Brands Need to Think More.

I was recently invited to a pitch by a top company in Nigeria in sharing our agency credentials. This went very well and few days after we got a brief for a pitch . I was exited and worried at the same time because the content of the brief was totally not aligned with the brief’s objectives.

I sent in couples of emails to clarify but but it still came back same as marketing campaign . Then I thought to myself that probably the brand team does not have a clue in writing or preparing a marketing brief , they are Looking for ideas or don’t have a clear direction of what to ask from agencies in terms of deliverables. From the look of it different agencies were shortlisted randomly regardless of it’s core competence. This was also coupled with the fact that our agency was given 4 days to turn this around.

I was reluctant in working on the campaign because it lacked direction for me. But I was able to put few strategy documents together and went in for the pitch. I had one thing stuck at the back of my mind “These guys are going about it the wrong way”. At the end we lost the pitch. I was a bit uneasy all through the presentation because I observed they wanted a whole lot more during the pitch. I didn’t feel bad because we lost the pitch, but felt bad that the whole brand team had no direction in the first place and they wanted agencies to draw up a brand Strategy for them to align with the reality of COVID-19.

Before our pitch, we identified their problem by conducting an immediate research through questionnaires and interviews with consumers after which we collated the data and analyzed them. The results were glaring that there was a fundamental problem on the brand – “Acceptability”. So our strategy focused in driving the brand by making it acceptable and available consumers.That was our strategy for a brand with a very low market share.

The truth is that , the brand custodian is responsible for it’s brand strategy not an agency. They wanted a detailed media plan, Creatives, OOH , social media campaigns and a lot more not putting into considerations the agencies competence. I was amazed at all the expectations they wanted. But in reality, most agencies run as “Pay-As- Go”on project basis as there is no room for retainers. A brand we worked with few years ago invites agencies for a strategy session which was paid for and they utilize that session in planning and having a brand direction for the next business year. Recently, we had a cancelled project due to COVID-19 and the client called in for us to bill them for the ideas that was shared during the presentation.

Smart Move !!!

I think, brand owners or custodians should have a proper brand plan or strategy before inviting or using agencies as “Think – Tank” houses for them to leverage on their ideas. They should have in-house marketing and brand professionals on the team to guide them and give them direction.