BusinessDay 21 Aug 2018

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Tuesday 21 August 2018 14 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 ‘Experiential marketing is biggest tool to engage consumers for value’ Owolabi Mustapha is the CEO of Maxxconnection, a five year old experiential marketing agency based in Lagos. Within five years of operation, it has made great strides in creating platforms for brands and consumers to interact with results to show. Owolabi said CMOs now appreciate the value experiential activity has brought to the marketing mix. He discussed other advantages and challenges the industry faces. Experts What is your assessment of the experiential marketing industry so far? Experiential marketing industry started very small some years back. Advertising and other segments of IMC had led the pack until about a decade ago when experiential took the center stage. Before experiential, CMOs of multinational were skeptical, about the value of experiential. But it is interesting to see these days that everybody now appreciates the value of what experiential has brought in the mix of marketing. Today, multinational now invest more in the experiential industry. Experiential was a major form of brands connection in 70s, then it disappeared to resurface again in late 90s, what happened? It was not experiential that time. It was just promotional activity as part of advertising. The traditional advertising used to have promotional part. At that time, there were not really media independent agencies. The practice then used to be a one-stop shop where advertising agency used to have media and promotion department among others. With the evolving and dynamic world, the media has to change direction. Because of the evolution of media in conventional advertising, they had to carve out their niche out of advertising. It is argued that experiential activity is expensive in the basket of media, PR, advertising and digital, do you agree? Experiential is about value and value comes with cost. The argument whether it is expensive or not should not arise because experiential gives the most value. Others don’t translate to target engagement as experiential does. The value of experiential is not quantifiable. Another challenge is that experiential is limited in scope and operates in a particular area, what is your comment on this? In marketing, you need to identify the challenges that you want to address. After that you still need to distil your target audience. If my target audiences are in a particular area, I don’t need to waste time and resources being everywhere. If your target Owolabi Mustapha audience is the entire nation, of course experiential marketing can address it. There are different strategic approaches to address different challenges. Majority of multinational companies have more of experiential agencies working for them than the other agencies. This is global phenomenon. You can employ advertising to reach to mass audience and use PR to allow people read about the product but when it gets to the point that the product needs to be dropped directly to the people that need the service, it is experiential. The value comes when the people engage the product or buy it. To what level would you say the government has engaged experiential firms to deliver services to the citizens? It is interesting to know that some of the biggest campaigns from government are handled by experiential firms. For instance one of the biggest campaigns in Lagos is the count-down in December. This is a multi-million naira project. The activities around it are driven by experiential firms. For us, we have worked with a couple of state govern- ments in Nigeria. We have done lots of political campaigns. Other experiential firms are doing other activities for other states. Experiential marketing is one of the biggest tools to engage people for value. What is the place of measurement in experiential marketing activity as clients are passionate about impact? There are different approaches to measurement. It depends exactly on what you are measuring. If it is data, experiential marketing delivers it and that is why multinationals are engaging experiential agencies. Secondly, there is the connection and the experience which experiential gives. We are bringing experience that is uniquely designed for a particular product on the table. I repeat that experiential is not about cost but the value. Unique experience that comes with experiential marketing lives with the people and it leads to uptake. In terms of creativity, experiential agencies are doing very well. They come up with ingenious creativity. We have done job for a client that involves brand engagement, sales and CSR at the same time. Any other IMC segment will address just one of them but we addressed the three challenges. The Nigerian Bottling Company campaign of taking people off the street was conceptualized by us. It was an idea of taking people off the street without applying force by giving them opportunity to sell NBC products and rewarding them with N1m. You established Maxxconnection 5 years ago, so what actually motivated you to start the firm? Movement is normal occurrence in human life either through challenges, the creative ingenuity and other couple of indices will determine movement. We looked at the industry and there were some quacks within the industry space, others are not tech driven and we thought that there was need for a unique agency