The Flight- SFO to Taipei

  Deciding to spend the 4th of July weekend at our friends in Dallas ended up being a great decision, as it also made my trip a little shorter. The plan had been to be at a wedding in Chicago, but after looking over the cost, a better idea was to be in Dallas, more so, we love our friends in Dallas and our relationship has become more like a family. I was up early Saturday morning, hurried to the DFW airport and off to San-Francisco. I got to SFO pretty early, thanks to the two hour western time, my flight to Taipei wasn't until 2p, so I had a good opportunity to take a little tour of the Millbrae area of SFO. San-Francisco is a gorgeous city I must say.

The flight to Taiwan was really smooth in my opinion, apart from the initial mis-communication on seating arrangements, which I wouldn't wanna go into now (Clark is going to blog about that I’m sure). Let’s just say I finally got to seat by this American Taiwanese lady who’s been living in Taiwan for 6 years teaching English. We said our hellos and she didn't fail to educate me on how long the flight was going to be. “Its a 13.5 hrs flight, and it going to be so tiring, and you’ll need to walk around a bit too. Let’s just say it’s like watching 3 movies and we won’t still be there”. Wow!! Okay, now I’m wondering how I’m going to survive this tube ride for another 13 hours!!? Well, it turned out that I slept most of the time, except for when the food cart came around. I also saw a couple of movies. The Monuments men, Labor Day and a few episodes of The Big Bang theory. The conversation with my new friend, the teacher, was my induction about Taipei and Taiwan in General. I was warned however not to take offense if people stare or stared at me, as they’re not very accustomed to black people around here.

The immigration brouhaha 
So I walked up to the immigration officer right in front of me from the box, and handed him my passport and visitors card. My initial thought was “WooHoo!! about to see what lies at the other side”. Well, that thought was quickly wiped off my head, when I noticed how the immigration officer was intently looking over my passport with a device that looks close to a magnifying glass. Clark was right behind me. What was he looking at? Does he suppose this is a fake visa. Well, he looked up, with his facial expression showing signs of dissatisfaction, he beckoned on his colleague who walked over,and took my passport and started his own round of inspection.  A few minutes later, he asked me to follow him, Clark touched me behind and said,I”ll be waiting at baggage claim. So I followed him another section. This time it was two gentlemen, I suppose his superiors, and he gave one of them my passport. He also looked through each page carefully, and looked up to my face at each turn. Finally they broke the silence. With the little English he could use, he said “can I see another ID, or a license or whatever”. I pulled out my US. Drivers license and showed it to him, and then he said, "I have a problem with the picture on your visa page, you look old here, but in your other pictures you looked very young. Are you sure this is you?" In my head, I’m like really??. I tried to answer him by letting him know how old the other pictures he was referring to are, and how i may have "changed facially". He took a look at me again and muttered some words in Mandarin, and then handed the passport to the other guy, and I guess told him to go ahead and stamp it. Well, my passport finally got scanned and stamped and I walked through, looking through the baggage claim area for Clark. (Will post pictures soon)

DIGITAL REVOLUTION

The internet has done it again! Another revolution, this time it’s not in the free speech zone of North America nor the liberal end of Europe, the most recent e-revolution has taken place on the dusty Arabian side of Africa.

The Egyptian revolution has been described by many as a landmark achievement, especially as no one ever predicted that a continent that has witnessed more dictatorship, repression and government’s corruption than any, would have its young people adopt such a bold stance while powered by a western technology that is claimed to be limited in penetration due to poverty and cost of infrastructural deployment. For me it is no less a miracle.

It would be good to note that this uprising has been staged at several occasions, and did record monumental failure at every attempt, because it lacked followership. The momentum only picked up when protesters resorted to their computer keyboard and handheld devices. The internet became the major accelerant of this cause. A nation that has been repressed for 30years, with so many lone voices scattered across the Nile, but with the power of technology was amplified and brought to the world. As much as I would agree that revolutions have happened even before the advent of the internet, to deny the power of the internet and other communication tools in transforming the social fabric of our global human community would be ridiculous.

Today we have seen people, whether they be consumers or citizens, become more and more independent, with power moving away from the center to the hands of common men, we’ve experienced protest spurred on virally by Twitter and Facebook even before any kind of leadership or revolutionary consent comes in place. This is just the beginning however as we do not know yet where this is leading to

But there are a few consideration that makes this phenomenal rather interesting for me, and especially if we must be arbiter of this movement that is changing the fabric of our own business as marketing people.

