Creativity powered by technology is the future of agencies – Agnes Ailuelohia
By Felicia Nwosu
The COVID-19 pandemic has irreversibly changed the advertising landscape, therefore agencies, in particular, should recreate customers’ experience to correspond with changing customer expectations. In fact, creativity enshrouded in technology is the future of today’s agencies.
The above assertion was made by Agnes Ailuelohia, the Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of First Katalyst Marketing Limited, while chatting with MARKETING EDGE in a recent interview.
Assessing the marketing and advertising ecosystem in view of the impact of the new normal, the experiential marketing expert noted that, today’s consumers have high degree of expectations, hence the need for agencies to embrace digital apps in their journey towards consumers’ satisfaction. She urged them to adopt convenient business models by integrating and leveraging technology to help foster competitive advantage and also build better products and services for customers’ engagements and interactions.
Citing Peter Drucker’s maxim, “innovate or die”, Mrs. Ailuelohia mentioned that, technology is the panacea for any business growth. “If we look at the world today, it is all about digitization. If there is one thing that Covid-19 has taught us, it has more or less accelerated the digital agenda for us. In the same way, agencies need to position themselves in such a way that there is a lot more in terms of innovation and thinking outside the box. It is about creatively steering adaptive strategies that work for us.”
She added that digital technology has the potential to boost more inclusive and sustainable growth by spurring innovation, and helping agencies to confront and recover from the pandemic, which has disrupted economies and societies globally.
“It is about digitilising operations for adequate information on data analysis and consumer insights, as well as developing skill set in a bundle of talents, data, technology and creativity for the future. Agencies need to move from the point of waiting for a brief, to a point of getting briefs by themselves through data, which is basically insights.”
Speaking on decline in advertising spend, the general manager explained that ad spend had already dropped pre-Covid-19, adding that clients’ disposition for now is to meet up with the lost transactions. “The decline began before Covid-19, indicating that a portion of the advert budget is below the marketing budget. This is because a lot of clients are looking at how to make new contacts and make quick return on investment for their brands. Clients are a bit more cautious; however, they are also trying to gain the time lost.”
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