Just a few months ago, there erupted a scenario with an event a Naija UK based entertainment firm, Cokobar. The outfit was embroiled in a bitter feud with another rival promoter, slagging them off for 'engineering' the non-appearance of the hyped up advertised appearance of Vocal Slender, the BBC documentary hero from lagos who was supposed to top the bill for the event at 02 arena. Thankfully, another artiste stepped up to the plate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .but a host of ticket holders, who turned up en-masse on the strength of the BBC sensational coverage to actually see Vocal Slender, weren't that amused.

Feeling cheated is an emotion that is soo strong every brand worth it's salt wants to guard against at all risks.

At the end of the day, there were a mumbo-jumbo of half-truths and half lies bandied about, while some industry 'elders' stepped in the fray and calmed ego-filled nerves.

The losers? The majority of Nigerians and friends who invested their hard earned pounds into relaxation came up short.

Roll on a few months forward, another Nigerian outfit went round advertisers, both from the Naija homeland and the UK. solicited for sponsorship and got some good response. The event, tagged 'Nigeria Carnival' or something along that line was supposed to hold at the popular Finsbury Park in North London.

There was massive airplay of the TV spots and a lot of people made plans to be there. There were of course, the food vendors who'd already booked stalls, the sponsors had committed funds, the TV stations were probably throwing in free spots were probably looking for some kind of free content in return, and there was a divorced man who went to pick up his daughter all the way from Glasgow to show her some bits and pieces of his culture. . .  . . . . . . . .

While all that transpired, the organisers had forgotten to fulfill all the rules concerning the use of a public space or according to reports, had opted out of a management arrangement with the Council of Haringey. And when the time came for reviews to be done with the council, the 'cheaper' management alternative got weren't able to provide documentation of competence required. Remember, this isn't some Nigerian back village. Public outings are a synchronized effort of the organisers, the Met Police, the Council and the Residents of the particular area.


In fact, the earlier edition of the event held in 2007 at Southwark was marred by complaints from the neighbors and subsequently, the council refused permission to grant the use of the place for this one, hence, the Finsbury Park option. I also know, from my involvement in these kinds of things, that you'd be required to provide Insurance on any Alfresco event once the crowd expected is over 10,000 people. And also bear in mind that any public building used for event has a mandatory insurance policy in place.

To cut a long story short, the Council canceled the event at the final hour. The wave and scale of disappointment across the board of different stakeholders is better imagined. And to add insult to injury, the council quickly use the power of the media to thoroughly discredit the organisers. See their take here: http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/news/topstories/8317379.Nigerian_Carnival_cancelled_in_final_hour_over__lack_of_security_/

It would be instructive to know that the Ghanaian community held theirs without a hitch in this same period.

This particular episode is saddening because as a consultant in the marketing communications industry, i know what the dominoes effect would be.


a. The UK sponsors will be most wary of anything with the 'Naija' tag. At best, they'd only give a fraction of the discretionary/PR budgets to these events so that their involvement would be minimal and if there's a flop, their brand equity will take little or no bashing.


b. The road for another serious event organiser will have been seriously curtailed.


c. The Nigeria brand, the name takes a load of rubbishing that continues into everyday living and life. It portrays us as a shoddy people.


The 3rd scenario in the space of less than 10 months, paints a picture of absurdity in all of us as a 'class' of people. The weather had behaved terribly well and the atmosphere for this year just concluded Notting Hill carnival was fantastic. Among the numerous promotions for the ubiquitous 'After-Parties' was that of TIMAYA, credited to a certain DJ Douglas.

I saw the flyer for the event on Facebook and from a successive layer of folks whose names end with 'Ents', 'Inc' and the sorts. On the day after the supposed event, my attention was drawn to the written vituperations of a lady on my list who was bemoaning the fact that she'd pay £50 to see Timaya and couldn't. Her money hasn't been refunded and she's going crackers, really spitting.


Then i saw a note on the Gbedu Magazine guy detailing the shameless explanations of both parties/culprits, DJ Douglas and Timaya media on why they messed up the evening of so many people. The responses there is a signal to the general levels of feelings. . . . . . . . . . .of absolute disgust.


