By Nduneche Ezurike
I congratulate Mr. Ikem Okuhu for putting together this fine piece of work. The gap between theory, intuition, wisdom, and sheer experience has been widening so profoundly in recent years such that several brand and marketing practices hardly seem to enjoy uniform description or definition.
This book sets out to bust malignant myths in the theory of brands and marketing practice, which have over sheer repetition and wisdom assumed the perception of gospel truths.
In doing justice to his topic, the author has sought to replace the myths with tactics, tips, and fresh thinking founded on insight and experience and proven to deliver the results that matter.
The first thing that will likely strike you about this book is that the book’s cover is dominantly black. Like most people have asked, why black? Is it because he is a black man from Enugu state?
Indeed, the author is obviously seeking to make a statement about the colour black. Black is not the same as darkness; the color black in brand identification connotes boldness, originality, audacity, and authenticity. And that is what you see throughout the entire 187 pages of this book.
Another striking element of the book is the quality of its binding. I initially found it hard to believe that this book is printed in Nigeria, yet this speaks to our enterprise’s story as a people, which we sometimes take for granted.
Ikem has in this book used subtle ways to mirror his odds-defying life story, rising above predefined limitations of background and geography to pitch what will for many years serve as a reference point to management researchers in the public and private sector.
The literary style is dominantly in three parts: First-person narrative, independent analysis, and Case study method.
Using the first-person narrative, he affirms, and at some point he declares like the biblical John the Baptist preaching repentance in the wilderness. Some of the instances are: Globalization is a lie-Chpt 10, Advertising is Dead-Chpt 2, Don’t be deceived, Share of mind is not share of market-Chapt 3.
In Ikem’s storytelling acumen, you could see through his age and perhaps the type of parenting he experienced. His stories are visual, mentally nomadic and provide the reader with multisensory details that allow you to see, hear, feel, and smell the different stimuli in your world. For instance Ikem told the story of Donald Trump and the United States Elections as if he was there when it happened.
He wrote graphically in page 73 about one of Nigeria’s most enduring brands Alabukun (trado-medical formulation developed in 1918 by Jacob Sogboyega Odulate as if he was around then.
In his use of the detached analysis and Case study method, the Author’s confidence, intellectual activism, and native intelligence are amply demonstrated in every chapter of this book. Researching and fact-checking over 200 names of personalities, product, or corporate brands, some of whom we may have heard their deeds but forgotten their names, is no mean feat.
The primary objective of the Book Pitch: Debunking Marketing’s strongest Myths, in the words of Lolu Akinwunmi, is to offer pragmatic insight into how some brands navigate their marketing journeys with success while others fail. The Author well accomplished this objective.
In a manner echoing the views of Peter Drucker, Chapter one starts with the title-The CEO is actually the CMO Ikem raises eye-poking questions about the CEO’s role, lamenting that most organizations still recruit administrators as CEOs noting that the CEO should be the CMO of the
organization.
He rather argues that the undoing of most organizations that are unable to achieve their bottom-line can be related to the CEOs’ leadership recruitment process, which are sometimes rewarded for their loyalty to the organization rather than their proven capacity to lead. He pointed out that though overpaid, they often underperform.
He used 8 brand leadership models to explain his perspectives on who could best be described as the right person for the job. He notes that the CEO capable of leading the marketing war, must understand innovation and visualize its relevance in the lives of its customers.
He asserted that the relationship between a CEO and a CMO is continually evolving. As superior marketing and branding capabilities become the new differentiators for organizations, the role of the individual spearheading these functions will ultimately increase. Ikem further demonstrates the value of a CEO reputation to business through extensive research, noting that brands must be intentional about building the CEO brand.
He also goes ahead to give 9 steps to position the CEO as a chief marketing officer In chapter 4 titled “of stretch marks and Line Extensions” the author wondered how PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc makers of the then popular Thermocool refrigerator, extended their brand asset to become makers of Generator (recall the popular names of Igwe, Oga and Smalie) only to switch their hands on Television. According to the author, these caused
massive brand erosion and loss of market value which led to the demise of the products.
He also likened same to the examples of Guinness Extra Smooth from Guinness Stout, Harp Lite beer from Harp and Origin, Star Triple X from Star aka Shine-Shine Bobo as examples of cases where the brand builders and marketers undermined the parent brand in their quest to share the glory of the former with the later.
Drawing from designs in behavioral psychology, the author wondered that if consumers are expected to love the brands they consume, how are they meant to share an extension of the same? Who shares his/her lover with another?
Sharing the views of renowned marketing scholars John Quelch and David Kenny. He declared, “Line extensions rarely expand total category demand. People do not eat or drink more, wash their hair more or brush their teeth more frequently simply because they have more products from which to choose.