One of it, is the empowerment of these little voices that never echoed until they found their way to become tweets and status messages, they suddenly realized that freedom can only be made possible by the long tail effect of something as little as summarized words in 140 character.

This has dramatically upset the interrelationship between brands, consumers and the market. It’s no longer news that consumers now have a voice of their own and empowered by new media technology, brand reputation is no longer decided by the one way traditional advertising that makes the brand a dictator who decides what you call him, how you refer to him, respect him and even spend your money on him. Power has been largely democratized, and just like the Egyptians though heterogeneous in education, religion and cultures, today’s consumers with different needs and aspirations now have a platform that discovers them no matter where they are and showcases them to the much larger world.

Another point of interest is that today the price of freedom is free, contrary to popular opinion, Protesters in Egypt didn’t have to buy their freedom from the three decade repression; all they did was to latch on to today’s pricing model.

Chris Anderson, whose new book “Free” explores this in detail. Those who understand the new free will command tomorrow’s markets and disrupt today’s. In a digitalized economy, the Egyptian youths just like today’s consumers paid near zero-price to obtain their sovereignty. The access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube was at no cost, the cost of production was infinitesimal, Wael Ghonim who is credited to have championed the revolution online, only had to have a laptop and an access to the internet to organize the January 25^th protest, protesters made videos of pro-government violence via their mobile devices and uploaded to YouTube in no time. The world had access to endless information that is accurate and real time.

The height of this collaborative support for the Egyptian movement cannot be over-emphasized, but the learning gives us a reason to re-examine our role as managers of brands. Truly the power of the people is much more powerful than the people in power, the relationship between brand owners and consumers needs to move from fear to faith, there has to be a conscious believe for and in the people, the “Mubarak attitude” cannot thrive in this century, too many factors are against it, this is a different tribe of consumers, a tribe with different niche of voices, and no matter how heterogeneous they are, they all own a common platform that amplifies their power to a tipping point. The pricing model has also changed, the tools of production has been democratized and at no cost consumers can now re-write the message. The message is theirs and the medium also.

CREATIVITY & HUMANITY

With a population of 900 million which accounts for 25% of the world’s population, an average per capita income of roughly $1 per day, Africa remains the poorest region in the world.Between 1981 to date, the number of people in the continent living in poverty has nearly doubled; leaving the average African poorer today than he was 2 decades ago, life expectancy in some African countries has fallen to 30 years, HIV-AIDS having killed one of every seven children before the age of 5.

The Statistics look horrendous, and the biggest question would be “Can Africa ever get out of this rot, will her countries ever live in the predictions of becoming attractive economies by 2020?”

Even worse is the reaction from local institutions especially government that should be responsible for alleviating these problems.

Corporate social responsibility has been inherited by corporate organizations, who themselves use it as a catchall phrase to earn public reputation without any commitment to rid our society of the scourge.

However as it appears that the total disregard might create for all stakeholders an uncomfortable environment to thrive in, some companies are beginning to embrace innovative ways within their core business activities of making better the current situation.

Most interesting is how companies such as NedBank have taken this beyond the traditional cause-related initiative to using new and unique platforms that delivers on Triple bottom line.

Nedbank, a South African Bank wanted to show that they were not just about profit and though they are a financial institution, their proposition was more deeper with a commitment to making a difference in the life of the people.

To reinforce what they’d always stood for “Make things happen” Nedbank didn’t just run a commercial to talk about what they did for their communities, rather they came up with an idea to create the first solar powered billboard that was designed to convert the heat of the African sun to electricity for a school’s kitchen that fed 1100 pupils in a rural South African neighborhood.

It was such meaningful activity that deepened and expanded their scale of operations beyond just providing the functional, and positioned the Nedbank brand as symbol of hope.

As communication partners, the soul of true and meaningful creativity should be in its humane interpretation; it’s the search for opportunities within the seemingly unpleasant everyday harshness that we can leverage not with the aim of selling products or winning awards but to making lives better.

It is therefore essential that as brand builders we should not just assume that our jobs end at increasing brand awareness or helping client optimize advertising budgets, but a noble calling of investing our creativity in the most sustainable and significant way.