Again, you ask yourself, what is wrong with these people? All the appellation of 'Ents' and 'Incs' aren't a substitute for being qualified to offer a professional service. It's a shame of a situation that i know will still rear its ugly head as we head towards the Xmas period.


I wouldn't have taken the pain to write this but as a professional with good experience in marketing communications, planning and strategy, i marvel at the scale of blindness on display among these ubiquitous, resilient people who come up with ideas and fall short because they don't know how to understand what brands want, and how to present and build their own brands.


For those 'Ents' and 'Incs', please you can sit back, relax and keep running your weekly show, it'd pay your bill and get you by. You're already doing fine.


My write up is for those who are into events proper.


The marketing communications market has evolved. Brands have moved from forcing communications down the throats of increasingly skeptical and control seeking targets. The balance of power have swung to the consumer. So the brands are looking for increasingly diverse and innovative ways of ENGAGING with the consumer.



Yet, this process of engagement is guided and guarded by basic brand rules. For a start, more money is being spent on creating 'brand experiences' through a mix of media - music, games, comedy, fashion, sports = oftentimes, a central marketing idea, based on the essence of the particular brand - is executed in a seamless integrated fashion through a carefully planned strategy.



It's up to the promoter to find out how his vent/idea can fit into the strategic vision of that brand, taking into consideration the social dynamics/technological leverage. Not the current idea of coming up with some stray idea and then asking for sponsorship.



Well, today isn't some branding 101 lessons day. What is urgent is to arrest the seeming degeneration of the scenarios i have pinpointed so that we can be taken serious as a people.



1. There should be a way of coming to a code of honour where contracts can be signed and honoured as against the haphazard, 'please rub my back now, i'd do yours later'. It's a puerile way of organisation. There must be proper organisation. If Timaya didn't have a ground to renege on the dictates of his contract, he'd honour it! The flip side is, he'd be reported and all his shows in the UK will come to an end. . . . . . .as his passport will be marked. . . . . . . . . .  . .



2. There must be an agreed way of refunding people who have been left stranded. I still maintain that according to the laws of the UK, not presenting the actual headliners/acts of an advertised program is regarded as fraud. Plain and simple. If you advertised 10, 10 must show up or a ticket holder has the right to take you to the courts. . . . . . . . . . . . . , sooner or later, some of this disenchanted people who feel cheated. . . . . . . . will take that course of action. . . . . . . . . . . .the results is pretty obvious. It's a ticking time-bomb



3. Brands that know their onions, believe me, will not just hand over money to you and ask you to enjoy. You'd have to guarantee major deliverables. . . . . . . . . . .is there a way these ubiquitous ENTs and INCs can revert to professionals to guide them through the aspects they don't know about branding? Everytime you mess up, you misrepresent your race of people in an economy that's multinational. . . . . . . . therefore once you mention the name Nigeria, we all get tainted. . . . . . .



Until these issues are resolved, the huge marketing spend available will always offer trickles to the Naija end of things. Considering that Nigerians are the most populous among the black demographic, and second only to India among th ethnic groups when you take into consideration the 3rd and 4th generation Nigerians, we should do more. We should attract more.


It will be down to professionalism.



What do you think?

hmmmm

Interesting

I watched with keen interest the commercials and plans for the Nigerian Carnival even though I knew I was not going to attend.
Although I was disappointed it did not see the light of the day, a part of me wasn't surprised.

The Nigerian Entertainment industry, especially in diaspora need to either quit altogether or better still go back to days of promoting some function in Cameos and Moonlighting.

I honestly do not think they are ready for the big stage.

These guys lack any iota or professionalism.

It's not always absurd though. . . .Saturday at CokoBar was good, with Vocal Slender, Kas, JJC and a number of others being present. For once the advertising matched up with what was delivered on the night.

debosky:

It's not always absurd though. . . .Saturday at CokoBar was good, with Vocal Slender, Kas, JJC and a number of others being present. For once the advertising matched up with what was delivered on the night.

So you were there on saturday??

OMO IBO:

So you were there on saturday??

Yep, my first time and it was great fun.