of marketing have been observed to typically occur. With economic development, the activities, to be given critical focus tasks and indeed complexities of marketing increase. Activities such as storage and processing, packaging and retail distribution become more important. Greater activity moves away from the site of production and towards marketing. This, in turn, creates employment opportunities and further specialization (diversifi-cation of the community).

With development, more economic agents may enter trade, help-ing to improve marketing services and, in some cases, allowing the market to capture external economies of scale. This refers to a situation where the presence of many agents allows each one to operate at a lower cost.

Again, in Nigeria, another essential consideration is the fact that for market development to occur, rural areas must be effectively linked, in terms of information and infrastructure, through the middlemen in the marketing system with urban centres of con-sumption. With the shift in resources away from production to marketing services, small-scale processing can expand markets by increasing demand through diversification of the end prod-ucts. Perhaps most important, and crucial to the reform of Afri-can marketing systems, is the requirement that the institutional and policy environments do not discourage or unnecessarily impede the actions of marketers. As well, property rights and contracts should be protected.

Another important factor in the development of markets is the disequilibrium between demand and supply. Producers and con-sumers then must exert greater efforts to cope with each other’s requirements. Increased efficiency resulting from trade is not in itself sufficient to create wealth. A stable but static equilib-rium, where supply meets demand, may no longer produce new wealth. Disequilibrium, along with technical and institutional changes, may be the conditions needed to move to even greater comparative advantage and efficiency levels.

Further, initial scarcity of resources can cause subsistence activi-ties to dominate, and this has essentially been the bane of most

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

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of the world’s developing economies (having been described by economists as the poverty trap), thereby denying the surplus labour or resources necessary to invest in new knowledge or technology required to create comparative advantage. The in-stitutional and organizational requirements necessary to expand markets may also be enormous.

Equally important is the realization that the role of property rights will play an important role, as marketing inherently in-volves transferring property rights. The nature of the society may restrict the scale on which such transfers can take place.

The intellectual property security and enforcement regime in our nation unfortunately leaves so much to be desired, and if we are to make meaningful progress as far as marketing development is concerned, this is one crucial area which would need to be given greater attention from a policy perspective by government and other concerned stakeholders.

The stage of economic growth within a country affects the at-titudes toward foreign business activity, the demand for goods, the distribution systems found within a country, and the entire marketing process. In static economies consumption patterns become rigid and marketing is typically nothing more than a supply effort. In a dynamic economy however, consumption patterns change rapidly. Marketing is constantly faced with the challenge of detecting and providing for new levels of consump-tion and marketing efforts must be matched with ever changing market needs and wants.

The foregoing leads me into the discourse relating to the par-adigms of product orientation vs. market orientation. Market-orientated companies are firms that organize their activities, products and services around the wants and needs of customers. By contrast, product-orientated firms have their primary focus on their product and on the skills, knowledge and systems that support that product.

Until the late 20th century many firms were product-orientated and failed to understand the changing needs of their customers in an increasingly competitive marketplace. A major swing towards market-orientation has led to intensified market research and product ranges carefully designed to fit customer preferences.

However, product orientation can still be important in keeping an emphasis on quality, safety and investment in new technol-ogy. Successful companies recognize the importance of both approaches. Products must start with the needs and wants of customers. But delivery of a profitable product depends on ef-ficiency and quality in production.

Now the same philosophies espoused above can actually be ap-plied to the subject of countries and marketing development within their specific contexts. Bringing it closer home, the lat-est Global Competitiveness Index for 2011-2012, published by the World Economic Forum, shows that Nigeria could not make the top 10 in sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa’s 10 most competitive countries are: South Africa, Mauritius, Rwanda, Botswana, Namibia, the Gambia, Kenya, Benin, Ethiopia and Senegal, in that order. The foregoing realization, howbeit unpal-atable, brings me to the concluding thrust of this article.

Unfortunately, a major bane of the Nigerian economy remains embedded in the fact that the basis of Nigeria’s competition in the international markets are factor endowments at the primary level i.e. natural resources of which crude is chief.

Countries at this stage compete on the basis of price and sell basic products or commodities with the low productivity, which is reflected in an inability to command premium pricing at the global level. Again, it should be noted that maintaining competi-tiveness at this stage of development rests on well-functioning public and private institutions framework and a healthy and lit-erate work force, which are largely absent in Nigeria’s case.

The clear imperative for us would then be to, using marketing know-how, reposition and advance into the Efficiency-Driven stage, wherein Nigeria as a country would begin to develop more efficient production processes and increase product quality and innovation across every aspect of the value chain. Competition at this stage of development is driven by higher education and training, as well as the ability to harness the benefits of exist-ing technologies. The next stage of development would then be the Innovation-Driven stage, wherein countries at this stage are able to sustain higher wages and associated standards of living largely due to the fact that their home-grown businesses/brands are able to compete with new and unique products. Competitive-ness here will rest on innovation through which new and dif-ferent goods are made, and indeed services are created, using sophisticated processes. This is essentially how the Netherlands has achieved remarkable global competitiveness as the world’s premier floral hub, particularly through innovative value addi-tion, differentiation and advanced marketing at every aspect of the value chain, despite lacking the primary factor endowments (Kenya for instance produces more fresh-cut flowers than Hol-land, but is unable to replicate the value addition and thereby gain similar competitive advantage!)

In conclusion, as a nation desirous of achieving greater interna-tional competitiveness and using marketing to catalyze national economic development, we must collectively change our orien-tation from ‘sharing’ the purported national pie (or cake, as pre-ferred) to critically exploring ways of ‘expanding’ the pie.

As a nation, we yet remain largely uncompetitive with our pri-mary export product and chief income source. Even if we are to remain largely dependent on crude oil exploitation (which is not even ideal), then the question of how can real, specialized value be added to the associated products/services such that Nigeria can attain a distinctive niche position and thereby command greater premium in the global marketplace. So much rests on the government’s understanding and appreciation of these fun-damental truths.

Tomi Ogunlesi, a marketing strategist with professional quali-fications from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), UK is an MBA Student at the Lagos Business School and an alum-nus of the Strategic Management Programme at Judge Busi-ness School, University of Cambridge. UK

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Why Nigerian Governments Avoid PR Agencies

Jide Olugun is the man sad-dled with the responsibility of coordinating the activities of reputation builders in Lagos, Nigeria’s megacity that handles over 70 percent of the country’s businesses. For more than three years he has handled this task with great innovation and dex-terity. Recently, an internation-al dimension was added to the trend of growth when he signed a strategic alliance with a UK agency, Pielle Consulting. Ntia Usukuma spoke with Mr. Olu-gun, Chairman, Nigerian Insti-tute of Public Relations, Lagos Chapter, on this new develop-ment and other relevant issues within the industry.

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How has it been in the last three years of being in charge of Lagos NIPR?It has been quite challenging knowing where we are lifting it to and the promises we made; talking about prominent then deeper govern-ment relations and enhanced corporate relations, and by the grace of God we have achieved so much in this area. We have also moved our AGM to international level; the last conference we had was an inter-national one, we brought someone from the US – Glodden Moore – and it was a very good outing. Interestingly she came to Nigeria when people thought that Nigeria is very dangerous environment. It was her first time of coming here and we must also reveal that ever since, she has been doing business in Nigeria as a base for her West Africa prospects and that tells us that this nation is full of potentials. In very unique ways also we have made attempts to enhance our scope of relationship. Recently I was in the UK to sign an MOU on collabora-tion with Pielle Consulting.

Could you enlighten us more on the partnership with Pielle Con-sulting? How would PR practice benefit from this partnership?The senior consultant of Pielle Consulting, Peter Walker, is the life Vice President of Nigerian-British Chambers of Commerce; he is al-most a Nigerian himself. He comes to Nigeria regularly and he is pas-sionate about the development of this country. He has worked with officials of the public sector and players in the private sector. We now consider that such an individual that has the good interest of Nigerians at heart will be of immense value to us, because when he speaks he is not just speaking from the angle of a professional but as a professional that is in tune with the challenges we have in the country.

We have gone beyond the era of theory. We are now focused on how to make this work in line with this. If you look at some of the progress being made in Lagos State, especially in the area of transportation, these are some of the things that have been observed abroad and are being imported in Nigeria. That is the thinking we have that if govern-ment officials go for trainings they should also inspect the structures they have on ground there and find out how they run the system.

We are also collaborating on training that will hold not only in the UK but in the UAE as well and facilitators can come from all over the world. What we have been able to achieve with this partnership is to go beyond the local playing ground and go global – right now it is a global system. These trainings will be open to government of-ficials, players in the private sector, those who are policy formulators and those who implement policies because these are the personalities that have the privilege to implement change. And of course if they don’t have the right perception of where the change should go it will be very tight for us to talk about development. I am glad that some recent developments in this country are showing that corruption can-not add any value to our system and we hope that very soon we all come to terms that rather than seek your personal interest we seek the public interest. When the public interest is well protected and we have development we can all enjoy the development in a secure environ-ment, because if you cannot give people security of the future they will destabilize the security of the present and also disrupt the same future. This is our thinking on this and it is all about national develop-ment. Our passion is to see Nigeria develop and of course we have the resources. If we all come together to say that we don’t want to play politics with the resources of Nigeria we want this environment to develop, it can be done.

Nigeria has experienced a lot of crises and challenges in the last

few years, how can PR help in tackling some of these problems?PR is a profession that brings stakeholders together, focusing on the environment, people, and the future. Because with PR you can moni-tor the environment, predict the consequences of actions and rec-ommend programs that can be implemented to ensure that we find ourselves on the right side in the future. Bringing the Nigerian case into the fore, we’ve had some encounters in this country which tell us that we must take Public Relations seriously. One of such is the Niger-Delta crises and it was eventually resolved relatively through the support of PR tools. What we have currently in Nigeria – the act of terrorism being per-petuated by the Boko Haram sect – is purely a relationship and com-munication issue. This group came out to declare that they are against Western education. As we know, ‘Western education’ stands for civi-lization, development, growth. So if someone comes and says he is against Western education, attention must be paid to them, but we felt that it will fizzle away. Now we have come to a level that it has become a real global crisis. How do we prevent such coming up again in future? This brings us back to governance.

The essence of corporate governance is representing the interest of all stakeholders. People are asking for corporate benefits, we have heard of dividends of democracy, people have screamed about the state of power supply, the state of our roads etc. The recent plane crash is a reflection of our systemic ailment because during the investigation that followed, it was discovered that perhaps the aircraft should not have been allowed to operate within our system. So we must pay at-tention to the system and the system is all about the people. Rather than play politics with governance we are saying governance should be about developing the environment. Today if you go to the UK they also have their limitations but to a large extent they have been able to structure that society and the system utilizing many PR tools and techniques to coordinate activities to ensure progress. I believe our leaders can learn from this. Except in some phony rebranding projects, government avoids the services of PR experts and PR agencies. Why is this happening? Governance is different from politics. When you promote gover-nance above politics you encourage professionalism but when you promote politics above governance you discourage professionalism. So it becomes a matter of, this person we are giving this job, is he a party member, who is his godfather? The issue is not what value he can add, because we are still in an environment where “he who plays the piper dictates the tune” and the fact that you are the best does not guarantee that your service will be engaged. Where there is corruption there is the tendency to flee from professionalism, because the primary assignment for professionalism is to destabilize corrup-tion and create an enabling environment for development. These are things we see around. No consultant can force himself upon any pro-spective client. That does not mean that Nigerians are not ready to contribute their quota. If you see all the probes and investigations you will see sound facts coming from Nigerians but when all these facts are cumulated are they worked upon to implement policies that will drive the change or are we just sweeping this under the carpet?

In the last few years we have seen opposition to government poli-cies. As a PR expert what advice could you give government to facilitate smooth acceptance of their policies? Communication is very powerful and it entails a minimum of two parties, the one communicating and the audience. And there is an ad-age that says a hungry man is an angry man. So if you are talking

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to someone who is not pleased with you, he is not likely to lis-ten to you. You must first en-sure that you are on the same page and that is the essence of Public Relations, because it talks about mutual understand-ing, goodwill, mutual benefits. When you take a decision your decision must be informed. PR starts with research and ends with research.

From the removal of the fuel subsidy, to the renaming of UNILAG what level of con-sultancy was done? During the days of mergers and acquisi-tions of banks in Nigeria there were consultations; profes-sionals were involved. What level of statistics revealed to the government that the decision will be accepted by the people? How many of their stakehold-ers got in the process of that decision? Poor consultation breeds suspicion, so when you want to make such decisions you must balance it very well and go into what we call conse-quence management. You must go ahead into the consequences and that is what we call proac-tive crises management. Right now some parties have taken the issue to court to restrain the government and we just further tighten the atmosphere. That is not what should be happening at this time. There should be effective consultations.Don’t you think that consultation will take the shine off the ele-ment of surprise government normally uses? If we go to social investment in Public Relations, if you want to come to my society and build a state of the art digital centre you must first identify how many people in the town are even digitally inclined, what are our needs? There was a story of an NGO that went to a northern state to provide borehole for the women and the women re-fused to go there to fetch water. When PR consultants and researchers were engaged, they realized that the women enjoyed going far away because that is the only time they had to socialize and gist with their friends and enjoy themselves, now you have brought borehole closer home to take away that pleasure from them, they will do everything to ignore you and your borehole. First you must identify the need and acceptability of that decision. You must be in line with the taste of the people. And that is the dif-ficult aspect of most relationships.

The Nigerian aviation industry is in deep crisis. As a PR expert what advice will you give to both the industry and the airlines on how they can mitigate the negative impact of this crisis? In Public Relations there is a Chinese proverb that says you cannot carve a rotten wood no matter your expertise. We would first advise that there should be an internal overhauling; we should all come back

and do the right things. If we try to cut corners we would end up in a coma. I think there is a systemic ailment in this country. If a system is wrong, you cannot tell exactly who will suffer that wrong, but you can be sure that someone will. So if we can correct it, why not correct it? Like the Americans, Europeans and others that have specifications of what comes into their countries, we also should have specifications of what comes into our country. Our regulatory system must be effec-tive across board. Then we can take off from there to communicate the new situation to various publics.

Has NIPR been successful in ensuring that PR in Nigeria is not a profession for all comers?The NIPR is saddled with that responsibility and we must also un-derstand that this is not peculiar with the PR profession alone. We have quacks in the medical industry as well as others. What we are advocating is that market forces should come to play to sanitize the industry. When anyone comes to you and parades as a professional you must as a necessity verify the claim. Again because these orga-nizations do not want to pay for professional services we patronize anyone who parades himself as a professional. If there is no demand for quacks it will go to the grave. The system itself should support the sanitization exercise and from our own end we are putting everything to checkmate those trying to infiltrate. We have a case in the NIPR where someone is charged to court for forging our certificate to con-duct training so we are trying hard to ensure we have PR practitioners who can add value. PR is a profession that focuses on win-win situa-tion which starts from the onset. At every level of human existence PR is there.

Jide Olugun

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Marketing Is the Bedrock of Civilisation - Atuahene Giwa

C O V E R

Prof. Kwaku Atuahene-Gima, Mar-keting scholar and Executive Direc-tor for Africa, China-Europe Inter-national Business School (CEIBS), In this interview with Desmond Ekeh, speaks on marketing erudition, prin-ciples and practices in Africa and across the globe.

EducationPh.D. (Innovation Management & Market-ing) University of Wollongong 1992; Mas-ter of Commerce (Marketing), University of New South Wales, May,1989; Bachelor of Science (Honors) (Business Adminis-tration) University of Ghana, September 1979.

Invited Participant – Leading Product De-velopment, Harvard Business School, June 10-14, 2006

Academic experienceChina Europe International Business SchoolExecutive Director, CEIBS Africa EMBA Program, Jan 2008 to date; Professor of Marketing & Innovation Management, July 2005 to date; Director - Center for Marketing & Innovation, July 2006 to date; Chair, Marketing Department, July 2005 to January 2010 and Adjunct Professor of Innovation, Mannheim Business School, May 2008 to date; Professor of Innovation Management & Marketing (Tenured), July 2001 to June 2005; Head of Department, February 1996 - July 1999; Associate Pro-fessor, September 1994 -June 2001; Visit-ing Scholar, January 1994 - June 1994; in Acherensua Secondary School in October 1979 – August 1980Research interestsInnovation Management, New Product De-velopment, Marketing Strategy

BIO DATA

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It is possible that in your own time as a high school leaver, Marketing as a discipline may not be as popular as medicine, engineering, law, etc. What motivated you to choose Market-ing as a course of study and professional career?I did not make a conscious decision to pursue Marketing as a career. I think, a set of circumstances led to my becoming a Mar-keting academic and consultant. Let me explain: When I com-pleted my Sixth Form education at Mfantsipim School in 1976, it was then fashionable in Ghana, and some will say prestigious, for very good A-level students to enter the then School of Ad-ministration (now Ghana Business School) at the University of Ghana, Legon. There, I studied Business Administration with Marketing as one of the core courses. A few years after gradu-ation, I made a decision to immigrate to Nigeria. My sole pur-pose was to work and save enough money in a hard currency to enable me to further my education over-seas. My interest in marketing as a career was nourished when I went to teach at the Kwara State College of Technology (now Kwara State Polytechnic) in 1982. My Head of Department, Mr. Osunbumi, asked me to teach two courses - Marketing and Purchasing and Supplies.

After nearly four years of teaching these two subjects, I became fasci-nated about Marketing to the extent that I decided to study it at the Mas-ter’s level in Australia. While com-pleting my Master’s at the Univer-sity of New South Wales, in Sydney, I worked full-time for Wellcome (Australia) Limited, a pharmaceu-tical company, first in distribution management and then as a Market-ing Manager. This company opened my eyes to another side of Marketing, which is not traditionally given a great deal of em-phasis in business schools; that is, innovation and new product development. I learnt about the key roles of marketing not only in ensuring consumption but more importantly in understand-ing the underlying functional and emotional needs of customers, as a base for developing new products and services. I decided then to pursue a PhD in Marketing and Innovation to become a full-time academic, so that I could contribute not only to the advancement of the practice of Marketing through teaching and consulting, but also to the advancement of market knowledge through research. I must add that, in many ways, I am what I am today because of the opportunities offered to me in Nigeria –the opportunity to earn and save in a foreign currency that allowed me to pursue my education in Australia, and the opportunity to teach Marketing at the Kwara State College of Technology that nourished my interest in the field.

Did you envisage that you would rise to your present status in the practice (whether academic or consulting) when you made your choice?No! I was brought up to do my best in everything I set my eyes on; to be courageous and persevere to achieve success. For ex-

ample, like many African kids, at an early age I had to walk sev-eral kilometres a day to and from school. These qualities were further reinforced at the secondary school where we studied un-der very trying conditions and circumstances. I have also been lucky to have met some very good people along the way who provided good counsel and support.

Could you say that you are completely fulfilled, having studied Marketing and are teaching it today?Absolutely! I will do it all over again. You see, if you study and practise marketing in its broadest sense as I do, there is nothing more intriguing and interesting as a subject inquiry and practice. I have done several consulting and training engagements for companies around the world. In these engagements, it is always

heartening to see practitio-ners appreciate and adopt new ways of thinking to better perform their activi-ties.

What do you find excep-tional in Marketing as a discipline, career and business?What is exceptional and fascinating about market-ing is that on a deeper anal-ysis, it really is the bedrock of human civilisation. The human race is what it is to-day because of our ability to innovate and find new ways of solving problems and new ways of creating effective systems, prod-ucts and services to solve problems of every type and

dimension. Marketing makes these possible by embedding hu-man problems at the centre of these efforts either consciously or unconsciously. When you read research on Marketing, in the innovation and public policy realms, you will appreciate what I mean. This is why marketers must see and practise innovation as a key plank of their role. A marketer makes a positive difference in the lives of people by not only ensuring the awareness, acces-sibility, and affordability of products and services that customers use as instruments to better their lives, but more importantly by ensuring acceptability of these products and services by custom-ers. The latter is at the core of product and service innovation efforts of companies. You can only be proud if you are involved in such efforts and I have been lucky to play an important role in enhancing the capability of companies around the world to do just that.

As a professor of Marketing, are you satisfied with the qual-ity of training students and practitioners receive especially in sub-Saharan Africa?The level of quality of the few programmes I am familiar with is quite high. However, naturally training and education in Mar-keting in any part of the world must change quite rapidly to re-flect the increasing change and sophistication of the technology,

C O V E R

What is exceptional and fascinating about marketing is that on a deeper analysis, it really is the bedrock of hu-man civilisation. The human race is what it is today because of our ability to innovate and find new ways of solving problems and new ways of creating ef-fective systems, products and services to solve problems of every type and dimen-sion. Marketing makes these possible by embedding human problems at the cen-tre of these efforts either consciously or

unconsciously.

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competition and customer landscape. For this reason, I believe institutions that offer training and educational programmes on marketing in sub-Saharan Africa need to keep tabs on the emerg-ing new methods of course design and delivery to offer good value for their clients. In this respect, I believe that while tradi-tional marketing concepts and methodologies may be useful in Africa, there is also a need for ‘Africanisation’ to ensure effec-tive and efficient practice of Marketing in our part of the world. For example, whereas in other parts of the world, marketers are playing a major role, and in many cases leading, innovation in their companies; I do not see the emergence of that trend in Af-rica. Recently, I had an opportunity to speak to marketing practi-tioners at the World Marketing Congress event in Accra, Ghana where I showed a snapshot of an in-novation workshop I did for marketing and other functional executives at Trend-Micro in Cupertino, Silicon Valley. To my surprise, most of the participants were unfamiliar with the concepts and frame-works. More surpris-ing was that none of the participants had innovation and new product develop-ment as one of their responsibilities for marketing. Indeed, no one saw innova-tion and new product development as one of the responsibilities for marketing. This needs to change if marketing practice is to fulfill its potential as a driver of com-petitive advantage in corporate Africa. Indeed, I have decid-ed to do something about this and pro-mote innovation as a profession in Africa by setting up the Inter-national Foundation for Africa Innovation at: www.ifai.com.gh

What is your assessment of global marketing landscape vis-a-vis Africa?There are several interesting trends emerging in the global mar-keting landscape, but I will highlight four which are critical for Africa to embrace. First is the increasing role of technology in marketing, not only in terms of advertising (e.g., digital market-ing) but more importantly in terms of development of new prod-ucts and services and business models. I believe that marketers in Africa can take advantage of this trend and develop their capacity

and competence in the use of several emerging technologies to understand and lead innovations that solve critical problems of customers and society. Second, increasingly, companies achieve successes in the marketplace not necessarily through products and services per se, but rather through differentiation in business model innovation. Thus, business model innovation is increas-ingly becoming the key driver of marketing strategy. This means that marketers must break their love affair with the traditional notion of the 4Ps to embrace a more nuanced approach to mar-keting. Third, marketing is increasingly seen as an instrument to drive national development through effective positioning with distinctive national value curves -witness the positioning of countries such as Dubai, Singapore and others in attracting

FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and other inward investments. Globally, profession-al marketing associa-tions are increasingly at the forefront of re-search to develop and disseminate new mar-keting knowledge. A good example of such a body is the Ameri-can Marketing As-sociation and its sis-ter organization, the Marketing Science Institute. These or-ganisations are at the forefront in identify-ing, funding and dis-seminating top class research findings about cutting-edge is-sues of importance to the practice of mar-keting. Perhaps, this is one of the miss-ing pieces for the ef-fective practice of marketing in Africa. Most of the market-ing-related profes-sional bodies operat-ing in Africa are more

interested in disseminating existing marketing knowledge and practices through training (for the award of Diploma) with little or no attention to the development of new marketing knowledge suitable to the African context.

