An eclectic review of MARKETING EDGE Q2 Virtual Summit
By Tunde Animasaun
The second edition of the popular MARKETING EDGE Quarterly Virtual Summit was held recently and like the previous editions, its echo is still reverberating in the Nigerian integrated marketing ecosystem and beyond.
Consistent with the aim of thought leadership, knowledge expansion and thought engagement on contemporary issues in the industry, this edition of the Quarterly Virtual Summit featured three well-tailored themes which are: Changes in Consumer Behaviour: Delivering Better Customer Experience Amid Pressure to Deliver ROI; Increased Digitization: Keeping Up with the Shifts and Rising Demands; and Cross-Cultural Branding & Communication: Why Marketers Should Establish Cultural Bonds With Target Audiences.
In his opening remarks, John Ajayi, CEO and Publisher of MARKETING EDGE magazine and convener of the summit, expressed deep appreciation to the panelists for sharing their precious time and knowledge. “Choosing you to lead the conversation is an indication of our regard for your erudition and professionalism,” he said.
Laying the foundation for the intellectual engagement, Ajayi averred, “In furtherance of our commitment to the promotion of the brand idea, we organized this virtual summit with a view to expanding the frontiers of marketing and advertising knowledge while also promoting the business of brand management and management of brands.
“The themes of the Summit are significant because we are living in a fast changing world. This season is particularly different because of the changes that have occurred in the global and national economies. We are not unmindful of the changes in the integrated marketing communications and the competitiveness among stakeholders in the ecosystem. While advertisers are battling with issues arising from poor capacity utilization due to the vagaries of the operating environment, consumers are also becoming more resistant, restricted and apathetic towards product patronage.”
Tolu Medebem, President, Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN) and COO/ Lead Consultant, Aster Integrated Marketing Limited, in her paper on “Changes in Consumer Behaviour: Delivering Better Consumer Experience Amid Pressure to Deliver ROI”, emphasized the need to understand what consumers are consuming in these uncertain times and how it impacts businesses’ ability to defend their ROI.
According to her, it is very important to understand marketing evolution and how this affects consumer behavior. “We live in an economy where suddenly prices have tripled and in some cases, quadrupled. This will definitely affect the consuming pattern of the consumer.”
She also advocated a balance between brands’ quest for return on investments and consumer experience. “Most companies really care about and defend these three verticals the most: revenue growth, profit growth and price growth. Any activity that does not contribute to these core goals immediately is going to be on the chopping block soon, especially given the current economic and social uncertainties.”
“The significance of adapting to the changing consumer behaviour and finding ways to deliver unique experiences while remaining accountable in terms of ROI cannot be underestimated,” Mrs. Medebem added.
Noting that the imperative of consumer experience in driving revenue is a matter of absolute importance, she cautioned however that: “Consumer experience is invaluable; it is crucial to communicate its value to stakeholders and demonstrate how it contributes to sales and profitability. Any activity that doesn’t align with these goals should be reconsidered in the current business landscape.”
She concluded by stressing that businesses cannot afford to operate as usual, especially as consumer behaviour continues to evolve. She maintained that understanding the consumer journey and leveraging data and insights are critical for businesses to deliver better experiences and achieve their desired ROI.
Similarly, Kemi Fabusoro, the Executive Director, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), believes that, for brands and business owners to evolve, they have to follow trends, optimize their marketing strategy to suit today’s consumer as they are more informed, cautious and careful to choose value over loyalty. According to the marketing communication expert, consumers are now interested in brands with corporate responsibility and sustainability plans to drive Return on Investment (ROI).
Speaking on the same theme, Fabusoro said that gone were the days when consumers were the ones trying to catch up with brands, adding that brands must follow consumers across their various touchpoints and identify with their passions to get a share of their wallet.
Her words, “Business has evolved over time and so consumers’ habits and attitude are expected to also evolve. Consumer behaviour mirrors trends and happenings within the society and economy. For instance, if we put Nigeria in perspective, the inflation will definitely affect the purchasing power of consumers and then it will affect the type of goods or services that people chose to have.
