Marketing Matter

The umbrella body for all advertisers in Nigeria, The Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) is poised to scale up its goal of growing Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria with the introduction and expansion of some categories of this year’s ADVAN marketing excellence awards.
Commentators have indentified one of the new categories – Marketing on a Shoestring – with a strong capacity to appeal to serious –minded SMEs. This explains why ADVAN had specifically invited SMEs to submit entries for this special category that focuses on the maximisation of limited budget in achieving impact and measurable result.
Commenting on ADVAN’s current focus on SMEs, ADVAN’s President, David Okeme explained that the decision to open the elite platform to SMEs was informed by lessons learnt during the World Federation of Advertisers global conference in Malaysia where bodies like ADVAN were enjoined to open a second tier membership to accommodate small scale businesses.
Okeme believes that relating with existing ADVAN members would be of immense benefits to SMEs as they would be interacting with seasoned analysts and experts who can conveniently dissect key marketing issues, insights and emerging consumer engagement trends. Okeme also believes that SMEs are veritable tools that can help Nigeria move out of her current recession.
Also commenting on the tilt towards SMEs by ADVAN, Emmanuel Young, a member of Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and keen commentator on Marketing issues feels there are other ADVAN Awards categories that should interest small and medium scale organizations. According to Young, categories like Experiential Marketing, Innovation,Digital/Social Media Marketing and Future Leader of Marketing Awards can equally throw up SMEs that can demonstrate verifiable success in total marketing if they are bold enough to submit entries.
Speaking in details about the relevance of SMEs, Young further explained that although global corporations tend to dominate the business pages, a healthy small business sector is essential to a prosperous economy. His words: “SMEs play increasingly important roles in ensuring that economic growth is sustainable. The small business sector makes a huge contribution on multiple fronts: from employing a diverse workforce and engaging with their local communities, through to bringing jobs to employment black-spots. It is highly commendable that ADVAN is trying to motivate growth in this segment. It is equally commendation that successful ADVAN Award entries by SMEs this year can give them a direct chance to become ADVAN Member with all the concomitant benefits”
The ADVAN Awards is undoubtedly one of the most prestigious and respected awards in the Nigerian marketing community. This year’s Awards nite, which is its sixth edition, is billed to take place at the prestigious MUSON centre, Onikan, Lagos on October 29, 2016.
Just like previous editions, the 2016 award is structured for the express purpose of highlighting the fundamental position marketing occupies in business and public sectors, besides celebrating outstanding marketing achievements across a range of industries. According to David Okeme, ADVAN’s President, this award is part of ADVAN’s greater design to establish the marketing profession on a sustainable path to greatness. Okeme also feels this achievement could really be consolidated this year with the ADVAN Awards for Marketing Excellence now endorsed by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).
Okeme also stated that the Awards Committee tasked with mandate of organizing a world class event is populated by seasoned marketing professionals led by the Marketing Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Franco Maria Maggi, who would also serve as Chairman of the 2016 ADVAN Awards.
The ADVAN President also spoke on the on-going judging process handled by the Panel of Judges led by Ikechi Odigbo, Managing Director DDB Lagos and Vice President Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN). He revealed that the team is presently taking pains to page through a deluge of entries that have come in since the process remains one of the most valuable assets of the Awards.


Promasidor Nigeria to boost expansion with over N8billion

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Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell, Onga, Toptea and Loya Milk, has concluded arrangements with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, to inject a $25 million loan (over N8billion) into its production with a view to increasing efficiency and to produce more products for the benefit of Nigerian populace.
Olivier Thiry, Managing Director, Promasidor Nigeria Limited- PNL, explained that the capital injection would be used to support purchases of new machinery that will enable PNL to increase efficiency, expand production and develop new products, leading to greater availability of nutritious food products in Nigeria at competitive prices.
His words: “This is a very competitive market for food products. We expect that this investment will help us optimize production costs, enabling us to reach and nourish more consumers with our affordable range of quality products. We will also target our portfolio extension by gradual integration of more locally sourced raw materials from producers in Nigeria and widening our network of distributors”
According to him, the investment became necessary in view of the numerous business opportunities in the Nigerian market.
He disclosed that Promasidor Nigeria is currently faced with production limitations as it could not produce enough quantity of its nutritious products to service the demand for them from different parts of the country.
Meanwhile, Mary-Jean Moyo, IFC Head of Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services for sub-Saharan Africa said, “Agribusiness is Nigeria’s largest employer. Increasing investment in food-processing companies like PNL will help diversify Nigeria’s economy and improve nutrition by expanding the supply of affordable food.”
IFC said it invests in Agribusiness to enhance productivity with the goals of greater food security, higher rural incomes, and improving environmental and social sustainability. Today, it added, the average African farm performs at just 40 percent of potentials.  The organization said by 2030, Africa’s agriculture and agribusiness market is expected to triple in value to reach $1 trillion. Africa needs more than $10 billion in new investment annually to achieve this aspired expansion of output.
In the fiscal year ended in June 2016, IFC’s overall, long-term investments in sub-Saharan Africa totalled nearly $3.7 billion, including more than $1.8 billion mobilized from other investors. IFC clients provided 240,000 jobs, supported nearly 1.2 million farmers, and treated nearly 960,000 patients.
PNL is a subsidiary of Promasidor Holdings limited (the Company), a leading Pan-African consumer goods company operating in 25 countries across the continent. The Company was founded in 1979 in the Democratic Republic of Congo by Mr. Robert Rose, who pioneered formulations and packaging of dairy products which extended shelf life and made them more accessible and affordable for millions of low-income consumers.


Lagos NIPR deepens communicators’ skills with digital PR Summit

Lagos State Chapter, the flagship branch of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) recently unveiled plans to deepen the skill-set of communication and media practitioners in new media with Lagos Digital PR Summit; first of its king in Sub Saharan Africa.
In partnership with Microsoft, Google, TrendWatching, Red Media Africa and other leading corporate and digital marketing communication firms in Nigeria, the Lagos PR Summit is an experiential gathering of communicators focused on achieving collective intelligence to equip and capacitate practitioners with high-level digital media strategies and tactics aimed at increasing their effectiveness to lift their campaign results on social media.
The Lagos Digital PR Summit with the theme: ‘New Media: Public Relations Practice in Networked Communities’, will hold at the Nigerian Institute of Management, Lagos on Wednesday 19thand Thursday 20th, October 2016.
This Summit is targeted at Generation X and Millennials from diverse sectors, who will learn new insights about digital public relations in a technologically driven world. Presenters at the Summit will share practical knowledge on deploying, integrating and using social media Apps and tools to connect, inform, engage and evaluate campaigns in line with specific business goals.
Speaking on the Summit, Chairman, Lagos State Chapter, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Olusegun McMedal said, “The Lagos Digital PR Summit is focused on achieving collective intelligence with a view to sharpen the skillset of communicators with high-level digital media strategies, tactics and how-to’s so they can do their jobs better, train their team mates, and lift their campaign results on social media”.