What significant role does marketing play in any economy, particularly in a developing economy?In 1954, Peter Drucker, perhaps, the greatest thinker in manage-ment, argued that there were only two functions of any business –marketing and innovation. By this, he meant that because any business exists to create satisfied customers, the whole business organisation (with all its different functional entities) must con-

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Prof. Atuahene-Giwa

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tinuously engage in activities that create and deliver new value propositions to customers. A country and its economic devel-opment are no exceptions. You cannot drive economic growth without the development of appropriate value propositions for customers and citizens be it in healthcare, education, politics, products and services, etc. It is only when customers, internal and external, to a country accept values created by the business and organisations in that country can such a country create em-ployment, growth and indeed confidence in its people. This is more so in a developing country. Take the case of the recent phenomenal growth of China. Its export-driven growth strategy was built on creating and delivering value to the world market (i.e., marketing to the world). Given the slowdown of the world economy following the financial crisis, China adjusted its growth strategy to emphasise and increase internal domestic consump-tion (i.e., marketing to China). The extent to which this strategy is successful largely depends on the degree to which Chinese customers accept products and services made and delivered by companies in China as meeting their needs better than imported foreign products and services. Marketing also plays a critical role in the development, acceptance and successful implementation of economic and social policies and causes. Indeed, I believe that the failure of many development policies in Africa may be due of our inability to identify significant target customers to create policies consistent with important needs valued by these customers and in ensuring the acceptability of those policies. From this perspective, you would want to help politicians and functionaries in government institutions to appreciate that poli-cymaking and implementation is a value creation process requir-ing significant marketing and innovation acumen.

What role does branding/marketing play in nation-building?National branding has become an interesting pastime in many African countries of late. I would use Ghana and Nigeria as ex-amples since they are the two countries I am most conversant with in the African terrain. I believe, in Ghana, we have a gov-ernmental body responsible for nation- branding but so far we have not seen any national marketing strategy or activities. For Nigeria, I think I have seen a few adverts with smiling, beauti-ful people. Of course, nation branding is important for national development but to succeed you have to go beyond jingles that attract tourists to have an underpinning marketing strategy that answers four key questions (1) what is the scope of our national development efforts – for example, what are our priorities in terms of industry, technologies, education, etc? (2) Customers - who are our nation’s target customers for national development (e.g., for FDI)? What are their key needs, objectives, concerns and constraints in engaging with our country? (3) What is our advantage – why should customers prefer our country to alterna-tive countries? Answering these questions requires clear-headed thinking and objectivity to create a nation’s value curve vis-a-vis competitive countries. (4) How do we deliver on the brand promise in terms of implementing institutions, operations, and regulatory environment, etc? I am arguing for a more refined and professional approach because Africa and its constituent nations have been branded (mainly in a negative way) by the Western press for decades. Branding an African country, therefore, in-volves a significant risk, given the tainted image. This brings up the issue of who should be responsible for nation branding in Af-rica. It appears the tendency here is to charge political function-

aries or people with clear political allegiances to a government instead of professional, apolitical marketers with the responsi-bility. Many will question whether this is the right approach.

The global marketing environment remains uncertain. What strategies do marketing managers need to remain competi-tive in such a situation?The mark of a great marketing manager is reflected by his/her ability to play an important role in decisions that shape the fu-ture of the company. For this reason, researchers have begun to focus on factors that increase the likelihood of marketers’ in-volvement in C-suite decision-making. My own research sug-gests that marketers need to develop specific competencies in in-creasingly competitive and uncertain corporate environments in order to stay competitive. These include cross-functional experi-ence - the degree to which the marketing manager has a broad understanding, depth of experience and competence in different organizational functions, reputation - degree to which the mar-keting manager is perceived by peers to be responsive to their expectations and thus, is held in high regard in the organisation; influence ability - the degree to which the marketing manager is able to sell issues to peers in other functional units in the firm and in so doing change their behaviour and creativity – ability to come up with new and useful ideas.

Building competences and capabilities in an organisation helps to gain sustainable competitive position in the market place. What trainings are available in building human ca-pacity especially in your university, CEIBS?CEIBS was the first business school in China. It was set up at the beginning of the Chinese experiment regarding the transforma-tion of the failing planned economy into a market economy. We had to be innovative in our learning model to develop the type of managers and entrepreneurs who would be capable of man-aging the economic transformation with distinction. We have been quite successful in achieving this objective with more than 60,000 alumni from our EMBA, MBA and executive develop-ment programmes. In Africa, we offer our highly ranked Execu-tive MBA programme along with several executive development programmes.

As the Executive Director of CEIBS Africa, what is your job profile and how is the African market, particularly Nigeria, responding to your offerings?My key role as the Executive Director is to develop and deliver academic and other training programmes that meet the needs of the discerning executive in Africa. We consider Nigeria as our biggest market; and so far, the market has been quite receptive to our offerings. With the completion of our campus in Accra by early next year, we hope to double the number of executives from Nigeria in our programmes.

What role does innovation play in business strategy and or-ganisational success?Research in various fields has concluded convincingly that in-novation is the key driver of success in any organisation, country or society. Many of CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) I have in-teracted with in Africa believe that competing successfully in the new African environment requires innovation. The problem I see is that few of these CEOs do articulate a definition of innovation

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that energises everyone in the organisation to see innovation as part of his/her role.

Some people accuse marketing professionals of unethical practices in some aspects of their job, especially in advertis-ing to young people and claims of product contents, what do you teach your students in respect of marketing ethics?Unethical business practices are a widespread problem in all managerial disciplines. Witness the recent revelations of bank-ing practices around the globe. So, it is not surprising to hear of unethical practices in Marketing –specifically Advertising. Many business schools, including CEIBS, do highlight these issues in most of our programmes to ensure that students are aware of the dangers of the marketing instruments they hold. One of the key ways by which we develop the students’ sensitivities to the po-tential abuses in marketing, and indeed, in other fields of study, is through our responsible leadership conferences and forums. These provide viable platforms for students to engage prominent industrialists and executives on unethical business practices.

Social science scholars and researchers of the critical-cul-tural and critical political economy bias or orientation (e.g.: Jurgen Habermas, Chomsky and Herman, Louis Althusser and Antonio Gramsci) often accuse advertising and by im-plication marketing of being a capitalist instrument of cul-tural imperialism, that consequently deepens the underde-velopment of Third World countries. What is your opinion on this?I disagree. In making such arguments, some commentators tend to focus on the shortcomings and abusive practices in market-ing, particularly of foreign companies operating in developing countries. In addition, the effectiveness of marketing practices of some foreign firms in developing countries may give rise to their dominance in the local markets. I think, the first is the result of poor and ineffective institutional and legislative frameworks to prevent unethical marketing practices. The second should be celebrated as best practices from which marketers in developing countries can learn useful lessons.

For Nigeria, I think I have seen a few adverts with smiling, beautiful people. Of course, nation branding is important for national development but to succeed you have to go be-yond jingles that attract tour-ists to have an underpinning marketing strategy that an-

swers four key questions Prof. Atuahene-Giwa

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Traffic Marketing: Government, Hawkers Battle for the Streets of Lagos.

In this special report Ntia Usukuma and Damilola Omitogun take a look at the short and long term impact of activities of some aggressive market players that have been dubbed ‘Traf-fic Brands’ to ascertain if they are ready to confront the mar-keting challenges in Nigeria’s only megacity.

They are almost everywhere in the chaotic Lagos traffic, some see them as a nuisance while others welcome their presence because they provides immediate relief from hunger. This is

the world of brands that make great sales on the streets, thus they have been appropriately dubbed “Traffic brands.” Even though custodians of these brands vehemently deny that they encourage their presence on the streets of Lagos, it is widely believed that their marketing plan actually encourages it. Some of these traffic brands have a robust his-tory that dates back centuries, a history others are willing to be a part of.Over the years, UAC Nigeria plc, a company that has demonstrat-ed marked dynamism in it’s over 108 years of operation in Nigeria, has introduced many products into the Nigerian market, one of such products is “Gala” sausage roll which was unveiled in 1962 through one of its subsidiaries UAC Foods. For more than three decades, it remained the preferred sausage for most Nigerians until other brands

started appearing on the scene. Presently, there are more than eight such brands in the market today. They include Meaty and Hotty from Leventis Foods which was introduced into the market in 2007, Chop-sy, Rite and Bigi from Rite Foods, Snacky. While these brands need to be consumed with another brand that is liquid, brands such as Fan-yogo/Ice cream and others hurriedly filled the void. But, with the intensification of the drive by the Lagos State Government to rid the state of street trading through the Ministry of the Environment and one of its agencies KAI, these brands, according to Brand IQ sources have started witnessing dwindling sales because a substantial portion of their market share, it was discovered reside in the chaotic Lagos traffic.

Apart from the sausage brands, soft drinks such as La Casera which pioneered the pet bottle innovation in Nigeria, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Malta Guinness, Five Alive, Chivita and others may also be feeling the pinch of the latest move. Also feeling the pinch are Can drinks in numerous variants, Star, Guinness extra stout and other less notice-able fruit juices in Cans. Brand IQ investigation has revealed that a number of marketing, sales and innovation managers have gone back to the trenches to de-vice new marketing strategies to market their respective brands. Our findings also revealed that majority of Nigerians actually purchase

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Street Hawking

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these brands in the usual Lagos traffic gridlock. The purchase of these brands, especially the sausages in traffic far outstrips sales made in other organized outlets.

An official of La Casera who spoke to Brand IQ on conditions of ano-nymity said when the brand was launched in Nigeria they had wanted to remain as upscale as the Coca Cola brand is, “we resolved not to go the way of other brands that we see on the streets of Lagos, but it suddenly dawned on us that we were actually losing out as our market research and int report showed that the other brands outstripped us in sales, that was when we decided to go to the street.”He stressed that as part of their differ-entiation strategy, they branded their street vendors to make them unique in line with the up-scale positioning of the La Casera brand. From all indications, other brands followed suit with unique packaging for the “street” version of their respective brands. It is a com-mon sight to see well packaged Malta Guinness, Five Alive and other brands on the streets of Lagos.Another source from 7up Nigeria plc who spoke on conditions of anonymity because of the sensitive marketing and sales nature of the issue said a research carried out by an independent agency that they were privy to show that these ‘traffic brands’ were actually raking in sales “because of on-the-spur-of the moment purchases by thirsty Nigerians on the hot streets of Lagos.” He stated that they were thus compelled to join the bandwagon by “properly branding our products and hitting the streets of Lagos, and I can assure you that our sales graph shot way up to the top”How did all this start? It was revealed that, some creative young hawkers, in their bid to make a living, came out with the innovation of packaging and ‘branding’ these products. Guinness, La Casera and Coca Cola sources said the unique packaging we see on the streets were not initially their creation, but they had to buy into it when they saw that it was beautiful, trendy and handy. But With the pitch and ongoing battle between KAI and street ven-dors intensifying, and faced with this daunting marketing and sales challenge, what should these brands do? What are the reactions of Lagosians to this development? Are there other strategies market-ing and sales managers can adopt to move their brands forward? Is it even proper to market brands on the streets? Should these brands not be held culpable in violating government edict and law because most of them actually encourage street trading through their market-ing plans?Wale Aruleba, a 25 year old street vendor said it has been difficult selling these products now “because KAI officials are always on the lookout for us, business has really been bad for us. Just last week, they

seized two cartons of my gala product that I could not carry when they suddenly appeared from no where.” He stressed that people do not like buying these products in shops or stationary spots because they feel it overstays and is not often fresh for consumption in these outletsThere were mixed reactions from members of the public who spoke with Brand IQ, Seun Ojo a commuter said that “there will definitely be a drop in the sales of these products if street vendors are completely banned from selling in traffic.” Asked whether he does not think that they constitute nuisance on the streets of Lagos, Ojo said times are

hard and these young men have to find something to do in other to earn a living. “Which do you prefer that they remain in the street selling or they pick up guns at night and start robbing peo-ple? He queried.

Princewill Enakhime, a concerned Lago-sian applauded the renewed drive by the Ministry of the Envi-ronment. “Why must we be eating on the streets? Anybody that is hungry should find an appropriate place

to sit down and eat; it’s as simple as that. We are all witnesses to the transformation that has taken place in Lagos and we should all en-courage the government to do more and not to encourage some bunch of misguided youths to risk their lives by selling on the streets.”Stella Afuye a business woman and distributor of one of the sausage brands said the eradication of street trading will be devastating for these brands and commuters because they serve as a source of in-come to these vendors’. Ayotunde Owolabi, who describes himself as a ‘concerned Nigerian’ feels that “the snacks are important but the government is trying to help these traders because they are risking their lives by selling on the streets.” Another reporter who took to the street to get people’s reaction to-wards traffic brand was able to speak with Mr Samuel Ewulu, busi-nessman at Alaba Market who answered in the affirmative that he patronizes gala and other traffic brands because it is always while he finds himself in traffic that he remembers that he is hungry. Would there be a letdown in their determination to rid Lagos streets of hawkers? An official of KIA who spoke to Brand IQ on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the press, said there is no going back because they have been mandated to rid Lagos streets of hawkers. “Our orders have not changed; we are mandated, alongside the Ministry of the Environment to rid the streets of beg-gars, hawkers and other miscreants. If you pass through Agege today you will observe that we have done a thorough job there, the railway line has been fenced and the place has been given a facelift. We will do the same for other parts of Lagos, it is a gradual and on going process.”He stressed that any hawker caught will instantly be brought before a mobile court and fined/jailed or both as the case may be. He advised

Street Hawking

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street vendors to look for better alternative of survival than by endan-gering their lives and the lives of others by running up and down the street in the name of trading.Another top ranking KAI official who also spoke to us on anonymity revealed that the law enacted to tackle street trading in Lagos is faulty. “The government said street trading should be stopped but the brand owners especially those who sell their product mainly in the traffic are smarter than the law! These manufacturers now follow the law that allows sales promoters to sell on the road for maximum of three month at a stretch. Most of them use their distributors to obtain ap-proval from the Lagos state Ministry of Environment who will give them the letter to LASAA to allow them on the road. After obtain-ing approval letters with payment of several levies from these two ministries, they present it to KAI who has no option than to approve their application after the agency employed by the manufacturer of the product has paid the required fee.’ He revealed.Brand IQ also discovered that some product manufacturers engage distributors to recruit sales promoters who sell at designated places. These promoters are untouchable even by the KAI officers in as much as they remain at the location that the permit given covers. In the face of this hard-line posture by KAI, what should these ‘traffic brands’ do? Toye Akinlola, an analyst on cross cultural marketing said the best bet for these brands is to first know and understand their markets. “How much do they really know about their current mar-kets or future market? Why do their customers buy from them? What could they offer that would attract more non-customers? How can they sell to more of the profitable customers? If they add features or services, will people pay more for them or will they attract more cus-tomers? Are there bulk, institutional, industrial, or corporate markets beyond normal retail that they are ignoring?”He stressed that because of our penchant of making abnormal things normal we tend to turn marketing principles on their head, “street trading is abnormal, are these brands telling us that without streets they cannot sell their products? This is where creativity comes in. I don’t seem to see any of them carrying out campaigns, projects or other Direct Marketing/ Marketing initiative that would let customers know that they exist. They are only interested in selling, selling and selling, it goes deeper than that.” Akinlola added.Kingsley Anonuba, a marketing consultant on mass market brands is of the opinion that creating new and alternative supply chain net-works would augur well for these brands given the present challenge. “Who says people cannot buy sausages in the supermarket or any other place apart from the street? It’s all a matter of perception and enlightenment, if people do not see them on the streets any more they will go and look for it any where they can find it. It is now left for the custodians of each brand to make its own brand known.”Tunji Buraimoh, a channel manager in a firm said despite the strong determination of KAI to rid Lagos Streets of hawkers, brand build-ers of the affected brands should remain committed to pursuing long-term visions and executing plans while selectively and pragmatically improvising marketing tactics. “This is where we can now differenti-ate between the serious and the mediocre brands in the market place; does it mean that if there are no streets these brands won’t sell? This is where a true test of their marketing prowess or otherwise would be tested.”As the battle for the streets of Lagos rages, it now remains to see who blinks first, is it the Government, producers of traffic brands or the dare devil hawkers. Or will the custodians of these brands continue to explore the “window” provided by the law? Time will tell.

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Prefer Drinks in Traffic Market ?

Objectives-To find out consumers preferred purchase area for Bottled/ Can Soft drinks, Sausage Roll and Bottled water.-To find out which product is bought more on the street/ traffic than going to super market.- To find out factors that influence consumers’ purchase decisions on these products.-To source primary consumer information that will further under-stand consumers’ purchasing decision on these products.Methodology-The study was carried out through qualitative and quantitative methods of research with a structured questionnaire as an instru-ment of data collection.Ten areas in Lagos State were selected for the administration of the questionnaire. The areas were five highbrow areas and five low ar-eas (suburbs). 2,000 copies of the questionnaire were administered by 10 experienced field interviewers to 200 respondents in each of the areas. The process was direct questioning of respondents.Sample Size - 2000 Respondents from the A, B, C, D socio-eco-nomic class, male and female, age 16-45 years old.Sampling Method: A stratified random sampling method was ad-opted. Respondents were segmented on the basis of location. Random sampling was then employed to administer questionnaires to respondents in chosen areas.Respondents Profile: Consumers: Taking into consideration products of this nature which are not for mass market only, socio-economic segments of A, B, C, D were considered as the bulk of respondents, based on their income status and life style.Location of the study- Lagos High Brow Areas-Lekki, Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Palmgrove/MaryLand, Opebi/ AllenSurburbs: Ajegunle, Ojota, Ikorodu, Ojodu Berger, BarigaAnalysis of FindingsQ1.Popular traffic brands known in the Bottled/ Soft drinks.Popular traffic Brands- Bottled/can soft drinks Frequency %Coke 750 37.5Fanta 450 22.5Lacasera 380 19Pepsi 150 7.5Sprite 120 6Mountain Dew 100 5Others 50 2.5Total 2000 100

RESEARCH

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Coca-Cola, Fanta, La Casera, Pepsi , Sprite and Mountain Dew were commonly identified as the most popular traffic brand among the re-spondents.

O.2 Favourite brands commonly taken in road trafficFavourite Traffic Brands Frequency %Coke 860 43La Casera 560 28Fanta 200 10Pepsi 150 7.5Sprite 130 6.5Mountain DEW 60 3Others 40 2Total 2000 100

Coca-Cola, La Casera, Fanta, Pepsi Sprite and Mountain Dew domi-nated traffic brands taken by consumers either on a daily basis, in 2-3 times in a week, or weekly.

Q.3 Popular traffic brands of Sausage Roll Popular traffic brands of Sausage Roll Frequency %Gala 700 35Meaty-Hooty 570 28.8Super Bite 340 17Bigi 180 9Rite 150 7.5Others 60 3Total 2000 100

Popular traffic brands of Sausage Roll common among respondents were Gala, Meaty-Hooty, Super Bite, and Bigi. The uncommon ones accounted for only 3%.

Q.4 Favourite traffic brands of Sausage Roll Favourite Brands of Sausage Roll Frequency %Gala 810 40.5Meaty-Hooty 530 26.5Super Bite 240 12Bigi 200 10Rite 150 7.5Others 70 3.5Total 2000 100

Gala, Meaty-Hooty, Super Bite, Bigi, Rite were the favourite brands of sausage roll on traffic. Reasons such as:-Availability-Inability to go to shops and super markets to buy -To provide a stop-gap for meal were given for the patronage of these favourite brands in traffic. Preference purchase place for Bottled Water

Frequency %Traffic 730 36.5Shops 570 28.5Super Markets 360 18Eatery 340 17Total 2000 100

A higher percentage of the respondents buy while in road traffic to drink in order to quench their thirst. This percentage of people does not really stick to a particular brand of Bottled water. However, those that buy from shops, super markets and eateries are people that have favourites such as Eva, Nestle Water, Cascade, Gossy and Ragolis. They do so to be sure of not buying adulterated ones.

ConclusionLearning tips from this study are as follows:-Street/traffic sellers of products in the categories of Bottled/ can drinks tend to have quick sales most especially on hot, sunny days. Coke leads in this category.- People tend to buy sausage roll in the categories of brands in the story from the traffic than going to buy from shops or super markets to ‘save them the trouble of looking for where to buy.’ Gala is the leader in this market segment.-Apart from those that stick to a particular brand of Bottled water they buy from shops, eateries and super markets, most consumers without preference buy from traffic/ streets. The market leader in this segment is Eva water followed by Nestle water.

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OUR DEPARTMENTSMARKETING

PRADVERTISING

MEDIABRANDING

Welcome.The Marcomm Tutorial, as part of BrandiQ is designed to expose stu-dents to basic knowledge in Advertising, Marketing, Media, Branding and PR; with the intention of laying a good foundation for those that may want to develop a career in thsese areas.

