By Abimbola Mohammed

Stakeholders in the media and advertising sector as well as brand owners, have lauded the recent launch of the OMD Consumer Intelligence (OCI) platform by MediaReach Limited.

According to them, data is the next gold that determines the success of any marketing campaign, and guarantees return on investment. They noted that having access to data is not enough, but that having accurate and recent data like the OCI will help redefine marketing strategy, and give marketeers real-time information.

The OCI has a distinct uniqueness which is the currency of the information on the platform. The launch of OCI alongside mediaReach OMD 25 years anniversary was held at Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.

Speaking with MARKETING EDGE at the unveiling ceremony, the professionals noted that the industry, more than ever, need innovative tools like OCI to cater for the needs of brands and marketers.

Lanre Ashaolu, Managing Director, Four Pulley Limited, noted that OCI will help the media and advertising industry bridge the gap between brands and their consumers. “OCI is a very welcome innovation in the media and advertising landscape. The reason decision making should be based on accurate data, factual piece of information is to guide marketing and investment. When marketing decisions are made based on data that is factual and accurate, it helps to infuse the return on investment of brand owners, and when that ROI comes in place, it can lead to the growth of the brands in the market place and as well as aid them to keep moving and achieving their overall objectives.”

He added that what OCI will do is to give all brands and media owners the opportunity to evaluate their options before them to make the most informed decision during the execution of marketing campaigns.

“What makes the OCI unique and different from every other research and data platform is because it’s collaboration between mediaReach OMD and GeoPoll, they both have their strength. OMD is a global player in media buying and planning ecosystem and GeoPol is known for mobile research, so combining both insights together help achieve more when compared to standing alone as research companies,” Ashaolu said.

On her part, Cassandra Uzo-Ogbugh, External Comms and Partnership Manager, Reckitt, Sub-Africa, said: “Brand can leverage on platforms like OCI in many ways and one of the major ways to use this platform is when you want to buy media. You have to put into consideration when you want to buy it, when your consumers are online or offline, where and how they consume media. It can also help brands to know how consumers are currently responding to societal factors and they will be able to make informed decisions.”

In the same vein, Kunle Faloye, Head of Marketing and Strategy, Emzor Pharmaceutical, said: “The OCI tool is a fantastic innovation the OMD has put together to make accessible real-time consumer insight and chopper insight available to decision makers when it comes to brand management and business management. It is a recent data and it is also data on the go. So it is a good one from them. They just need to build on it to make it relevant as time goes on and also improve on data collected.”

He added: “This tool stands out among other data platforms, because of the recency. It is a fresh insight and this is because consumer lifestyle is very dynamic and is changing as fast as possible. This tool will provide accurate recent data on the go.”

Eki Adzufeh, Executive Secretary, Media Independent Practitioners’ Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), aligned with other stakeholders to laud the new innovation. He said: “OCI is a fantastic idea – the world today has to go via innovation, and media buying and planning is not an exception. That is what sets people in this industry apart. We have to be ahead of the game because clients want value for every kobo that they spend. OCI is a fantastic thing.”

He added that what stands OCI apart from other research platforms is the recency, because some other platforms may take months, years to roll out results.

“In 24 hours, you already have your result. The 24 hours result will be important for brands to begin to tweak, to make sure things work well.

“The qualitative aspect of the data helps a lot, because you are not only making sure that you get all the numbers, you have the feel of what people want, like their psychology, how they do things. So attitude is important,” he said.

Brenda Nwagwu, CEO, QTV Media said: “The OCI tool is a game changer; this is because there is noting like having relevant information and having it at the right time to make decision based on accurate data. This tool is very important in marketing because of the value that it is adding in the industry.”