As advertisers, we must develop creative ways of surviving these hard times —Medebem, EXMAN president

President, Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN), Tolulope Medebem, was at the BRAND Handlers Summit and Awards, organised by Marketing Space, in Lagos. She bares her mind, in an aside with AKIN ADEWAKUN, on the state of the industry, influence of AI, and what ad practitioners should be doing to survive the trying socio-economic times. Excerpts:

WHAT is your overview of the sector, especially experiential marketing, in the past six months?

It’s been good. I mean it’s not been terrible. If you look around you’ll actually see activities happening. And one of the things that you find now is that a lot of us, especially agencies as well, now think in terms of return on investments, regarding whatever activities that we do. And we also have to think long-term. So I think it’s been good, all the activations that I have seen have taken a step further beyond the usual, and are doing something towards longevity, ensuring that whatever it is that brands have invested in is coming out in a way that gives them enough mileage over a period. So I think it’s not been terrible.

Resource persons at this event have stressed the imperatives of AI and the growing importance of the youth demography for brands hoping to survive. What is your take on this?

Fortunately, before I came here, I was also at a similar event, where such discussion was also brought up. The fact remains that whatever we are talking about, whether we like it or not, authenticity is one of the things we should take into consideration. We think that yes, because everybody can jump on board AI, ask questions, and get feedback, that makes it the way to go. But one of the things we realise is that, regardless of whatever information I get from AI, do I trust it? When you are authentic with your brand, and people know, regardless of whatever it is that you do, they will trust you. So, one of the things we must know in anything that we are doing is authenticity. But, authenticity comes with you being able to tell your story along the line of what affects us, either as young people or as Nigerians. You should be able to do your storytelling in a way that carries us, young people, along, so as to earn their trust. So, it’s not a one-size-fits-all. It’s something that speaks to them specifically and takes them along, and meets them at whatever their needs are. Is it sporting? Is it betting? Is it entertainment, or whatever? But you must be authentic in your interaction with them. You don’t speak down on them, you speak to them like you take them along so that they can be part of whatever it is that your brand is doing. I think that for me, is why experiential comes in. Experiential is such activity that immerses consumers into a world. So you create a world that even after that particular activity, in your mind, in your thinking, you take it beyond that. That’s why we talk about you creating authentic stories, or stories that really get the consumer into whatever you are doing, especially the young one that you are talking about.

READ ALSO: EXMAN sensitises UI students on experiential marketing

Still talking about technology, how prepared, would you say, are your members for the AI challenge?

AI is not a challenge, as far as I’m concerned, and as far as some of my colleagues are concerned. I think for me and for them, AI really is an enabler. I just talked about being able to create things that are immersive. So,  imagine that you are dealing with a client and you add the gaming element to it. When you add the gaming element into it, what are the things you take into the gaming element? It’s AI. So you turned a consumer product into an app, and because you know that their attention span is short, you think of the touchpoints to meet them. Where are those touch points? So meeting them at the touchpoint is a game. When you create a game for a product or a brand, what are you doing? You are creating an immersive experience for the consumer, and you are also meeting him at that point that appeals to him. And how are you able to do that? With AI now. So you are using AI to enable, to enhance the experience that you have created for the consumer. For instance, you tell AI, “I want to do Brand Handlers Summit. This is, how we did it last year, but I want something entirely different, and AI helps you because you have put in some certain forms, and it comes up with something different, and what is left for you to do is implementation. So for me, AI is not a problem, it’s an enhancer, an enabler, and most of my colleagues think about it like that as well.

The issue of insecurity, how much of that has affected the way agencies interact with brand, and what advice will you give?

Honestly, the issue of insecurity is a conversation I just had with a couple of my colleagues, not along the line of activities that we are doing, but along the line of how it has affected all of us generally. For us, as an experiential agency and within the ecosystem, security has always been very key within the ecosystem, because our job is the kind that depends on a secure environment to thrive. I don’t know if you are aware of the fact that if you do an alcohol brand event, you are not allowed to take in bottles, it has to be in plastic. Why? It’s because of the security challenge, years ago, when a fan was killed at an event in this country. So that is why I said, over the years, security has been key for us. For instance, if you want to have an activation, before you would ensure that you have spoken to everybody around; the security people, and you have gotten even the ‘omo Oniles’, as security, but now whether we like it or not, we have to even take extra caution because the omo oniles that are, supposedly, part of the security, could also be part of the problem. So there would be some things that the experiential marketing would look at cutting down on, at this time. Probably your activity is an all-night thing, and if you look at the area and you have your doubt, you could think of either reducing it or you don’t use that area at all,  to ensure that the brand shines, and that there is no repercussion.

But somehow it’s affecting the bottom line..?

Definitely, it will affect the bottom line. Is insecurity not affecting everybody? My daughter wants to go for her youth service and my husband said if her camp is not in Lagos, she’s not going. So if you are talking about the bottom line, it’s not only insecurity that is affecting the bottom line, Nigeria, as we have it, is affecting the bottom line.

So in that case, what should the industry do?

What do we want to do? We are going to find creative ways of surviving, which is what we are doing. We all have to find creative ways to make things happen, to make money. I saw a hall with an ad now that they’ve started doing catering.