Marketers must put consumers above all else – Wulff-Caesar
By Felicia Nwosu
Chris Wulff-Caesar, theCluster Marketing Director, Sub Saharan Africa, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc.,has urged professional marketers to place utmost priority in ensuring that the consumer is at the centre of every marketing strategy.
This was his position during his presentation as the lead speaker at the Advertisers’ Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) 2023 Marketing Masterclass, which was held on the 19th of April 2023, at Regent Hotel, Ikeja GRA, Lagos.
Exploring the theme: “Fundamentals of Marketing – Business Processes, Marketing Comms and What the Positioning of a Brand Manager Should Be”, Wulff-Caesar noted that it is the role of marketers to put the consumer above all else, and align with the sole purpose of creating optimal customer experiences.
Citing one of Theodore Levitt’s popular quotes, “brands start and end with consumer”, theFrieslandCampina WAMCO marketing director maintained that marketing professionals must go beyond profit to provide customer-creating value satisfactions through their brands.
“The purpose of your business is to create and keep a customer or a consumer, there can be no corporate strategy that is not fundamental to aid marketing strategy. There is no business if there is nobody who is ready to pay for a price. Therefore, marketing is a business that starts and ends with the consumer,” he said.
The marketing icon noted that penetration is the route to sustainable growth, and to achieve this, he urged marketers to make sure that the brand is accessible to buy by building physical and mental availability through distinctive access to enable consumers to find the brand and at the same time make it top of mind. This, he added, will in turn drive growth and create lifetime value from consumers.
He cited Paul Polman, the former chief executive officer of Unilever, who said, “I don’t think our fiduciary duty is to put shareholders first. I say the opposite, what we firmly believe is that if we focus our company on improving the lives of the world’s citizens and come out with genuine sustainable solutions, we are more in sync with consumers and society and, ultimately, it will result in good shareholders returns.”
Wulff-Caesar corroborated Polman’s quote thus: “This means consumer and society on one hand and shareholders on the other hand. We have been given a brand to manage, who do we owe our allegiance? Bottom-line is important and it is the consumers that will drive the bottom-line as owners of the business. So, we have to make sure that what we have been entrusted with is really what we actually do with our businesses.”
He agreed that the unprecedented impact of the Covid-19 led to a change in consumer behaviour and at the same time accelerated a huge shift in online purchase, thereby translating the mobile phone as the only screen or first screen. He, therefore, urgied marketers to realise the power the screen possesses.
Also, in leveraging technology, the ace marketer insisted that it must be focused towards consumer needs and impact their lives. He reaffirmed that every mission and action must start and end with the consumer and extend to humanity.
“Even in this changing world, let’s remember that people matter. Technology cannot match human nuances. The fundamental business of marketers is how you make people feel. A lot of consumers don’t even understand tech, but how it makes them feel. Digital transformation is only 20%, if people don’t change, then technology is not beneficial. It must be 80% people and 20% technology to ensure that people really have the impact. Tech is important, but it must serve mankind,” he said.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Comment
No comments found.