Activation is an Integral Part of Marketing – Adedoyin, Ex Unilever Strategist

‘Demola Adedoyin, is the Publicity Secretary of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) and the newly appointed CEO of Integrated Troops, a campaign activation company recently acquired by Genity Holdings. Besides being a full member of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), he is also a member of National Institute of Marketing Nigeria (NIMN) and the Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM) UK among other professional associations. Being one who has always championed campaign strategies across brands while working in agencies and until lately Unilever, he bares his mind on issues in the fast-changing Nigerian marketing landscape in this interview with O’Lekan Babatunde and Olaseeni Durojaiye and declares that ‘marketing is changing everyday’
You’ve been known to be an advocate of change. These changes you are talking about, how soon do we expect them?
It started years back. It’s happening right in front of us and it will continue at a fast pace. Every practice has its own associated culture often seen as the rule which gets passed on from one generation to the other. In marketing communications practice, the culture of the practice is changing fast, so it’s now a tradition in constant transition. And this affects the way things are or will be in certain areas.

How do you mean? Can you be more specific?
Areas like segments, branded entertainment, media, name it. Looking at segments one will want to think of it in the usual broad terms of low, mid and high segments. The reality on ground is that the middle segment which used to be the domain of mass brands has been taken over by value brands where price is the most important rationale for decision making.
The high segment remains the domain of premium brands. As long as the resources are available to consumers there, ‘ego’ and ‘taste’ still remain high. So, who needs to watch it? It is the mass brands.

So what can the mass brands do?
They must quickly occupy good spaces in value segments or await surprises as we saw in some categories like laundry, dairy and automobile sectors in the last decade. The reason for the shift is because the categories are most of all bought for functional reasons and are more and more less on ‘risk;’ so if the cash outlay is ‘crazy’ the consumer knows what to do. In fact, it looks like consumers even experiment with the risky areas and then change their minds on conviction. You will also observe that with airlines and even medicine.

Does that mean the premium segments are safe?
Not necessarily. Though you observe that the premium segment is also no longer for the rich or the rich alone, they are no longer exclusive. More people in the middle or lower segments can afford prestigious brands. So, many prestige brands are better able to give help to this migration but this is not the case with mass brands. I must say that merely positioning your brand as a premium brand via imported ads does not automatically mean you occupy that space if the brand is not activated ‘to-match” across the mix.

Is there any other change you want to talk about?
If you look at the entertainment industry, things have changed. The change was heralded by democracy. So, democracy has helped local talents tremendously in the entertainment industry. Now, coming to the changes in the industry, if you look back at the industry a few years back, the bulk of our talents suffered stunted growth. There were also a lot of missed opportunities but it is no longer so. What we now have is a situation where both young and old ones who are still relevant earn a lot more for the same or less efforts compared to those days.

How is this linked to the fast changing marketing landscape?
With democracy came a lot more openings in the economy and the entrance of more players who have more muscle and needed to do things differently. The way the industry then leveraged the erstwhile underutilized opportunities in music, comedy, videos, etc have redefined the landscape. What happened was that the way marketing was being done in the sector changed. But the change is just about to start.

What will be the very key to the change?
Key to all these is the ‘enabling factors’. If you look at music, Unilever – Close Up, MTN, Lipton etc had to leverage emerging and existing relevant enablers in the subsector like Kennis Music (King of the Hype), Smooth Promotions (owners of the most popular property), CMA (owners of the biggest platform), Nigezie (the Nigerian Voice), Kallyvision, Now Music and others. Note that there are new hot champions I’m not listing but the point is: these bodies enabled brands to leverage far better than what obtained in the pre-democracy days.
It is similar to comedy; though it was more of the individual enabling him/herself. For the home video and movie industry, a lot still has to be done about the subsistent production and mindset. But even at that, marketing is changing the mindset and will continue to propel the redefinition of standards. The players need to appreciate the need to leverage available opportunities. They must learn to pool resources to build the needed critical mass. Some of our best people still do their own ideation, scripting, production, accounting, post production, premiere in multiple locations. And then come home to start printing jackets and renting buses to hawk the CD’s around. But I can tell you things are already changing.

