Branding For Global Competitiveness
Penultimate week, international brand experts, Al and Laura Ries, were in Nigeria to address the issue of Branding for Global Competitiveness in an emerging market like Nigeria. A couple of their Nigerian counterparts like Phil Osagie and Chris Ogbechie were also at the conference, and contributed their bit to the issue of building global brands out of Nigeria. Elcee McEdwards captures the essence of the conference in this piece.
Business is going global and brands are becoming an important part of the trend. In setting out to build a brand that will be strong enough to compete effectively in the global market, some fundamental issues lie at the core. You must first of all realize that the secrete of making money in the world today is not necessarily about what you do to yourself, but about what you do to the mind of someone else. For a country like Nigeria with so much potential, it must be understood that Nigerians cannot get rich by selling to themselves. No one ever gets rich that way. This is what creates the need for playing at a global level.
For Starters, You Need Focus
To play at a global level, focus becomes of utmost importance. We are living in an over communicated society, and the simple solution to that is an over simplified message: simple word and simple message. This is also necessary because building a brand, in simple terms, will require registering it and promoting it through planned communication.
For starters, you can’t get famous by being everything. You get famous by being something. You actually get wealthy by thinking narrower, rather than thinking about everything.
For instance, Barrak Obama emphasized “change” through out his electioneering campaign, and he was successful with it. Everybody knew Hilary Clinton. She paraded experience, yet Obama won. John McCain was a war hero. He emphasized his being a conservative. He also emphasized his experience. But Obama won. In your communication, you need focus. If you try to be everything, you end up being nothing.
Positioning
Companies want to be better when the real thing is being first. To compete at the global level, it is better to be first than to be better (World-class companies like Coca cola have maintained market leadership by riding on their being first). If you look at major successful worldwide companies, you will find out that they were always first in something. The fact is that you can’t build a big world-wide company without being first in something. Rather than claiming that your product is better, run marketing campaigns on your product’s leadership. If you say you are better, the consumers won’t believe you. But if you communicate that your product is the leader, they think you must be better.
First In The Mind
However, you must be first in the mind, and not just in the market. And that’s the difficult thing. Again, you need to focus on something before you can get into the consumer’s mind. You need to build your products into the minds of the consumers. You can be the first in the market. But are you the first in the mind. So the question to ask is: Can we get in the mind first, though we are not literarily the first? That’s where marketing comes in. Can you become the first in the minds of consumers in Africa ?
The key aspect of marketing is the mind. And getting into consumers mind first is the key to succeeding. Note that a product might be the first in one place and not the first in another.
Are You Building A Business Or Are You Building Your Brand?
Sometimes, in trying to expand your business you weaken your brand. But when you build a brand, you remain successful forever.
But most people are not paying attention to this aspect of marketing. They think of themselves as a business rather than as a brand.
Line Extensions
What happens when you introduce cheap versions of expensive brands? They don’t amount to anything. Brands are like the makers in the ladder of life. You change your brands as you move up the ladder of life. But don’t change your brand and destroy your market.
• Follow the Rules • Under-study companies • Find out what successful brands have done and do the same. • Variety is a psychological issue. If you hold onto this concept, you will remain small all your life. • Follow the laws of marketing. If you don’t you won’t get anywhere.
What Do You Do If You Are Not the Leader?
Do the opposite. If you are not the leader, try to be the exact opposite of what the leader is. That is the way to succeed, not by trying to be better. A lot of companies are trying to be better, and that is why they are not succeeding. By being the opposite, you will become No. 2. To build a strategy for your brand, you need to know your competition; you need to know their strengths and their weaknesses.
In the long run, most categories tend to be dominated by two brands. If you are not one of them, you might as well forget that category.
Why the duality? That’s because the middle man that needs the second brand to gain leverage. He doesn’t need a third. There is room at the top and there is room at the bottom. Brands that try to stay in the middle often end up in trouble.
Following These Laws Will Help
The Law of Categories:
People care more about categories than they think about brands. People think about energy drinks; it is just that Red Bull represents it. They want a luxury car and BMW represent it. When you sell just a commodity, you don’t make money because you don’t have a brand.
The Law Of Perception:
Management tends to deal with reality rather than perception. They forget that changing perception is one of the most difficult tasks in marketing. Once perception is formed, it is almost impossible to change it. So you must pay attention to it from the start. You must understand that perception is greater than reality. What is on the mind of the consumers? That is what you should focus your marketing strategy on. Don’t try to change it. Try to enhance it, especially if you are handling an already known brand.
The Law Of Patience:
It takes time to build a brand. So, patience is necessary. Brands don’t take off as rockets. They take off as airplanes. It is better to take off slowly. It will take you a while before you get your brands off the ground. Truly revolutionary ideas take time because it takes time to cause people to change their minds. Brands that go up too quickly also go down too soon; they usually don’t have the right foundation that is required in building a brand.
Attributes Of World-Class Companies
(1) They have a world-class system. The system has to work and there must be disciple. Examples — Sony, Coca Cola
(2) They create an uncontestable ocean between them and their competition. Long term success comes from being able to create this blue ocean between you and your competition. i.e Make the difference clear.
(3) They understand who their customers are. You must understand your core customers, your potential customers and your aspiring customers.
(4) They have vision and purpose
(5) They have a soul and they are caring. You must engage in Corporate Social Responsibility programmes. Be assured that the market can sense your sincerity. This is a huge prerequisite for success.
(6) They engage in relentless pursuit of perfection. Perfection is a never ending journey.
(7) They invest heavily on deepening the skills of their staff. This has to be a deliberate practice.
(8) They are relevant, they are consistent and their products succeed.
