COVID-19 not enough reason for marketing to go into isolation —NIMN President

The President of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN), Mr Tony Agenmonmen, in this chat with Akin Adewakun, talks about the unusual times the world has found itself, especially with COVID -19, but cautions that should not be enough reason for marketing practitioners not to keep their brands connected to the consumers. Excerpts:

By now the institute would have had its Annual General Meeting and Marketing Conference, for this year, in Edo State, but for COVID-19. What is the update now?

Yes, but the priority for the council is for  every member of the institute to stay safe, enjoy the lockdown, and join the federal and state governments’ efforts in confronting this dragon, that is making life miserable for many Nigerians. Even before the official lockdown, the council had sat down, evaluated the situation and decided that we had to, inevitably, postpone the AGM and the Annual Marketing Conference, indefinitely, because no one knows how far this thing would go, and the time it’s going to be over. And the fact remains that we do not want, for any reason,  jeopardise the health and safety of our members. Yes, there would have been elections to the two positions of First  and Second Vice Presidents,  and four council  seats. And the elections  would have been conducted, electronically, by now, because we have agreed two years ago that we are going to be doing e-voting, just like it’s done by some of the best institutes in the world.  This is due to the fact that we wanted inclusion in the institute. We wanted all our members, wherever they are, in Nigeria or abroad, whether they have the opportunity of being physically present at the AGM or not, to be able to participate. We wanted them to have the opportunity of choosing the leadership of the institute. I believe that is also the aspiration of Nigeria as a nation that a time will come when our brothers and sisters in the diaspora, carrying the Nigerian passport, would have the opportunity to vote at the nation’s general elections. But  the election process is just  part of the AGM. We can not hold it in isolation. We still have to have a formal AGM where scorecards and results would be read and presented. But, for now, in as much as we had made arrangements for the hotel for the conference in Benin, invited discussants, and put in place other logistics,  like the Americans would say it: it is what it is. That is where we find ourselves. It’s just one of those things. But what is most important for us is just for our members to be safe, so that when this whole thing is over, we can still gather and have a proper celebration,  concerning survival of COVID-19 and also celebrate the institute.

Many people believe the institute has been quite, concerning the fight against the spread of COVID-19. How true is this, or in what way is the institute supporting the war?

When you say a lot of people, I don’t know who are those lots of people, because if the people have a specific position we can take, and give us the support to play it, we’ll always welcome such support. But to say we have been silent, it’s not quiet correct. Less than two weeks ago, we did issue a public press statement, where we commended our health workers and the government for some major steps they had taken. Besides, we also aired our views concerning this noise the people are making on whether the palliative items are reaching the people or not. We did state quite clearly, in the statement, that government should ensure that the palliative items actually reach the people they are meant for. And, we did state clearly in that statement, also, that the government should come out with palliatives that would actually reach the poorest of the poor Nigerians. For instance, the vulcanisers, the obiomas and others occupying the bottom of the pyramid,  because, even with the expanded 3.7million target, I don’t think it will cover such people. For me what we need is a structured approach that will eliminate all these controversies. So it’s not true to say that NIMN has not been saying anything. We have been talking. But, do we have the resources to launch our programme? How I wish the institute could be more actively involved? But to be honest the resources are not just there. A lot of our members are even struggling to pay their subscriptions. It’s not that we didn’t think of such things, but the reality is that we don’t have the resources to start buying ventilators, rice or garri to distribute. If we could, we would, but we can not. That’s why we commended  those Nigerians who are doing it, and we told them to do more, and also give advice to the government on how these things can be done better.

What should be the role of the marketers at this very challenging period?

I don’t want to talk about that now. There is an article I’m writing which I intend to finish soon,  and I’ll make sure you get a copy, before it gets to any other person. I have some positions on what marketing people should be doing at this time. How they should probably do it to keep their brands still connected to the consumers. Marketing needs not go into isolation this period. You know the common language now is either isolation or quarantine, but marketing does not need to go into either isolation or quarantine at this period at all. I know it’s a big challenge to organizations. Most companies are not selling what they produce, and the  tendency would be, okay,  stop  marketing budget, don’t sell anything, wait till Coronavirus stops,  but that would be a wrong approach at this period.

A lot of people believe COVID-19 is going to change the way we do things, especially after the world must have successfully overcome  the pandemic. What are the likely impacts and changes is this likely to have on marketing?

Let’s put it this way, anybody who is trying to speculate now, as regards what the world would like, post-COVID,  is just throwing a guess in the sky, because we have not even seen the end of COVID, and nobody can precisely tell you when it will end. Interestingly, those are the things that can influence projections. But I think that the only thing that is certain, as you rightly said,  is that things will not be the same again. Never. The world has changed. What is normal now will no longer be normal then. There will definitely be a new-normal, and what that new- normal will  look like, will be  subject of discussion.  For instance, it has been proved that you can have a very productive meeting, without sitting face to face, and everything will be done officially and legally. How individuals and companies will take that forward in future is better imagined. So don’t be surprised if many organisations reduce the number of physical meetings. And when that happens, it  is going to affect travel cost, and obviously, also affect the Travel industry. So that is a good example of the kind of major change that we can look forward to seeing. I also think there might also be a major revolution in the way we greet ourselves, all these culture of handshake, hugging might change. Even after COVID has been successfully defeated, the fear that it could come back might be responsible for such changes. I have no doubt in my mind that the world will be different. It will no longer be business as usual.

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