We are in the knowledge economy where knowledge drives everything that we do. Once you have the knowledge in your chosen career or func-tional areas, you can add value to your organisations and be able to make useful contributions. This gives you the plafform to be relevant and con-fident in assigned task and responsibilities.

People, not only in the disciplines of Media and Communications must be committed to acquiring knowledge. Like Ulysesses says in the journey of king Udysee, “I will follow knowledge like a sinking star”. Students in higher institutions of learning need to be passionate about knowledge as it is the key to success in their chosen discipline or career.

We as professionals, practitioners and experts in Marketing Communi-cations in Nigeria have a big role to play in the students’ success in areas such as Advertising, Marketing, Media, PR and Branding. This gave us the idea to come up with Marcomm Tutorials that will complement the efforts of classroom teaching in these areas.

As a way of encouraging students to deepen their knowledge in this as-pect, there is a question attached in the tutorial after each discussion for the studetns to attempt. Three most correct answers will attract different prices. It is our belief that students will avail themselves of the opportu-nity the Marcomm Tutorial offers to further broaden their knowledge in these areas. BrandiQ Tutorials, will be anchored by industry profession-als and academics called TUTORS.

The overall goal, however, is to empower students right from school to become better graduates for the development of the industry and the nation. BrandiQ TUTORIALS will also organize Seminars, Workshops, Forums and Conferences facilitated by both Nigerian and Foreign mar-keting communication scholars to add up to mentoring and equipping the students with the required technical skill for professional and aca-demic pursuits as they leave institution of higher learning.

Co-ordinatorDesmond Ekeh

MARCOMMTUTORIALS

MEET THE TUTORS

Idorenyen Enang Phil Osagie

Bola Akingbade

i n f o @ b r a n d i q n g . c o m . w w w . b r a n d i q n g . c o m

Richard Ikiebe

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The Origin of Marketing:In the Bible, many know the stories of how Joseph, one of the sons of Jacob, was sold by his brothers to the Midianites busi-nessmen for 20 pieces of silver (Genesis 37 Vs.28). Same also was how Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ sold his Master to the Chief Priests for 30 pieces of silver (Mathew 26 Vs.15). This could be regarded as marketing since an exchange was involved in both cases.Civilization started in Egypt. The Egyptians were skillful in embalmment, magic works, writing, etc. There was then an ex-change of these ideas with other parts of the world. This also gave rise to marketing.After this stage came the period of slave trading on human be-ings (Trans-Saharan and Trans-Atlantic Slave trade), where there was exchange of human beings who were regarded as trading commodities then between slave owners and the slave merchants from the Arab world, Euro-American countries and the Caribbean. Marketing was involved in this process because there was the exchange of goods and services between the parties that were in-volved. Price was attached to the slaves, and only the slaves that met the expectations of the buyers were accepted, transported to different countries. This is what marketing is all about. It should be noted that the exchange at this level did not involve the production of anything.The next stage was the take off stage in the economic develop-ment where owners of small businesses began to produce goods for people to buy. In order to facilitate the sales of what was pro-duced, there were intermediaries (middle men) between those that produced the goods and those that will buy.Modern-day marketing came as a result of the Industrial Revo-lution that took place in Europe in the 18th century. As a re-sult of this, companies sprang up not only to produce goods and services but to see to how to satisfy consumers’ needs through product quality, price, as well as how those that would consume the goods would get same at the right time and place respec-tively - (distribution), which has to do with marketing.

An Illustration:A manufacturer/service provider first thinks of prospective consum-ers of his goods or service; finds out what they will want, and then goes into planning and developing the product or service, according consumers’ want and their needs. He or she then, decides the best price to attach to the product or service, how to bring the goods/ ser-vice to the knowledge of the buyers; and where the buyers can get the product (distribution). This is what marketing is all about.

Meaning of MarketingMarketing Scholars such as Phillip Kotler, William Stanton, Louis Boone and David Kurtz, have given various definitions of the concept “Marketing.” Of the varied definitions of these scholars is, that Marketing is the process that a producer or a service provider plans to give a product or render a service to prospective customers with a price attached to the product or service. This process also involves promotion and distribution of the product/service to the consumers which may be individu-als or organisations, with the willingness to satisfy the consum-ers, while the company or service provider makes a profit in the process.

Functions of Marketing

Now think of a world where consumers will be without any in-formation about products, goods or services they are offered. Think of a situation where companies will operate without the knowledge of what their consumers actually want. Further think of a situation where you cannot find products/services to satisfy your daily needs. These situations will be likened to the Stone Age where life in the society was very boring. Now to avoid all these, marketing came to provide very useful functions such as:• Buying: Marketing ensures that products are available in large

PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING• Origin of Marketing• Meaning of Marketing• Functions of Marketing• Marketing MIX (The 4Ps –product, price, promotions and place )

MARKETING

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quantities at all times to meet the demand of consumers.• Selling: Marketing uses its elements such as advertising, per-sonal selling and sales promotions to connect products to meet customer needs.

• Transportation: Marketing ensures that products are moved from the point where they are produced to where consumers can purchase them at convenience.• Standard quality/grading: Marketing ensures that products are of good quality and control measures such as size, weight, war-ranty, packaging, labeling, etc.• Storing: Marketing provides warehouse for the storing of products until they are needed for sale. This helps to prevent scarcity of seasonal products.• Risking: Marketing provides the way to deal with uncertain-ties about future customer purchase behaviour. This could be achieved through market/marketing research.• Securing/ Getting Marketing Information: Through marketing research, marketing collects information about consumers, com-petitors that will help in making marketing decisions.• Financing: This is also a marketing function where the manu-facturer offers credit finance to wholesaler and retail customers. Wholesalers sometimes offer this kind of facility to their retail customers.

Marketing MixEvery man that wants to make a success in life must have a plan. This plan will serve as a guide to whatever he wants to do. So is a company that wants to sell a product to his customers. The company must draw up a plan on its product, the price, promo-

tions and channels of distribution. A combination of these four is what is known as the marketing mix or (the 4Ps).

The 4Ps of Marketing• The productSince the company will not operate in a vacuum. It’s important for its product to be of good quality, proper packaging and label-ling. Non availability of these elements can make consumers not to buy the product. • PriceSupposing a product that is sold for N10 is given to you for N50,

will you buy? The answer is no. So in pricing, a company must determine the right price to give its products to the consumers. If the price is too high, it can make consumers to look elsewhere to buy likewise if the price is too low. • PromotionThis has to do with creating awareness and informing customers about a product. It can be through advertising, personal selling, trade fair exhibition etc.

Place (Distribution) • This is concerned with the company’s developing the right dis-tribution channels on how its products can get to the consumers at the right time.

ConclusionFrom the foregoing, one cannot but agree that marketing is very important to the functioning of a society, nation and companies. Yet, this can only be achieved with the proper understanding and application of its elements such as Advertising, PR, and Trade Fair Exhibitions, etc.

Marketing plays eight universal functions, namely: buy-ing, selling, transportation, storing, risking, securing /getting marketing information and financing. The core of a company’s marketing system is anchored on marketing mix (the 4Ps) which is price, product, promotion and place.

Assignment: With not more than 1000 words, examine the contributions of marketing to a country.First prize - Ten thousand naira worth of recharge card. The other two best answers will get #3,000 worth of recharge card. Written answers should be submitted to info@brandiqng.com

Glossary- MarketingMarketing: Process of planning, producing, and distribution of ideas, goods and services, of an organization or services providers, and main-taining a relationship that will satisfy the individuals, the organization or the service provider’s objectives.Marketing myopia: The failure of management to recognize the scope of its business in terms strength and weaknesses.Marketing planning: The implementation of those planning activi-ties that is intended to achieve the overall marketing objectives of a company or a business.Marketing mix: The four strategic elements of marketing that a com-pany must key in to meet the needs of a particular target.Marketing ethics: Standard conduct and ethical values for marketers.Marketing research: The process of collecting information and ana-lyzing it to arrive at marketing decision.Media research: An advertising research that assesses how well a par-ticular medium delivers and advertiser’s message, to intended audience or target market.Market: A group of people or institution with enough purchasing power, authority with that willingness to buy goods, services or ideas.Market segmentation: The division of the total market that a com-pany or business wants to satisfy into smaller, homogenous groups.Marketing communications: Messages that deal the relationship be-tween those that have goods and services or ideas to offer, and those that will buy such offer.Mission: That important purpose that differentiates company A from company B

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PUBLIC RELATIONS

FUNDAMENTALS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

Outlines:• Origin of Public Relations• What is PR?• Areas of Public Relations practice• Steps to ensure a Successful PR campaign.

How Public Relations StartedThe earliest use of public relations, as it is defined and practiced today, can be traced to the time of Emperor Julius Caesar of the Ro-man Empire during the medieval period. The military reports and commentaries of that period has been analysed by many contemporary Public Relations (PR) scholars and found to be great efforts in personal and professional public relations. However it was the American Revolution of over 200 years ago that really projected many recognisable public relations activities. Skill-ful writers such as Thomas Paine, Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin used political PR and elements of propaganda to swing public opinion to their side.It was the Industrial Revolution with the resulting growth in mass production and consumption that followed the establishment of big businesses that led to huge need to hire communication experts to ensure adequate and favourable coverage of the industry’s side of issues in the media.The debut of modern PR can however be traced to 1903 when a man named Ivy Lee opened a publicity office in America. Lee had a strong business relationship with many top conglomerates, and he, single-handedly elevated the dignity of public relations but not carrying out any programme unless it was endorsed and supported by top management.During World Wars I and II, public relations assumed very vital roles on all sides, with each group drawing up great strategies to publicise their war goals and to galvanise absolute loyalty and boost the morale of both the military and civilian population.This greatly helped to legitimise the field of public relations, and the concept grew tremendously during the post-war period. In 1950, there were 19,000 registered and functional PR practitioners in the United States, according to the Public Relations Society of Amer-ica. However, this figure grew to 200,000 in 2006. Currently, there are 400 colleges in America offering courses in Public Relations and training more specialists to join this great profession.

Defining Public RelationsThe term public relations has many interpretations and meanings, depending on the background of the user. Indeed, a compilation of definitions can lead to the listing of as many as 500 various defini-tions.The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), founded by Rich-ard Rotman, said in 1982 that “Public relations help an organisation

and its publics to adapt mutually to each other.” According to the PRSA, the essential functions of public relations include research, planning, communication, dialogue and evaluation. However in 2011,the Society developed a definition it considered more accurate and descriptive: “Public relations is a strategic communication pro-cess that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organisa-tions and their publics.”Edward Louis Bernays, who is considered the founding father of modern public relations along with Ivy Lee, in the early 1900s de-fined public relations as a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interests of an organisation. . . followed by executing a programme of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.”An earlier definition of public relations, by The first World Assem-bly of Public Relations Associations, held in Mexico City, in August 1978, was “the art and social science of analysing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling organisational leaders, and imple-menting planned programs of action, which will serve both the or-ganisation and the public interest.”However, for the purpose of this discourse, let us use the follow-ing definition approved by the World Assembly of Public Relations: “Public relations is the art and social science of analysing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling organisational leaders, and implementing planned programmes of action that serve both the organisations and their publics’ interest.”.Aspects of Public Relations Public relations is a multifaceted activity involving different audi-ences as well as different types of organisations, all with different goals and objectives. As a result, there are several specific areas of public relations.

PRODUCT PUBLIC RELATIONSPublic relations and marketing work together closely when it comes to promoting a new or existing product or service. Public relations plays an important role in new product introductions by creating awareness, differentiating the product from other similar products, and even changing consumer behaviour. Public relations can help introduce new products through staging

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a variety of special events and handling sensitive situations. Public relations is often called on to give existing products and services a boost by creating or renewing visibility. Other public relations programmes for existing products involve stimulating secondary demand or identifying new uses for the prod-uct. Public relations can interest the media in familiar products and services in a number of ways, including holding seminars for jour-nalists, staging a special media day, and supplying the media with printed materials ranging from “backgrounders” (in-depth news releases) to booklets and brochures. Changes in existing products offer additional public relations opportunities to focus consumers’ attention. An effective public relations campaign can help to prop-erly position a product and overcome negative perceptions on the part of the general public.

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS Employees are one of the most important audiences a company has. Therefore, an ongoing public relations programme is necessary to maintain employee goodwill as well as to uphold the company’s im-age and reputation among its employees. The essence of a good employee relations programme is keeping em-ployees informed and providing them with channels of communica-tion to upper levels of management. Suggestion systems are another effective way to improve employee-management communications.Other public relations programmes focusing on employees include training them as company public relations representatives; explain-ing benefits programmes to them; offering them educational, volun-teer, and citizenship opportunities; and staging special events such as picnics or open houses for them. Public relations can also play a role in recruiting new employees; handling reorganisations, relocations, and mergers; and resolving labour disputes.

FINANCIAL RELATIONSFinancial relations involves communicating not only with a com-pany’s stockholders, but also with the wider community of financial analysts, business writers and potential investors. An effective investor relations plan can increase the value of a com-pany’s stock and make it easier to raise additional capital. In some cases special meetings with financial analysts are necessary to over-come adverse publicity, negative perceptions about a company, or investor apathy. Such meetings may take the form of full-day briefings, formal pre-sentations, luncheon meetings. A tour of a company’s facilities may help generate interest among the financial community. Mailings and ongoing communications can help a company to achieve visibility among potential investors and financial analysts.Annual reports and stockholder meetings are the two most important public relations tools for maintaining good investor relations. Per-sonal letters to new stockholders and a quick response to inquiries insure an additional measure of good will.

COMMUNITY RELATIONS A comprehensive, ongoing community relations programme can help virtually any organisation to achieve visibility as a good community citizen and gain the good will of the community in which it oper-ates. Banks, utilities, radio and television stations, and major retailers are some of the types of organisations most likely to have ongoing programmes that might include supporting urban renewal, perform-ing arts programmes, social and educational programs, children’s programs, community organisations, and construction projects. On a more limited scale, small businesses may achieve community vis-ibility by sponsoring local sports teams or other events. Support may be financial or take the form of employee participation.Organisations have the opportunity to improve goodwill and dem-

onstrate a commitment to their communities when they open new offices, expand facilities, and open new factories. For instance, one company increased community awareness of its presence by converting a vacant building into a permanent meeting place. Another company built its new headquarters in an abandoned high school that it renovated. Organisations conduct a variety of spe-cial programmes to improve community relations, including provid-ing employee volunteers to work on community projects, sponsoring educational and literacy programmes, staging open houses and con-ducting plant tours, celebrating anniversaries, and mounting special exhibits

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONSPublic relations practitioners become heavily involved in crisis com-munications whenever there is a major accident or natural disaster affecting an organisation and its community. Other types of crises involve bankruptcy, product failures and management wrongdoing. In some cases, crises call for an organisation to become involved in helping potential victims, while in other cases, the crisis may require rebuilding an organisation’s image. In any case, experts recommend that business owners prepare a plan in advance to deal with potential crises in an honest and forthright manner. The main objective of such a plan is to provide accurate information quickly in order to reduce uncertainty.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL RELATIONSPublic relations in the political arena covers a wide range of activi-ties, including staging debates, holding seminars for government leaders, influencing proposed legislation, and testifying before a congressional committee. Political candidates engage in public re-lations, as do government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. Trade associations and other types of organisations attempt to block unfavourable legislation and support favourable legislation in a number of ways. The liquor industry in California helped to defeat a proposed tax increase by taking charge of the debate early, winning endorsements, recruiting spokespersons, and cultivate support.

CONSUMER EDUCATIONOrganisations have undertaken a variety of programmes to educate consumers, building goodwill and helping avoid misunderstandings in the process. Opportunities for educating consumers might include sponsoring television and radio programmes, producing manuals and other printed materials, producing materials for classroom use, and releasing the results of surveys. In addition to focusing on specif-ic issues or industries, educational programmes may seek to inform consumers about economic matters and business in general.

SummaryThe modern concept of PR is that people should be informed about the activities of organizations, be they public or private because it by so doing that people will get to have opinion about them. In the light of this, Public Relations is very crucial in any setting.

Assignment: With not more than the contributions of 1000 words, examine the functions of a Public Relations Officer of any organisation of your choice.First prize - N10,000 worth of recharge cards.The two other best answers will get N3,000 worth of phone recharge cards. Submit your typed answers to info@brandiqng.com.

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ADVERTISING

The Origin of AdvertisingAdvertising today occupies a vital position in marketing com-munications. It has become a very useful means of passing a message about a product, an idea or a service to consumers. Advertising as a tool of creating awareness about products and services is believed to be as old as man. Some people metaphori-cally relate its origin to the Garden of Eden when the serpent ad-vertised the qualities of the forbidden fruit to Eve. This aroused Eve’s desire for the fruit. Eve collected the forbidden fruit and re-advertised it to her husband Adam, who accepted, and ate the fruit. This could be said to be the origin of advertising in the sense that there was a Product/an Idea followed by an Action, then Desire, Conviction, Comprehension, and lastly Awareness which is what the Advertising Pyramid entails. The Era of Town Criers: These were people employed by mer-chants to praise their goods to attract the attention of buyers. Be-sides, the town criers were also used by different communities to pass important messages to members of the community when the need arose. This is advertising in the sense that there was a product or idea/message to be given, and a suitable channel was chosen to communicate the message to intended audiences. This gave room for oral advertising.

The Craftmen Era:This was the time in the history of advertising where people, who specialized in the art of craft (especially the Arabs, who were the early traders) in the course of travelling, would write on the walls and rocks those things that were important to them. After this, advertising came to a point where business men had to write their names on their products as a sign of identification. This was the early outdoor advertising.

Modern-Day AdvertisingModern-day advertising started with Gutenberg’s invention of moveable-type printing in 1450 that resulted in the mass pro-duction of posters and circulars. This was to create information about product and services. During the 19th century, we had the emergence of Radio and Television stations. With this, people started advertising products, ideas, goods and services. Today, this has been further expanded with the emergence of new media of advertising like Internet, Yahoo, Facebook, You-Tube, online radio, TV, newspapers and SMS.

An IllustrationMr. A has a product, ideas, goods and services to sell .He does

not think of telling people about what he has, neither does he think of how the message can get to the people. Do you think people will get to know about what he has? The answer is no. So, telling people about your products, ideas, goods and services, us-ing a particular channel to send the message in order to achieve specific objectives is advertising.

Meaning of AdvertisingRenowned scholars in advertising both foreign and local - like Bovee and Arens, Hills, Charles Okigbo, and Mande Samaila. as well as the“Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria” (AP-CON) - have defined advertising differently. However, taking all their positions into consideration, Advertising simply means “a nonpersonal persuasive message about products, ideas, goods and services, organizations communicated to target audience through various media by a sponsor.”Consider a situation where Mr. A has a product and he wants to reach out to people in different areas, perhaps states. How do you think he can do this at relative cost? The answer is advertis-ing through the following functions.

Functions of Advertising Informing: Advertising makes it possible for consumers to know about both old and new products/services in the market, educate consumers on these products/services as well as the benefits they will derive from using these products and services.Persuading: Advertising helps to increase consumers’ patronage by persuading them to try to use advertised products and ser-vices.Reminding: Advertising helps to remind consumers about a company’s product or brand. This makes the advertised product or brand to remain fresh in the minds of consumers.Adding Value: Advertising helps to add value to a brand by mak-ing the brand to look superior, more stylish than other brands in the same category.Assisting other Efforts of a Company: Advertising is one out of other members of the marketing communications team. So, what advertising does is to assist other members of the team like PR, personal selling, events and sponsorship so that a company can achieve both marketing and adverting objectives.

Advertising MediaThe modern nature of the world gave rise to advertising media. Media of advertising as at today are divided into two.•Traditional Media - TV, Radio, Press, Outdoor, Cinema.

PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTISING

Outline:• Origin of Advertising• Meaning of Advertising• Functions of Advertising• Advertising Media• Advertising Objectives/Marketing Objectives

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•Non-Traditional Media - This broken down into a. Below-the-line-Posters, danglers, flyers, point-of- sale materials. b.Online media or New Media.•Internet outlets- Yahoo, Facebook, You-Tube, Google, Ask.com, Twitter, Myspace.com, Friendstar and several others.• Online Newspaper editions - Guardian, Punch, ThisDay and others.• Online Radio and TV stations - Cool, Rhythm, Wazobia, Hot FM, Channels, LTV and others.• SMS: Etisalat, Glo, MTN, Airtel and others, with cumulative subscription of more than 80 million.Advertising Objectives/Marketing ObjectivesSometimes, people do confuse advertising objectives with mar-

keting objectives. At this point it is important to make a distinc-tion between the two

Advertising ObjectivesSamples-To increase level of awareness from 10 to 20 %-To inform and further aid the understanding of the brand or product- To encourage purchase trial or patronage of the brand (as the case may be).

Marketing ObjectivesMarketing objectives would have statements like:-To improve share of the market from 20 to 30 %-To expand our consumer profile base to include the A and B by expanding distribution to high-brow areas.-To improve the demand of our new range of products from 15 to 20%.However, what must be borne in mind is that objectives must be stated in such a way that they can be measured.

ConclusionThe customer of today is much wiser and more demanding than in times past. It takes a whole lot to appeal to, convince and persuade the customer of today. One way by which service pro-viders and manufacturers get to draw the attention of consumers is advertising. Advertising is as old as man. It performs func-tions such as informing, persuading, reminding and adding value

through various media like TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and posters.

Assignment: With only 1000 words, discuss how advertising can contribute to the development of the Nigerian economy.First prize - 10,000 Naira worth of recharge card. The other two best answers will get 3,000 Naira worth of recharge card. Written answers should be submitted to info@brandiqng.com

Glossary- AdvertisingAdvertising: A kind of communication that is non-personal in nature about ideas, goods and services by a sponsor through various channels to persuade and inform a particular audience.Advertising objectives: The goals that advertising wants to achieve.Advertising sales-responses- function: The amount of sales revenue that is generated at each level of advertising expenditure.Advertising strategy: A plan of action that directs and guides how advertising is to be executed so as to achieve the desired objectives.Ambushing: An activity that occurs when companies that do not spon-sor an event tries give an impression that they are.Brand-concept management: The planning and control of a brand concept throughout the life of a brand.Brand equity: The goodwill or popularity that and established brand has built over a given period of time.Communication: The process of sharing ideas and thoughts between and among individuals.Corrective advertising: A form of advertising that is intended to cor-rect the deceptive impressions a previous advertising has created in the minds of consumers.CPM: An abbreviation that stands for cost per thousand. The M stands for the Roman numerical for 1,000. CPM is the cost of reaching 1,000 people.

