BusinessDay 06 Mar 2018

Tuesday 06 March 2018
C002D5556
BUSINESS DAY
27
‘Who you know’ is no more a key factor in business – Lanre
Stories by Daniel Obi
Media Business Editor
Foundation of some business
axioms is shifting
grounds, according to
experts. For instance, do
you wait for your time
and opportunity or do you create
the opportunity. Secondly, is getting
business or employment still
depends on who you know?
Whatever side, arguably one
belongs to, Lanre Adisa, Chief Executive
Officer of Noah’s Ark Communications
Limited, Nigeria’s
creative agency said recently that
securing business, to some extent
depends on who you know but
that belief is changing fast.
“That maxim is changing but
not completely eliminated. But we
can see that supremacy of knowledge
is getting more pronounced
today”. He told BusinessDay recently
that companies are investing
more on their people and the
workforce is demanding commensurate
knowledge from partner
agencies.
According to him, who you
know is still a factor but it is not
the key factor going forward from
what is happening in the industry
today.
“These days, it is about what
agencies and people bring to the
table as the market-place is becoming
unforgiving than it used
to be. Therefore, it is not enough
to keep agencies on the basis of
knowing them”.
Lanre who said Noah’s Ark
values its team said the company
entered the creative industry
in 2008 during the dominance
of big agencies “but what set us
apart is power of idea and what
we can offer and ability to find
partners who believe in that
philosophy.
“It was important that we really
could show people what we could
do as we did not have money. Our
industry as some point used to be
who you knew. I am not saying that
is over, but that is changing so fast”.
While some writers strongly believe
that getting business largely
depends on who you know, others
said it depends on what you know
rather than who you know. In his
article: Networking is not about
who you know, it is about who
knows you, Ken Sundheim of KAS
Placement Staffing, writes that if
relying on someone else does not
work, how do you get to where
you want to be in your career? The
answer is simple. Start subscribing
to the attitude that it is who knows
you and what you can do for them
instead of the “it’s who you know”
frame of mind.
Marketers need to prepare as fusion between
technology, humans is inevitable says PHD
PHD, a global communications
planning and media
buying firm, has launched
its seventh publication,
Merge, which dwells on how technology
prepares marketers and
advertisers for the future with
regards to brands and audience
engagement.
Wayne Bishop, Managing Director,
PHD Johannesburg, who
unveiled the book entitled “Merge:
The Closing Gap Between Technology
and Us,” at the 2018 Social Media
Week in Lagos, said that looking
at path towards the future, there is
likely to be a fusion between technology
and humans which may free
us up to live more creative, more
efficient and better connected lives.
He stated that as technology
advances, marketers and advertisers
should look forward to how
they adapt to changes in technology
and its application to brands,
consumers and people within their
environment.
He said the five evolutionary
stages in Merge include surfacing,
organising, extracting anticipating
and elevating. These stages illustrate
our journey from putting information
up on screens, to organising
that information via search engines,
to managing to make sense of all
this information as it is extracted.
Finally, we look to how AI helps
anticipate our needs which ends
with us merging with technology,
elevating us as a human race.
He said Merge is relevant to
Nigeria because of the changes in
the economy, the strong entrepreneurial
culture and the growth in
technological development over
the years.
At the event, Dozie Okafor,
Managing Director, PHD Nigeria,
said that at this present stage of
technological development, people
interact more with brands online
and other digital platforms as indicated
in Merge.
He said the book helps marketers
and advertisers understand the
different evolutionary stages as well
as their relevance to businesses. It
also enables them to understand
how they should perceive things
and the evolving role they have to
play if they want to remain competitive.
Okafor explained that Merge
was launched at the Social Media
Week because PHD felt it was a
platform for a diverse audience,
not just marketers and advertisers,
but the general public, to enable
them understand what the future
is all about.
“But also important is the theme
‘Closer’ for this year’s Social Media
Week, which is in line with how
technology and human beings are
coming closer till they merge. “We
felt the event was a good platform
to catapult the entire conversation,”
Okafor explained.
Drawing on insights and foresights
of experts, including worldleading
inventor, author and futurist
(and writer of the foreword) Ray
Kurzweil; Facebook COO Sheryl
Sandberg; futurologist Ian Pearson
and Microsoft chief envisioning officer
UK Dave Coplin, Merge sets
out how technology and human
evolution has progressed since the
1950s and what the world will look
like over the next 25 to 35 years.
