Nigerian Update
Experiential Marketing
Experiential Marketing is taking technological twist - EXP boss
Everyday consumers routinely encounter marketing efforts that promote an endless variety of brands and products . Unsurprisingly , consumers are weary , guarded , and circumventing any attempt by marketers to gain their attention . Experiential marketing thus engages consumers on a more intimate and personal level by building meaningful connections through shared moments and events .
CHALLENGING MARKET :
I am not sure if the Nigerian market is actually strange , but I think the market is a bit more challenging compared to other markets , giving the swell size of the country . Having operated in a 22 million to 40 million population market is different from having to do business in 170 million population m a r k e t . Strange !. I don ’ t t h i n k , b u t challenging , no m a t t e r h o w challenging it is , it poses for more o p p o r t u n i t i e s . F r o m t h e e x p e r i e n t i a l marketing stand point , giving the c h a l l e n g i n g n a t u r e o f t h e market , it , shows t h a t t h e r e i s more need for us as experiential marketers to be s u r e t h a t o u r brands connect with consumers , and as such we have to deploy tools and tactics that will get the brand we manage or look after get higher share of t h e c o n s u m e r heart .
E C O N O M I C CRUNCH :
Yo u a re r i g h t , when there is a likely economic c r u n c h , t h e m a r k e t i n g department is the one CEOs always look into , and the first point of call of cutting budget . Is it actually the right strategy ?. T h at i s u p fo r d e b a t e , t h e r e have been a lot of discussions and whitepapers around such strategies . There are those that are completely against it and have put up rational defense , that is why it is not naturally a good move . So far as I have witnessed in the past weeks or so , marketers have now understood that there is the need to keep momentum in respect of their brand presence . As much as you know across board there will be some reduction in terms of spending in terms of professional budget . I do not believe they will completely cut into the marketing budget . I think however that there will be a reduction in spend . The challenge that is actually posed is
how do we take that same one dollar and generate a true value out of it . I think for any marketer this is actually the idea condition , because in terms of opulence we tend to spend without too much regard to what they do . In this respect , we have to do it right , look for the right solutions , not to go for qualitative kind of approaches , but not quantitative kind of approaches . I think we might have a bit of reduction , I think we will see more brands being loud , because , like us in EXP , in whatever we do we give value . We give more voice to the brand .
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION :
We are always prepared to be c r e a t i v e a n d innovative . I think gone are the days when one could employ the same tactics overtime . I think without the down turn the country is facing r i g h t n o w , consumer habit h a d h a b i t o v e r t i m e h a s been changing . Today we are into the digital world , the digital space , today consumers touch point meet b r a n d s a t different levels , today consumer touch points are no longer what they used to be some years ago , right now what we think about is what the channel means , what the t o u c h p o i n t means . So that has forced us over the years to be innovative , how to go about it . Digital , mobile a n d s o c i a l marketing have b e c o m e important means in everything we do . So innovation is something that marketing will always subscribe to , we do not wait for such market condition to force us to be innovative , actually because we have always been innovative in everything that we do , that you know being able as a company to stay as the leading experiential marketing company .
Nigerian Update
Experiential Marketing
Gil Kimani new Managing Director of EXP Marketing Nigeria
Story first Published by www . vanguardngr . com interview by Princewill Ekwujuru
Signage vol . 1 No2 23