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MEDIA

MEDIA- BASIC SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION

Outlines:• Media Origin and classification• Media- Connotations and Meaning• Media Functions• Media Ethics

The origin of Media:Media and their wide-ranging effects have been around ever since humanity has been divided into tribes and nations and de-veloping methods of communication. Basically, there are three historical ages of transmission technologies: the logosphere (the age of writing, technology, kingdom, and faith), the graphos-phere (the age of print, political ideologies, nations and laws), and the newly born videosphere (the age of multimedia broad-casting, models, individuals, and opinions).

The following are classes of media and their respective periods:1. Print (books, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, etc.) from the late 15th century.2.Recordings (gramophone records, magnetic tapes, cassettes, cartridges, CDs, DVDs) from the late 19th century.3. Cinema from about 19004. Radio from about 19105. Television from about 19506. Internet from about 19907Mobile phones from about 2000

McLuhan, the grandfather of media theory, introduced into the lan-guage our present usage of the term Media, as well as a number of other concepts, including “the global village,” “the medium is the message,” and “The Age of Information,” that since have become commonplaces. This makes media reality an indispensable aspect of human existence.

Carlyle may have claimed in the 1830s that the printing press de-stroyed feudalism and created the modern world; Plato, as Derrida emphasises, may have pointed to the effects of writing 2,500 years ago. However, the wide-ranging attention being given to the Media and their effects today is unprecedented. Back to the days when the actors of the ancient Greek and Roman stage jumped in and out of personalities as quickly as they affixed their various masks, notions of the inconstancy of the human condi-tion have been entertained.

The first dated printed book known is the “Diamond Sutra”, printed in China in 868 AD, although it is clear that books were printed earlier. Movable clay type was invented in 1041 in China. Never-theless, due to the slow spread of literacy to the masses in China, and the relatively high cost of paper there, the earliest printed mass-medium was probably European popular prints from about 1400. Although, these were produced in huge numbers, very few early examples survive, and even most known to be printed before about 1600 have not survived.

More so, the history of mass media can be traced back to the days when dramas were performed in various ancient cultures. This was the first time when a form of media was “broadcast” to a wider au-dience. Biblical accounts are also replete of media significations. A good instance is the graphic depiction of the event that leads to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3 vs 9). Similarly, Moses’ trip to Mount Sinai produced a couple of tablets that contain the Ten Commandments foregrounds the prints media as a quintessential outlet of information (Exodus 19 vs 20).

The 19th century brought about a major ideological change that set the stage for Media Studies. What with a God dethroned by that mundane insurgent, science, the chaos that seized Western nations around the close of the 19th century seemed unparalleled in his-tory.

Darwin had come up with a convincing theory of Evolution which smacked God-fearing members of the Victorian Age square in the face. He dismantled on a grand scale the moral, spiritual, and even political, foundations of the Western world - a world hitherto com-fortably centered on the Almighty God who bestowed tidy, immu-table essences on His human creation.

The simplest and perhaps, the most effective cum generic form of the media is word of mouth. Even before the evolution of the New Media, the word of mouth has been a long established means of disseminating news. In the African pre-colonial era, the town crier owns it as a duty to announce vital information to the community.

The Concept of MediaIn general, “media” refers to various means of communication. For example, television, radio, and the newspaper are different types of media. The term can also be used as a collective noun for the press or news reporting agencies. In the computer world, “media” is also used as a collective noun, but refers to different types of data stor-age options. The media is the window by which people interact with their society and the world in general.

Functions of MediaWe are all social animals and as such act as agents of the media. The society functions and interrelates, using the various media types as vehicles to its advantage. Sometimes, one is even obliv-ious of deploying one form of the media or the other. Simply put, our existence as living organisms depends on it.

1) It informs (a teacher function): The media is active because it influences the perception and orientation of the society. In a nut-

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shell, the people are as informed as their media. Socio-cultural practices and norms are passed down to the community via sev-eral media.

2) Surveillance (a watcher function): In our micro segmented world of today, the media plays the role of the watchdog. Inter-estingly, the use of smart phones and modern technologies has helped in collapsing geographical spaces; these facilities bring events to the public at the speed of light.

3) Service the economic system: The media also facilitates the dissemination of valuable data to foster economic growth. In its capacity as the fourth realm, the media bridges the communica-tion gap between the ruling class and the society.

4) Hold society together (act as sort of cultural glue): The media acts as a catalyst for binding together a cross section of people who hitherto have been calibrated along racial, cultural and eth-nic lines. This aspect of the media explains the reason that the government uses the media positively.

5) Entertainment: Basically, the element of entertainment in me-dia practice can never be overemphasised. Hence, the media, in any form, seeks to create a fun-filled and exciting aura around its production so as to drive patronage and traffic.

6) Act as a community forum (media equivalent of town hall meeting or group discussion): This is a very germane because the media’s traditional role is to raise issues that affect the survival of the society. Consequently, the people affected quite naturally would react and converge to respond to it.

7) Service the political system: Political parties rely heavily on the media in order to ‘sell’ their manifestoes to the people dur-ing elections. The media also creates political forums to engage prospective political office holders to enlighten the people about their ideological persuasions.

Ethics of Media The ethics of Journalism constitute one of the most well-defined branches of media ethics, primarily because they foreground the code of conduct for media executives. Journalistic ethics tend to dominate media ethics because they comprise the major con-struct of media practice. These are a few but uncompromising principles of this noble profession.• News manipulation. News can manipulate and be manipu-lated. Governments and corporations may attempt to manipulate news media; governments, for example, by censorship, and cor-porations by share ownership. The methods of manipulation are subtle and many. Manipulation may be voluntary or involuntary. Those being manipulated may not be aware of this.• Truth. Truth may conflict with many other values. o Public interest. Revelation of military secrets and other sensitive government information may be contrary to the public interest, even if they are true. However, public interest is not a term which is easy to define.o Privacy. Salacious details of the lives of public figures are a central content element in many media. Publication is not necessarily justified simply because the information is true. Pri-vacy is also a right, and one which conflicts with free speech. o Fantasy. Fantasy is an element of entertainment, which is a legitimate goal of media content. Journalism may mix fan-tasy and truth, with resulting ethical dilemmas.o Taste. Photo journalists who cover war and disasters

confront situations which may shock the sensitivities of their au-diences. For example, human remains are rarely screened. The ethical issue is how far one risks shocking an audience’s sensi-tivities in order to correctly and fully report the truth. • Conflict with the law. Journalistic ethics may conflict with the law over issues such as the protection of confidential news sources. There is also the question of the extent to which it is ethically acceptable to break the law in order to obtain news. For example, undercover reporters may be engaging in decep-tion, trespass and similar torts and crimes.

AssignmentWith not more than 1000 words, describe the relevance of the me-dia in the society. First prize - Ten thousand naira worth of recharge card. The other two best answers will get #3,000 worth of recharge card. Written answers should be submitted to info@brandiqng.com

Glossary- Media

Adjacency is an advertising pod positioned next to a particular TV or radio program. Also called commercial break positions.Affiliate is a station associated with a network by contract to broadcast the network’s programs.Air Date is the first broadcast of a commercial; also refers to the exact date of a particular TV or radio programBreak Position is a broadcast commercial aired between two programs instead of in the middle of one program.Broadcast is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset thereof.Communication is the exchange of thoughts, messages, or informa-tion, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior.Calibration is a comparison between measurements – one of known magnitude or correctness made or set with one device and another mea-surement made in as similar a way as possible with a second device.Dissemination is the selection was based on an “interest profile,” a list of keywords that described their interests. In some organizations, the ‘interest profile’ was much more than a simple list of keywords. Librar-ians or information professionals conducted extensive interviews with their clients to establish a fairly complex profile for each individual.Graphoshere translates to ‘Writing-Ball’ and is an assistive writing tool for persons who cannot fully move digits in hand, do have some gross motor skills but lack ability to develop fine motor skills and have cognitive ability and desire to sign own name when required to do so.Infomercial is a long (more than two minutes) commercial providing extensive product/service description and sales information.Journalist or a reporter is a type of journalist who researches, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media (newspapers and magazines), electronic media (television, radio, documentary film), and digital media (such as online journal-ism).Logosphere is known as the age of writing Micro segmentation in computer networking is a term used to describe the segmentation of a collision domain so that there are two nodes per network segment.Multimedia is usually recorded and played, displayed or accessed by information content processing devices, such as computerized and electronic devices, but can also be part of a live performance.Videosphere is the age of multimedia broadcasting

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The Evolution of BrandingBefore colonisation, there was the era of slave trade, when hu-man beings were exchanged for money, gift items, etc., between the slave owners and slave merchants from Britain, Portugal, and the Arab countries. Slave trading was in two forms -the Trans Saharan and the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. During the transactions, for slave owners or slave merchants to identify their slaves, they had to place a mark on each of them as a sign of identification, to differentiate their slaves from others. This could be said to be branding since there was a kind of differentiations among the slaves of those that were involved in the business in order to avoid conflict of interest.

The pre-colonial African EraIn the pre-colonial African society, there was the practice of placement of signs and marks on farm produce and domestic an-imals such as yams, plantains, cocoanuts, cows, donkey, cam-els, goats, dogs, chicken, and so on by Africans. This was done in order to identity their goods and domestic animals as well. Thus, one can argue that branding was involved because there marks to differentiate one’s farm produce and domestic animals from those of others in the same community.

The Era of Economic DevelopmentThe next stage was the take-off stage in the economic develop-ment where owners of small businesses began to produce goods for people to buy. In order to differentiate their products from other ones in the market, certain symbols and trade marks were used. This is branding, as it had involved the use of symbols and trade marks to distinguish similar products in the market.

The Era of Modern BrandingModern-day branding could be said to have taken its origin from the Industrial Revolution that occur in Europe in the 18th Centu-ry. Through the era, companies sprang up to produce goods and services. This was followed by the use of signs, symbols, logos, and trademarks to establish differences among products differ-ent companies had produced from other similar products in the market. The idea behind this was to give the legal backing to the authenticity of one’s product name. The use of these elements to create a distinction of a particular product from a similar product category is what branding is all about.

Today, branding has become the identification of product with a manufacturer as well as the distinctive design that makes the consumer to associate with a specific product, service, or idea from service providers or manufacturers.

CONSIDER THIS:A manufacturer has a new product he/she wants to produce and introduce into the market. After working on his ideas, he/she thinks of the appearance of the product, the various features that can be put together to create a suitable identity for the product, as well as how to make it distinct from other similar ones in the market. This involves the use a logo or mark, colour, shape, and so on, that would attract consumers to the product. This is what makes up branding.

Definition of BrandingScholars such as Phillip Kotler, David Aaker and Kelvin Keller have defined the concept “branding” differently. But there are certain elements that are common among them in their various definitions of branding. These are: design, symbol, logo, and term that distinguish a product or service from those of others in the market. So, branding could be said to represent all those features that a producer or a service provider uses to differentiate his/her products or service from others in the market. These may include name design, colour, size, etc.

Functions of BrandingBranding performs various functions such as:• Identification/Differentiation: Branding helps in identifying and differentiating a product from others in the market.• Pricing: Branding helps in price differentiations of products from other similar one in the same product category.• Sustenance of customer loyalty: Branding helps to create and sustain customers brand loyalty to particular products.• Platform for legal rights: Branding ensures legal rights for product or service owners.• Fight against imitation: Branding plays a role in the fight against imitation of products as branding may make a particular brand of product to possess certain features different from the inferior ones.

Brand Image: What is it?Often, a wife may describe her husband as being friendly, car-

BRANDING

THE EVOLUTION OF BRANDING

Outline:• Origin of Branding• Definition of Branding• Functions of Branding• Understanding Brand imageAdvertising Media• Advertising Objectives/Marketing Objectives

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ing, quiet, intelligent, and so on. This is the picture that the wife has about her husband. So, in the world of branding, brand im-age is the picture consumers have about a brand. It represents what a particular brand stands for in the minds of the consumers. It is how consumers perceive a particular brand in the market in relation to others. Brand image is the overall impression in consumers’ minds about a particular brand. The impression could be positive or negative, depending on how the brand positions itself in the market. In other words, a brand may build a positive image about itself in the minds of consumers, owing to the how the brand is able to

connect with consumers in areas such as offerings, corporate so-cial responsibility, sales service, etc. When brands have a posi-tive image in the minds of consumers, then, it helps to differenti-ate the brand from others.The idea behind brand image is that consumers are not only pur-chasing the product/service but also the image associated with the product /service. Brand image should be positive and unique. Brand image can be strengthened using communication aspects such as advertising, packaging, word of mouth publicity, and so forth.

Brand image helps to convey products character in a special way different from the competitors’ image. The brand image is made up of various associations in consumers’ minds, which include attributes and benefits.

Brand attributes are the functional and mental connections with the brand that consumers have of it. Benefits underline the ra-tionale for the purchase decisions consumers make concerning a brand.

Brand image is normally formed. The brand image includes such attributes as product appeal, ease of use by consumers, func-tionality, fame, and the value the product gives to consumers

for their money. Brand image is the feedback consumers give when they purchase a product. Positive brand image enhances the brand value of a particular brand among competitors.

Conclusion

The advent of capitalism created the opportunity for private produc-tion of goods and services. As individuals through the philosophy of capitalism needed to claim private ownership of their ideas, goods and services, then came the concept of branding to provide those elements that can really make a person’s idea, goods, and services to be different from others in the same or similar category. As of today, this concept has helped in achieving price differentiation, customer loyalty, claim of legal right, etc. Brands play an important role in our lives. We try to associate with certain kinds of brands for reasons based on recommendations from friends or because such brands are able to offer us some benefits or offerings that others in the same category could not.Brands that are able to offer consum-ers with high offerings than competitors, esaily win consumers loyalty and sustained patronage.The reasons being that consumers these days are more wiser and highly demanding than in times past. Brands could be classified as capive, family and individual brands.

Assignment:

With not more than 1000 words, examine how branding can help increase the market share of a company of your choice in the beverage industry.First prize - Ten thousand naira worth of recharge card. The other two best answers will get #3,000 worth of recharge card. Written answers should be submitted to info@brandiqng.com

Glossary- Branding

Brand: The various elements such as logo, sign that can distinguish a product or services from others in the same category.Brand recognition: The identification of a brand by consumers. Brand preference: The reliance of consumers on their experience with a particular product or brand.Brand image: How often consumers think of a brand in the same product category.Brand name: part of a brand that consist of words or letters that con-stitute a name which differentiates a company’s product from competi-tors.Brand extension: The strategy by which a popular brand name is at-tached to a new product in an unrelated product category.Branding licensing: The permission that a firm gives to other compa-nies to use its brand names.Brand manager: The marketer that supports a specific brand.Brand mark: A pictorial design that differentiates a product.Brand insistence: The refusal of consumers to go for alternative and extensive search for desired merchandise.Label: The name, and address of the manufacturer or distributor, infor-mation about the product and recommended uses.

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Customer Relationship Management and Customer Loyalty in Nigerian Banks

AbstractThis study seeks to examine the level of customer relationship and customer loyalty among regular bank customers in Nigeria. The study was carried out through qualitative/quantitative meth-ods of research with a sample size of 250 people from banks located in Lagos. The research design was a survey, with strati-fied simple random sampling method while instrument for the collection of data was structured questionnaire.The findings revealed, through an empirical survey conducted among regular customers of banks, that such customers do use banking services, but are really not intimated or bonded with the bank, and they do not show keen interest to even deepen the relationship further. Most customers are prone to switch to com-peting banks, not minding the relationship they have had with the bank over time. This attitude results from the fact that the bond between banks and their customers is not strong enough to discourage defection to other financial institutions.The researcher, recommends that banks in Nigeria need to do more in terms of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in order to win customer loyalty. Their CRM should go beyond mere satisfaction of the customer in terms of the usual service delivery.

Introduction According to Kotler and Keller (2005), “Customer Relationship Management is the process of managing detailed information about individual customer and carefully managing all customer touch points to maximise customer loyalty.” A customer’s touch point, they explain, “is any occasion in which a customer en-counters a brand or a product. Such occasions, according to them, “include actual interaction with the product, personal or mass communication about the product, and casual observation of the product and so on.” Achumba (2006) described Customer Relationship Manage-ment as “a practice that involves the purchase of hardware and software that enable a company to capture detailed information about individual customers that can be used for better target marketing.” This, according to him, involves “examining a cus-tomer’s past purchases, demographic, geographic and psycho-graphic details, thus enabling the company to know about what the customer needs or what he/she might be interested in.”

Objectives of the studyThe study has the following objectives:• To examine the level of customer relationship manage-ment of banks in Nigeria.

• To examine the extent to which an average bank cus-tomer in Nigeria is loyal and willing to patronise his bank.• To make suggestions on how to improve customer rela-tionship management among banks in Nigeria.

LiteratureSeveral studies have suggested that Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can induce customer loyalty. Research studies carried out by Walter (2000) and Krishan et .al (1999) have shown that the higher the rate to which an organisation or company practices good customer relationship, the higher the rate of customer loyalty to its brands or products. Similarly, Reicheld (1996) stressed that customers tend to be highly motivated and driven to remain loyal because of the per-ceived value they stand to get from relating with a company. If the value is a superior one, it stands to reason that loyalty will be enhanced (Reidheld, 1996). Arising from these expositions, we hypothesise that:1. Ho: The average bank customer is strongly detached from his bank due to poor Customer Relationship Management.Hi: The average bank customer is not detached but very close to his bank.

Research MethodologyThe researcher used a combination of qualitative and quantita-tive methods of research. The qualitative method includes use of secondary materials to analyse theories and literature on the subject. The quantitative method involves the analysis of data collected through the use of questionnaire that will provide the basis for test of hypothesis.

Research DesignThe research design is a survey, which involved the use of structured questionnaire for the collection of primary data from the respondents.

Sample SizeThe total size comprised 250 respondents. This number was chosen to represent 10 customers per bank on whom the struc-tured questionnaire would be administered.

Sampling MethodA stratified simple random sampling method is adopted in iden-tifying and choosing respondents of the study.

Study Instrument- Structured Questionnaires

JournalBiQ

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A structured questionnaire is used as instrument of data collec-tion.

Presentation of FindingsFindings were presented with the use of frequency and percentage. This analysis derived from the interval scales measures used in the instrument. In the other part requiring test of hypothesis, Z test statistic is computed, using 5% confidence level. This enabled the researcher to test hypothesis and come up with conclusion.

Q. How would you describe your relationship with your bank as a person?Customers believed that the relationship with banks was mostly on a peripheral level. This explains why the percentages read as follows: “Just close” 43%, “not so close” 24%, “very close” and “not close, 24% and 18% respectively.

Description of relationship maintained with banksAttributes Extremely Very close Just close Not so Not close No closeness close of any kind F 0 60 85 60 45 0% 0 24 34 24 18 0

Test of HypothesisTest of Hypothesis 1Ho: The average bank customer is not close or is detached from his bank due to poor CRMH1: the average bank customer is close to (not detached from) his bank through good CRM practiceThis is stated as follows:Ho: CR < 4 - Hi: CR >4

Summary of ResultsRating scale Y F YF x-x X2 Fx2

Extremely close

6 0 0 2.36 5.57 0.00

Very close 5 60 300 1,36 1.85 110.98

Just close 4 85 340 0.36 0.13 11.02

Not so close 3 60 180 -0.64 0.41 24.58

Not close 2 45 90 -1.64 2.69 121.03

No closeness 1 0 0 -2.64 6.97 0.00

N= 250 910 267.60

Mean X=3.64To test this hypothesis, standard deviation score, the standard error and the Z score to compare with the sample mean were adopted.Standard deviation = square root of the variance divided by n-1. That is 267.60/square root of 249. This is 1.03.To find the Z we first find the standard error. Standard error = standard deviation divided by square root of n.Standard error =1.03/15.78 =0.065We computed the Z value at 5 % confidence level.The upper limit Z value at 5 % confidence level = 4+ 1.96 (0.065)This is equal to 4 + 0.127Z value = 4.13The mean value from the sample data is 3.64 and the computed Z value is 4.13. From the analysis, the Z value is above the mean value.

From the findings, therefore, there is no close relationship be-

tween banks and the average bank customer segment.

Q. If your bank should introduce a new product will you be willing to patronise it?The assurance that customer will patronise new products is not certain as the result portrayed: “I may patronise” 66% while “I will patronise” 28%. “I will not” and “I can never” patronise score 3% and 4% respectively. To improve on this, banks need to embark upon more CRM activities. Willingness to patronize new product from own bank

Attributes Strongly believe I will patronise

I will patronise

I may patronise

I will not patronise

I can never patronise

F 0 70 164 7 9

% 0 28 66 3 4 : The average bank customer in Nigeria is not totally loyal to the bank he or she is using at present. Since the necessary conditions for loyalty state that the customer must be willing to patronise new products, recommend others to use the products and refuse to switch loyalty to his or her bank.

ConclusionIt has been said that the average Nigerian worker now earns bet-ter and can afford to make little savings despite inflation in the country. Thus, what is needed now is for banks to give more to the customer and to create a balance that will bring about a sym-biotic relationship between the banks and their customers. For this to happen, banks will need to apply robust CRM processes which will enhance/build loyalty from this group of customers.

RecommendationBanks need to build consumer confidence through CRM by further improving on the quality of service being delivered in the sector. This will bring about customer loyalty to them in the end.

ReferencesAcchumba, I. C. (2006). Customer Relationship Management. • The Dynamics of Customer Behaviour. Mac- Williams Pubil-ishers.pp.337-375.Kotler, P. and Keller, K.(2005). Customer Relationship Man-• agement, Marketing Management. Prentice Hall-India, New Delhi,pp.152-158.Krishnan, M. S, Ramsway, V. Mey, M.C. and Pamien, P.(1999). • Customer Satisfaction for Financial Services- the role of Product Services and Information Technology- Management Services vol.45 no.9 pp.194-209.Reichheld, F.F. (1996). The Loyalty Effect- Hidden Forces behind • Growth, profit and lasting Value. Howard Business School Press, Boston MAWalter, G.(2000). Customer Relationship Management in Banks- • From pure transaction Orientation to a computational approach. Banking and Information technology, No 4, pp.9-22.

