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History has taught the world that the norm may not usually be
right after all. Going back in time when kingdoms were under the
influence of the Vatican Church, the Catholic Church was strongly
against the freedom of thought and rigorous science and experiments.
And so whoever went against the norm was branded heretic and made
to pay dearly with his live.
People were compelled to follow at best the
Roman Catholic ideology of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) who advanced
the belief that the earth was moved by angels. In spite of the
series of scientific experiments put together by Galileo and many
others, to prove to the authorities that the sun is actually the
centre of the universe, they were rebuked and labeled heretic.
Contrary ideas were rejected no matter how established and the
norms in spite of being bland were accepted as truth.
It took free thinkers and bold minds like Martin
Luther who became sick with the unhealthy science stifling trend
and the corruption and hypocrisy at the highest places of the
ruling Catholic Church to break the norm. His first bold step
was the publication of his “Protestant Reformation and the
95 Thesis” He made several arguments amongst which was that
individuals could communicate directly with God without priestly
intermediaries.
Amazingly, this was to mark the beginning of
a radical change in the history of man. Luther’s thought
had sparked off protest in men and so many took full ownership
of their thoughts and actions. That radical era gave birth to
the most eventful chapter in the history of man. The Renaissance
period (15th-17th century)! That era has greatly compelled thinking
of our time to better understand the world around us and to arrive
at a universal conclusion.
With close to half a century of brand consulting
practice in Nigeria, the norm had been prevalent until recently
with the advent of a few free thinkers who have come to topple
the apple cart and change the meaning of several words in the
dictionary of Nigerian brand consulting.
Branding today has shades of different meaning
to different people. To a larger percentage of people, the meaning
remains the same-that of giving the product or object a unique
identity. But to a select few who belongs to the school of Martin
Luther and his ideology of the 15th -17th century, it has come
to mean different things at different times. It is a state of
madness, a state when one is obsessed with the uncommon, a state
of total freedom of expression, and a state when one generously
employs the resources available at one’s socio-cultural
environment to create the uncommon effect in order to communicate
effectively to a target audience.
Charles O’Tudor, Principal Consultant
of ADSTRAT and its group of consulting firms belong to the later
school. No doubt they are an embodiment of questionable and disruptive
ideas. O’Tudor’s beyond the norm disposition is the
fulcrum of his new looks and series of brow raising innovations
that have taken place at Tornado’s place, the abode of his
brand consulting firm.
He believes that brand consultants should take
advantage of the diverse ethnicity and multi-colored traditional
beliefs in their environment, saying they are the required mix
to communicate effectively to the immediate audience. There is
need to create a lasting bonding with the local template as it
communicates faster. The creative strategy, articulation and execution
of concepts should be created in a template that reflects the
Nigerian cultural background in order to have relevance to socio-cultural
experience.
Undaunted in his resolve to take branding to
a higher level, O’Tudor is also of the strong opinion that
brand consultants must first of all loose themselves from the
shackles of the norm. They must have a high sense of creative
freedom and above all think differently to make a lasting impression
on their target audience.
An exponent of Brander Brand thyself, O’Tudor
is worried about the non-involvement of brand consultants in the
whole process of branding. The concept of brander branding thy
self is hinged on the fact that the sick cannot cure the sick,
only the healthy can. And so he decries the poor insight of players
in the industry when they slave to brand their clients and yet
their brands are in dire need of branding, saying both brands
must be developed and well managed.
He believes that creativity must come from
within to the outside. To project other brands, one should be
able to project his brand first. The Nigerian brand identity is
suffering, and in dire need of projection. “We believe we
have risen up to the task. We have woken up from a long slumber
to break out of the box of cultural imperialism. That to us is
being proudly and truly Nigerian” He said.
To this end, ADSTRAT and its group have invested
time and money to come up with innovative ideas towards giving
their brand a distinctive Nigerian identity, an identity that
can never be mistaken, and this has been regularly projected in
the media. One of the outcomes of this insight is the innovative
media buy which the brand and its group are known for and have
been judged by many to be quite disruptive, the predominant garbing
of Nigerian fabric and the adoption of black as the brand’s
colour.
