"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?!!