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MYTHOLOGY OF AN ICONIC BRAND: HOW Star CONNECTS

WITH THE PHOENIx PHENOMENON

It is reputed to be a bird with a colourful plumage and tail of gold and scar-let (or purple, blue, and green according to some

legends). It has a 500 to 1000-year lifecycle, near the end of which it builds it-self a nest of twigs that then ignites. Both nest and bird burn fiercely and are re-duced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, re-born anew to live again.

S P E C I A L F O C U S

Continue on pg. 50

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S P E C I A L F O C U S

‘We Look At Business From Consumer Perspective’-

Nicolaas Vervelde MD/CEO Nigerian Breweries Plc.

Nicolaas Vervelde, MD/CEO of Nigerian Breweries plc is passionate about what he does best, brewing high quality bever-ages for Nigerians. In this interview with Agbo Agbo, he spoke on why Star lager beer was re-launched, why brand portfo-lios from the company tend to dominate the market and what Nigerians are to ex-pect from the company in the years ahead.

BrandiQ 50

How would you describe the beer market in Nigeria? It’s an exciting market; beer is socially, culturally accepted and this could be seen in the way Nigerians live, socialize and celebrate their big events. The demographics are very positive growing in percent-age, a very young population, a big population so, also with grow-ing middle class, growing organisation, per capita, all fundamentals in that sense are indicating a very exciting growing beer market.

The portfolio of Nigerian breweries brands tend to dominate the market, what do you think is the reason for this?We have strong market position; strong in lager, strong in malt and increasingly becoming stronger in stout with Legend. It has been years of investment in good brewing facilities, in good people throughout the company and years of investment in the brands itself and encouraging building a strong market and building consumer franchise.

Star has been around since 1949 which makes it over 60 years old yet it keeps rejuvenating and remaining young. What’s the secret?I think we’ve always tried to look at the business from the consumer perspective and that means that may be the key message of Star has always been sought of the same all these years. We went along in the same way as the consumers has developed after many years, and that explains why star still has a young profile, that explains why star is still nationally accepted as the leading brand by all Nigerians, that may be the way we say ‘Shine Shine Bobo’ has changed over the last 40/60 years. But it was about ‘Shine Shine Bobo’ and each time we are able to put that message in the living conditions and consumer thinking of that period, always hitting straight on quality and we always try to see with Star, a living innovative brand. That also means we keep building on new consumers coming into the beer segment and coming towards Star.

Star is relaunching, what is it about the new star?I think the new star is again a step that could be called contempo-rary, the last star upgrade in label was few years ago and in 2000 we were the first to move out of the industry bottle and brought in the proprietary bottle and that gave star enormous growth in the period of 2001 to 2005, now we are making it more contemporary putting more Emphasis on core elements of Star. The Star is more pronounced, it is refreshing but the big thing is that with the stenoil we gave it a more premium outlook and quality assurance signal, and I think it would move very well.

What do we expect in the years to come, what would u tell con-sumer out there about the about the brand Star? What we have done now is in the core platform of music and if we want to continue to attract young consumers to the star brand i think it’s important that one way or the other we continue to play with music, and again, what would be a great music platform ex-ecution does not necessarily mean the next great thing for the next generation, but then we need to be always follow on our watch, when we need to start looking at other types of music platforms. Music is really fitting the star ‘shine on’, ‘shine shine bobo’, star fuels the party, brings the brightness and music is part of it. We only watch in terms of renewing Music platform sometimes but, also in the communication to the consumers, regularly renew the type of Communication so it does not become grey and be very watchful the way we communicate fits with the way consumers want to be talked to, and especially the younger ones, the younger ones, I mean

above 18 years old.

In specific terms, what is the message to consumers out there?Shine On.

S P E C I A L F O C U S

Vervelde

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The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and de-posits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (“sun-city” in Greek). It is said that the bird’s cry is that of a beautiful song. The phoe-nix’s ability to be reborn from its own ashes implies that it is im-mortal. In this speacial report, Agbo Agbo traces the history of the rebirth of Star and how it has remained indomitable to date.

In the world of branding, an iconic and truly Nigerian brand is sending a clear message to the sector that, just like the phoenix, it is immortal and capable of reinventing the

wheels of market dominance anytime. Welcome to the exciting world of Star lager beer, the more than 60-year-old brand that has stood the test of time. Why is this brand unique and claim-ing market dominance and immortality?

A peep into historyIt is a period referred to as post-war colonial Nigeria and the

British colonial regime had promoted Import Substitution In-dustrialisation. Its initial development plan in 1946 had pri-oritised local agricultural industries and noted the importance of developing the colony’s human resources. That led to the establish-ment of Nigerian Breweries with the first bottle of Star rolling off the bottling line at the Iganmu, Lagos Brewery on June 2, 1949. Little did the early brewers know that it would become the powerful brand it is today—especially considering the intense competition from im-ported brands of beer at that critical period. Shortly after its entry into the mar-

ket, Star quickly overcame chal-lenges usually associated with a new brand in a market already used to imported beer brands and started a path of tremendous growth. For instance, in 1962, about 2,191,376 cartons of Star were sold and by 1975 the figure has risen to 11,266,000 cartons. As at 2003, the sales figures were in the region of over 40 million cartons in that year alone. Up till today, the result has

continued to soar tremen-dously.

Initial challengesAt inception, Star faced

considerable challenges. First, the fledgling Nigerian Breweries that produced Star had to compete against popular imported brands. Because the palates of Ni-gerian beer drinkers were accustomed to the taste of imported beer brands, Star lager had to build trust with the minds and taste buds of

Nigerian consumers. Apart from trying to get consumer buy-in, brewing in Nigeria

was still at an early stage especially in the areas of bottling and packaging since there wasn’t a bottle maker operating in Nigeria then. Management of the new company devised two strategies to address these challenges. In the first instance, it employed a unique marketing and sales strategy that made Star lager readily available to consumers. Secondly, Heineken dis-patched its then technical director, J.A Emmens, to Nigeria in 1950 to ensure compliance with Heineken’s quality standards. In his report to Amsterdam, Emmens wrote: “The brewery looks good…the beer itself is really excellent…comes closer to Heineken’s beer in terms of quality than any other beer from any of our other foreign breweries.” With the sophistication of market and the onslaught of com-

petition, modern day challenges became even tougher and more complex. Maintaining market leadership is demanding, and Star faces increasing competition from other market challengers led by Harp lager, from the stable of Guinness Nigeria Plc. Also, prod-uct counterfeiting and adulteration remain problematic, forcing brew-eries in Nigeria to differentiate by changing the contours and shapes of their bottles, the main form of packaging their beverage brands. In 2000, Star lager introduced

new bottles to the market, and in 2007, the drink was rolled out in cans to broaden market appeal making it the first beer brand to achieve the feat. However, distri-bution and logistical challenges remain high in a market where heavy-duty delivery trucks and vans are ravaged by bad roads and poor infrastructure. Breweries

Mythology of an Iconic Brand:

S P E C I A L F O C U S

L-R;Mr.Walter Drenth Marketing Director, Mr.Nicholas Vervelde MD CEO, Mr.Hurbert Eze Sales Director, Mr.Victor Famuyibo HR Director&Mr Tony

Agenmonmen Mkt mgr Lager all of NB

Contd from Pg. 47

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also spend heavily to run their power generating sets because the public power supply is not steady. The iconic Star lager also overcame policy regulations like

surviving choking economic policies like the era of manag-ing returnable bottles, state price controls on finished consum-er products, the regime of raising duties on imported malted barley and sugar (the main raw materials), and the substitution of im-ported barley with locally cultivated grains—like sorghum—for brewing beer in the mid 1980s. A former MD/CEO of

the company, Mr. Felix Ohiwerei, while review-ing the period was quoted as saying: “Obviously, my biggest challenge, and perhaps achievement, was the task of piloting the company through a rather difficult period of transition from the use of imported malted barley to 100 percent local materials, because if we had failed, the company may not have survived.”

Why Star has remained indomitableFor a brand to have withstood the turbulent economic land-

scape of Nigeria speaks volumes. The question often asked is how did this happen? The answer is not farfetched; it rests pri-marily in the quality of the brand which has made it No. 1. Oth-er reasons include clear cut marketing strategy and ability to maintain longer standing years of consistency in product taste which makes the customers happy. Without Star’s star quality, other strategies would not have been effective.To ensure untainted quality for the brand, each bottle of Star

lager passes through 213 quality check points before it leaves the breweries and finds its way into the eager hands of consum-ers. Also, consistency in communication which shows clarity in expressing and emphasizing “the brighter side of life” no matter the change in marketing method, brings joy and plea-sure to the consumer. The beer market in Nigeria is a fast growing one no doubt,

compared to the Western world. But considering the consump-tion per capita, it is still relatively low. According to experts and industry analysts, it used to be higher in Nigeria in the 1980’s before it declined. But in the last few years, it has been increasing, albeit very slowly. For the marginal increase, the Star brand has the driver’s seat in terms of market share, as well as the share of voice in the market.

Catch me if you canDeveloping creative and clear cut marketing strategies is fun-

damental in brand building and development. Nigerian Brew-eries’ crack marketing team came out with a strategy that has kept Star way ahead of competition through the rebranding and

repositioning of the brand. The rebranding cum repositioning exercises undertaken by Star’s creative agency, Lowe Lintas, culminated in the arrival of the new Star bottle in a chauffeur driven untainted white limousine some years back. Star has always been about innovation and has been leading

by introducing different ideas such as the change in bottle which makes it stand out on the shelf and on the table of consump-tion. As mentioned earlier, it was also the first lager beer in Nigeria to intro-duce the can beer packag-ing to supplement bottles. The creativity bentStar has been noted for

churning out adverts which have consistently project-ed the superior quality of the brand over the years. From the very first cam-

paign slogan of “Ah! Star – Beer at its best” introduced in 1949 through the “Brightness” campaign of the 1970s/80s, to the “Turn to Star – The ideal brew” campaign, unveiled in 1989, to the “Live the Brighter Life In Style – Star Ahead on Taste” campaign of the 1990’s and then to the campaigns of “Never A Dull Moment with Star”, “Share the Brighter Life”, “Shine Shine Bobo” and “Let’s get the party STARted”, it is clear that the advertising campaign development history of Star has been consistent in creating a mythical halo for the brand. The rave-making campaign that heralded the Star bottle change in 2000 is still fresh in the mind of consumers. The ‘Star Dance’ and Shine Shine Bobo are equally award winning materials. On the whole, the areas of advertising and marketing cam-

paigns are areas in which Star has created value in the lives of so many people – consumers, the advertising agency, support service providers, the media models, promotional item produc-ers etc. With the Phoenix launch, the brand has unveiled a new marketing communications and creative strategy in the area of 360 degrees Communications.

Star and the future Just like the Phoenix, Star lager beer is beginning another

phase of creativity and satisfaction. Today’s high-growth brands use heritage as a springboard to continuously connect with consumers. Brands that aspire to be contemporary classics have to work on many levels. First and foremost, the product needs integrity, some special quality that sets it apart. But hav-ing a “story” to tell, something that fixes a brand’s identity in people’s imagination and gets across what it stands for is cru-cially important too. Some brand story is made up, but others, like that of Star is rooted in fact, like a fable in folklore, what matters is that the brand’s mythology has the power to intrigue and to draw people in, a feat Star wants to maintain for a long time to come.

S P E C I A L F O C U S

Mythology of an Iconic Brand:

L-R;Mr.Walter Drenth Marketing Director, Mr.Nicholas Vervelde MD CEO, Mr.Hurbert Eze Sales Director, Mr.Victor Famuyibo HR Director&Mr Tony Agenmonmen Mkt mgr Lager all of NB

BrandiQ 53

‘Star is a Global Brand Player’- Walter Drenth, Marketing Director, NB Plc

S P E C I A L F O C U S

Just a few months on the saddle as Market-ing Director of one of the most profitable com-panies in Nigeria, Walter Drenth in this snap interview with Desmond Ekeh bares his mind on how Star lager beer plays on the global scene

How do you see Nigeria and the Nigerian mar-ket?I think it’s a great and fascinating market; the coun-try itself is also fascinating. Since I came to Nige-ria early this year I was embraced by the Nigerian people. I love the culture and the people I work with, are very professional. There are great op-portunities here and I feel very welcome. And the brands I work on like Star, is fantastic to work on.

What is it about star that is so unique?It isn’t about just brewing beer and bottles, al-though we do that well and better than anyone else. It isn’t about selecting the best natural ingredient although we do that. We select the best natural in-gredient to brew Star. Star is something more than that. The core belief of Star is that every individual in Nigeria, big or small can shine. Star, believes that everybody has the potential to shine. That is what makes this great brand unique.

How do you see Star from a global point of view?Star is already outside Nigeria. Star is in many Af-rican countries. Star is already in Europe. Star is in the Netherlands, Ireland; it’s in the United King-dom and the Middle East. It’s even in the USA.

Star is growing. There are a lot of Nigerians out-side of Nigeria who want to enjoy Star wherever they are. Star is a global brand player.

What are you doing with competition?What we have done since 1949 is to bring innova-tion into the market by bringing the best beer to our consumers. I think that Star would shine like never before.

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The building of Brand Assets has emerged as a top man-agement priority in the last decade due to the growing realization that brands are one of the most valuable as-

sets that firms have, and developing a robust asset base will create equity, loyalty and affinity for the brand. A brand is more than simply a name and the physical embodiment of that name on stationery, clothes, collaterals and equipment. A brand has a meaning to all stakeholders and represents a set of values and promises, even a personality. To this end, the marketplace is cluttered with hundreds of brands that strive to seize the atten-tion of consumers and developing an asset base that will stand a brand out, while some fizzle out with time, some stand the test of time.One brand that has stood the test of time and developed a

credible asset base is Star Lager beer. The brand evolved into Nigeria’s leading lager brand with Nigeria’s dominance of the West African Sub-region following its debut in 1949 giving it a push into the West-Coast of Africa in the same breath. The decision of Heineken NV to open a subsidiary in Africa, par-ticularly as at that time proved a marketing masterstroke that has given it a strong footing in the African continent. The patriotic zeal of the Nigerian people was at its peak at the

time NB opened shop and presented the people with something to celebrate and bond with. It could be said that all market indi-ces were in favour of the pioneer lager beer brand in Nigeria.The excellent environment at Star Lager beer’s birth was not

taken for granted by the founding fathers of the iconic drink as they pioneered many marketing moves in Nigeria in the bid to etch the brand on the minds of the people, in addition to win-ning and sustaining market leadership. Part of the deft moves made that remains indelible on the minds of analysts of brand development in Nigeria is the live presentation of Star Lager beer’s advertisements on television. The brand builders had to resort to live presentation of TVCs to make Star what it turned out to be.The state of development of technology would not deter the

movers of the brand and they had to assemble a crack team of copywriters and dramatists to script and present the television commercial aimed at building a strong brand presence for Star Lager live on television. How many took advertising as serious as to go this extra step in pre-colonial Nigeria? It was thus not surprising that Nigerians fell in love with Star.Star QuestThat love affair continued until 2002 when the brand introduced a talent hunt program – Star Quest. The basic objective of the

Star: A Mega Brand and its AssetsBy Agbo Agbo

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show was to discover and promote young and budding Nige-rian artistes in the various music idioms. It is a group based show but with some element of individuality, participants are expected to show their individual skills and later metamorpho-ses into groups.Prior to the commencement of the show every year, entries are solicited from individuals who have had no prior published musical works. They must also possess demonstrable profi-ciency in at least one vital area of music-vocals, composition, instruments etc. The process is then followed by a live audition in select cities across the nation to select participants who can simply walk into the audition venues, which are grouped into six zones to showcase their talents.In order to provide a level playing field, the 36 finalists that

would finally make it to “Fameland” (The Star Quest Acad-emy) as instrumentalists and vocalists will voluntarily create six bands of six members without interference from the orga-nizers. Aired on Television in 21 shows, each band will adopt a name for easy identification before performing on national stage. The six bands will go through extensive rehearsals and tasks during the campaign period before the national finals which is at two levels.At the first level, the six bands will be reduced to three through public voting via SMS. The three successful bands will then proceed to the second level, the grand finale stage while final voting will be 100% public voting. The winning band will be the lead Nigerian band at the next Star Trek and Star Mega Jam (cont’d on Pg. 65)

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‘Star Wants Everyone to Shine’- Hubert Eze

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Hubert Eze, Sales Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc in this interview with Adeshola Ogbodo gave insight on why Star lager beer is unique.

Projections regarding salesI will expect that sales will boom, we expect people to be more excited about the new look of Star. It is really the shine of quality, so we expect it to grow and improve in volume and increase the satisfaction of our consumers.

ChallengesWe see the normal challenges evident in this kind of en-vironment. Getting it nice and cold to every consumer, in terms of logistics would continue to be a challenge. I can assure you that this Star shine of quality would really be successful.

Relationship between sales department and distribu-torsWe are partners; we have a very close relationship. We have a synergy that really advances the business. We sup-port the whole process properly. Star is unique because of the consistent smoothness over the years. Importantly it is part of Nigerian entertainment culture, without Star there is no party, Star does not only start parties, it brings out the ‘shine’ in every party.

Factors that distinguish Star from other brands in the marketStar, has the finest of ingredients. It is the most natural. In terms of quality checks and processes, Star goes through 251 checks before it gets to the consumer and this is not even the difference. The difference is the emotions that star generates. It is the finest of beers, and it’s been with this country since 1949. It will continue to be in the country and will continue to be the leader in this industry in terms of innovation. The campaigns that star has em-barked on since pre-independence and independence, has been the toast of the country.

Consumer expectations after this re-launchThey should expect to shine on. Everybody has an op-portunity to shine and this is the story of star. Star wants everyone to shine.

Reason for re-launchThe most important thing is that we want our consumers to be happy. We want to increase consumer satisfaction.

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What Star means to NB Distributors

Mr. Nathaniel Alagbe, (Jos, Plateau State).Star as a brand has really stood the test of time. It’s been a market leader for years and no beer in the country has its pedigree. It’s also the highest selling beer in Nigeria and when you are looking for another world for Nigeria I think you should use the world “Star”. Apart from the fact that I sell beer, I’m a lover of the best beer in the country, star lager beer. We have two kinds of beer in Nigeria; these are Star lager beer and the rest.

Mrs. Anike Shoyinka, (Abeokuta, Ogun state)Although I have always have an unquenchable love for Star, what gives me so much consumer attachment to the brand is the manner and maturity the organization handles its distributors and consum-ers. The relationship that exists between us is not just business part-nership but that of a close family because they never want you to loose money or see your business crumble. They give every support needed to make your business grow.Another great thing about Star is the way they organize their music shows, talent hunt events and other events. I have been very im-pressed with the Star Quest music reality show which has changed the lives of youths in this country. The unbiased selection process of raw talents across the length and breadth of this country and the melodious rendition of songs has been wonderful. This is one out of many reasons I love Star and will continue to patronize the brand.

Mr. Paul Okene (Warri, Delta states)I don’t reside in Nigeria but my mother is a key distributor of Nigerian Breweries, her relationship with NB plc as far as I can tell has been quite beneficial and rewarding to us as a family. I use to take spirit and wine but whenever I am in Nigeria, I con-sumer beer. But my mother warned me never to take any brand if it’s not star lager beer. I wondered then why she said that and what’s the different between Star leger beer and others but in few months the difference became so clear to me. It’s the best beer around and even outside Nigeria I still buy the star lager beer. To me, it’s an international brand of lager beer that should be endorsed by people with taste and style.

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Mr. Igwe Ikechukwu, (Port-Harcourt, Rivers State)When ever I am down and feel the need to be at my very best, I don’t look for any other beer other than Star because its taste is the best I can think of. Though, I have honestly experimented with other beer stands, but after trying them out, I made a quick comeback to my Star lager beer. In any party you attend take a closer look at the tables and check out what they are drinking, am telling you that you will find 90 percent taking star lager beer. It shows that the beer is the best and nothing like it. It’s a brand that has always reinstates it commit-ment of quality.

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What Star means to NB DistributorsMr. Valentine Anyoha, (Onitsha, Anambra state) I have been a distributor of Nigerian Breweries for 19years and it’s been re-warding. Star lager beer to me is a breadth of life. Can human exist without a breadth of life? Definitely not, so it means Nigerians cannot do without Star lager beer, a breadth of life to our existence in this country. The brand is doing exceedingly well but there is always room for improve-ment and I am so sure the management of Nigerian Breweries Plc are not sleeping to know what’s the next step the brand needs to take at every step of the way.

Mr. Raphael Okeke (Benue State) If you ask me, I would say that Star has always been my favourite beer because in as much as I have tried other alcoholic drinks, I do not see any that can compare to Star in terms of taste and rich bubbles that makes one’s taste bud to wake up. Anytime I attend social functions with my friends, they don’t ask me what my choice of beer is. This is about the only drink that makes me feel at ease with myself at any occasion or event. Usually, I am not a heavy drinker but each time after I drink a couple of my Star, I always get the feeling that my day has just started.

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Mr. Rotimi Blaize (Benin, Edo State)The nature of my work is mentally tasking. Before I discovered what works for me under any situation, I experimented with other beer brands. However, I have found out that the Star beer aids my thinking process.Haven discovered this working formula, each time I meet with a brick wall in my busi-ness proposition and plans; I usually take a break and make for a nearby bar to unwind with a chilled bottle of Star. The result has been very productive. I think better, make exceptional analysis of data and come up with creative ideas when Star is in the mix.

Mrs. Bolanle Ogun, (Ibadan, Oyo State)Before, I used to hide the fact that I drink beer because some people in the society frown at the sight of a woman drinking beer. With time I found out that the only beer you can drink as a woman and nobody will frown at it is Star lager beer. Apart from the fact that it’s my business to sell Star beer, I tell consumers that the differ-ence between star and other beer can’t be measured.Let’s give it to the brain behind this star latest innovation, I pray that God continue to make them the leader for ever.