"I NEED YOU"

Visting collegues in thier homes’ has never been my bit,maybe once or twice i try,but really what fun would it be,having to see the same person 8 hours,every single day,weekends are meant to hang out with “Converts” like my Boss would say.I visited Cherise on Saturday,cos i needed an apartment in her neighbourhood,9 am was the deal, i would have sworn that driving through the streets of Lekki phase 1 would have been the most colorful evnt that morning.

A serene environment with elegant ,well arranged flowers,birds singing,ivy-cottages,and probably a running brook,far from my imagination, apart from the overlooking lagoon on my left,Lekki phase 1, would pass for anywhere in some lagos surburb, getting to my location was endless,i feared my shock absorbers were going to be out in no time,the blarring from cars were as bad as what you would hear in Mushin.Looking from the entrance you could see a bold, beautiful painting of Wole Soyinka hanging adjacent the sofa,Cherise’s place was a total contrast from what the streets looked like,it was such a simple ambience,the vernician blinds gave it some sort of an aristocratic feel,a collection of absolute vodka bottles glittered from the bar like pieces of diamonds arranged perfectly.

The last thing i heard as my thought whispered away was “Do Cherise still earned the same salary like i do,these Guys might be playing some trick on me”She got two cups,and we share a pack of juice together,“what a lovely apartment you’ve got here...,you’re actually worth more than you appear...” i said,she jerked as she giggled,i wondered how she was able to do that,without choking, “Danny ,you are getting it all wrong ,this is my brother’s place,he just drove out to see some friends,why do you think i got the agent’s number...,for you?,you must think i’m so nice.“Where is Bassey ?”,i need this goat!,he’s been away forever....”in her usual british accent, “who is Bassey i asked,and why is he a goat?”.Bassey was Cherise’s houseboy,apparently he had gone on some runs for her some three hours ago,and was not anywhere to be found.i smiled,and remebered Okon.

Okon appeared to be all i had at a point,90% of my entire domestic activity depended on Okon,i was looking through the bathroom window once,and saw Okon and Adamu the gateman battling over relevance,and who was more important to me.Okon made my food,he did my laundry,kept the house clean and tidy,did my domestic shopping and even sometimes would drive to get fuel at the nearby station,i payed him relatively high,considering the fact that i also took up the responsibilty of paying for his rent at the village where his wife and family stays.Okon was 100% relevant...,and like Cherise’s houseboy, i always needed Okon. Gradually Okon was becoming unavailable,he was never at the right place at the right time,he was assuming and unneccesary comfortable with his recent attitude,i was getting really tired.i needed to find an alternative,i waited till the end of the month and got a laundry machine, a dish washer,i registered with the TFC home delivery,and some house cleaning agency.it was time to FIRE Okon.

My new assitants were efficient,fast,cheaper to service, available anytime, anyday,and more importantly was the fact that they meant so much than just equipments to me,the brands were entities that i had empathy and shared meaningful association with.Okon lost his competitive relevance,because he failed to realise two key business principles,which are largely important

1.The changing nature of technology ,which makes service efficient,faster and cheaper.
2.The art of humanising service,and being able to empathise with the consumer’s need.Just food for thought!

Depth-fination

Life is a journey in search of meaning, a journey that moves from one milestone to another, one discovery leads to another. “You find the reason why you are, and then life hands over to you the task of helping others do”, and interestingly the sense of satisfaction we inherently demand does not come in the exact discovery of meaning, but in the countless intrigue and suspense associated with the search. No matter who we are, Africans, Hispanic, Latinos, Asians or which part of the globe we reside, this single believe puts us all on the same page.

Life’s journey essentially is a journey of emotions, the maneuver, the plot, the tension, the anticipation. And I strongly believe that any product that will make a bang in today’s market must have empathy for what makes meaning for humanity. Products need to move away from functional benefits to emotional benefits, Diamonds they say are forever, but it’s not the piece of carbon rock that’s interesting, it’s really about Jack and Jill in love and the fact that they would want to share that love, forever. Product benefits have travelled a distance over the last few years, gone are the days when products exercise competitive advantage because they are produced from the largest factory or because they were produced by the best engineers, today’s market runs on an expressive, emotional capital.

Functional benefits don’t excites as much as emotional benefits, as much as a belief in humanity, in what lies at the depth of human consciousness, and this is what a powerful brand should do, the Dove’s “Real beauty campaign”, the “Participation Age” point of view from Sun Microsystem have successfully demonstrated this

The new reality is this: we now live in a spiritual republic, any brand /product that fails to Define the Depth will never find its way within

How does she want it ?

