Four years in the Marketing Communications industry, David’s Mighty Men (DM2) has worked on some top brands like Dettol, Mouka  and all the Coca cola brand’s television commercials among others. Mr. Uyi Omokaro, Managing Director, in this chat called for more investments on brands and the power of the social media platforms.  Princewill Ekwujuru reports.

Overview of the marketing communications industry / social media arena:

Social media in Nigeria is quite new. It’s not as established as what we have in countries like the US, UK or in Asia. A lot of brands are just getting to realise that the internet population in Nigeria is about the largest population at the moment, There are about 44 million Nigerians on-line, even more than half of that is mobile. So brand managers in Nigeria are just beginning to realise that they cannot do a campaign without doing serious digital marketing.

People are on twitter, yahoo, facebook, and browsing big websites like Vanguard website, Nairaland, KG.com, no matter the site, we get our news on-line. So if you want to run a massive campaign in Nigeria, 44 million people are a huge chunk of your audience.

So it is not something you can neglect this moment. Brands are   beginning to realise that, that is the big part of the marketing campaign they  cannot ignore. So, we are trying to make head way, showcasing the new form of advertising people are used to. We do banners, rich media Ads, expandable banners, mobile advertising, management of twitter and facebook pages for brands etc.

Social media as a brave new world:

I think that in social media, everything is real time. For example, the world is more violent now than it has ever been. The truth about it is that the world is more viable now, it is real time now. Back then, it took two days for us to hear something that happened.

For example, if there is a shooting in Poland, it is made known immediately. So any mistake that is made, no hiding place anymore, any slip of tongue or action without thinking, is automatically passed on to millions of people.

People used to say the world is a global village, it is no longer a global village, everybody lives in one room right now, that room is google, that room is facebook, there is no middle man anymore, it is direct from brand to consumer, it is direct from celebrity to consumer, they have totally cut off the middleman.

You have to be extremely careful of what you do and what you say, it gives you massive opportunity to propel yourself, propel your brand. Perfect example, look at Interbrand, a  young company, started with about
nine or 10 staff, and a year later, it is worth billions of dollars, so it is a massive world, the opportunities are endless, I can compare this to the gold rush in California years ago.

I can compare this to the discovery of oil, I can compare this to when  America went to the moon for the first time, anything is possible, anybody can be a billionaire in the shortest time. Brands can sell millions and millions in the shortest time, so it is an amazing new world.

Global marketing budget increase and social media awareness:

Like I said, brand managers are beginning to realise that the social media is part of it. Before, it used to be TV commercial first, radio, experiential campaign, print, now they are beginning to realise that social media is part of it, so you can’t ignore it, so budgets are generally increasing, the way things are now,  people watch TV online, the share of voice between TV and online campaigns is gradually reducing, and because of that, it is narrowing, the more it narrows, the more people are going to spend money to promote their brands online.

So budgets are generally going to increase, people watch TV shows online now, watch football matches online, people communicate with celebrities online, so generally, budgets will always increase, wherever there is an opportunity, people will rush into it and when people rush into it, money follows.

Drop in print budget:

I don’t think so, I think it’s going to work side by side, it’s a symbiotic relationship. I don’t think the internet is going to kill print, people will always abide by that tradition of holding a book in their hands. they will always want to read a newspaper or magazine, people will always want to watch TV in their homes, I don’t think it’s going to kill it off, it’s going to be a symbiotic relationship, I do see a drop in print.

There still people who are going to read newspapers, but I do know that the rise of the internet cannot be curtailed. Reading daily news online cannot be stopped. It’s going to be something that will continue growing, It’s going to be bigger, there’s going to new inventions, new websites, new social media platforms, everyday there is a young 19 year old boy discovering new sites It’s something that is going to be continued, I don’t see it coming down.

Investment in the print industry and advice

People have said from time that the popularity of internet in the last decade has really grown, people had predicted sometime that it will kill off the media, it hasn’t killed off the media, people are still buying newspapers, buying magazines, we still have huge selection of people who read magazines, newspapers online now. That industry will still survive.

Why I do believe that the budget of the social media  advertising will grow much higher, obviously if it grows much higher, print will definitely reduce just a little bit, but I do think they would work side by side.

EU market and Nigeria

Everything is getting more expensive, a few years ago , you can get billboard for  N5million and above, but today it goes for N14 million and above, things are really getting expensive, brands have to spend more money , with clung in brands in the country , brands have to spend more, because so many brands are fighting for share of voice, fighting for top of the mind awareness .

There is little space and there’s so much information to reach the consumer, and so, for you to reach the consumer you have to be extremely creative or extremely loud, so brands are pushing out so much money, like buying billboards, paying for TV commercials, paying for radio Ads and now with the growth of the social media, social media has added to the inventory. Brands are spending so much money at the moment, I do believe marketing budget will rise.