It will be recalled that the story of ADSTRAT
started barely four years ago with the urge to set up a unique
brand that will stand out in terms of identity, creative dept
and philosophy. And so armed with a burning desire and a paltry
sum, OTudor summoned courage to leave Impact Plus as the Managing
Director/CEO to form ADSTRAT. Barely four years after, the brand
has not only been built to world-class standard, but is now the
youngest brand consulting firm with the fastest top of the mind
recall. ADSTRAT has also given birth of two special solution companies,
AXLE-Strategic Media Company and STRATIS-Strategic Image and Events
Company.
ADSTRAT’s philosophy is hinged on a series
of well thought out phrases and semantics such as O2ygenation
(The process of breathing life into a brand), Cerebral Filtration
Process (The strategy session that ensures that only the best
ideas are offered to the client) and Processed thought to finish
(An error free disposition from conceptualization to execution).
All these are painstaking efforts to ensure that it approaches
briefs from a refreshingly different perspective and with a consummate
desire to make a difference.
The history of bank consolidation in Nigeria
cannot be complete without the mention of the active and innovative
role of ADSTRAT in the whole process.
It will be recalled that a phenomenal change
in the banking industry commenced last year. Being the focal point
in which all national economic activities rotate, it was time
to reform the Nigerian banking sector, toning up its financial
muscles to enable it respond promptly to the task required to
attain the new economic reforms.
And so, Professor Charles Soludo read the riot
act, ordering that all banks shore up their capital base to 25
billion by December 2005 or close shops.
The CBN helmsman on his appointment had understudied
the sector and came to the conclusion that core professionalism
was lacking as majority of the banks had deviated from the core
banking practice.
In a situation where there were 89 commercial
banks in the country and only four of them were considered “big
enough” in terms of capital base, he was compelled to review
upward the capital base to N 25 billion from the initial N 2 billion.
Soludo’s landmark order ushered in an
unprecedented euphoria as the stakeholders resolved to scamper
to the capital market for funds in order to meet the deadline.
Consequently, this had led to increased volume and frequency of
marketing communication to convince the investing public on the
choice of investment. Never before in the history of banking had
the sector invested so much on branding, advertising, image management
and media buying. The market was over charged with those signals
making it even more difficult for the audience to make a discerning
purchasing decision.
Also, this has led to the witnessing of a couple
of “marriage of convenience” by way of mergers and
acquisitions by some of the banks. Quite a few of those mergers
were presented to the CBN based on the establishment of the “MOUs”
by the concerned parties for ratification. By this trend, the
Nigerian banking industry like never before raised the bar to
join the world comity of mega banks
But the journey has just begun. What this portends
for the banking industry is the challenge of matching the mega
bank status with the quality of communication that hits the local
and international market. Stakeholders must take cognizance of
communicating the right message effectively, loaded with credible
and visible promises to impress the various banking publics.
The post consolidation era is even a more challenging
period. The conflict of communication, the need to be seen and
heard, the imperative for banks in a group to marry their activities,
culture, philosophy, vision and mission are even more worrisome.
But O’Tudor who is currently “midwifing” a few
banks for the post consolidation era, in a recent interview, said
the solution to the afore mentioned problems could be found in
what he called O2ycculturation.
The role of branding in the whole process is
essentially to differentiate one bank from another through the
instrument of communication via all the elements in the marketing
communication mix. The deployment of these communication elements
should create certain emotional desire for the brand and ultimately
compel the target audience to make a positive purchasing decision.
But the human emotions are intangible elements
that cannot be predicted. This attribute has made branding one
of the most difficult social sciences. The task has become even
more complex with the myriads of marketing communication from
other competitors. The conflict of communication, the need to
be seen and heard and most recently, following the just concluded
consolidation exercise for banks, the need for group to marry
their activities, culture, philosophy, vision and mission together
to form a single brand.