“Also in post-Covid era, you will see that the behaviour of consumers has evolved. People are moving from just the brick and mortar store to do convenient shopping and online shopping. People are more interested in what the brands have to say beyond marketing campaigns. There is a lot of dynamism in marketing strategy, so things cannot remain stagnant. Every brand and organization must evolve or die.”
“There is a lot of social commerce going on Facebook, Instagram, etc., as people hardly go to stores these days as much as they should. Raher, they buy things on e-commerce websites like Jumia, Konga and the likes. This means that lots of brands need to plug into this and not just make social media platforms a place to communicate, but where people can make purchases,” Fabusoro noted.
She added that after talking about all the differences in consumer behaviours it is important to discuss how to deliver consumer experience (CX) amidst Return on Investment (ROI).
“The truth of the matter is that most people are not about price anymore, they care more about experience with the brand and the value they get for their money, because price loss or gain doesn’t give consumer loyalty. Lots of the time when you position your brands in terms of cheapest you are not going to get large loyalty once people can afford to buy something that offers much better value. If you have a competitor that offers the same product at very good quality, the only thing that will differentiate you from the competitor will be the experience consumers have using your product.
“This is why 45% of businesses are saying in the next 5 years, the focus is going to be on consumer experience. So, it is clear that if you can deliver on business value, ROI and consumer experience then your business will be successful,” she explained.
The need to reimagine and align traditional marketing processes with digitization was the focus of Damilola Owolabi, CEO of The Dami Owolabi Company’s presentation. According to the highly cerebral marketing expert, marketing professionals need to tap into the vast technological opportunities available to drive the much-needed transformation.
In his presentation on one of the themes of the summit, “Increased Digitization: Keeping up with Shifts and Rising Demands”, he urged brands to latch on the extraordinary benefits of measuring the efficiency of their marketing campaigns and how they translate to growth.
“We are totally in a different era right now; we are in a fast-paced environment where the power that used to be in the hands of brands has moved to the hands of consumers. So, they are now hyper-connected and can dictate how things should be.
“The world of digitization makes us the driving force for business success and a lot of businesses need to latch on to that to be able to better serve their customers, drive return on investment and, most importantly, to stop winking in the dark. A lot of businesses still wink in the dark. To stay competitive, these demands of customers need to be met and businesses must leverage data and digital space to be able to achieve this,” he said.
shedding more light on the power of technology in transforming and shaping the future of marketing, he listed measures to be adopted and these include; re-imagining traditional business processes, developing a strong online community, embracing data-driven marketing, staying agile and adaptive as well as investing in talents and training to enable them to offer better consumer services and increased growth.
“Digitization has become a transformative force in the marketing landscape. Businesses must adapt to shifting consumer behaviour, leverage emerging technologies, harness the power of data and analytics to deliver exceptional customer experience and increase efficiency to stay competitive. Digitization is not just a trend; it is the future of marketing. Embrace it, stay agile and leverage its power to drive success in your marketing efforts,” Owolabi concluded.
For Munachi Nwoke-Ekpo, the Chief Operating Officer, Anakle Nigeria Ltd., more than 60 percent of consumers are now on social media hence its importance as a marketing channel. However, he cautioned that marketers should know that marketing on the different social media platforms requires strategy. It is, therefore, important to know the best strategy for a particular social media platform rather than working on assumptions or generalization.
Given the quality of papers delivered and the level of participation by industry stakeholders, the initiative has met its agenda-setting mission. No wonder the Publisher, Mr. Ajayi enthused in his opening remarks, “As an agenda-setting publication, stakeholders expect much from us especially at this critical time. This is our little way of stimulating meaningful and result-oriented conversations in the IMC as it recovers from its myriad of challenges. It is also a way of accomplishing our self-appointed task of promoting the brand idea.”
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