Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Brands Optimal, a leading experiential marketing agency in Nigeria, has said the global COVID-19 pandemic and recession have thrown up new opportunities in various sectors and sub sectors of the nation’s economy.
He said the global pandemic re-defined both life and businesses across the world, on the one hand, while the recession, which greeted Nigeria’s local economy was statistically exited.
According to him, one sphere of the Nigerian economy which has been directly impacted is the experiential marketing subsector of the nation’s marketing communications industry where some operators, rising up to the challenges of the times, have significantly upped the ante in their business models, technology acquisition, skills set and personnel development.
He said they have re-calibrated their partnership with and deliverables to their valued clientele, both on the side of the brand owners and the media vehicles – both traditional and social cum digital, all with a deep understanding of the consumer.
In an interview monitored on a national television station, the Brands Optimal boss submitted that even with the pandemic and the economic recession, the marketing communications industry is still evolving, even though the evolution might have been slow, cautioning that the new normal which COVID-19 has thrown up would remain even after things have normalized.
In his words, “The industry has still been evolving and new opportunities are being thrown up; and although the rate of evolution may be pretty slow, the new normal will remain somehow, even after things have returned to normal”, adding that “the pandemic has created new vistas or new opportunities to drive standard engagement”, and that “The new opportunity that this has created is that we (in experiential marketing) can actually have virtual sampling and other events and still get feedback; though the experience may not be the same.”
To him, advertising, which has always relied more on the traditional media, was able to explore and enjoy good patronage during the lock-down as more people stayed at home, making the new normal serve as a window of opportunity for advertising.
Ojeikhoa therefore challenged advertising agencies to quickly move all their operations to digital platforms and get relevant apps to drive engagement for data collection, sampling and sales.
This, he said, will enable automation, so that at the press of a button, they (agencies) can see their performances by a form of consideration or analysis.
According to the experiential marketing professional cum entrepreneur, “It is imperative for agencies to explore digitization in full force in their quest to deliver a first-class digital customer experience”, urging them to leverage on the advantages which the world of digital has provided to enhance their business activities.
To him, “Agencies need to tap into the learnings and opportunities that have emerged as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, so far. For agencies that are not tapping into these opportunities, it is never too late,” adding that agencies should create digital online programmes to engage their consumers and their clients.
He disclosed that he and his team did exactly that at the peak of the lock-down, last year, to generate more revenue. He maintained that online will continue rising to a point where there will be no offline, as everything will be online.
The Brands Optimal helmsman assured his teeming clientele that his agency would continue to evolve and assume new postures, new structures, targets and new opportunities on a day-to-day basis.