Mr. Cyprian Okoye, (Enugu, Enugu State)I have been a distributor and Star lover for over 15years now and the effect this is having on my home is quite revealing. My business relationship with Nige-rian Breweries Plc. dates back years and this relationship has enabled me put food on the table for my family and taking care of my bills. And talking about Star lager beer, what else can I say? A beer for all, affordable, the quality is more than what it goes for in terms of pricing. I have never seen beer that people are so passionate about like Star. To me it’s the only beer that exists.

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‘Unchanging Quality is Star’s Staying Power’- Tony AgenmonmenMarketing Manager Lager.

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Following the re-launch of Star lager beer at a star stud-ded event in Lagos, Tony Agenmonmen, Marketing Man-ager, Alcoholic reveals the secret of the brands’ success over the years to Henry Otalor.

Star Lager beer, one of the most popular brands in Nigeria is being re-launched today, what informed this move?Star is number one beer brand loved by Nigerians. It has been number one for a very long time, first beer to be brew in this country and we want to keep it number one.

What do you consider the staying power of Star, a truly Ni-geria brand that has been standing strong for over 60years? The staying power of Star is the unchanging quality. Quality is a watch-word for the brand and because consumers trust the qual-ity of Star that is why it has been there since 1949 and continues to be Nigeria number one beer.

Do you agree with the assertion that Star’s brand asset of music is what endears the brand to Nigerians?Star is not about music; Star is about the quality of the brand. Yes we use music as a platform to promote the brand but Star stands for quality and it is the quality of the brand that endears since 1949.

What should we be expecting from the brand in the months to come?First of all, we are telling our consumers to ‘shine on’. Star is giving them the bragging right to ‘shine on’. And for as long as they continue to support Star, Star will continue to give back to them which is reflected in the kind of entertainment we gave out. Tonight five of Nigerians finest artists on the same floor on the platform of Star they can expect more of that.

Some analysts say it is the intense competition in the indus-try that is driving your campaigns, is that a true assertion?Star remains the number one lager beer in Nigerian and what is driving it is basically the desire to give consumers that quality beer which we believe must reflect in every aspect of the brand, which is why our campaigns are always premium class.

As the Marketing Manager lager, should we be expecting more surprises from your end regarding other brands in your portfolio?Star since 1949 has led innovation; I can assure you that Star will continue to innovate. So expect more from Star-If you call it surprise that is okay. Of course we do support all our brands. Tonight is about Star we will talk about Star. We definitely give all of them equivalent support to all brands in our portfolio.

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By Agbo Agbo

Brand Scholars, Al Ries and Laura Ries, caused a ruckus in the Marketing Communi-

cations industry when they released their popular work, The Fall of Ad-vertising and Rise of PR, in which they argued that advertising may be useful in maintaining a brand but it is a waste of money in the launch and repositioning of a brand. Citing major campaigns for global

brands such as Nike, Budweiser and Chevrolet, they proclaim that advertising, as a vehicle for brand building is ineffectual publicly sug-gesting that advertising may be a waste of time in building a brand. This obviously generated much ex-citement among ad agencies as well as anxiety among brand managers with tight budgets. But are the au-thors right in their assertions? Is ad-vertising ineffectual in brand build-ing or repositioning? Keith Reinhard of DDB Worldwide, an ad agency said the

Ries’s are “wrong,” with their assertion: “Why would anyone set up a completely artificial choice between advertising and PR? Any experienced marketer knows that we use them together. Every brand is dif-ferent, every brand has different needs and different targets, and so we utilise all the communications voices at hand. But to say that advertising is not an essential part of this is nuts.”He also questioned whether credibil-

ity was even an issue in all advertising. Citing the award-winning “Whassup?” campaign from Budweiser, he asked, “Do people ‘believe’ Whassup? What’s to believe? They like it, they embrace it. They said ’we’d like to repeat this greet-ing in our own conversations. We’d like to answer the phone and say “whassup?” ‘And veracity has nothing to do with that. It is an additional property of the brand added by advertising that has value to the consumer.”This and other criticisms from ad agen-

cies showed that advertising, indeed, has a big role to play in brand building, just like the Star brand can attest to this.

Advertising of the brand has consis-tently projected the superior quality of Star over the years. “Ah! Star – Beer at its best” the very first cam-paign slogan introduced in 1949 was the curtain raiser. Then the “Bright-ness” campaign hit Nigerians like a bolt out of the blue in the 1970s and ’80s. This was followed closely by the “Turn to Star – the ideal Brew” campaign launched in 1989. Still ensuring that it has a lot in its cre-ative arsenal, the brand rolled out the “Live the Brighter Life In Style – Star Ahead on Taste” campaign in the 1990s. The recent campaigns of “Never a

Dull Moment with Star” to “Share the Brighter Life,” “Star Connects” and currently “Let’s get the party STARted are a clear indication that the advertising history of Star has been consistent in creating the im-age of Brightness, Fun and Sociabil-ity for the brand.

In the area of Television Commercials (TVC), the brand al-ways churns out creative ads that often connect with its target audience. The most prominent of these is the Sunrise to Sun-set TVC which is a classic any day. The TVC opens with the

classic song, “Joromi” by music legend Sir Victor Uwaifo. It took us through various highpoints of the Nigerian history, opening in 1949 with the Lagos Brewery and the Union Jack (British flag) fluttering in the wind.The TVC showed that as the first beer ever

brewed in Nigeria and subsequently growing to become Nigeria’s No. 1 beer brand, Star has con-tributed most to the developing the beer market in Nigeria than any other brand. It took viewers through episodes of our history that bring nos-talgia. Star was there when Nigeria celebrated its independence in 1960; Star was there when Nigeria hosted and won the African Cup of Na-tions in 1980; Star was there when Nigeria won its first Olympic gold medal in football in 1996, Star was also there for us to celebrate the first African-American President in 2009. Star has been present throughout the history

of Nigeria and Star will still be with us in the years to come. The brand was also there when the River Niger Bridge was being constructed and the Star distribution truck had to be ferried from Asaba to Onitsha to be able to continue its

How Advertising Impacts Star’s Bottom-line

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journey of bringing Brightness to Nigerians. After 63 years of “Sharing Brightness”, Star remains a major force in the market and displays strong potential to increase its dominance in the market even further. It is “Perfectly Brewed for that Superior taste” and “Cold filtered for Optimal Refreshment.”The STAR success story is as a result of certain contributory

factors: Consistent high quality – Star is only released from the brewery after 213 quality checks; Vibrant marketing sup-port – Consistently rejuvenating the brand in all consumer touch points, i.e., packaging, communication, promotions and advertising to ensure its relevance and authority and good con-sumer and market insight coupled with effective distribution network.Have all these impacted the bottom-line? Without doubt they

have. Right from 1960 star has maintained market leadership with sales of about 2,181,376 crates in 1962 and by 1975; the figure had risen to 11,266,000 crates. Star is largely responsible for the growth of the Nigerian indigenous beer industry as the success story the brand influenced the introduction of other successful brands such as Gulder, Maltina, Heineken, Legend Extra Stout, and others. As of 2003, the sales figure had hit 40 million crates; this was not the end, as it further grew by 9 million bringing the total to 49 million crates in 2007, mak-ing it one of West Africa’s leading beer brands. In 2007, the brand took another giant stride by introducing packaging in Cans which generated additional 1.5 million trays sold in that year alone.On the whole, in the areas of advertising and marketing, Star

has created value in the lives of so many people –the Consum-ers, the Advertising Agency, the Support Service Providers, the Music/Entertainment industry, the Media, Promotional Item Producers and others. And just like Reinhard pointed out: “Ad-vertising is something like cheerleading. You reinforce ideas that are always there.” And, he recommended you rely on it when the public relations angle becomes weak. “Our message is that after a while there is no publicity potential in a new brand. People wrote up Red Bull, but today? Now they have to shift to advertising to maintain the brand. It’s the same thing with powerful brands like Coca-Cola. You’re just not going to get much publicity.” Reinhard disagreed that advertising should be relegated to a

supporting role. He maintained that sometimes advertising is the only way to get a new idea across, and if it’s done effec-tively, public relations will be easier to generate. “This is what in so many categories brand building is all about. It is adding an ingredient to the brand….” The success story of Star has shown that advertising has a big role to play in brand-building and development.

How Advertising Impacts Star’s Bottom-line Five things that

make star a Market Leader - James Agama, Brand Analyst

The following five brand issues have combined to make the Star brand a consistent market leader over the years.

•Brand Presence: Big brands are everywhere you go and what keeps them strong is because they are available when you need them. Brands that do not have any presence in the market place soon die on the altar of non-availability. Therefore, it is important for any brand serious about survival and excel-lence to achieve a serious level of market presence. These explains the reason why the star brand has been successful over the years. Nigerian Breweries has ensured over time that star remains visible in the marketplace.

•Brand Relevance: Another thing that has kept the Star brand as market leader is its relevance. When a brand lacks relevance it’s either they have failed to identify who their target audience are or they have failed to identify the needs of the market. The relevance of Star in the market is evident in its level of consumption. Also, the Star brand has included human rel-evance angle as part of the attributes of the brand with the introduction of activities like Star Mega Jam, Star Trek, Star Quest etc. These human angles have also provided some forms of association between the brand and a seg-ment of the market.

•Brand Performance: When a brand is living up to its billing, it shows that the brand is keeping up with the brand promise. Sometimes it may be in their financial performance. Star has remained a master in this area.

•Brand Advantage: Consumers are easily swayed by the fact that they are aware of the additional leverage a brand is offering. People would buy because of the different advantage they are getting from that brand. And the Star brand has been able to pro-vide an advantage for market in terms of price and quality. Over the years, Star has remained consistent in its content quality as well as making the pricing very affordable.

• Brand Bonding: This is about the highest point that has kept the star brand standing as a market leader. When a brand is able to create that bonding which comes with a process, the brand then becomes a part of the consumer. Star over the years has been able to build a strong bond with its consumers through its numerous activities.

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As the senior Brand Manager handling one of Nigeria’s strongest brands, what has kept your brand strong over the years in spite of the several economic and social

challenges in Nigeria?One singular thread that has run through Star all these years

has been unrivalled product quality. Consumers have come to

trust the brand because of its consistent quality over the years. The brand has the heritage of being brewed under strict qual-ity standards since 1949 and the consumer promise remains uncompromised. Another factor is the strong distribution net-work. The brand has a very strong distribution footprint which spans the length and breadth of Nigeria. It is therefore not by

Consumers are our Best Brand Ambassadors - Sampson Oloche, Senior Brand Manager, Star

As Star Lager Beer, ‘Shines on’ into a new phase, Sampson Oloche, Senior Brand Man-ager, Star, in this interview re-veals to Adeshola Ogbodo the highpoints in the brand’s his-tory and factors that have en-abled it to remain strong and fresh for over 60 years.

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accident that the ever refreshing Star is widely dis-tributed and readily available across the country and is within the reach of consumers. Anyone familiar with the marketing communica-

tions industry in Nigeria will know that Star has one of the best communicationn frameworks across all media. This Communication has been consistent over the years. Again, this does not happen by ac-cident. It is a well thought out process that has made the brand young and fresh despite the fact that it has been around for 63 years. Star is one of the best run brands to come out of Nigeria.Innovation also plays a fundamental part in the de-

velopment of the Star brand over the years. To this end, the brand always takes the lead in responding to consumer needs, that is why the brand’s equity has soared for so long, our consumers’ are our best brand ambassadors. Star appears to be a very busy brand with activa-

tions all year round, why do you have so many ac-tivities for just one brand?I am glad that you know that Star is a very busy

brand. As a brand with mass appeal, there is a need to constantly engage with consumers in a bid to meeting their needs and understanding their aspira-tions. Star relies on different media and stakeholder touch points in order to reach its target audience. Our consumer engagement platforms are some of the most robust in the country today. From Star Quest to Star Trek to Star Mega Jam it is always meeting the consumer where he is and always responding to his need to have a brighter life always. In fact, consum-ers are charged with the responsibility of picking the foreign act they want to have for the popular Star Mega Jam. What would you say has been the impact of activation like

Star Quest on the Star brand?Star Quest as you know is a talent show where the brand

searches for budding acts that have never had any prior music exposure. These new acts come and show us what the Nigerian youth is capable of doing; this helps drive recruitment of young adults through targeted consumer engagement platforms.The platform also helps achieve top of mind awareness

(TOMA) for the brand and overall appeal to the target audi-ence, thus improving the closeness and approval levels of the brand.You have produced stars over the years, can you evaluate the

impact Star Quest has had on individual/group talents and how it has impacted the Nigerian music industry?Again, I like it when you assert that we have produced Stars

over the years, the platforms we provide has been a veritable avenue for younger adults to express themselves and showcase their talents. The brand is thus seen as giving back to the soci-ety by empowering the youths, most of whom may never have had the opportunity to know they even have hidden talents. You remember KC Presh? They are the first winners of Star Quest and they are still a force to be reckoned with in Nigerian music today in their individual capacities. So the activation provides a good platform for aspiring musical artistes seeking to make impact in the industry. You rolled out an iconic TVC when the brand celebrated its

60th anniversary, can you throw more light on this?The TVC – Sunrise to Sunset (as it is called) points at sig-

nificant events and sights of Nigeria as the country marked her 50th Independence anniversary. The TVC revealed that Star has always been there through those significant moments in the Nation’s history re-enforcing Star’s position as “Our Own” beer. No other beer shares this heritage with Nigeria.Competition is not resting on its oars in order to take part of

your market share, what strategies have you put in place to checkmate them?We will always be steps ahead of competition because we

have vibrant marketing support which enables us to consistent-ly rejuvenate the brand in all consumer touch points i.e. pack-aging, communication, promotions and advertising to ensure its relevance and authority.In arriving at this we rely on consumer and market insight

which in turn drives and leads to constant consumer-led in-novations. You have your winning formula when you have an effective distribution networkHow are consumers to perceive Star lager beer in the years

to come?Star is an original, authentic, innovative and exciting brand,

the number one nationwide and a beer of choice for all occa-sions. We aim to remain the leading and most accessible high quality beer, delivering superior enjoyment and brightening all social occasions; using music as a platform for the demon-stration of Fun, Friendship and celebration of Life. This is our promise and we will not deviate from it.

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Oloche

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There is no doubt that Star, a Nigerian brand has invented and reinvented the marketing communica-tions wheel in the last 63 years. In this interview with Agbo Agbo, the Executive Director, Client Services of Lowe Lintas, Ottah Kalu throws more light on what makes this truly Nigerian brand tick and how it has remained strong and dominant for so long.

Lowe Lintas has handled Star lager for a very long period. The relationship spans over half a century, what has sus-tained this relationship over the years? Managing relationships depends on the level of maturity of the parties concerned and the goal they set for each other to

achieve. I strongly believe that the ability by both Client and Agency to attract and keep top talents, who have passion for the brand, is also fundamental, that was why the brand kept on doing well in the minds of the consumers and Nigerians. We should also not forget the trust and respect that both sides have for each other, which also is fundamental in long term brand building.

Star is regarded as the leading beer brand in Nigeria, what would you say is the brand’s greatest strength in maintain-ing this position? The secret is that, Star is focused in its singular mission of brightening the lives of Nigerians and turning every occasion into a celebration. It has an infinite capacity to keep reinvent-ing itself, that is why the brand is eternally youthful and still

Star is One of the Best Managed and Most Consistent Brands in

Nigeria - Ottah Kalu

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getting the party started in every occasion. The ability to remain ever youthful and touch differ-ent generations shows that Star is a truly iconic brand.

How would you describe the management of Star by the brand owners, NB plc?Without mincing words, I can boldly say that Star is probably the best managed brand in the country today. The managers have been focused and disci-plined; they have been passion-ate in ensuring that the ideals and personality of their brand is maintained always. Just take a look at the activations the brand undertakes all year round, from Star Quest, to Star Trek, Star Mega Jam and others, you will agree with me that Star is indeed a mega brand. Having gone this far, what do you feel is the next level for Star brand? Most of us will want to see Star play on the global branding stage. This is the best thing to come out of Nigeria. It needs to be celebrated beyond our shores because Nigerians are proud of what the brand stands for, it has stood strong and bold for 63 years.

Lintas is the first indigenous advertising agency in Nigeria and is still a leading agency in Nigeria, how has the com-pany managed to remain a top player in the industry?We may not be a “hot” Agency but we are definitely builders of brands and businesses and there are examples for all to see. Our loyalty is to our brands and we are passionate about them. We are lucky to have Clients who take us as their partners and have entrusted some of their most valuable and successful brands to us. In addition to our passion, the zeal with which we handle our clients is what keeps us going the extra mile always.

You would realize that we now live in an era where clients are more demanding than ever, they want more for less, considering this trend how can there be more synergy be-tween clients and agency?My opinion on this is straight forward, Client and Agency must continue to work as partners and take joint responsibility for the successful management of their brands, which is the only way any serious brand can grow in a highly competitive and changing domestic and global setting.

How would you quantify the level of growth provided by the advertising support over these years, to the growth of the Star brand?Any close watcher of the marketing communications industry in Nigeria would know that there is little doubt that advertising has contributed its quota in making Star a national icon and one

of the most loved brands. Adver-tising has been there right from the beginning and it is still play-ing a crucial and important role in the development of the brand.

Star has been identified with ex-citing and colourful advertising themes and slogan; do you feel these themes have been consis-tent over the years and can you throw more light on them? Star is one of the best managed and most consistent brands in the country. Over the years the brand has been campaigned under the Brightness propositions but in a variety of ways, you will see a single thread running through all the activations the brand handles and in the end it all boils down to ensure that consumers get the best of “Brightness” in their lives.

If you are to look at the entire portfolio of brands handled by your agency, how would you rate Star?

Clearly Star is our number one brand and the most exciting to work on. The brand has been blessed with a mix of veterans, who know the past and new talents who challenge the future. With this mix, any brand can face the future. For Star, this has been what keeps the brand youthful at all times. How would you describe the advertising industry in Nige-ria in terms of where it is coming from, where it is now and projections of where it is going?It is stating the obvious to say the industry is in flux. There was a time when Client consulted advertising agencies like “ora-cles” on all aspects of marketing communications. That has changed now, especially with the fragmentation of Agencies and the rise of experts in different areas of marketing commu-nication. I believe Agencies will go through a fundamental and enduring reset. They will resize and focus on services that have the most leverage with Client - superlative creative works, stra-tegic planning, multichannel communication etc

After the global financial meltdown in 2008, there was gen-eral lull in the marketing communications industry, but lately businesses are beginning to pick up. Has there been any significant improvement in the Nigeria marketing com-munications industry, in relation to this?The worldwide business outlook doesn’t suggest that business-es are picking up. Locally things are neither getting better nor worse for the creative agencies. Based on a temperature check on players in the Social and analogue media, event manage-ment, PR and TV productions, it appears there is a significant improvement in spend and growing inflation in media rates

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Kalu

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shows which are also assets of the brand that we shall discuss later. In addition to appearing in these shows, the winning band of-ten smile home with N7.5 million recording contract, a minivan, N600,000 cash for each member of the group, and one year guaran-tee accommodation in LagosThe duo of Kingsley Okonkwo (KC) and Precious John (Presh) were the first winners and their respective careers have been on an upward swing.

Star TrekThe next brand asset of the brand is Star Trek which was also intro-duced in 2002 as an annual nation-wide musical concert tour that parades the best of Nigerian artistes across 10 cities pan Nigeria. The objective remains to offer Nigerians in every nook and cranny a good share of the brighter life, in terms of entertainment and enjoyment.Many cities across the country have played host to Star Trek, they include; Abeokuta, Abakaliki, Benin City, Cala-bar, Enugu, Gboko, Ibadan, Jos, Makurdi, Osogbo, Uyo, Abuja, Umuahia, Ilorin, Kaduna, Jalingo, Awka, Ado-Ekiti, Akure, among a host of other towns and cities.Many high-rated Nigerian musical stars have joined the ‘Trek’ over the years. Entertainment giants like the late Sunny Okosun, Ras Kimono, late Oliver De Coque, Daddy Showkey, Tony One week, Tony Tetuila, Muma Gee, Blacky, KC Presh, D’Accord, Obesere, D’ banj, Faze, Black face, Tu face Idibia 9ice, Olu Maintain, D’Jewels, Ruggedman, Iban, Lord of Ajasa and African China have graced the stage and shared the brighter life with Star con-sumers.

Star Mega JamNext is the Star Mega Jam which has become the highpoint of the brand activity for the year, in terms of music and entertainment on an in-ternational level, or what we can call “the icing on the cake”. This music concert features inter-national artistes alongside the best of Nigerian music super stars. The show provides unlimited enjoyment and conviviality by giving Nigerians the opportunity to see these world class stars live and on Nigerian soil. This is an opportunity many would never have had.Since its maiden edition in the year 2000, Star has brought an impressive list of international artistes to delight its consumers in a world class stage. The debut featured the Makossa music exponent – Awilo Logomba, followed in 2001 with the performance of Mr. Lover, Lover – Shaggy. The 2002 edition featured Grammy Awards winner Usher Raymond. In 2003, Koffi Olumide, the acclaimed father of Soukous, was on hand, while American rap sensation, 50 Cent featured in 2004.

In 2005, it was the turn of the duo of Ja Rule ad Kevin Lyttle, LL Cool J and Akon, took the centre stage in 2006 and in 2007, the Multi-Grammy and American sensation Kanye West and T-Pain were on hand to thrill consumers in a breath taking, all-time perfor-mance that took them to Lagos and Abuja. Nelly and Nas thrilled Nigerians in 2008 to the best of entertainment that only a mega brand like Star offers. Busta Rhymes and Ludacris took the show to a whole new level in 2009, giving the nation a memorable experi-ence of fun.

Star Mega Jam has grown to become a brand of its own and a strong asset for sharing the unique personality of Star. Besides pioneer-

ing international mega-concerts in Nigeria, another unique aspect of Star Mega Jams is that the choice of international artistes rest solely with the Nigerian public through SMS voting. The most popular Megastar is then chosen for the event each year. Today, Star Mega Jam remains the big-gest and most popular international musical concert in the country.

