As markets, economies and other factors change in this increasingly unstable and unpredictable environment, companies that can adapt within the eco-system have a distinct advantage.
Lampe Omoyele, a business leader and mentor in the marketing and advertising industry space with over 30 years of experience made this assertion last weekend at the Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria’s 10th-year lecture with the theme: ‘Brands and the Role of Technology in a Disruptive Economy’
According to him, companies can adapt through products and services that must be relevant to the consumer and think ‘Glocal’ in their business strategy. He gave an example of how 7Up Bottling Company, a soft drinking-producing global company adapted by producing sanitiser to meet consumers’ needs and as part of a survival strategy. He warned organisations either to disrupt the market or be disrupted.
“To survive, organizations need to meet ever-growing consumer expectations. To thrive, organizations must go one (or many) steps further and create novel and memorable customer experiences”, he said.
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Lampe who is the CEO of Nitro 121 said the difference between survival and being phased out of the market is the ability to act quickly and make fact-based decisions. “ Survival in the disruptive economy requires the ability to quickly manage opportunities s and threats in an effective and efficient way. Being prepared with the right leadership, governance and capabilities is crucial for survival and needs to be in place at once.
He said market disruption creates widespread panic and results in disorderly market conditions and therefore organisations need to adopt, adapt, digitalise and innovate to stay on.
He told marketers that advertising in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment also requires skilled marketing teams to interpret data for insights, leverage trends, engage with customers and innovate.
He identified awareness, affordability, availability, assurance or trustworthiness as four critical keys for brands to win. He also listed some marketing trends to consider. These are Intentional, relevant and personalized targeting with self-optimizing content; Advertising using tribes, and communities via micro-influencers; Increasing use of entertaining video content; more automated and intelligent (AI) predicted advertising driven by data based on consumer experience and touch-points and use of mobile.
