The invisible work that builds great brands – a decade of learning in marketing
By Damilola Dania
When people think of marketing success, they often picture the big moments—the viral campaigns, award-winning ads, and creative executions that capture public attention. But behind every successful brand is a body of invisible work—the deep consumer insights, strategic decision-making, and cross-functional collaboration that drive sustainable growth.
The first time I realized I had no idea what I was doing in marketing, I was sitting in a meeting filled with people who spoke with confidence about market penetration, pricing elasticity, and consumer insights. I nodded along, barely understanding half of what was being said.
Like many young marketers, I had joined Unilever excited about launching campaigns, telling compelling brand stories, and influencing consumer behavior. I thought marketing was about creativity—big ideas, striking visuals, and memorable taglines. But in that moment, I understood that marketing wasn’t just about creativity; it was about business growth, psychology, and executional excellence.
That realization shaped how I approached marketing. It made me ask better questions, pay closer attention, and unlearn many assumptions about what makes marketing truly work. I had joined Unilever as a young marketer, eager to launch campaigns, tell compelling brand stories, and influence consumer behaviour.
I thought marketing was about creativity—big ideas, striking visuals, and memorable taglines. But as I sat in that meeting, overwhelmed by discussions of sales projections and category growth, I realised that marketing was not just about creativity. It was business growth, psychology, and executional excellence. That moment of uncertainty stayed with me.
It made me ask more questions, pay closer attention, and unlearn some of the things I once believed about what makes marketing truly work. Over the last ten years, working across brands like CloseUp, Lux, Lipton, and Knorr, I have come to understand that the most important marketing work is often invisible.
It happens long before a single advertisement is created and continues long after a campaign has ended. When I first worked on CloseUp, I thought my role was to help create campaigns that resonated with young Nigerians. The goal seemed simple—make oral hygiene exciting.
But I quickly realised that the challenge was much deeper. It was not just about making toothpaste appealing. It was about understanding the cultural and psychological factors that drive consumer decisions. Why did some people prefer herbal toothpaste over fluoride-based options? Why did affordability influence trust? Why did some consumers associate certain brands with social status?
For the first time, I saw that marketing was not just visibility—it was also understanding behaviour, shaping perception, and aligning creativity with real business impact. The best marketing decisions were not the ones that simply looked good. They were the ones that made sense—financially, strategically, and psychologically.
That understanding became even clearer when I moved to Knorr and took on a leadership role. We had an ambitious goal—to double the brand’s market size in five years. At the time, I thought the answer lay in creating a bold, high-impact campaign, one that would capture attention and drive results. But the deeper I got into the work, the more I realised that brand growth is not driven by campaigns alone.
A great marketing plan does not mean much if the supply chain cannot guarantee product availability, if the sales team is not aligned on distribution, or if the pricing strategy does not match consumer affordability. Marketing success does not happen in isolation—it requires every function, from marketing to sales to operations, to work in sync.
So instead of focusing solely on media, we went back to the fundamentals. We studied how Nigerian households make cooking decisions, the role of affordability, and how to createdemand while ensuring execution matched consumer needs.
We took the time to refine our strategy, aligning insights with execution, making sure that every part of the business was set up to support growth, not just visibility. Two years later, we had already achieved our five-year goal. And it was not because of one great campaign. It was because every part of the business was aligned—marketing, sales, supply chain, finance.
Everyone was working towards the same goal. It made me realise that marketing is often judged by what people see—the advertisements, the influencer partnerships, the sponsorships. But the brands that truly win are the ones that get the invisible work right.
It is in the deep consumer research that tells you what your audience actually needs, not just what you think they do. It is in the product availability strategies that ensure a brand is not just marketed well but sold effectively. It is in the uncomfortable conversations between departments to make sure everyone is working towards the same goal.
A brand does not grow because of a single campaign or a single function. It grows when every team operates with a shared purpose, when marketing, sales, supply chain, and finance are working towards the same outcome. The best marketing is not just what consumers see; it is about how the business functions behind the scenes to deliver that experience.
Working in Nigeria’s marketing sector has given me a front-row seat to both the challenges and opportunities in the industry. We are a country of brilliant, creative marketers, but if we want to compete on a global stage, we must go beyond creativity and focus on long-term strategic brand-building.
Marketing in Nigeria is unique. We have some of the most creative minds in the world, but if we want to compete on a global stage, we need to shift our focus. It is not just about creativity—it is about building something sustainable. It is about: • Strategic brand-building: Marketing efforts should be tied to long-term brand equity and measurable business impact.•
Data-driven decision-making: The best marketing strategies are rooted in consumer insights and analytics, not assumptions.• Operational excellence: When marketing, sales, and supply chain do not operate in sync, brand growth suffers. I have seen the potential, and I am excited about what is possible for Nigerian brands. With the right mix of creativity, data, and collaboration, there is nothing stopping us from building brands that shine, not just in Nigeria, but on a global stage.
Looking back on the past decade, three lessons stand out the most:
1.Trust is built on transparency. Being open with your team—sharing both the wins and the challenges—creates trust and makes everyone feel part of the journey.
2. Data without courage is just numbers. You need the courage to act on the insights you have, even when it is uncomfortable. Bold decisions backed by data are where the magic happens.
3. The only constant in marketing is change. Marketing is about experimenting, failing, and trying again.
The brands that grow are the ones willing to pivot, adapt, and learn as they go. If I had known this at the start of my career, maybe I would not have felt so lost in that first meeting. But perhaps that feeling of uncertainty was exactly what I needed.
It forced me to learn, to ask better questions, and to understand that marketing is an infinite game, one where you never truly stop learning. And that is what makes it exciting.
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