Solabomi Okonkwo is the Chief Executive Officer of NM En.Core Limited, a company that has made impact in brand activation, experiential marketing and advertising. BRANDCAMPAIGN had a chat with her on marketing and brand development issues. Excerpts:

Between Direct marketing, TV, Radio, outdoor and PR, which one adds more value to brand building?

Brand building is holistic and not single minded, so all the above listed marketing communication platform play significant roles when brand owners decide to grow their brand in the market space and with their target consumers. You have left out another major player in brand building in our world today, this channel takes your brand beyond the brands operating frontier and that is digital. These platforms have their peculiar reach in terms of stakeholders’ engagement but they all have one direct objective; brand building. TV radio and OOH are deployed majorly for brand adverts, while PR speak to the opinion shapers popularly called the fourth realm who then transfer the information to the intended receivers and finally reaching out to the consumers the main divide of a brand’s stakeholders would be the responsibility of direct marketing; the field Nm Encore plays in.

In the present state of Nigeria’s economy, what measures should brand owners take to improve on Returns on Investment?

I strongly believe a brand can’t go wrong if they employ creativity in pushing their brands, despite the economic challenges Nigeria is presently facing we are a people who appreciate creativity and would put our money where sound thinking exist. Brands have failed to use out of box thinking during stable economy any brand that continues in such trend might experience the flip side of business. Brand owners should have a proper knowledge and understanding of their consumers and how to effectively engage them which will transform into affinity/loyalty for the brand and this would bring about repeated purchase. So if you truly want ROI then put your thinking caps on and create a world for your brand and its consumers.

Some believe that Above the Line marketing solution has not been effective in growing brands and products, unlike in the past, what is your opinion on this?

I would not want to join the queue of those who believe in this theory of ATL not being effective anymore like in the past, the issue here would be the dynamism of today’s consumers. Consumers are now more in tune with global trends through country visits and online channels they patronize thus their thirst for creativity and proper brand messaging in adverts is now premium. So when you find consumers aversion to adverts it has more to do with the quality as against ATL. If you ask me what the job is I would say let’s put on our thinking caps and WOW the consumers.

Read more: http://www.jalupon.com/consumers-now-tune-global-trends-solabomi-okonkwo/