What factor do you see as key to these?
Well, with my little  experience, I think it is clarity on the need for participation by stakeholders. The vital questions must be asked and answered: Why is MTN doing this? Why is Tom-Tom putting money on this? What do they want to achieve? They are not the Red Cross or any other charity organisation. You don’t give a proposal to Maggi to sponsor your production and in turn offer them roll-up banners in the hall at the premiere. It’s a comic relief in the office.
Some of the players in the nation’s film industry are already showing some understanding on how the whole mix works for their own good. One of them is Kunle Afolayan and you could see the difference in his works.
People in Nollywwod should learn to factor sponsorship and merchandising into their production right from when they are working on the script. That way, brands can come in and the parties will explore areas that they can co-operate in for mutual benefits. That was exactly what Kunle Afolayan did with Figurine; others can do the same.
The marketing communications industry also needs to understand the peculiarities of Nollywood as similar to that of Nigeria, united and divided.

What about Genity Ltd and its plans to build a network?
Genity Ltd is a kind of holding company that has been in existence since 2002. Its area of core competence is in procurement, engineering and explorations. However, in view of career, global and local realities, we have just concluded shares acquisition negotiations with the owners of Integrated Troops and two other companies.

What values are you bringing into Integrated Troops?
I have always believed that managing an agency or consultancy entails a lot, one of which is quality gatekeeping. I’d rather that the leader does not go out too often but stay back in what I like to figuratively call the ‘defence house,’ to be in charge of what weapons are going to be deplored for what campaign; what strategies to be adopted to meet a brand’s need in the marketplace. It also entails monitoring how effective the deplored weapons are faring in the market place rather than to go out all the time for presentations, and effectiveness, efficiency and innovations suffer.
I’ll share an analogy with you. It’s about having the attitude of a world class Coach: you drive the team to deliver, encourage good people to stay, look out for succession planning (up and down), develop a playing culture and have clarity on the rules of engagement and so on. Sometimes too, you have to be the focal point in terms of corporate strategy, that is, if need be; but you still have to see it and be sure it is worth appending the corporate name to because you are the gatekeeper.
At other times you may have to lead the team and that does not preclude letting your guys develop their own faces. In business, you will also need to carry along other faces for tactical, operational and transactional purposes because it cannot be a one-man show. That is also why Genity is forming alliances and graduating quality players from the Troops Cadet Academy while also walking into the market for the potential well developed Troopers.

Why Troops? Why not Initiative Media, Lintas or Exp? You equally worked with them.
It is about the business. They all have fantastic people and opportunities but in terms of business consideration, Integrated Troops offered the best deal. I must say I considered offers from some of them as well, but then I needed to align career and business for a big focus.

After about one and half decades in the industry, why do you still choose to continue in the industry?
That is where my passion lies. Somehow, I discovered that I have passion for the industry. One of my driving principles when I was going into the industry was to be behind a huge success. I want to be part of a team that will midwife greatness, whether a product brand or corporate brand. I do not necessarily have to be celebrated, I am contented being behind what is being celebrated as a great accomplishment. And you know what, the discerning members of the public will always probe deeper and discover the real people behind the success. I want to contribute to raising the standards from where we are today.

Having worked for a global operation like Unilever which is regarded as a school of marketing, how do you rate the local industry compared to other countries like South Africa?
The industry is getting more and more vibrant so I can say we are not doing badly. In fact, we’re progressing in leaps and bounds as an industry. I don’t want to join the bandwagon of those who compare the industry here in Nigeria and what obtains in South Africa for obvious reasons. The practice in South Africa has been exposed to the Western world long before we had that opportunity. Ask South Africans, they will tell you that Nigerians are learning fast; more so there are some brilliant Nigerians plying their talents out there in South Africa and holding their own against the best brains in that country. One of them is Andrew Fasedemi of the Wisdom Keys Group. In the marketing communications landscape, we are the best in Africa.
However, there are hurdles to be surmounted. Before you talk about the state of advertising in any society, you must first look at the state of the practice and practitioners in the context of their environment. Our reading habit is affecting almost all facets of our life.
To compound the situation, we have practitioners who cannot afford to subscribe to core industry journals like M2 and some online journals that can help improve their practice. We have advertising executives who don’t read because they cannot afford the books. The situation is not irredeemable though, some of us have prior reading habits and we’re passing it on to the people that work with us. One of the things going for us at Integrated Troops is that we read; the reading culture here is strong.

