Today's Market is a Stage where Advertising is still the Hero - 2008-05-19

After working in Nigeria as Regional Director, EXP for two years, Carol Abade, the new Chief Executive Officer, EXP Group, returned to South Africa with a mission to spread the EXP gospel. In this interview with Goddie Ofose and Adekunle Omodara, she speaks on why brand custodians still prefer advertising to any other form of marketing communications.

What are the new structural changes in EXP today?

From our group perspective, our chairman stepped down in December. We have been basically in the front of business for the past 25 years and we are in the most viewed field, depending on how you will look at it and currently the new chairman and I moved into the position of the new group chief executive in January this year. We also have a couple of changes at the top. We got a new marketing and creative director and a new chief executive officer for the South African business and South Africa still remains our headquarters. So, I am now currently based in South Africa while Uzoma Onwuchekwa joined the team in Nigeria as the managing director. So that was another change in the business, otherwise on the whole and to a large extent, we remain the same.

Let us look at the Nigerian market before you left. This is the first time a Nigerian would have an opportunity to manage Nigerian business under EXP; what informed this development?

From my EXP perspective, it is about performance and as long as you have got the right persons doing the right job and he has the right skill, we will consider him for the job. So, it was not the case of EXP producing a Nigerian managing director as if there has been an effort not to have a Nigerian. By the time the opportunity came up for someone to move in when I was transferred to South Africa, we had to look at different kind of candidates and see who the best person for the job was. The fact that he is a Nigerian today is a pure coincidence.

We understand that EXP operates a group with three different companies. How does this work in Nigeria?

EXP as a leading brand, is basically an experiential agency focusing on experiential marketing. That has always been our focus and that will continue to remain our focus. We have production portfolio as part of our business; that is GAP. And GAP is fully technically compliant in the business and what it does is that it has technical equipment and staff for handling large events. It also handles more technical side of logistic and operations within Nigeria. BrandFoot Print is a 360 degrees agency but we are involved with other partners within Nigeria. It is not solely an EXP company, we have a stake there. BrandFoot Print has just been launched in Nigeria and I wouldn't call it a part of the group. It is simply another agency that we have investment in.

After spending about two to three years in Nigeria, how important is EXP Nigeria operation to the group?

Nigeria plays a very important part of the group and we look at Nigeria as a region in itself, simply because of the size and magnitude of the business opportunities and possibilities. If I have to look at it in terms of billings or revenue, if that is what you are looking at, it would probably become the largest contributor to the business. If you look at it in terms of staff, it is probably the best in terms of quality and quantity. Nigeria will probably be at the top when putting other regions side by side. So it depends on what particular element you are considering and what you are measuring at. Nigeria’s operation is very pivotal to the sustenance of the business in the group.

There is no business we do in other countries that we don’t do in Nigeria. Nigeria is an important part of the group like I said earlier. It is as important as Nigeria is in Africa. You know you can say that you are in Africa but not in Nigeria. And in the same way, from an English perspective, you cannot say you have African or Pan-African business if you do not have a stable and sustainable business in Nigeria. So from that regard, it is very important.

Back to the industry, what is the role of experiential marketing in the brand building process?

I think a lot has been said about experiential marketing in the last couple of years both from an African perspective and as well as from global perspective. You look at places like America and Europe, the trend is to move towards experiential and experiential is really about ensuring that your designing strategy can personally catch a person's lifestyle, the point where they have reference to their brand that is deeper than just what they see. So, it is really about enhancing their experiences to that brand from a personal perspective. And you cannot replace that with any other marketing element. There is no other marketing business that you can replace that with. So everybody is talking about 360 degrees, talking about experiential, talking about emotional differentiation, talking about segmentation; all of these are focused on ensuring that you are now talking to people in an emotional way, that they are able to recognize the importance of the brand in their daily life and that is really what EXP do. We design and create strategies for delivering brand experiences. And if we can deliver that, then we know we have changed the way people think about brands. However, the debate now is about what is good experiential and what is bad experiential and that means if this thing is definitely going to change the perception of consumers towards a brand without causing any damage to the brand then it remains our focus. Our key focus for the business is experiential and that is what we are good at. The fact that we now offer 360 degrees approach to our line of business is simply saying that marketing is about integration. And that is good news.