Apart from using music as an asset, the brand, in 2003 also introduced the Star Game Show, a promotional activation that rewards existing consumers, encour-ages new entrants and reinforces the brand’s image as a veritable tool for fostering friendship and bond-ing. The show has redefined consumer promotions by introducing a consumer-interactive dimension promo. This was done to overtly display credibil-ity in the winning process. The show is televised weekly with viewers at home given the opportu-nity to see and participate in the process, while also enjoying the fun and excitement of the show.

Star Connect, an hour long programme where all Star events are showcased on National Tele-vision is also a brand asset. Star Game Show is also another avenue the brand explores to connect with its consumers.

Creating distinctive brand assets are more cre-ative alternatives to directly showing a brand name, and they help create a larger brand foot-print when elements are used in conjunction with the brand. On the consumer end, brand assets simplify brand identification outside of the advertising context, for example on-shelf or as a retail outlet. To develop a distinctive asset, brand custodians need to make a commitment to consistent co-presentation of the element and the brand name across all consumer touch-points. This will enable consumers to associate the element with the brand. This is what Nige-rians are doing by identifying with the various brand assets of a mega-brand called Star, one of the oldest and truly Nigerian brands.

Star: A Mega Brand and its Assets

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S P E C I A L I N T E R V I E W

My Leadership will Leave a Sustainable Legacy in Advertising - Bunmi Oke, AAAN President

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Mrs. Bunmi Oke, Managing Director, 141 Worldwide, Lagos, was recently voted into office as the Presi-dent, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), one of the regulatory bodies of advertising in the country. In this interview with Fisayo Ajibola. She reveals her agenda for the association.

Congratulations on your recent election as the new President of AAAN. How does it feel like, attaining the association’s presidency?First of all, it is very honourable because when you have been in a career that you enjoy and you really have much respect for and you are able to reach a point where you are elected as the president of an association, that is an association that has much influence in terms of image building and brand-building. I think it is very honourable, but it is also humbling because it involves a lot of responsibilities. I think it is the culmination of various emotions. First, savour the moment and then, you face the reality of the fact that there is a responsibility attached to that election. So, we will hit the road to get things done. Fortunately, I was the vice-president of the association; so I have an idea of some of the programmes that are already running; but we are going to a milestone, the 4th anniversary. So, for any good planner, you have already thought of ideas so that it is not just a milestone on paper. It should be a milestone in terms of achieving some of the objectives for which my colleagues elected me to have the opportunity to serve in the capacity as the president of the association.

You emerged unopposed as the president. Was there any-thing like a closed-door meeting for an agreement with the executive, or just a case of no one to contest with you? I’ll say perhaps it is also by providence. I have been in the in-dustry for 25 years. So, I know most of the colleagues in one way or the other and I have also served in different capacities. I think people know the kind of person we are and don’t forget it is also a way of the men encouraging the women to come out. We women have a way of liking to do certain task but not neces-sarily getting to the zenith of those responsibilities. Obviously, I have been tested in other assignments of the association. I was the president of LAIF awards for the last four years. Apart from being a wife, a CEO of an agency and membership of various Associations, I also have responsibilities in church. I love NGO work. I also like to give back to society because I have just real-ized that any woman who finds herself in any little position of influence needs to know that it is because God has given her an assignment. So, I think my colleagues had watched over the years and encouraged me to come out and serve. In fact, I had served on the Council of our Board as a member of the executive over the years. So, I think I have been groomed. To be honest, I had looked at the position and looked if it is something I could do. I must be sincere: I didn’t think that it was going to be this year. I didn’t know our ex-president was not going to run and I didn’t have any inordinate ambition.

What level of support did you enjoy from your company’s board to contest, or don’t you think handling these two heavy responsibilities could affect your responsibilities in

your organisation? I can tell you that I have the full support of the Board. It is also an honour to serve in the industry and it goes to show I have credibility. Also, I have a Board that is not selfish and wants the best for me. It is a plus for the Chairman to have picked the president from an agency that is young and my multi-tasking capabilities over the years. The most important thing is that I have a great team. We should try to de-emphasise challenges and focus more on the prospects. I can see more prospects in my present task than the challenges. Looking at the positive sides gives me much energy to do more than looking at the problems. It is all about being focused. The position comes with a lot of responsibilities.

What is your assessment of Rufai Ladipo’s tenure as AAAN President and what are your own projections for the Associa-tion?Well, one thing I’ll say is that we are in a very challenging en-vironment in terms of business. Where some of us might be fortunate because of some professionalism or divine orchestra-tion to have businesses that are still thriving, I must say that the environment has not been particularly conducive and we do know that it is a big challenge for our members to thrive. This is part of the reason why you should associate yourself with an association that will give an environment that is conducive to everyone to operate and perform the services for which we are all established.

That notwithstanding, I think that there are still some milestones recorded by the past administration, because in Nigeria, we are going through a big change. We have never had the issue of insecurity like we have it now. If you don’t have courage in Nigeria right now, I don’t think you can do anything. We are praying that things will get better when you could at least make some projections which could pass. But we do know that there are challenges and anyone who says there aren’t is in a world of make-believe. That is why there is a saying that “challenges make champions.” This thought has changed my mindset that you shouldn’t be moved by what you see but you should focus on what you need to do irrespective of the challenges you see. I think a lot of Nigerian companies are getting to a point where they are beginning to understand why you should work with an AAAN company but there is still much work to be done in terms of marketing what an advertising agency does. I have found that even if you work with some top echelons or chief executives, you’ll be surprised that when it comes to your profession, they don’t know. And it tells that people don’t know who you are, so you have a brand to build. Advertising is a career of choice not of chance for some of us. It’s almost like journalism, a lot of people don’t know how important the pen power is, how in-tellectually challenging it is. Maybe we are having some chal-lenges but I tell you that in another 10-15 years, it will not be the case, because with the power of digital and electronic media, now everyone has become a journalist. I have been looking at the possibilities of holding an award ceremony in Nigeria in or-der to step up the game. Unless we Nigerians understand what it means to build a reputable industry, we will keep trying to catch up. Next year is also a milestone for AAAN. Even from the gov-ernment perspective, we should let them know the beauty and culture because it is an opportunity to also be an ambassador for

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your country. And they realise that it not all about 419 but people with intellect even if we don’t win an award, at least the image you create of your country because people are coming from all parts of the world. Sometimes you use platforms to project the image of your country. There is no APCON representation over there and if we don’t do it, nobody is going to do it. And no ef-fort is too small. There are lots of challenges but notice that if it is 40 years of AAAN come 2013, 60 years of CANES, we can

use the opportunity to project our image. I will have a legacy where by the time you finish the first tenure, people will see the good aspect of the advertising company. It is you and I that can build a reputable image for this country. Working with our 360 degrees of communication which includes the power of journal-ism, we all have work to do. Part of my legacy is continuity, like woman empowerment. Women can not afford to be lazy. My husband supports me and shows a lot of understanding for me to succeed.

The need for collaborative efforts We need to collaborate with our colleagues in Journalism, PR, Media and others, we all have a job to do. There is a social me-dia responsibility business model I learnt from my recent trip to Brazil. It was the case of the entire agency coming together to build up campaigns that help to address social issues: helping the security issues by being your neighbours’ keepers. Each agency under the body can make donations, and then, media houses ex-pose it on behalf of the government. So, it is a collaborative ef-fort. We can build Nigeria if we only put our motives right. We can learn from Calabar in their ingrained habit of cleanliness. The people there are part of Nigeria and we all need to learn

from them what they are doing right. If we push selfishness to one side and use sincerity of purpose, I am sure we can do a lot more The past administration of AAAN set up an Ad academy which is not in operation. Do you intend to get the institution off the ground soon?Fortunately, I have been on the executive board for the last two administrations as an executive member. I am aware of the proj-

ect of getting an advertising academy instituted. There are phas-es for this development. The first phase is getting the agencies to contribute seed money to start the project which was done about four years ago. The second phase which was done by the last president, which was the registration with the Corporate Af-fairs Commission (CAC). That is the part that has been done. We have the Board of Trustees. The challenge we are having is the format of the academy. Is it going to be a physical structure or e-learning? What is critical is that you want a sustainable model. That is why the present AAAN leadership is considering start-ing with e-learning, because these days, virtually everybody is going digital and breaking borders. However, the disadvantage of e-programmes is that those who are young and do not have access to computers may not able to do e-learning and the physi-cal structures cost so much to put up. I hope to bring to bear my experience from the Open University. With the government and advertising with the formidable team I have, I am sure you will hear the next phase of what we intend to do with the academy. We need people with outstanding professionalism and dynamism in the industry. I can assure you that we will leave a legacy and the advertising academy will get off the ground.

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Oke

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What really do you wish to change in advertising as the pres-ident of AAAN?It is critical for us to revitalise the impressions that both clients and colleagues who are in symbiotic relationship with us have of the association and our members. We have to instill confidence in our relationship with everyone. Every government must have a marketing mix and it is the marketing aspect of the government, private sector that builds the commercial bases which our business grows. So many things are abnormal in this country, especially in the advertising industry. It’s not as if we don’t know, but we sweep them under the carpet that it’s the Nigerian factor. That is what is killing us in the country. Another area I would like to work on is that with my experience in 141 Worldwide, I have found out that many youths find this agency very attractive because they feel that it is an exciting place to be and I would love to leave an inspiration for them and especially for First-Class students. They shouldn’t come into advertising because there is nothing to do. Those days are far gone. I will love to have a situation where we have a pool of young people who can take the industry forward. That means we have to work with the universities and training schools. But the most critical thing is that we can build a brand and let the people know why it is so important for selecting agencies. Another thing about the indus-try I will want to work on is this pitch fee issue. This pitch issue is still about marketing and brand-building. If you know you are not going to pay for a pitch then, select based on other method-ologies like credential selection process. Very soon those days of calling agencies for pitch and you don’t even deem it fit to com-municate to them why you won’t use the creative will soon be long gone. Sometimes, when you go into a pitch, you can waive a pitch fee if selected. However, when money is expended on expertise then, it is very honourable to pay for services rendered. Just like how honourable it is to pay tax and other human ser-vices. Through this process, we have a win-win situation.

How do you combine your responsibility as the Managing Director of your firm and President of AAAN?What I believe is that in any situation we find ourselves, there is always grace for the race. If you can inspire people and en-courage them, knowing that it is about team work, you would have done 50% of the job. Working as the Chairman of LAIF Awards, I was particularly encouraged by the support I got from clients and media houses to make things work. If you do things with sincerity of purpose, people will help you. Even my chil-dren support me all the way. With your immediate team, you can get things done. Also, people smell commitment, passion and sincerity of purpose, they will fall in line. I also find out that challenges make champions because it is going to be a milestone year. Hence, we can use it to revitalise the organisation and even put some impetus in the mix. With good health, relationship, mind, team, everything will be good. God will give me the grace to manage the two well.

As an advertising professional, what is your assessment of the industry in Nigeria?It is evolving. I think we are getting to a point where if you are not a true professional, you can not survive in the industry. Cli-ents are realising that it is best to work with people who know what they are doing. Also, we as professionals must continue to re-invent ourselves because consumers are more discerning and

open-minded unlike 20 years ago where everything went unchal-lenged. They have the right for making good choices because a lot more of the population have access to modern technologies. Who would have believed that someone hawking bread will be using a mobile phone some day? So, this tells you that the indus-try is changing. Statistically, over 70% of our youths make up our population and we are the largest African nation. So, anyone in this industry must be in touch with the trends to survive.

We are also going to see a lot of collaborations and mergers in the years ahead because it is not just about survival, it is about re-inventing the industry to be as competitive as any other global advertising community. Almost every big agency is represented in Nigeria but what you would not see is the true Nigerian agen-cy that brings in local nuances into global opportunities. When my agency worked with a global telecommunication brand, we brought to bear a good understanding of the local knowledge aside from the international standard of the ad. Now things are moving so fast that clients want specialization. So, they want a lot of agencies that can do things so quick and co-ordinate proj-ects for them. Demands are changing. Training and exposure are also very key.

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Oke

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Valentine Onwuka

Ghana Brand-Scope, specially packaged for

BrandiQ in Nigeria will every month, starting this August edition fo-cus on brand promises and brand behaviours of companies and products in Ghana. The scope will cover activities and ac-tions of corpo-rate individu-als, product brands, organi-sations, private sector engage-ments and pub-lic sector pol-icy decisions and implemen-tations. In this maiden edition, the package will start with a brief historical background of Ghana and some pictures of the rich tour-ism sites and destinations buried in the bowel of the country. In the next edition Brandscope will begin an incisive analysis of how brands in different segments oper-ate in Ghana

Brief HistoryGhana, a country on the West

Coast of Africa, is one of the most thriving democracies on the continent. It has often been re-ferred to as an “island of peace” in one of the most chaotic regions on earth. It shares boundaries with Togo to the east, la Cote d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north and the Gulf of Guinea, to the south. A recent discovery of oil in the Gulf of Guinea could make Ghana an important oil producer and exporter in the next few years. Ghana (formerly known as the Gold Coast) in 1957 became

the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence. Kwame Nkrumah, the nation’s founding president was over-

thrown in a coup d’etat in 1966, after leading the country for nine years. After the 1966 coup d’etat that ousted Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana was ruled by a series of military governments with intermittent experiments with democratic rule, most of which were cut short by military interventions. The latest and most enduring democratic experiment started in 1992 and it is what has gained recognition for Ghana as a leading democracy in Africa. The country’s economy is dominated by agricul-

ture, which employs about 40 percent of the work-ing population. Ghana is one of the leading exporters of cocoa in the world. It is also a significant exporter of com-modities such as gold and lumber. A country covering an area of 238,500 square kilometres, Ghana has an esti-mated population of 22 million, drawn from more than one hundred ethnic groups - each with its own unique lan-guage. English, however, is the official language, a legacy of British colonial rule. Most of the major international air-

lines fly into and from the international airport in Accra. Domestic air travel is

thriving and the country has a vibrant telecommunications sector, with five cellular phone operators namely MTN, VODAFONE, AIRTEL, TIGO, EX-PRESSO (CDMA) and GLO Mobile and several internet service providers.Branding in a nation like Ghana is

evolving at leaps and bounds. The Re-public of Ghana itself has a body man-dated to create and maintain the brand called ‘GHANA’. This body is known as BRAND GHANA.

This initiative has also given boost to corporate bodies and individuals to also think and act in ways that will enhance their brands.A brand is not only the company’s or individual’s character

and personality, it’s your structure. It’s what everything else refers back to. Branding in Ghana has been given a major fo-cus in recent years with Ghana hosting the Africa Brand Con-ference aimed at exposing African businesses to social media branding tactics to help them expand markets for their products and services in November, 2011.

Ghana Brandscope

ValentineOnwuka

valentineonwuka@gmail.com

*Cape Coast Castle (Central

*Kintampo Falls (BrongAhafo Region)

*Slave Market – Salaga (Northern Region)

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Heineken Sailing Competiton: Buliding Event Into Destination BrandingBy Fisayo Ajibola

Although the concept of branding has been applied extensively to prod-ucts and services, building events into destination branding is a relatively recent phenomenon in Nigeria. Destination branding, which is gradually proving to be an alternative source of revenue generation if fully tapped, is the process of enhancing the perception and image of a city or country to attract visitors, investors, residents and other viable resources. It is based on a strategic approach to public relations which seeks to solicit the goodwill of varied publics in the interest of a city, nation or particular destination.

Destination branding, according to analysts, means positioning the product, the state or the event into the minds of investors and tourists. Analysts say that “destination branding is a process used to develop a unique identity and personality that is different from all-competitive des-tinations”, noting that “branding is perhaps the most powerful marketing weapon available to contemporary destination marketers.”

The concept of destination branding, therefore, is the drive towards be-ing a unique State among states, unique product among products, unique event among events through the development of cultural, monumen-tal and other artifacts and institutions existing in that state. It can also be referred to as place or area branding. The concept is a destination’s competitive identity, which makes it distinctive and memorable. In Ni-geria, the Donald Duke administration was the first administration in the country to realise this. When Duke assumed office as the Governor of Cross River state in 1999, he came with a vision to make Cross River the destination spot of preference in Nigeria. This he achieved through the transformation of the Obudu Cattle Ranch with a cable car system and the emergence of Tinapa –a tourist Trade Centre of repute. The beautifi-cation of Calabar, the hosting of the annual Calabar Christmas carnival and the Obudu Mountain Race, were some of the achievements.

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D E S T I N A T I O N B R A N D I N G

Other states have, in recent years, followed the same route. Riv-ers state has initiated the Carniriv and Garden City literary fes-tival while Ondo state has promoted her cultural heritage via the Mare festival which is brandishing the Idanre mountain race, akin to that of Obudu mountain challenge. No wonder the Nige-rian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) Director-Gen-eral, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, has stated that tourism holds the key to Nigeria’s economic diversification as it is a veritable tool for stimulating rapid economic growth and development. Runsewe once said that the development of Tourism is a criti-cal sector of the economy, as it has assumed centre stage in the

economic agenda of most nations of the world.As a result of Africa’s rich socio-cultural heritage, the dual ele-ments of carnivals and festivals have come to be accepted and recognised as an essential and innate aspect of our culture and way of life. The Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) of 1977 was a tribute to the rich cultural heritage of Nigeria and since then, the use of festivals and carnivals as elements of destina-tion branding has not been well-exploited until recent times. The Abuja festival is another event that has attracted even foreigners to this country. Among recent activities that have attracted tourists and build-ing event into destination branding all over the world are the Heineken Lighting and Tarpon National competition. The 2012 edition was held at the Lagos Yacht Club, in Lagos, Nigeria. The event which attracted over 500 tourists had two overall winners emerged. Lloyd Crisp and members of his team emerged the overall winner in the lightening category while Nathieu Segun and his team won the Tarpon category. These foreigners, some of whom were visiting Nigeria for the first time were attracted to the serene environment of the Yacth club. The cool breeze, the clean and less turbulent water among others made the water a sailing point for the game. The most celebrated sailing competition, Melbourne Boat Show in Australia, is a source of income to the government of that coun-try. The event that takes place alongside other major Melbourne

events such as the Australian Tennis Open and Melbourne Cup that drive major economic benefits to the State generated more than $115 million worth of economic benefit, which compares favourably against the Formula 1 Grand Prix, which claims $110 million in benefits.

More specifically, the boat sailing show creates more than 1,400 jobs, while $1.4 million is paid in salaries, and more than 20,000 visitors do attend from interstate and regional Victoria who spend upwards of $7 million on fares and accommodation. This whopping amount when converted makes close to a state budget

in Nigeria! If the Lagos state government, the host of the annual Lighting and Tarpon National competition, can popularise and invest in the competition, the amount that will be generated can sure fix basic amenities such as water, light good roads that La-gos residents usually lack.

Making an event a destination branding platform requires clear strategic thinking - weighing up what can be offered against what other competitors are doing, what potential visitors are looking for, and most importantly how to adapt to change. Events have become an increasingly significant component of destination branding. Although, events are regarded as important contribu-tors to their host destination’s brand, the most effective means by which to leverage them in order to build that brand is poorly understood.

The need for an event to be differentiated from others, the lon-gevity/tradition of the event at the destination, cooperative plan-ning between key players and media support of the event all de-termines the success of making an event destination branding.

In Nigeria, it has been noted that event marketers and organisers have not yet learned how to synergise their efforts, and that there is a consequent need for further research into the best means to use events to build a destination brand.

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Brand Strategy: How MTN Maintains Consistent Telco Market Dominance.By James Agama and Nathaniel Udoh

A strong brand is invaluable in any market, whether young or growing and mature. This is so because the battle for the custom-er’s mind is intensifying every passing day. The most successful brands, the world over, understand this and therefore leave noth-ing to chance in ensuring they nurture and grow their brand. As important as other brand elements - advertising, public relations, distribution, and packaging are it truly does start with the brand strategy. It won’t be wrong to say that, behind every successful brand is a tight and solid strategy.

Managing a successful brand is complex. It requires a lot of commitment, insight, and a willingness to learn and adapt to the changing needs of the customer. This is even more demanding with retail or FMCG because of very dynamic nature of these markets, hence, marketers’ response must be quick to survive.Think about the telecommunications industry in Nigeria pre-2001 and how things have changed

Recall the unending queues at the various NITEL offices across the country and later the fixed Wireless operators and all the ar-rogance that came with being in a seller’s market. Also recall how we had to pay over N20, 000 for a SIM that is next to noth-ing today.

Times have changed, and so has the fortune of many players in the industry. Some have changed ownership many times over to stay afloat while others have simply closed shop.

MTN Nigeria which was one of the few businesses that took the risk of invest-ing in the country with all the attendant infrastructural challenges has not only re-mained but keeps defying the odds and setting new records at every twist and turn. One is most times tempted to believe that, everyone is on the yellow network.

MTN currently renders its services across 223 cities and towns, 10,000 villages and communities: and also making its presence

felt in the 36 states of Nigeria including the FCT. With over 40 million subscribers in just 10 years, there is obviously a lot to learn from this telecom giant in terms of market and business strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the key learning points from the MTN experience in the last 10 years and how this has helped the brand to leap frog competition. In doing this BrandiQ went to town to ask patrons/admirers of the MTN brand what their assessment is of the brand and how it impacted their lives. In doing this, we must let our readers know that this is not a market evaluation or competition analysis to determine which telecom company is better, preferred or premium but rather to give insights into the possible strategic inputs that must have given the brand a head-on following the understanding of its own consumers, patrons and the public. Key objectives of the study were:1. To uncover the reasons behind MTN’s dominance in the mar-ket in the last 10 years.2. Gauge the perception of the public about the brand and its services.3. Gain insights on brand performance vis-a-vis competitionSpeaking to over 400 professionals/subscribers in very engaging interview sessions, we discovered that the brand has remained focused on value delivery in many respects. The result of the study is summarized in Nigel Hollis submission of 5 key attri-butes of global brands.

PRESENCEMy 3 year old son automatically recognizes the MTN logo and immediately recites the tag line ‘everywhere you go’. This is typical of the level of awareness the brands has. The MTN brand is ubiquitous. Among the telecom companies operating in Ni-geria, MTN is the most known brand by respondents with 20% followed by Airtel with 18.75 % and others. On this score the brand lives to its promise of being everywhere.

Consumers who reach the presence level are actively aware of the brand when they think about the category, either because they have tried it (or know someone who has) or they have become aware of what the brand stands for through some other means.

