2019 BJAN Brands & Marketing Conference: Practitioners Proffer Solution to Survival Amidst Harsh Economy

From left:Mr Bolaji Okusaga,Managing Director/CEO Precise Limited presenting an Award of Most Outstanding Advertising person 2019[Creative] to Mr Bolaji Alausa,Executive Creative Director,Noah's Ark and  Mr Princewill Ekwujuru,Chairman Brand Journalist association of Nigeria[BJAN looks on.at the Bjan 2019 7th Annual Brands & Marketing Conference held lagos.

Speakers at the seventh edition of the Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN) conference 2019 which took place at Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Friday, November 29, with broad theme, ‘Survival Amidst Harsh Economy: Inside Stories of Top Brands’, have suggested that companies should constantly re-strategise in order to improve their profitability.

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo- Olu, who was ably represented by Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lagos State, Mr. Gbenga Omotosho, declared the Conference open. The Chief Press Secretary to Lagos State Governor, Mr. Gboyega Akosile delivered the keynote address at the conference on behalf of the Governor.

The lead speaker, Chief Creative Officer/ CEO of X3M Ideas Ltd, Mr. Steve Babaeko who was also represented by Director, Brand Management and Strategy X3M Ideas, Babatunde Olaifa in his presentation said “history shows that structural shifts in the pecking orders of industries occur more often in difficult times—and these shifts endure for a long time.

Therefore, the fight to sustain company performance during a downturn is not just about short-term survival—it is also about long-term positioning in the industry hierarchy. This is clearly a battle worth fighting.”

After extensive discussions during the BJAN 2019 Annual Brands & Marketing Conference intellectuals and leading minds across the nation have suggested that brands should constantly re-strategise on the way forward to improve their profitability, as there is need to reduce inventory costs without compromising quality of goods or inconveniencing consumers.

During lean times, brands must not make the mistake of eliminating or cutting their marketing budget to the bones or as Consumers are restless and looking out to make changes in their buying decisions.

The marketing budget at this time will help consumers choose products and services congruent to their needs. If possible, brands should step up their marketing budget and efforts.

Instead of cutting marketing budget, which has become the tradition, brands should diversify their markets and packages to 'speak the language of the common man' because the consumers are no longer passive but very active due to increased scarcity of resources.

However, he advised Brand custodians and handlers to step up their business intelligence and think out of box, as deeper creativity will enable them to weather the storm during harsh economy.  In addition, agencies handling brands were specifically advised to consistently retain the awareness and posture of a consultant and scale up their intellectual content as well.

As part of cost saving measures, speakers pointed out huge opportunities for brands to create deeper awareness using the digital and other social media platforms. Marketing professionals should take advantage of the opportunities social media provide to create Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA) for their brands.

Creative agencies, public relations practitioners, experiential marketers and others in the ecosystem including brand owners should work in deeper collaboration and see themselves as partners to eliminate the usual master/servant relationship between brand owners and agencies. This will help both brands and their agencies to survive the current difficult times.

The consumers must jettison bureaucracy especially during harsh economic situations, as brands would need to take decisions swiftly and respond promptly to agency/public enquiries if they want to increase their level of acceptability.

Engage in deeper innovation with local content as this will go a long way to enable them control larger market share with reduced cost of production.

Agencies should ignore opportunities offered by startups and other small organizations as they source for business during the current hard times, also advised on the need engage in the smart use of data to improve their services to brands and corporate organization.

The program whose overall objective is to x-ray the great depression and the great recession that gave us insights into how some brands survived and thrived, in spite of the Harsh Economy, also recognize and honour some brands and players in Brand Industries that have made remarkable impact.

In attendance was a distinguished audience drawn from a broad spectrum that cuts across the academia as well as public and private sector practitioners from the banking and brand industries across the nation which includes CEO of Precise Ltd, Mr. Bolaji Okusaga as the Moderator;  CEO, Hill & Knowlton Strategies, Mrs Tokunbor George-Taylor; Director, Corporate Affairs & Sustainable Business, Unilever Nigeria, Mrs. Soromidayo George; COO, Up in the Sky, Mr. Idiare Atimomo; Sustainability & Public Affairs Manager, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), Ms. Ifeoma Okoye and CEO, Red Media Ltd, Mr. Tunde Kara were panel that dissected the main paper. 

December 05, 2019