BRANDCOMFEST 2024: CMOs Outline Marketing Strategies To Navigate Today’s Turbulent Economy

Top Chief Marketing Officers in leading companies in sub-Saharan Africa have outlined strategies that will help organizations navigate the new realities in the marketing landscape and shift in today’s economy.

Speaking on the sub-theme ‘From the CMOs Lens: Periscoping the New Realities Of Marketing in the just concluded BRANDCOMFEST held recently at the Alliance Francaise, Mike Adenuga Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The CMOs, Ilyas Kazeem, the Marketing Director, Food Commercial Division, Flour Mills Nigeria and Seun Adaramola, Marketing Director at Visa West Africa, said that understanding the way the present economic situation in the country is impacting consumers and how they are interacting with products are some strategies that will help organisations win end-to-end, internally and externally in today’s turbulent economy.

Explaining further, Ilyas Kazeem said, “For most FMCG brands whether food or none FMCG products, consumers are reacting in four different ways to your products in this economy. It’s either they physically reduce the frequency of using it (them), or they swap (replace your brand with another), scrap (leave your category entirely).

“So the first thing is to understand, how the consumers are interacting with your brand at this time, are they leaving you to another alternative, are they reducing usage? Consider these before you even start addressing other issues.

“The second beat is looking at your own indirect and direct costs too at this time, cost of procurement, flight check cost, cost of marketing, Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) what do you need to change? It makes sense in an inflation economy to put a high cost when your customers can’t afford it.”

He said that the third layer was convenience. His Words, “Consumers are grading down, do you have the right format for them? Are you in the right channel?  Are you using the right segment, also find out where your consumers can find you.”

He also advised CMOs not to focus their marketing campaigns only in Lagos but to explore other geopolitical zones in Nigeria where their real customers could be.

Seun Adaramola, while responding to how marketing leaders can effectively balance short-term business pressures with long-term brand building in Nigeria. She said marketers can create a balance where they can generate revenue for short-term strategies and still ask the CFOs or CEOs for more time for brand building and educational activities to yield desired results understanding that it’s a long-term activity.

 “You cannot start an educational campaign or brand-building activity today and expect to see the result in the next month. It is also difficult for you to go back to the organization and say all the money given to was used to run educational campaigns,” she said.

She, however, said, “Balancing the act is when you can show your CFOs the numbers and at the same time ensure that your brand does not suffer. Because at the end of the day, if you spend all the money on promotional activities and don’t build your brand, it will suffer, what people are buying is not the promotional or product marketing campaigns, but your brand, so, educate people, change their behaviour and the revenue will come  in the long run.”

 “If you must be able to convince your CEO/CFO by giving them their promotional activities ensure that you leverage it to deliver results while investing in brand building activities to deliver the brand results at the end of the day.”

This year’s event themed “Tech-driven Marketing Communications: Bridging Minds and Machine” had in attendance great minds, thought leaders, and stakeholders in all the subsectors of the marketing and communications industry in Nigeria to explore the intersection of technology and marketing, where creativity meets innovation, where minds and machines can converge.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Convener of Brandcomfest and Publisher of Brand Communicator Magazine, Mr. Joshua Ajayi also touched on how technology has significantly reshaped the marketing landscape in Nigeria. His words, “What was once a traditional, one-way communication system is now a vibrant, data-driven, and highly interactive ecosystem. Brands are no longer just speaking to their consumers—they’re having real-time conversations with them, and this shift is powered by the technologies we now have at our fingertips “.

The event featured a keynote speech delivered by Dr. Bayo Adekanmbi, the founder and CEO of Data Science Nigeria and a thought leader in data science and analytics. He expertly illuminated how technology is changing the game for marketers and the critical role data plays in crafting effective marketing communications.

The key highlight of the event was when Dr. Biodun Shobanjo, one of the true legends of marketing communications in Nigeria was recognized and celebrated.