Digital moves things fast, gets agency business done in real time – Bunmi Oke
By Ibidunni Banjoko
Before, it looked like a sacrilege if you had a meeting with a client and couldn’t meet up. Now a client would rather set up a Microsoft Team or a Zoom meeting from anywhere around the world and achieve a better result. Thus, digital moves things fast and gets agency business done in real time. The creative business has evolved pretty fast and it is interesting. In fact, the Covid-19 pandemic can be seen as a problem for an opportunity; what I mean is that the pandemic has made all of us more digitally savvy.
Bunmi Oke, the CEO and Lead Consultant of Lady Bird Limited, made the above assertion during an interview with MARKETING EDGE, Nigeria’s foremost brand and marketing magazine.
According to her, the planning to get jobs has also changed, as what is most important is that many creative agencies have gone digital because things move very fast with it.
“I can remember I started learning about paint brushes when I started my PR practice. It was such a tedious task getting an artwork done. But nowadays, I found out that there are some software called pre-made artwork and canvas which people can download. People can take photographs with their phone because they are digitally up to standard if you have a good quality smart phone.
“One thing I think has happened in the industry is that, once upon a time, agencies in Nigeria were more foreign led, but now there are lots of well-trained and more exposed Nigerians. We have a lot of agencies that are Nigerian led but have foreign affiliations, and that’s what I call intellectual, creative and strategic development of people, places and the profession itself.”
For Oke, the digital evolution/revolution is exciting, and it’s encouraging young people to come into the creative business. “We are now positioning local players; whatever we do locally must be able to meet both international and local standard. There is a lot more consumption of local nuances in commercials because people want to see themselves in marketing communication materials. That is why we use a black person in a country that we have black people unlike those days when you can use a white person from somewhere. That does not resonate with consumers anymore; the blacks are proud of their colour.
“However, they also realize that consumers want international standards. They want the best, therefore I think it makes the industry more exciting, more challenging and things are moving very quickly.” Speaking further, the agency boss argued that the big structured multinationals understand what advertisers and marketing communication is about because they have standardized their communication.
“You must understand their brand profile, brand guidelines, because they are not debating about what a brand is – they already know what the brand is. Just make sure that you know what brand resonates with whatever strategic plan they have for themselves.
“As a business you must understand the brand asset, there is a lot of permutation that goes with brand building. That is why you will find out that if you buy a multinational brand like a soft drink in Nigeria, if you go to Togo, it’s the same colour and look, if you go to Germany it’s the same. That is standardization.”
The marketing Amazon stated that the entire eco-system of producing marketing communication is quite sophisticated when dealing with multinationals, adding that in terms of our delivery, a lot of agencies need expertise in order to work with multinational companies.
“This means you must understand how the eco-system works; you must have the right personnel to deliver to them on time and in full. We might not go back to the old normal, but we all have to adjust to the new normal,” she concluded.
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