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How Generating Demand Management, GDM’S evolution will shape innovation marketing

How Generating Demand Management, GDM’S evolution will shape innovation marketing

Marketing innovation masterclass is an annual GDM platform where the company connects with stakeholders in the marketing and innovation industry for knowledge sharing purpose.

Innovate or die’ is a phrase often used to describe the approach brands must take to stay ahead in an ultra-competitive market characterised by rapidly changing consumer demand.

Antonio Lucio, the former Global Chief Marketing Officer of HP but now with Facebook in similar capacity captures the importance of innovation in marketing when he said that innovation is not one more thing that marketing professionals need to do, but the way they need to think and behave. This relates to what the famous Peter Drucker said: “because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two – and only two – basic functions; marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. This is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”

This is enough reason to take a deeper look at the purpose and role of marketing from an innovation perspective. Marketing includes tasks to increase sales. The focus is on customer and market orientation; all products, services and processes are to be aligned with the needs of customers and users. Basically, its influence is key to ensuring new offerings fit with a strategy determined by customers’ needs, so companies are not stuck trying to sell something for which there is no demand. But brands have to balance being insightdriven with being able to launch products that no one would ever think to suggest.

Here is where innovation plays a pivotal role. Innovation is about establishing desirability, feasibility and viability. Do customers want it? Can we make it? Can we make money from it? Innovation is as much about insights as ideas. The insights come from knowledge of consumers, users and customers, and provide opportunities to meet recognised needs, as well as to identify potentially unrealised ones.

To help brands and organisations in the highly competitive Nigerian market effectively proffer answers to the posed vital marketing questions and to help its many clients solve marketing problems from an innovation angle, Generating Demand Management (GDM) Group, one of Nigeria’s foremost 360 marketing consulting firms has evolved into Nigeria’s premier marketing innovation outfit.

Having provided marketing solution services for over 150 brands in the 40 of the biggest companies in Nigeria, including multinationals across FMCG, Financial Services, Telecoms, Technology, etc, GDM Group is embarking on a journey to help brands under its portfolio evolve with the dynamics of today’s marketplace – innovation.

With its evolution as Nigeria’s premier marketing innovation firm it launched three bespoke innovative marketing products in commemoration of its 10th anniversary.

The products were unveiled at the firm’s Client Appreciation Dinner event which held at the prestigious Radisson Blu Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, recently. The event had in attendance some clients from the over 40 multinational companies and 182 brands the innovation marketing Group has worked for including Nestle, Unilever, Nigerian Breweries, Suntory, Lafarge, Friesland WAMPCO Campina, Diageo, the Lagos State Government, BOI, Mouka among others.

The marketing innovation products launched by the firm are Retailar, a B2B e-commerce platform that enables retailers effortlessly access products at the price of the manufacturer, order for them and have them delivered to them, right from the comfort of their phone, cheaper, faster and more efficiently.

Also unveiled was Retailscope, an audit platform which provides quantitative primary retail data about FMCG products. It is going to be shared with people in the marketing ecosystem for free. The innovation firm explained that having worked for the Federal Government on Tradermoni as an aggregator, it has acquired the capacity and competence to have had people across all the country, we have people in all local governments, we were in 774 local government areas to get raw primary data clients can rely on. Retailscope is going to be made available free of charge to the ecosystem via Nigeria’s foremost award winning brands and marketing communications centric magazine, Brand Communicator as well as Businessday Newspaper.

Finally, the firm unveiled Alpha Geak, a subscription-based solutions platform which the agency has used in the past two years for enumeration, for validation and managing point of sales material for salesmen automation like a Sales Force Automation, SFA, developed for big projects. This, it unveiled to help small businesses scale up and compete favourably in the market.

Prior to the appreciation dinner, GDM held a series of activities to commemorate its anniversary. Recall that recently, GDM empowered students of Gbagada Junior Comprehensive Secondary School with educational materials. The marketing innovation firm also renovated the Junior Secondary School’s multipurpose hall and presented 21 new white marker boards for classrooms, among other educational items.

This, they explained, would enhance the capacity of the students to learn whilst harnessing their creativity and encouraging innovation. The Founder, GDM Group, Victor Afolabi, while speaking at the event, disclosed that the effort was also driven by the idea of giving back to the society.

According to him, “The wealth of this nation is in its people which is one of the reasons we decided to take our quota of corporate social responsibility to a secondary school. Where we can directly reach and impact the future of our nation.”

Afolabi added: “This is the beginning of what would be a prosperous partnership between our organisation; the Lagos State Government and the society, as we intend to continue to do more of these development driven initiatives.

This was followed by an impactful Marketing Innovation masterclass tagged ‘Raising the Bar’ held recently as a bid to give back and show its appreciation to the ecosystem that has contributed to its successes. The free event featured foremost and seasoned industry players who drew from their wealth of experience and knowledge to impact participants at the Eko Innovation Centre,

Ikoyi, Lagos.

Setting the tone for the wellattended full day programme was the Managing Director of Nitro 121, Lampe Omoyele, respected business leader who has been previously Marketing Director at Cadbury, Airtel, Pzcussons and Glaxo Smithkline; Managing Director, Nielsen West Africa. He lectured participants on the topic, “Marketing Innovation and Strategy in 2020.”

This was followed by a session from the Managing Director of Entod Marketing, Iquo Uko who by dint of hard work and high level of professionalism at Nestle Nigeria, became the first and only female Marketing Director at an Executive Management level till date, took participants through an exciting journey with “Timeless Principles of Effective Marketing.”

Group Chief Executive Officer and Chief Creative Officer of Nigeria’s most creative agency, X3M Ideas, Steve Babaeko who was named among the prestigious Adweek 100 most creative professionals in the world followed Uko’s presentation with a highpowered inspiring motivational salvo on “The Guts to Win the Innovation Game.”

Other faculty members that impacted participants at the event include Frank Ozekhome, Head, Group Strategy, Insight Redefini who spoke on “Trends to Leverage in Marketing Innovation and Doja Ekeruche, Board Member, Eko Innovation Centre who covered the grounds on “ROI- Focused Marketing.

At the end of the rigorous but rewarding exercise, participants were all issued certificates free of charge. This gesture, according to the Founder and CEO of GDM Group, Victor Afolabi, is part of the Group’s gesture in giving back as well as impacting the ecosystem. He said that beyond the maiden edition, this will be an annual event the GDM Group will be organising.

He added, “Marketing innovation masterclass is an annual GDM platform where the company connects with stakeholders in the marketing and innovation industry for knowledge sharing purpose. The 2020 maiden edition will curate conversations around innovation in marketing, leveraging trends, data, storytelling and technology.”

Earlier in his address, Afolabi shared the decade-long story of GDM Group and how the company has been successfully distilling complex marketing problems, how it serviced some of the largest homebred and cosmopolitan brands, how it emerged as an institution leader, and now it is now raising the bar in the marketing world.