DDB Lagos undergoes reengineering to remain relevant and drive growth
DDB Lagos, the flagship agency of the Casers Group has recently undergone business reengineering process as it seeks to maintain its relevance and grow market share in a constantly evolving market environment.
DDB Lagos’ Managing Director, Mr. Ikechi Odigbo told MARKETING EDGE that the shift in focus was inspired by market driven insight received from interaction with brand managers and marketing directors, and it showed that clients were no longer content with the traditional agency model. He added that they wanted an agency that could provide solutions beyond the realms of advertising.
“They said that the single most important quality they require of their agencies was a strong strategic partner to their agency. The second priority was to have agency that could respond In a timely fashion to their briefs. Thirdly they wanted award winning creatives,” Odigbo said.
The discovery quickly got the leadership at DDB Lagos to rethink their system and processes with a view to creating structures that was truly modern and better positioned to deliver value added products and services to clients.
“We began to interrogate the way we recruit, how our departments were structured. We came to a conclusion that we would no longer just be an agency, but that we would be a creative business solutions provider,” DDB Lagos MD said.
In making that slight shift in positioning, DDB Lagos realised that it needed to acquire the look and feel of a consultancy firm, while still retaining its creative DNA. Ikechi noted that this meant the agency had to be more proactive and embed itself in the clients business with a view to gaining deeper insights and becoming a strategic partner.
Speaker further he said, “We want to understand our clients business to such an extent that we could be indispensable strategic partners. It wasn’t just enough for us to go and take the brief.
“We are not telling them we are now a consultancy, but the entirely feel, the tone, the engagement and interaction with our clients must feel like they are engaging with consultants who are ready to make quality inputs and provide though leadership on all market issues that impacts their brands,”
In order to rise up to this new challenge, DDB Lagos has begun to recruit differently. It began to take in brand managers from the client side. It also widened the scope and spectrum of recruitments into the creative department.
“It wasn’t just enough for you to be an art director or a copywriter, we wanted people who thought laterally, so we got in a lawyer into the creative department because of the interesting way they thought, we got in an architect and the like and they kind of provide a new and fresh perspective into solving problems.”
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