Technological disruption dominates conversation at MARKETING EDGE Summit
By Oghale Mafuru
As the world continues to evolve rapidly, occasioned by new tech solutions, technological disruption has been identified as a major shift in the Integrated Marketing and Communication ecosystem which will be continuous, accelerated, and overwhelming.
This was the focal point at the MARKETING EDGE Annual Stakeholders’ Summit which was held over the weekend at the prestigious Harbour Point Hall, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Delivering his welcome speech, on the summit theme: “Technological Explosion in the Digital Age: Imperatives for the Marketing Communications Industry, Mr. John Ajayi, Publisher and CEO of MARKETING EDGE Publication and convener of the Summit, stated that the theme of the Summit is geared towards challenging marketing professionals to rethink their strategies by employing new technological innovations to improve operational efficiency.
While recounting his experience with technology and the different generations of technological disruptions, George Thorpe, Industry stalwart and Managing Partner, Market Space Nigeria affirmed that technology has fostered operational excellence, built better business structures, and improved results.
He said: “If you take away my laptop from me today, I am functionally useless. I have not had a secretary for about 15 years because of the time it will take me to dictate, I would have typed out what I wanted, saved it, and sent it. I wouldn’t have been able to do all these at a personal level without technology. That is how enabling and powerful computers have been in seizing us, taking over our lives, and dominating us in everything. It is just mind-boggling. My laptop is everything”.
Emeka Okeke, Lead speaker and Chief Executive Officer, Media Fuse Dentsu International, while stating that technology has made marketing a key factor in the larger business ecosystem asserted that its adoption is not just for survival but a future proving mandate for businesses.
“Ignore technology, ignore survival. Brand yourself a dinosaur. We must deploy technology to get a sense of what is happening around us” he said.
According to him, the technological revolution has permeated every aspect of marketing communication facilitating easy interaction and engagements.
He said: “We now have digital profiles of people we are targeting. It creates reactions for us. We track reactions in the ways of likes, dislikes, and anger through the use of technology designs. You can track what people are saying to what people are transacting. In media measurement and evaluation, technology has moved us from delayed reporting, delayed campaign reports, and delayed proof of flight reports. Today we have near real-time tracking across multimedia channels. For brand activation, we now have Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Metaverse to the point that today, we have hybrid events, activation, and experience which combine the physical with the virtual realities. So, brand experiences that you do today on the streets and you don’t have a layer of technology, you are as good as a dinosaur”.
On her part, Tolulope Adedeji, Marketing Director, AB in Bev, submitted that there is no category, brand, or region where digital cannot be a transformational tool for your business today and urged marketing communications professionals to harness the huge potential in the different tech solutions to optimise their marketing efforts.
“We have to get out of those stereotypes thinking that digital or tech is only for some kind of brands. Tech can be applied to any kind of industry. The world has changed and we need to open our eyes as marketing professionals if we don’t want to get stuck in the past. We are still very fixated many times. We need to get out of these and evolve our market”.
She advised professionals to utilise social listening tools to track comments and reactions to effectively turn them into resources that can advance brand perception and equity.
“As you think of your brand, start to think about applications and these tech platforms for your brand. Using data is as important as the generation of data. A lot of us generate data daily from our customer records but what do we do with that data? It is time to think beyond selling and how your campaign brings your brand purpose to life. How can you use your brand to solve the problems that consumers are facing today through the campaigns that you run such that it makes an impact beyond, ‘I ‘ve done advert’.”
The Summit also had a panel session where industry intellectuals which include, Franklin Ozekhome, CEO &Head of Future at Identiture Africa, Idu Raphael, CEO Poke Limited, Chibuike Goodnews, CEO Dochase Adx, Omotola Elatuyi, Marketing Director, Pladis Global, Charles Otudor, Group Principal Consultant, Adstract BMC Limited, Preetesh Sewraj, CEO, the Loeries gave varied perspective to how professionals can effectively deploy technology for the attainment of their marketing objectives.
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