Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Brands Optimal, Otis Ojeikhoa, has emphasised the need for agencies to quickly move all their operations to digital platforms and get relevant apps to drive engagement for data collection, sampling and sales.
According to him, this will enable automation, so that at the press of a button, they can see their performances by a form of consideration or analysis. He said it is imperative for agencies to explore digitization in full force in their quest of delivering a first-class digital customer experience.
The experiential marketing professional cum entrepreneur, noted that though the rate of evolution may be pretty slow, the new normal will remain somehow, even after things have returned to normal. He urged agencies to leverage on the advantages the world of digital has provided to enhance their business activities.
“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 this was what he and his team did at the peak of the lock-down to generate more revenue. He maintained that online will continue rising to some point where there will be no offline, as everything will be online.
While highlighting his agency’s strategic offerings, he said, the agency will continue to evolve and assume new postures, new structures, targets and new opportunities on a day-to-day basis.
Meanwhile, the experiential marketing prodigy has opined that the dwindling Nigerian economy was not caused by Covid-19, but bad fiscal policies.
In his words, “What is impacting us is not Covid-19; what is impacting us is bad fiscal policies, declining oil revenues and high rate of inflation.”
The agency boss made this assertion while assessing the Nigerian economic outlook especially against the background of the declining cases of Covid-19 pandemic. He said that Nigeria was lucky during the pandemic lock-down associated with a lot of gloomy forecasts, arguing that the nation’s current economic challenges are not an aftermath of Covid-19 restrictions on social interaction, but a result of her bad fiscal policies.
He stated that going by some of the incoming forecasts for this year, which projected that life will return to normal if the dwindling revenue is augmented from the oil sale and other revenue generating government assets, this will lead to the declining cases of Covid-19 as every aspect of the economy comes back to where it has been pre-Covid-19.
In his words: “For me, the outlook for this year in Nigeria will see growth in GDP, of 1.5% to 1.7%, the experiential marketing industry will experience growth compared to last year, the things that we couldn’t do last year, we will begin to do them.”
Speaking on the report that Nigeria recorded a 0.11% growth and the recent 18.17% inflation rate vis-a-vis the country’s marketing and advertising ecosystem, Otis said: “We are a barometer to measure the spend of the private sector, especially multi-nationals that are willing to invest in developing their markets and consumer base drive through effective and efficient market system by helping clients to deliver better experiences and sales of products.”
On some of the new realities that came with the Covid-19, he submitted that the pandemic has created new vistas or new opportunities to drive standard engagement.
On some of the new realities that came with the Covid-19, he submitted that the pandemic has created new vistas or new opportunities to drive standard engagement.
Speaking from the perspective of experiential marketing, he said: “The new opportunity that this has created is that we can actually have virtual sampling and other events and still get feedback; though the experience may not be the same.” He added that advertising, which has always relied on the 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.
Making his futuristic projection for the experiential marketing space, the Brands Optimal boss stated that the IMC space is one and the same, adding that experiential marketing is just one of the items in the whole of the IMC space. He said that whatever affects one, affects the others since they all depend on similar sources to drive revenue, while forecasting that the experiential marketing space is beginning to see recovery though not to the level of pre-Covid-19 pandemic.
“I believe that before the end of the year, we would probably have 40-50% recovery for the entire IMC,” Otis concluded.
Mr. Ojeikhoa who passionately spoke on his brand’s unique competitive advantage in the community of other agencies said, “Our industry is founded on the pillars and blocks of creativity, that is the core, the heart, and soul of our industry.”
He emphasised that, it is no-brainer that, without creativity in finding solutions to problems, it is difficult to survive in the industry. “I believe we are very creative, we don’t only act creative, we will continue to attract creative resources.”
According to him, it is a complete shift from the regular paradigm for anyone coming to work in Brands Optimal, everyone in Brands Optimal, no matter your designation, must be creative, for that is the brand’s first criterion, adding that, another measure to be a part of his team is the ability to be innovative, explaining further that, creativity and innovation are slightly different.
According to him, innovation is creativity laden with adventure or sense of risk, alluding that he and his team are extremely innovative and are willing to try new things and do not even care about the consequences, as far as it is not going to kill any human being, which is what people cannot copy from Brands Optimal, even if they are also creative.
Another unique competitive advantage in Brands Optimal’s arsenal, as its helmsman disclosed, is the leadership quality, as he is seen as one of the leading lights in the industry, for the fact that the agency has the kind of the leader that has put him in the place of all, in order to have a smooth – running team.
“This agency has the kind of leader that sees himself as a young man, middle-aged man, and as an old man, everywhere, I dey! But it is difficult to put one into all those roles. That is the difference.”
Being an optimistic experiential expert, the Brands Optimal team leader, while projecting his agency’s growth for 2021, visualises a very bright outlook for the future, adding that they are ahead of their budget, which signals a good outcome for the agency.
He reiterated his commitment to continue to be supportive of the clients,
and also remains creative and innovative as well, while promising to
continue to allow the team members to express themselves, give them guidance, and provide the governance they need for the business to thrive to a massive success story.
and also remains creative and innovative as well, while promising to
continue to allow the team members to express themselves, give them guidance, and provide the governance they need for the business to thrive to a massive success story.
The CEO, who described himself as a man of faith, said’ “I believe that there is God, I believe that we have been sent here to fulfill a purpose and Otis clearly knows what his purpose is – to serve people, humanity, help people to grow and to make money while doing that.”
