Africa Brands Awards: Brand custodians reveal 2020 survival strategies

THIS year’s edition,  of the annual Africa Brands Awards, held recently in Lagos, was beyond  definitely beyond  of celebrating brands and organisations.

Besides celebrating  brands for their abilities to keep their heads above the water, despite the tempestuous moments experienced in 2020, it  was also a moment for custodians of such winning brands to share their different survival tales, during  the period under review.

Speaking at the well-attended event, tagged ‘Building Financial Capacity for African Business: The Strategic Roles of CEO’,  the  Chief Operating Officer, Brand First Resources  Limited, Mr. Opurozor Gerald,  described the outgone year as ‘quiet frightening’.

“When things are hard for companies, the first thing they tamper with is their advertising budget. That was exactly what happened last year, and we were literally down,” he stated.

He said the management team of the agency, which emerged as the ‘Most Customer –Focused Media Agency of The Year’, at the event,  had to think out of the box, and embraced digital marketing; a move that provided  soothing relief for the agency that was almost at its breaking point.

“We decided to plough new grounds and explore new options. We embraced digital marketing, and that gave us a lifeline.  That gave us new clients.  Today, we’ve been able to add digital  marketing to our bouquet of services, and we are bouncing back,” he stated.

For Jeffrey Ehikioya  Itepu, CEO, Pertinence  Properties, the event’s winner of the ‘Most Admired Real Estate Company of The Year’,  all the company needed to do when it was apparent that the property market might suffer a decline in fortune,  due to the advent of COVID 19 pandemic, was to introduce a new product that would be easily accessible and affordable, to every Nigerian, both at home and in the diaspora.

“The strategy actually worked; since it afforded a lot of  people the opportunity to commence the process of owning a property, with as little as N50,000. That way we were able to build our clientele base and weather the storm, that year,” he stated.

Speaking on the award, the Chairman of the Award Committee, Mr. Cammil Chineme, described the awards as being designed to celebrate the professional prowess of some notable brands in the continent, so as to encourage greater creativity in the industry.