Re: The De-mystification of Brand Soludo

Joe Anatune
Quite often, I find time to read your weekly. I do appreciate the huge effort you have been making to provide conceptual underpinnings to otherwise mundane marketing and communications issues. No doubt M2 is eminently in the race to fill the gapping hole for a nationally acclaimed source of information and ideas for marketing and related disciplines. I have been told that marketing practitioners and students hold your weekly in high esteem and I suppose this may have come about as a result of the sweats of your founders.
Your cover story of March 8, 2010 titled the de-mystification of brand Soludo was a marked departure from the stuff your paper is known for. The arguments advanced for what you consider as the failure of brand Soludo were unduly sensational and illogical that the inference a discerning mind can draw is that the story is a continuation of the hatchet job of those who feel intimidated by the presence of Soludo in the political arena. Yes, it was quite obvious as one reads through that those who stringed it together laboured very hard to clothe it with some semblance of intellectual finesse.
First, one wonders what purpose the story sought to achieve. If it were meant to enrich social marketing knowledge and practice, then the cover story failed woefully as the writers displayed so much laziness in seeking materials that would have helped them do a good work. Without any fear of contradiction, the core essence or DNA of brand Soludo is the ability to dream huge dreams and the proven capacity to bring them to fruition. Even his opponents acknowledge this fact and everyone who dreams and thinks Anambra cannot wait to see the Anambra that will be the African Dubai Taiwan- ADT for short. This has been and remains his central vision for his home state and in the course of the electioneering campaign, he toured the 177 towns in the state selling same. It is possible that if the writers had bordered to know, they would have found out that the message was received with so much excitement. As it is, the bar has been raised and Ndi-Anambra will never be the same again.
Now if I may ask, why did we witness in that election the highest turn out of voters ever recorded in the history of a state nay the country? Simply because Soludo raised the bar of political discourse and re-ignited in the people the hope that an amazing future is possible and achievable. The fact that these people were denied the opportunity to vote does not in any way detract that the people are locked into the ADT vision.
I have gone through the above to correct the misleading opinion being canvassed in the story that the hood makes the monk. No. On the contrary, no brand ever survives without a clear vision of its reason for being within its industry and category. You may not also be aware that as brands extend their territorial boundaries and segments, there is always the need for differentiation or modification.
If I may remind, it always pays to think global and act local. Brands like Soludo even go a step further by creating their category by bringing something novel and fresh to the market place. Without sounding academic, I stand to be corrected if any brand without a compelling functional attribute has ever made significant progress. Evolving a compelling functional benefit that will make consumers buy and buy again is the starting point in brand building before the other tie-ins such as emotions, personality and source of authority can start to make any sense.
Unfortunately the writers chose to examine none of these areas in their analysis which would have helped to expand marketing education and in the process lowered the reputation your paper has worked very hard to earn. I therefore seriously recommend that you study in-depth brand Soludo as a breakaway brand from the sea of greys or, if I have to use a popular marketing parlance, a brand breaking the category paradigm. For now, it is important to know that the brand has created a cult of followership due to its compelling vision under a platform known as the Soludo Fan Club. Interestingly, the membership cuts across age, sex, income and social class. The unifying factor is one thing – the belief that Anambra is in urgent need for transformation to a world class state.
Secondly the story strived very hard to celebrate the failure of professionals who delved into politics. Funny, is it necessary to go to this length to run the man down when there is a general consensus that more professionals should be encouraged to get involved in politics as they are more likely to bring more to the table? Soludo as much bemoaned the indifference of the elitists to politics and governance which he said in his keynote address at the second Anambra Development Summit by the League of Anambra Professionals in May 25, 2006 is tantamount to a crime against humanity. The trumpeted success of that election was in the main due to the fact that professionals like Soludo joined the foray and raised the tune and tenor of the discourse, candour and conduct. Contrary to the predictions of many arm chair analysts, that election would have signalled a new era in democratic norm in Nigeria if the umpire had not been a killjoy by preventing enthusiastic citizens who turned out in droves to vote from voting.
In regard to your thundering celebration of the fall of brand Soludo, there is certainly no need for that as right from the onset, Soludo weighed the risks before his decision to run. He knew that desperate people will throw mud all in the bid to rubbish his character and reputation. He opted instead to focus on service that is possible in order to change the fortune of his people by giving hope to present and future generations. This, he has largely accomplished as young and old Ndi- Anambra now know that it is possible for them to experience a new amazing world and, as have been proven time and time again, once their minds have opened up to these possibilities, their outlook and expectations will never be the same. They, in addition, know that it is madness to expect a different result if you keep doing the same thing the same way.
For crying out loud, there is no denying the fact that brand Soludo has encountered temporary setback. But brand historians know that in the lifecycles of brands bad news do happen even to the best brands. Today Toyota is grappling with its own bad news and so did Indomie some years back. Soludo is not one to sulk over setbacks and as it is, he is not blaming anyone for anything because he knows, as many marketing professionals do, that in the dog eat dog war for market dominance, there are variables that a brand may not have control over. Oh yes, let me sound a little political and jubilant, Soludo sought to give his people psychological uplift from a grime future and mark my words, his political bones shall rise again because he is out there with ideas whose time shall come.
Finally, I want to say that brand Soludo is like a rainbow; it is magnificent, it has substance and depth. It can see what others cannot see and because it has all these, it has what it takes to fulfil its vision. Truth is that no amount of hatchet job like the one in your story will stop such a brand that is amply equipped to provide solutions to human needs and desires.