In fact, a review of several product categories shows no positive correlation between category growth and line extensions. If anything, there is an inverse correlation as marketers try in vain to reinvigorate declining categories and protect their shelf space through insignificant line extensions.”
For those looking for modern literature on how to apply marketing strategies during times of economic recession as we seem to have found ourselves again, Ikem has done justice to it. In three inter-related chapters titled “Innovation is not Everything” (Chapt.6), “the things Innovation won’t do for you” (Chapt 9), and Conventional wisdom says no but please keep
your engagement doors open (Chpt8) the author amply demonstrated his love for storytelling.
On page 111, for instance, he shares the story of bitter leaf soup to show how brands can take advantage of difficult economic times to either reinvent themselves or clear a new product. According to the author, Ofe Onugbu (bitter leaf soup) associated with Ndi Igbo of southeast Nigeria was a product that earned its famous stripe during the Austerity
Measures that President Shehu Shagari administration instituted to manage the 1981-1983 recession. Before this period, Egusi soup was the king of all soups and cooked to grace great occasions.
In preparing this soup, the traditional garnish was bitter leaf (or sometimes pumpkin leaves), squeezed and pressed to live that tingly bitter taste. But the recession happened and Egusi (melon) became unaffordable even when the bitter leaf was growing just in and around people’s homes and small unit farms. In their battle for survival, people began experimenting with using only bitter leaf without Egusi to prepare soup means and this was
what gifted the Igbo people their Ofe Onugbu.
Taking a deep dive into the topic of marketing innovation, Ikem drew the reader’s attention to the limits of innovation itself, and its relationship to product development, packaging and sales. He notes that many businesses and products have failed under the popular proverb that says that a good product sells itself.
Again citing several examples of indigenous products that fail short, the author advised brands on 7 things they need to do to ensure that innovation is scaled to value. Using the case of two global giants IBM and Kodak (1975). He notes that although Kodak invented digital camera, they were unable to scale to market.
Since customers buy utility rather than innovation, Kodak failed woefully in reaping the benefits of innovation. Without understanding the progressive relationship between innovating a good brand and designing a successful go-to-market strategy to reach the customer’s heart, such brands stand to risk the inevitable tale of extinction.
In a noble effort that clearly differentiates the book from many contemporary literature on marketing, Mr. Okuhu dwelt broadly on an emerging area of marketing called marketing technology. In chapter 5 page 63, he shared the story of how a little known Cambridge Analytica through its campaign titles “Crooked Hilary” came into global reckoning aiding the
digital manipulation of America voters in the 2016 presidential election.
For those who may not be conversant with this story, Cambridge Analytica through the manipulation of data, ensured that every voter who had the desire to vote for Hillary Clinton in the key electoral swing states were so frustrated about her candidacy that they did not bother to turn out on the voting day. By using proxy non-governmental organizations, vanishing email IDs and sundry anonymous sources, Cambridge Analytica was able to
bombard the targets with so much negative vibes built around the CROOKED HILARY theme.
Behavioral micro-targeting, (BMT) enables smart communication companies to acquire and use big data layered with behavioural characteristics to engage customers and prospects in the way that suits their disposition and preferences. Contrary to the old model of mass communication and geo-segmentation, Ikem challenges marketers and brand managers to embrace the era of predictive analytics as one of the best things that has happened to the practice of marketing as it is easier to personalize messages along the lines of customer psychography rather than the absolute but dog-eared use of demography and geography.
Again in his usual style of stoking controversy, Mr. Okuhu in chapter 2 raises the alarm that Advertising is dead. This provocative chapter relied partly on the original work of Andrew Essex published in 2017 titled: The End of Advertising” Why it had to Die. Ikem also quoted quite copiously Kevin Roberts and Sue Elms to buttress his convictions that advertising is
indeed dead, dying or about to die. He confidently noted that “advertising for its increasingly desperate battle for share of voice by Marketers generate unpleasant noise that torment rather than engage consumers”.
The author showed with utmost conviction how content marketing, influencer marketing and search marketing conspired to kill traditional marketing especially what is called the 4Ps mix.
To put a context to his position, he drew attention to Nigeria’s marketing History and the four stages of their development. He noted that the best of advertising Agencies in seeking to respond to the digital revolution, began to develop tech skills that ensured that they followed their consumers around anywhere and everywhere. The truth is that attention generated by online ads remains quite low. People rarely clicked to follow the redirect path.
Intrusive ads are skipped and real “netizens” deploy ad-blockers to endure unwanted messaging didn’t get through. In the same chapter, Mr. Okuhu exploring some cultural analogies in advertising, tried quite brilliantly to answer some of the questions he raised such as why did McDonalds marketing strategy fail in China in 2007?
Why did Heineken Beer (Chairman) brand called Heineken Magnun, a 1.5 litre fail in the market?