How do you find a strategic connection between experiential and the concept of 360 degrees?

I think 360 degrees is a total and positive campaign. So, 360 will include elements of experiential and traditional media which comprises radio, TV, print and outdoor. That is what 360 degrees is all about. And experiential is yet a part of 360 degrees. The different integration process does not make the game new, except that marketers can now move to all of these things we have talked about. We don't need to stop doing them. And that is the direction the world is going from the marketing perspective.

From what you have just said, is your agency considering core advertising in its business model?

Not at this stage now. That is not our core competence. Media is not our core business, and there are enough print and media businesses out there for us to be able to work with without having to create another one. It is not in our core business, our business is purely experiential and we will remain focused.

But we understand that EXP did some creative works for FCMB some time ago?

That was not advertising. It is not your normal advertising. We handle their events, we handle their IPO too and that's it. They have two advertising agencies. They have CentreSpread and STB. However they (FCMB) don't look at us as advertising agency at all. They treat us as experiential firm and that is what we represent.

You seem to be stressing that experiential marketing is very important to the brand building process.

Exactly.

But many corporate organizations in Nigeria do not use it as much as advertising, PR and Media?

The market is at different points of development and needs in terms of both market sophistication and consumers behavior, so there is the likelihood that the market is a stage where advertising still remains the hero in marketing communications. And all brands have to go through it. All brands have to create images. All brands have to do with literacy. So, it just depends on the different positions you are and what the objectives of your brand is at that stage. And therefore you will decide what your emphasis is on in the marketing mix. So in that case, brand owners would forever place more emphasis on advertising than any other marketing mix element. But in actual sense, this does not make advertising more important than experiential.

At what point would somebody actually appreciate the power of experiential marketing over advertising.

At the point that you try it. Sincerely, when they try it then they will know it. That is why we say there is nothing as ever so relenting with experience.

We have had instances where experiential agencies do jobs for competing brands and EXP was in the centre of it recently. From the experiential point of view, is it ethical and professional to do competing brands?

I would answer that in two ways. First and foremost, from my EXP Nigerian experience, I understand that the trade is passing off. We have had a long standing business relationship with so many of them. In fact, in Nigeria, we have a long standing relationship with Nestle, having gone quite a long mileage for many years. Now, is experiential a medium as radio, or television? Definitely no! If you choose EXP as a medium, that is purely on experiential aspect, it is the same way you would put an advertisement on a radio and whether it is an alcoholic beverage or water, you can still fix the same ad on another radio for the same category. So when you choose to use a medium, that is not the problem. You could easily put on television as a medium, five different competing brands and there will be no problem. When you don't choose the experiential in a way that is designed for you from a strategic point of view, then it becomes a problem. That is why we offer exclusivity to our clients all the time. So when we offer our clients exclusivity, we will not go and handle an exclusive brand for another client even though in your immediate country, we will work with different brands. For example, in Ghana, I would work for Maggi, and in Senegal I would work for another culinary. I have a long standing relationship with Nestle in Nigeria too. I have a long standing relationship with Unilever on culinary also and there are different markets, different targets, different opportunities, and different people. So there is no issue. And in several of all the countries we are operating, business extension is said to be autonomous but within one country, like in Nigeria, where EXP had a long term exclusivity with Unilever, I would not go and offer exclusivity to another client in the same category. You know, we don't work like that

People still believe that the so called Nigerian experiential agencies do direct marketing. What is the difference between experiential marketing and direct marketing?

I don't believe so. There are so many elements of direct marketing that can be found in experiential. I think that this is where the definition goes wrong. Experiential is really about creating experiences that enable a consumer to interact with your brand and looking for those lovable opportunities in your brand. And direct marketing can be a direct mailer. Is that experiential? I don't think so. So if he says they are actually doing direct marketing, he is going to give us the definition of direct marketing. A direct marketing is a one-on-one live interaction. And it creates experiences. Yes, it is experiential. Television can be experiential, as soon as it engages consumers and asks consumers to do something they understand, it is experiential. It doesn't have to be an event, it has to be something that is engaging enough; it has to have an interaction medium and to ensure that your experience remains memorable. So as long as we can do that in creating an experience within that particular campaign, that is experiential marketing.