Marketing communication’s primary purpose is gradually moving away from just producing things, like ads, press releases, and brochures.

The trend now is “what can organizations do to help people understand them and their products in ways that are meaningful to the people?”

Our communications has over the years been tasteless and sounds like official speeches that have failed to deliver on loyalty and margins.

We’ve continued to live in isolation while crafting our brand messages. No connection with what is happening in our environment, no conversation created. We have deviated from the sage’s (Ogilvy) advice, “The consumer is not a moron, she is your wife”.

Two ways to create meaning, and inspire conversation is to continually listen to customers and make it easy and interesting for them to talk about ideas, issues, and points of view.

Ideas and issue that are generated from consumers perspective tends to easily involve the consumer. It’s like bringing to the front burner what their inner issues and conversation are; I prefer to call this idea generating model, “The explosive demand generated idea” model.

This is one model that has successfully engaged users and moved buzz beyond the ordinary. In its simplest explanation, “it is giving back to the community, what they have requested for”.

The Barack Obama US-presidential Campaign idea is one that clearly shows this model. The 2006 election was clearly the beginning of the "change craze" in Washington and Obama's message seems to have connected with this faction of the voting public, with his “Yes We can” idea motivating them to check up the product, an idea that has dramatically involved the youth targets unlike any other political campaign in the US, it’s something completely different from what young people are used to and that's exciting for everybody and really, change sure seem pretty hip with the kids these days.

Obama provides that message of hope. His, is a strong idea for a better tomorrow which resonates with the inner yearnings of the people of America across board, and on top of that he has also made the idea successfully easier to talk about by involving celebrities to buy and showcase his product. With Big O,the Kennedy Clan, endorsing him, the hope of becoming the first black president with successful brands like the Clintons trailing behind is almost impossible.

it is therefore left to us as marketers to either re-invent the marriage commitment and experience an explosive romance or risk a divorce.

The Town Crier,The High Priest

The Town Crier:

Kere OO,Kere OO,Kere OO, I greet you all, people of our land. And I also bring you greetings from the King and his Chiefs

There has been a deliberation over the happenings in our land, and the king has instructed that no person should be seen around Igbo nla from 9 pm, to dawn, whoever is seen around there, would be responsible for whatever happens to him/her.

The King has spoken OOO, I’m just his mouth piece.

Mo wi re OOOO,

The typical town Crier makes no error in passing across the verdict of the king, he was never aware of the need for the message after all, he is never concerned about the desire of the people, all he has is a brief-“Go tell the people what we have decided over the matter”, and that’s the limit of his job”. No empathy for his listeners, and he’s never worried about perception, after all he was never part of the solution and though he is supposed to be an audience of his own message, he prides himself as a messenger that spills rhetoric and style, yet he’s still a messenger.

His primary job is to communicate, and what does he communicate? Benefits, but benefit does not excite his audience, the people wants a deeper connection, something that connects to their humanity.

The High Priest:

O King live forever, our town will see good days ahead; the future of our people is a big concern, we need to do something about it.

The high priest, the futurologist, you call him your creative consultant, the mediator between the consumer and the manufacturer. He sees beyond creating messages to helping to re-invent companies and their brands. He earns the respect of his clients, he seats with the Chiefs in counsel, he is the spiritual link of his people, at the centre of his audience is the intense longing to be closer to God, and he identifies with that, and creates brand with such point of view, he looks into the future of the consumers, collaborate with the palace to create value and increase bottom line.

After all the voice of the gods is the voice of men.

We played the role of the town crier for too long, the future has no hope for such practice.

The entire Advertising industry was created to persuade predetermined groups of consumers by using controlled communications to push an image, or a personality associated with product- (The future of competition) C.K,Prahalad ( Professor of Business Admin. University of Michigan, Business School.)

Blog Expert Hugh Macleod, makes this clear,” The future of Advertising is Clients increasingly asking their agencies to help re-invent not just their brands, but their actual companies, and the future is agencies being unable to deliver on this”

There’s need for us to hear the voices of the people, after all they play gods to our Business, and also collaborate with the palace. Our work will from today depend on this model, call it Co-creation, next marketing practice, whatever the nomenclature,

“The Days of Town Crier might just be over with”….”did I just say that?!!