(9) They are innovative and they are creative. It is impossible to be world class if you are not constantly innovating.
How Do Nigerian Companies Compare?
The level of service leaves so much to be desired.
Products are not meeting consumer expectations. Service companies fall short on delivery and so are not in position to compete globally. The issue of corporate governance, ethics and integrity is still elusive.
An aspiring global brand from Nigeria must watch these things.
A Case for Nigeria
As the world’s eighth largest country, Nigeria is very important. Add to it the fact that Nigeria is largest country in Africa . Yet the world doesn’t know much about Nigeria . The Economist (No. 1 business magazine in the world) did a special issue on the 40 largest countries of the world, and there was nothing on Nigeria . That means that in spite of all, people are not paying any real attention to Nigeria . Why?
Countries are famous for something. If powerful brands must be built out of Nigeria , Nigeria has to be known for something.
Let’s Get It Right
Africa is 21 per cent of the world’s land mass. That’s a big deal. Surveys have shown that Nigeria is the largest and greenest African country.
So, agriculture remains the most logical alternative for Nigeria . If Nigeria cannot build global brands on automobile or IT, it can build it on agricultural products. Countries like Chile , New Zealand , South Africa , and U.S.A have done that successfully with products like Kiwi Fruit, Zespri Gold, Gineo & Orito, Ocean Spray Cranberry etc.
Suggestions for Nigeria
(1) Develop a unique variety of products
(2) Develop products with unique brand names
(3) Register the brand names
(4) Use Public relations to promote and build the brands around the world.
Stakeholders in this must realize that most brands are built by P.R. Advertising has a credibility problem which undermines its effectiveness. Usually, ad should be preceded with P.R so that it can build credibility for the product. Ad on its own is self-serving. P.R establishes credibility for the brand. Ad exploits the credibility. Ad does not establish any product on its own. It can only exploit. Advertising is like an insurance policy that can protect your brand from competition.
• Don’t bother about controversies. Controversies create news and news build brands when rightly channeled.
What makes you a global brand is what happens to the brand in the global community. You can be unique. But you have to tell people what you are unique about. Nigeria will do more in terms of industrialized agriculture. But it can’t be done overnight. Nigeria needs to get into industrialized agriculture and build brands out of it. Don’t brand agriculture. Brand the product. You can brand outfits and clothing made from textiles, but not the textiles. Surveys have proved that Nigeria has the sweetest pineapples in the world. But the opportunity has not been utilized. People from other countries are now using the seedlings from the pine apple for research. Soon they might succeed and put a brand name on it, just like Malaysia did with Nigeria ’s palm oil.
Attempt at A Slogan For Nigeria
According to Al Ries, considering the fact that no other country in African can march Nigeria in terms of cultivable and arable land, the most natural and sellable unique selling proposition should be “Nigeria – Largest and Greenest African Nation.” This is a sellable message that is business oriented. Green could stand for fertility, productivity, potentials etc. We already have green with is and it is natural to us. So why look the other way? Never change a good idea.
Powerful global Nigerian brands will benefit the business community. Therefore, building global Nigerian brands should be the business of the business community.
Building Nigerian Mega Brands (Chris Ogbechie)
The private sector can rebrand Nigeria without the government being involved. The only way to do that will be to build global brands with Nigerian roots. And that has been Nigeria ’s challenge — being able to compete at the global level. To be able to compete at the global front, we need to understand the environmental forces in global markets. But while trying to be global, you also must not forget the local market.
The secrete will therefore lie in being able to create unique products for the local market that can be exported to emerging markets. That is exactly what countries like Indonesia and India are doing.
To successfully build Nigerian mega brands, it will be pertinent to consider the following points.
(1) The Brand must stay relevant in terms of consumer value. The brand must strive to create superior value; it must think of striving rather than surviving.
(2) Create the right brand culture
(3) Work with others in terms of Alliances and strategic partnerships.
(4) Be consistent, not just in message, but in look.
(5) Be flexible with the changing times. This speaks of remaining relevant.
It is also pertinent to note that mega brands are not build by advertising on CNN. Building a mega brand has to embrace everything the owners of the brand do
Following These Law Will Do The Brand Some good.
The law of visual:
Your brand name should be able to evoke some visuals. To hammer a word into a mind you need (1) The verbal nail and (2) The visual hammer.
When your brand is the first in a category, you already have the nail and the hammer.
(2) The Law Of Focus
Every company needs to resist the temptation to keep adding things. The objective should be to dominate a particular market, not to get a part of every market.
(3) The Law Of Line Extensions
This is an easy way to lose focus. You can’t stand for something if you have to put your name on everything. Motorola and Nokia (in the cell phone category) are good examples.
Nokia focused on cell phones and today they are the world leaders in the cell phone segment, though Nokia is from Finland — a small country of about 5 million people. There is an ongoing debate on line extensions based on short term and long term goals. On the short term, line extension can actually increase sales. But in the long term, it depresses sales. Gillet and Red Bull are good examples. Again, out of the more than 10 different flovours of coke, two flovours account for 87% of global sales. That means that they are spending money, time and resources promoting extensions they should have no business with.
It is also on record that 90% of all new super markets and products fail because they are line extensions. Instead of extending the line, launch a new product or go global. Work at having a focus and owning a colour in the mind. Remember that colours are not created equal. Extension weakens a brand. Contraction strengthens it..
(4) The Law of Consistency
A brand is not built overnight. It takes years to build a brand. It is the consistency that drives the message into the mind.
(5) The Law of Singularity
The most important thing to a brand is its single mindedness. It shouldn’t try to be many things at the same time.