What is this new craze about activation to marketing?
It is high time people into activation realized that it is an integral part of marketing. Activation is beyond road shows or getting a deejay and some sales persons to attract the attention of people for a short while and all the razzmatazz. Activation is about bringing a brand message to life via a campaign. The campaign can be in different ways and formats. It can be via SMS, events, TV, radio, outdoor, PR, interactive/digital, social media, word-of-mouth, sales, sponsorships, and so on. It is centered on an idea that provides the catch, a connect, a hook with the target audience for the attainment of the business objective. Beyond catching attention, it should spur people into action.
Brand activation is about activating the brand to drive home a given message for a specific purpose. It’s got its dynamics and a successful activation must take the dynamics serious and get it right otherwise the exercise will end up a failure without boosting ROI in anyway.

What are these dynamics?
You need to identify the business objective. You also have to ask yourself: of all the communication channels available, which will be most appropriate taking into consideration the demographics and psychographics of the target audience? What communication objective drives the business objective? What does the brand actually need?
You cannot activate a brand without a cause or reason. So what is the reason? You need to know the reasons from the business perspective, from the communication objective and then from the consumer/customer perspectives. Of course without a good idea activation does not stand a good chance of making an impact.
I always tell my people ‘implementation determines strategy. In Troops the marketing gospel we preach to clients goes beyond that brands should activate, but that activation works better in simple strategic or tactical combinations in line with the reality of the human world – using an idea as the conduit for connection and brilliant implementation for quality engagement and exchange with the specific audience.

How do you expatiate this view about activation?
Let’s use the Robb copy which I did when I was with MC & A Saatchi & Saatchi, “Rub it on”, as an example. I can cite it now because the campaign has been rested. If we want to activate it, first, it must align with the copy. Imagine if Robb had branded the medical team during any of the football matches involving any of the Nigerian teams, each time a footballer goes down and needs medical attention, of course the First Aid team will run unto the field to attend to the player. Remember that Robb has branded them; that is a perfect exposure for Robb. At such times too, as the First Aid team runs onto the field, you get the public address system to play ‘Robb it on, Robb it on’ as is done in the television commercial. That is a perfect activation. It does not matter whether it was Robb that was administered on the player or not, you have been able to connect with the crowd in a tactical way and that is activation in line with the communications messages of the brand. You can see unison of communication to achieve the same objective. Such experience is certain to elicit top of mind recall.
You can also go on to amplify the players’ testimony of relief after the game. You could also do a podcast where you’ll encourage fans to activate the bluetooth device on their phones then send the TVC or ‘Rob It On’ theme song to be used as a ring tone. You could attach a token prize to this so that fans with the ringtones on their phones win something at the gate and so on. By so doing you have activated the brand via multiple channels.

Are there any differences between Activation and Experiential?
It can both be the same and different depending on what it is aimed to achieve or the depth of professionalism put into it. However, if I have to differentiate between the two going by what obtains on the local scene, I think campaign activation should align very much with the principles of advertising and direct marketing with synchronised implementation.
Experiential appears to focus more on the principles of direct marketing. Left to me, I don’t like these definitions and line-drawing because besides that the consumers or customers do not see them, it often muddies the waters rather than clearing the air. The important thing is the need to engage your target market and keep it loyal to the brands.
My preferred word is ‘amplification’. Whatever name it is called by whatever agency, the crux of the whole activation campaign is to also let more people know about it. After doing a good job, amplify it!
Let’s take the World Cup as another example. Only a few people will actually get into the stadia to watch the matches live compared to the several millions that will watch the matches across the globe – yet the sponsors of the World Cup are thinking beyond the spectators in the different stadia. As we can see, they are set to leverage the millions of people that will also be part of the event through television, radio and other channels, even large screen viewing centres. Though quality experiences will be offered directly in the stadia, like the Heineken halls, Coca Cola stand etc.
At Troops, we say sponsorships and other initiatives should go beyond the stadia or for print media clout alone. Brands can connect with their target markets by leveraging on the games even outside the stadia; the large screen viewing centre example is just one approach to it. However at Troops, the way we view activation is 360 degrees in which case, you can talk about experiential activation, digital activation, radio activation, home video etc.