that prides itself on creativity and technology. Our campaigns exhibit these features. Our Coca Cola campaign was example of really driving engagement. Your work on Campari drink was marvelous with Tuface as the ambassador. Could you talk more about it? In Maxxconnection, we take In marketing, you need to identify the challenges that you want to address. After that you still need to distil your target audience. If my target audiences are in a particular area, I don’t need to waste time and resources being everywhere research very seriously. Before any campaign, we engage thoroughly on research. Research gives you insight of what you want to do in the short, medium and long term period. We did extensive research on Campari as a brand. We looked at the journey of Campari and found that it was perceived as drink for the old. But these days, youth mix it with their beer. The campaign was driven on proper positioning of the drink as a youthful brand. Again, Trophy Beer is now everywhere but some years ago, it was perceived as Yoruba, Illesa drink. We are part of the success story of that brand today. The consumers are telling the story. How do you see experiential business in the next 5 years and where is the place of Maxxconnection? A whole lot of things will change for us and for the industry in the next 5 years. There will be a lot of strategic association and affiliation either local or foreign. Experiential will be placed in a better position as it is happening globally. There will be a lot of mergers and acquisitions in the industry. Also there will a lot of tech driven activities in the industry. Could you to talk more of your strength and challenges? We pride ourselves to be very young and this reflects on the employees. We believe that the power belongs to the youth and that is one of the strengths. We have also tried to retain most of our staff since inception. The challenges are enormous. It is a systemic and national problem. For instance the forex is not bringing strategic investment into the country. If this does not happen, it then limits most of the activities and number of clients for agencies. We have two clients that ought to have come in three years ago, and they are not certain about Nigeria’s system. Secondly electricity is a major challenge. It is costs us heavily to fuel the generator. There are a lot of unprofessional agencies in the industry and unfortunately, some clients still work with them because they charge ridiculous fees and some clients have got their fingers burnt. Financing and funding is a major challenge for the business as single interest rate is difficult.
Tuesday 21 August 2018 BUSINESS DAY 15 COMPANIES & MARKETS Company news analysis and insight Nigerian Development Finance Institutions total assets up 36.8% to N1.3trn Pg. 16 Ugandan authorities demand MTN listing on local bourse for license renewal CYNTHIA IKWUETOGHU Just like Nigeria, the Authorities in Uganda have asked MTN’s group to list some of its shares on the local stock exchange, Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) as a condition for renewing its operating license that is set to expire in October. Godfrey Mutabazi, head of Ugandan Communication Commission (UCC) told Reuters that Ugandans should be able to own a stake in MTN Uganda which has been in operation for 20 years in the country. “We are evaluating the conditions of the license renewal and that is one of the points we are discussing.” Mutabazi said referring to a possible listing on USE. In addition, when he was asked if the condition was a prerequisite for prolonging MTN’s license, he replied saying it was right. “The firm had not shown any resentment to that proposal”, Mutabazi added. The firm has dominated the market in Uganda throughout its two decades in the East African country. It is the largest telecommunications firm by subscribers, followed by a unit of India’s Bharti Airtel and other smaller players. Adesola Adeduntan, managing director/chief executive officer, First Bank of Nigeria Limited (third right) flanked by some FirstBank customers, Ayo Daniyan (left), Mayowa Daniyan (second left), Onyejekwe Nnaemeka (third left), Nicholas Okonkwo (second right) and Safiyanu Faisa (right) at the FirstBank Voice of Customer held with the Retail Youth segment in Lagos recently The listing of MTN’s shares would cause a boost to the local stock exchange which is still quite small, with 16 firms as of July 2014. The local stock exchange had not attracted an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in Six years since its last IPO of Umeme (UMEM), a power distribution company on the USE in 2012 until this month when a local drugs maker was listed on the exchange. “MTN is an investor here and they have been here for 20 years...to go beyond, I would argue that they have been here long enough they should be identified as Ugandans and the only way to do that is to list so that Ugandans can have a stake in that company,” Mutabazi said. “They should warm to the government desire to have some of their shares listed.” Mutabazi concluded. Recently, MTN Uganda has faced criticism on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook from some subscribers about data bundles getting used up quickly, does not download music and the firm not responding to their complaints. In May UCC said it would investigate MTN after criticism on social media about its mobile money policies. Mobile Money is a cell phoneborne service popular