Jide Adeyemi, is the Chief Brand Strategist at Big and Bold Communications Limited. A brand strategist per excellence who has garnered massive experience in the business of brand building and marketing, he recently talked to Brand Communicator about marketing industry, challenges, 1st anniversary of Big and Bold and sundry issues. Excerpt…
We are excited that the industry is growing every other day. Every agency now knows that they need to go the extra mile to remain competitive. A lot of innovation and use of technology has been experienced in the industry. The industry has also contributed immensely to Nigeria economic development and the industry has grown to be a major job provider in Nigeria.
Challenges
We came into the industry at a very challenging period for businesses in Nigeria where many clients do not want to ‘take a risk’ with a startup brand management consultant. The economic downturn and the resultant foreign exchange challenges meant that we had to a lot of jobs with little or no profit as changes in the nation’s government policy disrupt planning and strategic direction for us and our clients. Our impressive results, in spite of the harsh condition, encourage us to stay on the path we’ve chosen as our means of contributing to the Nigerian economy. Our vision despite the situations remains ‘to be a quintessential creative house creating emotional bond between our partner brands and the consumer’. So despite the budget cut and in some cases no budget by clients we kept moving on with passion. Data remain a challenge in the industry. The unavailability of accurate data is a challenge. The government should step in and provide support for the industry.
Ways Forward
“Innovation and creativity” We need to be more creative in delivering strategies that will guarantee our partners marketing objectives and find ways to help the client with little or no budget. Our mantra which is Quality, Speed and Cost efficiency ensures that we stay both innovative and creative. With these we can find a way out to achieve the set objectives. The government needs to provide an enabling environment for business to thrive in Nigeria and that is at the macro level. For us we see a lot of opportunities for our clients despite the present economic situation.
The Name Big And Bold
In Big and Bold we believe ‘It’s good to be BIG, better to be BOLD, best to be BOTH’ hence the name. Our logo which is a combination of an Elephant and a Mouse better explains the name. It is a fusion of Elephant’s BIG stature and the Mouse’s BOLDness. Unlike the Classical David and Goliath, we combine the strength of the elephant and we continually find innovative ways to help you achieve your brand objectives like the mouse in our story. We pride ourselves as an organization with a global mindset with an African perspective. Our practice is designed with global standards while we are able to interpret and execute locally. We are as imposing as the elephant, audacious and bold as the mouse, but we are in our best elements when we are both.
Assessment of Big And Bold
It’s been an exciting and eventful first year for us. We’ve achieved more than we set to achieve from the start. Having worked in a number of top tier agencies and some multinationals, we set ourselves very high standards believing that if we don’t hit them, we’ll at least get very close. Surprisingly, we have outperformed our expectations.
We are proud to be able to achieve such positive result in our first year and of course this motivates us to pursue our vision with renewed vigour. We want to be the go-to agency for business who are not scared to challenge status quo and to establish innovative solutions to everyday marketing challenges faced by organizations. We set out to help our clients communicate the right message, design the best way to say it and use the most appropriate medium to disseminate it at the right time. Of course achieving our dream of a fun and relaxed work environment and culture of no 9-5 but when we open our eyes to when we close it have supported the aspirations.
Innovative Platforms Deployed By Big And Bold
We are data driven. With that we make informed decisions. Our street-sense gives us great insights about the consumers and helps us to know what they buy, why they buy, who they buy, when they buy, where they buy and how they buy. We have a proprietary tool called Orange Brief Distiller (OBD). The tool is a template that we fill whenever we get a brief. It has sections that relate the brand to a human, where he lives, his lifestyle, where he shops, his likely competition and work. Also, his passion and thoughts, who he appeals to and his every day challenges are all catered for.
Core Values And Operational Philosophy
Our core values are Passion, Integrity, Innovation, Team Work, Excellence, Professionalism and Friendship. Anything contrary to this is un-orange-like. We don’t have a 9-5. We have when we open our eyes to when we close it. There is no resumption or closing time. You can leave whenever you like provided your job is done. Our operational philosophy is a departure from the routine. Any member of the team can work from the front desk because no one is a receptionist. We created a work station conducive enough for the team. There are games in our games room for relaxation and our kitchen is well equipped. We don’t accept an email that starts with ‘Sir’ because there is no boss in Big and Bold. Everybody is on first name basis. We also do not support dress code. Just be decent.
Competitive Edge Of Big and Bold
Our mantra is an Edge-Quality, Cost Efficiency and Speed. We are armed with young, creative, passionate and non-conformists team with a passion for building brands that resonate with the consumers and community. We deploy unconventional strategies that deliver result. We operate with a global mindset with African perspective. We are enemies of the ordinary.
Impacts On Clientele
We made a big and bold statement of intent to the marketing communications industry last year when we clinched the Alcatel Onetouch (now Alcatel) marketing account and helped re-launch the brand into the Nigerian markets. Since then, we have managed advertising, Go-To-Market Strategy, Retail campaign, activations, Public Relations, Digital Marketing and Training for our partners which includes Alcatel, d.Light, General Electric, Boff and Company Insurance Brokers, Lenovo, Glitz, Huawei Mobile and Fero. The result is why we still have the accounts in our clientele list.
Projection For The Next Five Years
Big and Bold plans to go pan-Africa in the nearest future with Big and Bold Africa, a group that will include Orange Spot Media (Out Of Home agency), Brand Engineers (Brand Strategy Consultants) Field Force Academy Limited (Field Force Management) among others with operations in different parts of Africa.
In five years’ time we want to be known as the creative team that has created Orange Impression (our mark of quality) and left our footprints in the sand of the mind of over 100 partners. We hope to have become one of the top 10 agencies to work for in Nigeria.