EXP here in Nigeria seems to have suffered exodus of staff. There have been insinuations that your organization does not have adequate succession plan. What is your take on this?

I don't agree to that because EXP has been in this business for the last 10 years and we still have managers at the moment. In every business, there will be those who will go and those who will come and that is fair. You know, I will imagine that the only reason that they leave to go and set up their own agency is because they learnt something where they were. So for me, that is fair enough. If you come into the system and you learn something that you didn't have before and you are able to use it to enhance yourself, then that is a positive development. We have been able to do a good job. Succession doesn't all have to be within the business, it can be outside. How do I mean? When someone learnt something and decides to establish a firm, that is part of succession. But within the business, from Nigerian perspective, I see a very clear succession plan. We've all had a succession plan; whether you want to stay long enough to wait for it or not, it doesn't matter. There are many examples of it everywhere in the business. Examples of people who came in at junior level and went for training, and experiencing, and then got promoted are now very core members of the management too. Names are there and examples abound.

Today, experiential agencies can compete, in number, with advertising agencies. Any concern over the explosion currently experienced?

What it means is that the industry is growing; and as long as the industry is growing, you cannot have all the business in the world. That is a sign that shows that people are attempting to look at marketing in a different way and clients are recognizing the importance of it while the business is receiving opportunities in it too. I don't see that as any problems in the market neither do I see it as a threat to EXP. We have the focus in the business, we understand what our focus is, we understand our vision and we understand where we are going to and we also understand that competitive market forces only make the market stronger and better and to such a case, competition can only be good. But the fact that there is a host of other companies coming up to do the same thing means that there is a sign of recognition that the forerunner did something right.

What are the innovations that have been introduced into this line of business in the last five years?

It is not so much about innovation in the industry; it is about being creative in the way you utilize your campaigns to ensure that the brand gets the maximum benefits. And every brand has a different strategy just as every market has a different sort of life cycle. So what has really happened, which I see as a big change is in the area of integration, in the area of putting the whole together to create a bigger proper experience. That's what really changed. Previously, the experiential agency was bridged separately, advertising was bridged, outdoor was also bridged separately. And everybody was doing their own separate thing. And bringing them together was a problem but now the client now brings all these people together saying, hold on, I want one single trade, one thought process that delivers full and more impact. And that is the change we are seeing in the market today that never existed before.

As an experiential marketing expert, what has been your most exciting experience in Nigeria?

It was very brilliant. Personally, I am much enriched. My few years are up and it is time to leave but I still have very, very good learning experiences in having worked here for a few years, both from business perspective in terms of every business done in Nigeria. Some are professional perspectives, some are marketing perspectives, in terms of the changes that the market is going through. They were great. I really had some great time. The Nigerian market in fact remains the most vibrant in terms of opportunities and possibilities in the whole of Africa I can tell you that.

So what were your major challenges and achievements while you were here?

Big time! The market is always full of challenges. Infrastructure challenge versus working in a country where things happen in a much more simpler or systematic manner. So they are those sorts of challenges. Such as hiccups experience in our telecommunications services, energy crisis that has resulted in poor power situations in the country. These two are the major challenges that cause difficulty in doing business in Nigeria. I think from my success perspective, my last few years were hugely beneficial both for the business and for my personal growth.

You were once of the opinion that importation of ideas to manage local brands is unhealthy; do you still hold that view?

Yes I still feel the same way. Everything has started to be localized. You can have global thinking, but localize your thought. You must be able to implement it in a way that make it local to people. So we have passed the stage where we are cold and rinsed from the outside market and expecting that consumers profile are going to be exactly the same. You don't get the same consumer profile of a working mother who has to take her children to school and who has to feed her family, that profile of a mother is completely different in South Africa and completely different in Kenya, because they both go through very different life experiences. So you cannot assume that anymore. And I think that nobody is doing it anymore. You know, everybody has realized that localization is the best solution to any marketing idea and I have not in the last couple of years seen a brand taken some of these steps. I am not sure there is any such market as that in the world again.