in Uganda and across East Africa that allows individuals to transmit cash between themselves and also quickly pay for goods and services. An extra headache for MTN and other telecoms in the country is also coming from a new tax measure on access to use of popular social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp which some analysts think will hurt growth in the sector. As part of the conditions of relinquishing part of MTN’s $5.2 billion fine, the company is expected to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The Securities and Exchange Commission said recently it is awaiting the papers of MTN. According to the group’s financial results in 2017, MTN Uganda has a subscriber base of 10.7 million. It’s revenues for the year also surged by 10 percent to $356.34 million. Lifemate offers 55% discount on products in celebration of Eid El Mubarak MICHEAL ANI Nigeria’s leading furniture manufacturing company, Lifemate Furniture is offering 55 percent discounts on its products as part of activities to mark celebration of Eid El Mubarak. The Ileya promo which is promises to reward customers this celebration period, from range of products carefully designed to make life better for Nigerians. Derek Dai, managing director of Lifemate Nigeria Limited, while unveiling series of exciting packages to celebrate the Eid El Mubarak in Lagos said the company will continue to put the interest of the Nigerian people first as the company itself is a Nigerian company even though owned by Chinese investors. The furniture giant reiterated its commitment and determination to setting the pace in pushing for economic and social development in Nigeria through job creation and quality training to its staff across board. “We are relentlessly committed to unemployment reduction as we currently have over three thousand employees on our payroll” said Dai According to Dai, potentials of Nigeria are clear for the world to see. “The country is blessed with natural resources that aids production and we as a company will remain here contributing our quota to ensuring that Nigeria achieve her development and growth objectives” he concluded. The company in its culture of moving round major Nigerian cities for trade exhibitions is currently in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital for trade exhibitions tagged “2018 Lifemate Abeokuta Trade Fair” The exhibition took off 17th August and will run till 31st of August and as usual with trade exhibitions, all products on display comes with 50 percent discount during the fair. On his part, Midian Nanle the Ogun state chairman of union of civil engineering, construction, furniture and wood workers in Nigeria described Lifemate as a leader in the furniture space in Nigeria, offering quality office and home products that can stand the test of time. In the last 18 years the company since its entry into the Nigerian market has not looked back in driving innovation for the development and manufacturing of high quality home, office and outdoor furniture; sanitary wares; kitchen cabinets, massage chairs and other interior décor materials. Lifemate in line with its policy of easing access to its products has showrooms in Oregun, Lekki and Shoprite in Ikeja all in Lagos. Other showrooms are in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Warri. Use, payment for music royalties to be enforced in new copyright agreement Efforts to ensure that creative and talent is adequately rewarded in Nigeria’s music industry has received a boost with the reaching of a pact and signing a copyright contract for the exploitation of music in broadcasting and payment of royalties. The Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) and the Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN), recently reached a pact and signed a copyright contract for the exploitation of music in broadcasting and payment of royalties. The contract was signed at a ceremony in Lagos between the managements of the MCSN led by its chairman, the legendary reggae Artiste, Pupa Orits Williki, and the chairman, BON Copyright Committee, Kenny Ogungbe, who stood in for BON chairman, John Momoh respectively. Ogungbe explained that by the agreement, BON has been granted what can be described as a blanket licence by MCSN for the use of music in broadcasting by its members. “BON as a law abiding organisation has signed this agreement today in fulfillment of the law regarding the use and payment of royalties for the exploitation of music on our platforms. And it is hoped that by this agreement,a glorious dawn is here for our musicians who have lived in penury for too long”. On his part, the chairman of MCSN, Orits Williki described the event as historic and declared that by the signing of the agreement the good times are here for musicians who have hitherto lived in penury. “I have always maintained that Nigerian musicians have no business with poverty if our copyrights are properly enforced. By this agreement,MCSN will ensure that all musicians are adequately rewarded for the exploitation of their w o r k s ”. The CEO, MCSN there invites all Musicians, including owners and managers of works as well as young, established and rising Artistes to join the Premier and Authentic copyright society with the largest Repertoire as it restructures to connect creativity with prosperity.
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BusinessDay 21 Aug 2018

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