Fero Mobile introduces Royale Y2 Smartphone into Nigerian market
Fero Mobile, the growing
smartphone brand in Nigeria,
has introduced the
stylish Royale Y2 smartphone
into the Nigerian market.
The new device allows users express
their personal style with a
2GB.RAM that supports multiple
apps and games without any difficulty.
“The new Royale Y2 exemplify
the capabilities of the Fero brand
and our continuous efforts at helping
consumers achieve more in
terms of work and leisure. We have
packed a lot of cool features into
this device to ensure that it is not
only useful for work but also a great
lifestyle companion.” said Phiroze
Seth, Director, Fero Mobile, Nigeria
and Emerging Markets in a
statement.
“We have put so much quality
and class into this device to ensure
it exceeds the expectations
of the tech savvy Nigerian youth.
The Royale Y2, like every other
smartphone from Fero Mobile,
is designed give users excellent
experience at an affordable price,”
he added.
The Royale Y2 is a mid-range
device with premium features. It
runs on the Android 7.0 Nougat
operating system with a quad-core
processor that supports multitasking
at super processing speed.
It boasts a 13MP rear camera for
quality photos and an 8MP front
camera that captures stunning
pictures even with low lights.
The device 5.5-inch HD IPS
display screen offers great colour
performance and 75% less light
reflection for excellent readability
under sunlight while its 3.900MAH
battery guarantees long hours
of gaming, video streaming and
internet surfing on one full charge.
Noah‘s Ark Communications plans
big for 10 years in business
…Brings renowned Goodvertising, Thomas Kolster, to Nigeria
Noah’s Ark Communications
Limited, Nigeria’s
outstanding creative
agency and multiple
award winner at local and global
levels, has concluded arrangements
to celebrate its tenth year of business
operation. The agency started
operations on February 11, 2008.
Speaking on the historic milestone,
the Chief Executive Officer
of the company, Lanre Adisa, described
the achievement as a product
of immense support received
from clients who have remained
a strong foundation for the company’s
sterling performance in the
last ten years.
Adisa, who lauded the huge
contributions of the clients to the
company’s success story, noted
that the opportunity and open
mindedness to creative ingenuity
by them are clearly evident in the
lives of the brands the agency has
been privileged to partner with
them to build. Adisa, who singled
out some clients for believing in
the agency, noted that such belief
has translated into huge gains for
the brands. He thanked the Peak
Milk team particularly for giving the
agency the wing to fly at the beginning
with the agency’s first brief,
stressing that such opportunities
contributed in no small measure
to what the agency has achieved
till date.
He equally showered praise
on the management of Tolaram
Group, manufacturers of Indomie
Noodles, for entrusting the brand
in the agency’s care noting that such
huge responsibilities have helped a
great deal on the agency’s growth
over the last ten years.
He further expressed his appreciation
to all the clients that have
at one time or the other entrusted
their brands in the care of the
agency. He gave special recognition
to clients like Airtel, Three Crowns,
Nokia, Kwese TV, SFH, Heritage
Bank and Hypo among others.
He also commended the management,
entire team, both present
and past, for contributing their
quota towards the growth of the
company.
Commenting on the achievements,
the agency’s Executive
Creative Director, Abolaji Alausa,
described the last ten years as
highly eventful and rewarding
for the agency. According to him,
within the short time, the agency
has succeeded in establishing a
strong footprint in the creative terrain
through the supremacy of its
ideas and quality of works delivered
to the clients.
The high point of the celebration
is early April when a renowned author
and advertising guru, Thomas
Kolster, from Denmark would be on
ground to deliver a lecture on the
topic titled: Goodvertising – your
voice & work matter.
A roundtable discussion featuring
industry experts and thought
leaders comes after the keynote
lecture.
Thomas Kolster describes himself
as a man on a mission; one of
the early pioneers in the do-good
space, coining the term Goodvertising
to describe the changing advertising
landscape that’s become a
movement in itself. As a seasoned
advertising professional counting
more than 16 years he’s a vocal
voice for advertising and brands
as a force for good and his book
“Goodvertising” is the most comprehensive
book to date exploring
communication for good.