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B R A N D I N F O C U S

RELEVANCENigel posits that brand relevance takes precedence over consid-erations such that the brand is not rejected on account of price. Relevance is a function of how the brand meets a specific need. In testing this, we asked respondents if they will continue to use the brand in future. 80% said they will continue to use MTN.

PERFORMANCERepeat purchase is a function of service experience. A lot of people believe that the MTN brand fulfils their basic expectation of product performance. 77.5% agreed that they were going to use MTN in the future. Wider network coverage, affinity and promos were some of the reason given for continuous usage.

Would you patronize MTN in future

ADVANTAGEIf people have developed a strong attitudinal relationship with the MTN brand over the long term, they must believe that it of-fers some advantage over competition. This advantage is driven by experience as against what we hear or see in their communi-cation. Areas where MTN has connected strongly with respon-dents’ passion in the last 10 years include Sports development, Fashion promotion/ sponsorship, advertising with good message appeal and wider net work coverage

BONDINGThis is the highest level of relationship that MTN has with its customers. Respondents believe that MTN delivers best on the most important criteria (coverage, quality of voice and data and pricing) in the category. People who are bonded to a brand are typically at least 10 times more likely to buy it as a result there is a strong relationship between the proportion of people bonded to a brand and it’s market due to reasons stated below

89

60

51 Wider network coverage

promos Because of using the line for a long time

To continue to participate in

CONCLUSIONi. No brand succeeds on trial and error. As Michael Eis-ner, CEO Disney puts it”A brand is a living entity - and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures” For MTN to continue leading the tele-coms market in Nigeria, respondents suggested as follows:-Reduce call tariff-Provide better service/network-Sustenance of CSR programmes-Sustaining support for the youth in music-Strong commitment to the development of sports in Nigeria.

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N O L LY W O O D D I G E S T

Nollywood’s impact has overtaken

football, Oil in Nigeria

- Desmond Elliot

Forthright, amiable, intelligent and industrious are a few adjectives that resonate when Desmond Olusola Emeka Elliot, one of Nigeria’s first-rate artistes, is mentioned. In this in-terview with BIODUN OBISESAN, Elliot reveals the immense financial gains and aesthetic reality of the movie industry if proper structures are put in place and also some of the challenges in the industry.

Origin of NollywoodBerthed in Nigeria in 1992, the Nollywood brand today owes its pro-jection and commercial resourcefulness to Kenneth Nnebue, who according to market consensus, pioneered this raving popular media brand with his movie, “Living in Bondage”. Nollywood became a huge commercial success because a few years after that time, the industry was raking in a gross estimate of about 200 million Dollars annually. Nollywood’s popularity exploded, cutting across the entire continent of Africa to Europe and North America. Since then, the industry has never looked back. The popularity of Nollywood in the film industry has never been in doubt. For instance, if you ask any one from any part of Africa whether he or she knows the country Nigeria, he is most likely to answer in the affirmative, at least in respect of the nation’s entertainment industry. When you probe further to know one feature

that distinguishes Nigeria, you will be shocked when he or she tells you, Nollywood. It is Nollywood, not football that is Nigeria’s biggest identity today.

Nollywood as Nigeria’s aspiring global brand to the Western worldMy point is that you must affect your immediate society before you talk about the Western world. You must affect their reasoning, attitudes and ideologies of your immediate society before reaching out to the West-ern world. One major achievement of Nollywood in this regard is that it has created a good image for Nigeria, and by extension Africa. All the former films that depict Nigeria as backward, savage and largely unre-fined has been replaced with positive sceneries of developments and marked sophistication. In terms of changing the perception of the west about Nigeria, yes, Nollywood has reached out to the world at large.

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Our story lines have progressed tremendously because plots saturated with rituals and all sorts of negative angles are no longer fashionable in the industry. Things have changed; so Nigerians should smell the cof-fee and give us the benefit of the doubt. This is an industry without any government support, and to make matters worse, Nollywood films are heavily taxed at cinemas. We (artistes) are the ones bearing the entire burden, and trust me, this is the only industry that has built a good im-age about Nigeria. Our oil has not done that. The potential in the film industry is so strategic to the extent that when one watches American films, one would never believe that America is evil in anyway. That is exactly how Nollywood portrays Nigeria. Hollywood has full Cor-porate and Government support. There are a lot of ideas that can be invested in the Nollywood industry to change lives positively. Nolly-wood is Proudly Africa and more so, Proudly Nigerian. So, instead of castigating it and bringing it down, all hands should be on deck to en-sure that it grows into a vibrant and competitive global brand.

Issues of creativity and original-ity in zNollywood film?There is a resurgence of serious-minded and dynamic producers in the industry, bringing fresh and contemporary ideas to the produc-tion of quality films. We are mak-ing progress in this regard, and in no time, films hinged on creativity and originality will be churned out in Nollywood.

Nollywood as a catalyst for change We have made a great deal of impact, especially outside this country. Nollywood has corrected the erroneous perception of the Nigerian people outside the country. Riding on the influence of famous Nol-lybrands, some foreigners try to speak like Nigerians. Nollywood has also exposed different parts of this country and cultures to the outside world. All of these go a long way in achieving that. For instance, you do not have to go to the United States to know that there is a city called Washington, D.C. The Nollywood brand has been an enviable vehicle for projecting the Nigeria and indeed Africa to the Western world. Even movie makers around the world are attracted to the industry because of its unique and smooth artistic delivery that has endeared the world to Nigeria in spite of our challenges.

Quality and artistic deliveryThe cost of producing the average Hollywood movie ranges from $50million to $100million, However, in Nigeria, we invest $8 to $9mil-lion (low budget, $3 to $5million) in making our Nollywood films. There is actually no comparison between the two brands. Although, we can grow in corporate sponsorship, which is what some of us are advo-cating. Also, it boils down to the structure of the distribution network of our films. If we have a structure, since Nigeria can boast of a popula-tion size of about 160 million, at least one should be able to sell 5mil-lion films. Where that is not achieved, then something is fundamentally wrong. The government should also endeavour to create an enabling environment and a structure such that when films are being released

into the market, they should go through specific channels. Nollywood’s profitabilityFilm business is extremely lucrative. I think besides the oil sector, Nollywood is one of the most lucrative businesses in Nigeria. It still boils down to the challenge of structure. I cannot invest N20million to N30million in a film and be assured of a profit margin commensu-rate with the money invested. Although, cinemas present as much as 50% ROI (returns on investment), how many cinemas do we have in the country to make us break-even? Also cinemas should show con-

sideration for low-budget films by quota in an industry that is budding. This is very important because the more cin-emas encourage filmmakers, the more it is for Nollywood practitioners to make and produce quality films; and it will profit cinemas to have more of our in-digenous films than foreign ones. Nol-lywood is Proudly African and indeed, Nigerian. Hence, Nigerians should rally around it by investing in a brand of our own because of the huge potential inher-ent in it. We live in a country of almost 167million people such that if one can sell 1million films, it is a done deal like oil. Bollywood of India became a global film brand with the aid of the Exim Bank (of India) when the demand for quality films became a pressing need. In Nigeria too, banks can also toe the same line of action so that we can compete favour-ably with other film brands in the world. Is it not bad enough that many of our se-nior colleagues of old are living in abject poverty? That is why we are working real hard to avoid such a fate.

Why I ventured into directingThere is a whole lot of work to be done in this field. Although, it was not a first love for me, I have grown into it because of the potential in it. This is a field that is so strategic in terms of churning out qual-ity concepts, ideas and film production with the capacity to change the perception of the people positively. In terms of filmmaking, there are Nigerians who are doing awesome jobs: Kunle Afolayan, Emen Isong, Teco Benson, maybe me (giggles)? It is going to take time to grow. We have moved on from using VHF to B2 cameras, Divide D Canon, XLR, Sony FX1, Red cameras.

Alliance with Gollywood and the possibility of Nollywood’s brand erosion Gollywood is an industry of only 22 million and yet, we sell more films in Ghana than Nigeria. We are not watching our backs. Why won’t I use a Ghanaian cast and crew when I know that I have a strong market in Ghana? But let us see far beyond all of that, I am a Pan-Africanist. I don’t think Nigeria alone can satisfy the needs of Africa; so we need to have a collective and united Africa. I just finished a project in Liberia; next month, another one in Serria Leone, Togo, and other countries. The issue of brand erosion in terms of the storyline can be properly ad-dressed by locating thematic concerns along appropriate geographical locales. In addition to all that, the world is now a global village and the language of the arts which is very strong in Africa should be a viable platform to communicate to the whole world.

Elliot

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I N D U S T R Y A M A Z O N

Alima Atta, Managing Director of Sesema PR, stands out as a woman of exemplary character and leadership. In this interview with Henry Otalor, the dynamic and inspiring Atta speaks on contemporary issues affecting the Public Relations profession.

BackgroundI hold degree (certificates) in French and Sociology from the University of London and Postgraduate Marketing Diploma from Kingston University, Surrey. I was in England for many years then I moved to the United States where I worked for AT&T which was the biggest telecoms company at the time. I worked there for a year and half before moving back to England where

with my telecoms experience I moved into Conference Produc-tion specializing in telecoms. I had to research ideas, come up with the issues, source for facilitators from telecoms companies across the world to come speak at the conference for free, as well as get sponsorship for the event, market the brochure and get people to attend. I believe it was from there that I identified my PR skills.

Some ups and downs as MD of Sesema PROne of the recent ups for me is winning the Etihad Airways ac-count. It was a good and highly competitive pitch in all regards. Another high point for me was working for Indomie Noodles. We didn’t pitch for it at the time but we were given a project to work on for six months after which we went on a retainer.

‘PR Goes Beyond Press Releases, Feature Articles’ - Alima Atta, MD, Sesema PR

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I N D U S T R Y A M A Z O N

We were small then so it meant a lot. Another highlight for me was getting the Edelman affiliation; they are like the largest PR agency in the world. When I met with them they were not really thinking about coming to Africa apart from South Africa where they have an affiliation. Talking about our downs for me will be one or two accounts that we worked so hard to get and yet lost. Coca-Cola account read-ily comes to my mind. We had scaled first round and made it to the last three and at the last stage we lost out, and that was very painful.

The State of PR in Ni-geriaIt is a lot better than when I started 10 years ago, I see people now looking beyond media relations and doing a lot more. I see a lot of good executions from agencies. But there are still these cowboys who have hijacked jobs from us and are not doing the work properly. These are smooth talkers who deliver very little. The second issue is clients’ level of understanding and appreciation of PR. A lot of them mix it up with advertising and some struggle to work with agencies versus having a communica-tions department in-house. Having said this, it is better than it was.Unfortunately, another side of it that I think needs a lot of work and improvement is the PR agency/media relationship. I feel we need to have a better understanding of each other. I am also still waiting for us to get to that point when agencies are paid a pitch fee like they do for advertising. This has only happened to me once.

The existence of mushroom PR agenciesI feel we are probably going through an evolution. Like they say, ‘the young shall grow’. Also, the fact that there more agencies means more choices for prospective clients – some older agen-cies will definitely feel the heat.

I have seen people who have worked in a PR company for two years and feel they are qualified to create and run an agency. If you are a one-man agency you just need one or two clients to sustain you – if this is all you want. These guys don’t need an office. They have a laptop and a phone; they go to meetings and apparently write press releases. The truth is that they are limit-ing themselves because they don’t have what it takes to grow a company and that is where the problem lies. Unless you want to remain this way which is ok, but if you decide to grow a com-pany that people will recognize and respect then there is a lot more you will need to learn other than just sending out press releases and feature articles. I have a feeling that a lot of their work is media relations. The Nigerian Institute of Public Rela-

tions (NIPR) and the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN), who are trying hard to shape the industry, should be the watchdogs for the sector. What that means is that if you are not registered with either or both bodies you should not be invited to pitch for major PR accounts.

PR Consultancies Vs Media Advisers Government would do better with a PR agency as against a media adviser. The media adviser is limited because all he will

do is advise on the media, but what about the other s takeholders /publ ics? Even though some of the people who work as media advisers are ex media pro-fessionals, they are only qualified in the media pro-fession which limits their performance as PR advis-er. I think the government should contract PR agen-cies to manage their PR activities just the way le-gal issues are treated. You don’t get someone who has worked as a court clerk to be your lawyer.

Government policies and the relevance of PR I notice it is after the fact that communication ex-perts are called in. This should not be. If the gov-ernment consults with a

PR agency well ahead of time, giving them in turn enough time to plan, they would have less friction in implementing various policies. PR consultants would be able to create a communica-tions plan to give the public information in stages. An example is the planned Third Mainland Bridge works. I had been following it on Twitter and what struck me is how close we were to that date and yet no proper plan of action had been put in place and communicated adequately to the public. All I saw was a lot of speculation. Some said it will be fully closed others said it will be a partial closure and of course with social media where every-one is a journalist there were different messages going round. I feel government could have started a campaign using TV, radio, and the newspapers months earlier, announcing what exactly is going to happen and details of alternative routes etc. Things like these are what make other countries look at us as under devel-oped and primitive.

Coping in an industry where it is presumably tdominated by men I do not have a problem with it though I have been to meetings where people are surprised to find out I am the MD – especially in the beginning. I have been to meetings where everything is addressed to the man I have attended the meeting with. The ma-jor issue for me is people thinking I am younger than I am.

Atta

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A U T O M A R K E T

Japanese auto-maker, Toyota, without a doubt, has successfully carved a niche for itself in the Nigerian auto market. Over the years, Toyota has made tremendous inroads into the country with its array of auto brands. This Japanese auto brand has been able to ingrain the essence

of her products in the hearts of numerous car users since it de-buted in the Nigerian market. As such, the brand has consistently dominated the auto industry as well as other foreign markets.

Consequently, research by BIQ has further revealed that the Toy-ota brand is the undisputed leader in the Nigerian auto market in terms of sales and consumer preference. The research sought to have a deeper understanding of the Nigerian auto market with a focus on brand preference of customers and reasons for such preference.

According to available statistics, Nigeria spends over N400 billion annually on the importation of cars. About 75% of cars imported into the country are fairly used, popularly known as Tokunbo. Nigerians in the middle and lower segments of the so-cial class go for fairly used cars since most of them are unable to afford new cars. While roughly 25% are brand new cars also known as “tear rubber”. Toyota accounts for the majority of cars in the country.

The research also revealed that Toyota is the most popular auto brand in terms of popularity of brand name. For 43.5% of re-spondents (car dealers and users) interviewed, the name Toyota readily came to mind when asked to randomly mention the name of any auto brand. Honda ranks second with 26.6 % while Nis-san accounted for 10%, Mercedes Benz 6.7%, Kia has 5.3% fol-lowed by BMW with 4%. However, other brand of cars outside the aforementioned accounted for another 4% of cars.

Research Reveals Reasons Nigerians Prefer ToyotaBy Ogbodo Adeshola

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A U T O M A R K E T

Popular Auto Brands

The research pointed out that Toyota accounts for the most num-ber of cars available in the market and also most Nigerians drive Toyota auto cars.

Car brands available in the market which most Nigerians drive.

Respondents identified Toyota as the most patronised /driven cars among Nigerians with 36.6 % followed by Honda with 28%. Closely followed are Nissan with 11.3%, Kia 8%, Mercedes Benz 6.7% and BMW 6%. Others accounted for only 3.4%.

Reasons most Nigerians prefer Toyota brand to others

On why Nigerians prefer Toyota brand of cars over other brands in the market, respondents identified durability as the first rea-son with 27.6%, fuel efficiency accounted for 24.6%, those that identified availability of spare parts (15.3%), easy to maintain was 8.6%, ruggedness of the brand accounted for 7.3%, adapt-ability to the Nigerian environment (5.3%), while 4.6% of the respondents identified affordability as the reason they go for Toyota cars.

The all-new 2012 Toyota Camry seems to encapsulate the values that Toyota has become known for. These include comfort, dura-bility, fuel efficiency, reliability, safety and affordability.

In Nigeria, it is no longer news that Toyota remains one of the most preferred car brands in the country given the proven ef-ficiency and preference for Toyota brands. For intending car buyers, the all-new 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid LE seems to be perfect fit for auto users who desire a fuel efficient and depend-able car.

The 2012 model demonstrates Toyota’s expertise in gasoline-electric hybrid technology, delivering a 43/39 mpg EPA fuel economy rating with a combined average of 41 mpg. 12 mpg in-crease in city driving and an impressive gain of 8 mpg for com-bined driving cycles, numbers that elevate the Camry Hybrid to again claim the title of most fuel-efficient midsize sedan.

The first half of the Camry Hybrid drivetrain is a new Atkinson-cycle version of the base Camry’s 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. (An Atkinson-cycle engine gives up a little power output in ex-change for improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions.) The engine produces 156 horsepower, nine more than the 2.4-liter in the 2011 Camry Hybrid. The larger displacement and more ef-ficient combustion boost torque to 156 pound-feet, 16 more than the outgoing model.

Exclusive interior design touches differentiate the 2012 Camry Hybrid from other Camry models. The Hybrid’s “metallic-tech grain” trim is a combination of a black dashboard with brushed-aluminum highlights and light gray or ivory seat fabrics. Unique to the Hybrid is a three-gauge instrument cluster with an ana-log fuel economy gauge plus, a power-flow display graphically shows energy flow, cruising range and real-time fuel economy.

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London Olympics: Global Brands Exploit Huge Marketing Windows.By Ntia Usukuma

Winning the right to host the Olympics is always an in-

tense marketing warfare. For London, being the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948, the chal-lenge from other aspiring cities was vicious and quite fierce. 6 July 2005, was the day when final selection was announced at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore.

Among the five top contenders, Moscow was the first city to be eliminated, followed by New York and Madrid. The final two cities left in contention were London and Paris. At the end of the fourth round of voting, London won the right to host the 2012 Games with 54 votes, defeating Paris’s 50. The closeness in votes underlines depth of competition.

Experts in brand development and Marketing have pointed out the strength and huge marketing opportunities that exist in the hosting of an important sporting event like the Olympics. Corporations spend billions of dollars worldwide each year on sport marketing, leveraging on the emotional connection/bond between sports talents and their fans to connect with millions of consumers. The Olympics being the biggest sporting event, usu-ally attracts the highest level of patronage from multinationals.

Creative marketing communication experts have also increas-ingly become adept at using this emotional bond as a platform to build patronage and loyalty for consumers, when they are able to convince producers of products or services to commit their funds in support of sporting activities and personalities. The practice of sports marketing also offers a platform for independent agen-cies specializing in sponsorship to work with these megabrands to provide actionable insight for key decision making on how to market their products and brands to targets.

‘Marketing through sports’ is a concept that that has been used since the 1980s, but that also has increased in importance in the last two decades, due to the growth in relevance and expan-

sion that the different types of sports have enjoyed since then. Sponsorship has even become a thing of status sym-bol among competing brands.

The case between Adidas and Nike is a good example. Positioning of products and services have made brands splash millions of dollars on sports activities just to gain prominence among its contemporaries. The 11 big-gest corporate sponsors have doled out nearly $1 billion for the rights to flaunt the Olym-

pic seal during the London Games. Interestingly, a substantial part of their marketing budget for this London games has gone into the social media. Coca-Cola is using social media to nudge Olympic fans to create and share music videos.

General Electric is using it to coax folks to improve their health. Visa is using it to nudge fans to post elaborate cheers for the athletes. Bob Liodice, CEO of the Association of National Ad-vertisers in the UK, speaking on the London Games declared, “we are going to see the use of social media surpass any sport-ing event in history,” Speaking with the strength of data, Marc Pritchard, Global Brand-building Officer for Procter & Gamble, a major Olympic sponsor revealed that for the London Games: Social media will account for roughly half of his company’s im-pressions.

Apart from the huge cash from mega sponsors, there is a big market for players in the Hotel, Aviation and Hospitality Indus-tries. From 27th July up to 12th August, an extra 1 million visi-tors are expected to flood into London; each visitor needing the essentials of food, drink, transportation, artifacts, gift items and accommodation. International and Local airlines, hotel chains, and middle- level players in these industries have positioned themselves to benefits from this event that happens once every four years. .

Antecedent has shown that host cities and by extension, the host country are always the biggest gainers among brands partner-ing with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Although

S P O R T M A R K E T

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the event will last only for two or three weeks, the prepara-tions for the Games begin almost as soon as the host city is announced. Construction in preparation for the Games involves considerable re-development, particularly themed towards sus-tainability. Indeed, The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, had revealed that his primary motivation for initiating and lob-

bying for the city’s bid was to develop the East End of London, neglected for over thirty years.

Records of IOC reveal that in the years of the Games in Syd-ney (2000) and Athens (2004), for example, the direct contri-bution of travel and tourism to gross domestic product (GDP) in Australia and Greece rose by 18.3% and 12%, respectively. 2008 saw the contribution of travel and tourism in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) after the Beijing Games increase by 6.4%, Therefore, despite the myriad of events occurring in London in 2012, including celebrations of the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth, the wedding of Prince Williams, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the nationwide Cultural Olym-piad, figures suggest growth of 7% in the direct contribution of travel and tourism expenditure in the UK.

The opening ceremony provides the biggest selling opportunity for the host city and country in the area of destination branding. With about 3 billion people glued to their television, no host city can ask for more. The 2012 Olympics displayed London and the UK on the world stage in an unprecedented manner and

the organizers did not disappoint. In about three hours, Great Britain displayed to a global audience the country’s rich history and heritage. The opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle, an Oscar-winning director of the film, Slumdog Millionaire, cost 27 million pounds ($42.3 million) to produce. and it ap-pealed to both the British audience and about two billion or more viewers across the world. This great ceremony that will, for ages, remain a reference point for all students of destination branding, culminated in a stunt performance of Queen Eliza-beth’s look-alike landing at the venue in a parachute just on time to officially flag off the event. . With premium tickets for the opening ceremony going for 2,012 pounds ($3,157) and a mind-boggling fee for the Television rights that increases with every game, each aspect of the Olympic Games will remain a money spinner.

S P O R T M A R K E T

Usain Bolt models jamaica olym kit by cedella marley

Team GB athlete Jessica Ennis pictured in Adidas Team GB London 2012

Gabby Douglas is presented with the first box of Corn Flakes with her picture on it hours after winning the gold medal in

gymnastics.