This week on “Impolite Banter,” we discuss Gorilla Glue and other unexpected PR moments: a guide to turning unexpected events to your brands and businesses advantage.
Valentine’s is coming, barely.
I’ve been thinking very much about how there are barely any good platforms to just catch up on marketing related updates in Africa.
So I thought, i’d start one. And who better to do this with than my good friend Didi, a marketing expert in her own right and just a really, really fun person to talk with. Together, we’ll be hosting a weekly, or bi-weekly (let’s face it, we’ll get a bit lazy sometimes) column here where we’ll dissect the week in marketing and talk about everything from released ads to new product updates, rebrands, influencer marketing campaigns and everything in-between.
We’re just making this up as we go along, but if you’re a fan of a good conversation and you enjoy checking out cool ideas, you should enjoy the read.
How Nigerians are taking over Clubhouse and lessons for Marketers
With topics ranging anywhere from “Nigerian women ask Nigerian men hard questions,” to “Why do fools fall in love,” “diaspora wars,” and a viral clubhouse chat room that had the salacious title “Dangote’s bum bum,” Clubhouse is fast becoming the hottest new social app and no one is having more fun with it like Nigerians are. It also helps that Clubhouse seems to be taking note of this and appears to be giving more invites to Nigerians than many other countries are getting.
The wrap up: 7 Nigerian brands that have had incredible moments in 2020
From the COVID-19 pandemic to Big Brother Nigeria, the #EndSars protests and beyond, 2020 has been quite an interesting year for the world of marketing and branding in Nigeria and Africa at large.
In this final blog post of the year and ranked in no particular order, here are 7 of the most iconic and memorable moments that have played a role in pushing marketing as a discipline forward in what has already been a historic year in Nigeria’s marketing space:
Brand extension failures: 3 times brands got it horribly wrong
I can’t help but think that some people– many people, take sadistic delight in overextending themselves. Far too many people exist in the intersection between humble bragging about how much they work and running on fumes stretching themselves for all they are worth– piling on one responsibility after the other until even the things they do really well start to suffer.
Brands do this too.
Spotting bogus deals this Black Friday
Over the weekend, Nigerian musician 9ice released an “apology” video asking fans to intervene in his 3rd marriage by pleading with his wife to forgive his infidelity.
Outside of my initial shock at the sheer manipulativeness of the entire situation, my next thought was just how dodgy it all was– the background music, the trademark patriarchal selfishness of the apology, the camera angles.
Bogus. Like many of the Black Friday deals you’ll be seeing this week.
With all the hype around Black Friday, you’ll be tempted to operate under the impression that every offer is worth trampling over fellow shoppers to get in on– both online and offline with retailers and grocers slashing prices to ‘rock bottom’ levels for one day only.
But research has found that that’s rarely the case.
Should agencies get paid to pitch? Hear 4 industry leaders give their opinions
A few days ago, I had a heated conversation with a friend.
The argument? Pitch fees or more simply, fees that advertising or creative agencies desire that clients pay as compensation for time spent developing creative concepts in a bid to acquire a project or account.
That debate filled me with curiosity: why are pitch fees such a contentious topic? does every agency that pitches for an account deserve to be paid for their time and efforts, even when they are unsuccessful? Or do clients not get any real value from these unsuccessful pitches and there is no actual business case to justify paying pitch fees?
To get a better sense of the answers, I asked four industry leaders in marketing (split across the client’s side and the agency) about their thoughts on pitch fees:
27 life lessons I learned before turning 27
1. Whether or not you need to, pee before getting in a car. Even if it’s only a short drive, Lagos traffic will humble you.
2. Happiness comes and goes, so aim for contentment. This can sometimes be achieved with a cold bowl of yogurt and granola. Or a cookie.
3. Choose small consistent efforts over sweeping life-changing declarations.
Readying your brand for the age of social justice marketing
In October 2020, young people across Nigeria did something they had never done before. They came out in numbers to protest.
The protests were centered around brutality and extrajudicial killings by the Special anti robbery squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police force but also brought forth conversations around bad governance, rising unemployment, corruption and impunity.
People were speaking up, and they demanded that the brands they patronised joined them. While speaking up came naturally for a few brands bolstered by more radical leadership teams, for most brands, schooled in regulatory inspired conflict avoidance and the traditional public relations practice of avoiding issues with even a whiff of politics, the discomfort was palpable.
Managing upwards: the beginners guide to managing your manager
Managing upwards or learning what your boss needs and delivering on that can be an even bigger success factor than being “good” at your job.
Here are 16 handy tips to managing your manager: