MARKETING COMMUNICATION DIGEST

Lately, the media, old and new, have been awash with the talk of Big Brother Nigeria, BBN. Views from viewers have been divergent, all the while, from the old and the young. And sometime, when you remember that those who just turned 18, the qualifying age to watch BBN, were only just enrolling in Primary School by the last BBN staged in the second quarter of 2006, then you can be more understanding with some opinions. The raging question is why Big Brother NIGERIA is being staged outside Nigeria? When you tag something Nigeria, how could you take it out of Nigeria? What effrontery! That’s quite rational, right? Logically, we believe we’re taking this too on, just as we’re always quick to take on other contending issues. Much so, even the Information Minister had to call for an “investigation” into the matter, after his office was inundated with queries from his compatriots. For me, there’s only one position, only one explanation, and only one rationalisation: Big B...

Here is the concluding part of the article "Is PR preferable to Advertising when launching a product?" 4. Product Modification Feedback is an important element in a PR launch. By launching the PR program ahead of the actual product introduction, there is enough time to modify the product or its price before it goes on sale. Supermarkets and other distribution outlets like to participate in the brand-building process. They will often make many good suggestions you can use to modify the product, the packaging, the pricing and even the PR. Advertising is different . Once a big-bang advertising programme is launched, a company is committed. There is little feedback and no time to change the product or service before it's introduced to consumers. 5.  Message Modification Feedback from a PR programme also allows a company to modify the brand's message for greater consumer appeal. The media looks at your PR messages from the consumer's point of vi...

Six steps for launching­ a brand via PR In the past, almost every new brand was launched with a big advertising campaign. In today's media environment, that's not a very good idea. Advertising is expensive and not very credible, especially when used on behalf of a new brand. That's why many of the most successful new brands were launched with PR; brands like Google , Facebook , Snapchat,   Twitter and of course, Mirinda (of the three orange men fame) here in Nigeria . Launching a new brand with PR, however, raises a number of questions. If no advertising is involved, what changes, if any, need to be made in the overall launch? If no advertising agency is involved, who does the positioning strategy? To stimulate your thinking about these and other questions, here is an outline of six steps a PR launch might take: 1     1.  The Leak A PR program usually starts with a leak to key reporters and editors. Internet sites are often favourite targe...

Globacom, Nigeria’s second largest telecoms operator, is a wholly-owned Nigerian company belonging to the massive business empire of Mike Adenuga, Nigeria’s second richest person, with 100% of its shares held locally. It is an international brand with about 35 million subscribers, 24% share of the Nigerian telecoms market, and majority of Nigeria’s internet users. This is one brand that is very strong, now even beyond the south-west of Nigeria and prides itself as the king of data, evidently. And it has made a lot of things easy and possible in Nigeria. It charged the least for SIMs; and Glo it was that paved the way for per-second billing in Nigeria after MTN and Econet had made it seem impossible. However, in marketing the Globacom brand, or Glo Mobile, if you like, it embarked on a gargantuan Brand Ambassadorship programme, more than any other brand in Nigeria, or in Nigeria’s history. It is Glo that has spent money the most on non-glowing brand ambassadors. The strateg...