THE DYNAMICS OF BRANDING
Branding is very crucial for differentiation
and carving a niche especially in a highly competitive industry
with similar products/service offerings like the banking industry.
The role of effective branding otherwise referred here, as O2ygenation
should be dynamic. It should take the form of a conscious mix
of those differentiating factors scientifically crafted that compel
the target audience to take a purchasing action.
Branding must constantly evolve along with
the environment to enhance the image and public perception of
an organization. It is also important to note that a strong positive
image of the corporate brand will rub off on its products/ services
and vice versa.
Prior to the execution of the N25bn recapitalization
strategy, the branding imperative requires that the banks project
their individual niches, and bring their unique attributes to
the fore. This was to ensure that each bank approaches the public
offering from a position of strength to beat competition.
For instance, most banks in the consolidation
era engaged in a public offer campaign to draw public attention
to their organization. This provided a smoother and more strategic
approach to raising the required funds from members of the public,
especially in view of the limited period for raising such funds
(21 Days in terms of public offer).
In this post Consolidation era, competition
in the Nigerian banking industry will be at its peak. The monopoly,
which the big banks used to enjoy, will be broken. It is a totally
fresh start and the stakes are high, from the point of view of
the mega banking.
Serious efforts will be directed towards consolidating
the new status and synergizing the relationship, in the case of
mergers. All of these present a good business opportunity for
branding. However, as earlier hinted, the challenges of creating
effective brands in the post N25 billion era vary, according to
the recapitalization strategy deployed by the banks.
The following elements will have to be created.
• Name
• Logo
• Colours
• Corporate Manual
• Corporate Template
• Corporate Identity material (signage, Letterhead , I D
Cards etc)
• Brand Architecture
• Mission and Vision Statement
• Acculturation
• Ability at managing the gap between the brands promise
and realities on ground in terms of the experiential.
• Corporate image set of attributes and brand equity.
• Strategic brand projection
• Achieving excellence in each of the above will ensure
that the merging banks evolve into an effective brand in the Post
=N=25 billion era.
The challenge is made even more enormous because
a new corporate identity and image have to be projected from scratch
to members of the public. This requires a great deal of discipline,
consistency, deliberate effort and processed thought to create
an effective brand.
In respect of a bank that achieved the =N=25
billion recapitalization through a public offer, initial public
offer, rights issue or private placement the major branding challenge
is that of consolidating the bank via strategic image enhancement
machineries and brand projection via advertising.
But a large number of banks in this category
who have not changed their names and logos in recent past may
have to do so in order to compete favourably with the logos of
the merging banks. These logos are expected to be highly modern
and of world class standard. As a result of this, the challenges
in creating an effective brand will be similar to those of the
merging banks.
Generally, the intense competition expected
in the post =N=25 billion era will raise the standard of customer
service, general banking, as well as branding in the industry.
There will also be greater awareness of the imperatives of branding
by the banks. Therefore to create an effective branding in the
post =N=25 billion era, branding will be viewed in totality.
World class branding standards will be brought
to bear on the Nigerian banking industry, especially in the areas
of professionalism, holistic approach to branding, brand strategy,
consistency, continuity, deliberate efforts and discipline in
the branding process, which is a continuum. This is the role of
O2ygenation where life is injected into the bank’s corporate
image.
O2yculturation an offshoot of O2ygenation is
very essential for merged banks. Just as it is impracticable for
two people to rush into a marriage within a short time, it was
quite abnormal for banks to merge successfully within the stipulated
time frame. The cart was placed before the horse. It was obviously
courtship after marriage. MOU’s were signed in a hurry to
meet the Soludo’s deadline and so parties had little or
no time for courtship.
However, the methodology of O2yculturation
is scientifically designed to address the problems of these forced
marriages, as it is a function of branding where merging elements
in a group are brought to life and aligned for the purpose of
having a single brand DNA. It is a process that starts within,
through the instrument of acculturation to create a synergistic
appeal amongst every member of the body. It cuts across the value,
philosophy and culture of the workforce to the brands corporate
identity manual such as signage, billboards, letterheads and call
cards etc.
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