The problem with this chapter however is that Ikem assumes that the reader understands what he means by advertising in the context hence goes ahead to pontificate that the consumers of advertising do not like noise. The truth is that noise seems to have become prevalent in the creative space, In Nigeria for instance, beyond music or drama the creative
art of noise making is growing in its share of the market and in some form enabling many livelihoods.
Visual story telling remains the soul of good and successful advertising. It is not in error that Google the global search and digital advertising platform has one of the largest budgets in traditional advertising as we still listen to their messages on radio as well as watch them on TV and digital billboards.
While many beneficiaries in the advertising space may not agree with the authors assertion, they will however be taking a bigger risk to throw their hats into the ring without reading this book especially pages 13 to 34. Therein they will learn how advertising and Public relations have changed and how media is consumed this is especially given the radical changes that have influenced the political economy of the times. Including the rising cost
of attention.
Ikem cited examples of Ethelbert’s Clothing and Auntie Joy’s organic Nsukka Rice to show how Public Relations rather than advertising holds a greater future to marketing. In truth however, whether advertising or Public Relations, what is at stake is the rising cost of attention or what is referred to attention Economics.
Regardless of which approach is taken in reaching the heart of the customer, Brand and Marketing scholars posit that the
Attention-Contingent Advertising Strategy; shows that regardless of style or medium, certain threshold of attention is necessary for advertising materials to even begin to have an impact on consumers. Further greater attention will then lead to impact.
From the death of advertising, Mr. Okuhu again wades into another controversial topic which he titled in chapter 3 “Don’t Be Deceived: Share of Mind is not Share of Market”.
This chapter offers one of the most exciting and cerebral interventions to a long held thinking that has earned many marketing Directors misplaced rewards, recognition and promotions.
Ikem notes that oftentimes, market share numbers are misleading, especially in societies such as ours as oftentimes consumers may erroneously be patronizing competition rather than the intended brand. Top of mind surveys of members within this consumer segment
often end up with misleading results. If you work for brands in the D-E segments where value for money is key reason to buy, you need to watch this space closely.
The challenge becomes even more monstrous if in this segment your brand has grown so high in terms of Mind and Market Share to become the generic name for the product category. Competition
will gladly pass-off their brands as yours or pretend they do not know that consumers are being misled into thinking your product offers the same value as competition.
For several years many analgesic products sold their brands on the back of Panadol, it was such that all a brand needed to do is to liaise with a willing druggist and simply offer an alternative to a customer who asks for Panadol. Gala Sausage Roll, Omo, Coke, Indomie, Google, Macleans are some of the brand category leaders whose names have historically provided cover for their alternatives and competitors.
For marketing professionals and Sales Managers who erroneously think that share of mind logically offers you share of the wallet. The author in page 45 offers 4 clear steps to ensure that your investment in brand category leadership does not become monkey dey work baboon dey chop.
Writing in chapter 7 Ikem expressed nostalgia, and at some point worry that made in Nigerian brands are dying young.
Ikem notes that out of 361 @ May 2018 more than 30% are no longer active. This is unlike such brands as Guinness (1759). Coca Cola (1892); Ford, (1903). Except for a few, the graveyard of dead brands that held so much promise but failed woefully should really be a concern for marketers who are content with tactics
rather than strategy.
He lists out such names as National Concord Newspaper, Rotimi Williams Chambers, Ekene Dili Chukwu, Ifesinachi, Osondu, Doyin Group motors as some of the brands that have either gone into recession, depression or gone extinct. The author in page 103 shared four key nuggets for brands committed to building to last. This is particularly instructive because the level of economic development of a people can partly be measured by the longevity and success of the enterprise, rather than the number of millionaires, private jets or even pay checks in the hands of a few. When brands are built to last, they have the potential to create more economic value that ensures the greatest good of the greatest numbers of the society at large.
Such names as Tim Cook, Apple CEO; Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO; Aliko Dangote; Dangote Group CEO; Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO amongst others have become household names essentially because they are able to grow super brands and create wealth for their immediate and global market.
The four big US based tech giants called MAGA (Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet’s Google, and Amazon) represent companies that have market capitalisation larger than $1 trillion each which value is three times higher than the total GDP of all African countries put together.
This background further takes us to the Ikems review in chapter 11 wherein he declared that every nation is not a brand and that indeed Nigeria cannot be referred to as such.
Drawing from the perspective that nation branding is an economic undertaken, the author states the 12 pillars of competitiveness as put together by the World Economic forum.
Reflecting from research and global comparism he faulted most of Nigeria’s nation branding initiatives such as Heart of Africa Project (2005) Good People, Great Nation (2009) and recently Change begins with me (2016). Some of these efforts according to him failed because government often packaged it as an advertising campaign rather than an effort in social and economic rebirth. In almost all of the cases, none of the campaigns orchestrated the maximization of any economic benefits for the citizens, the critical social and economic indices and prerequisite for evolving a nation brand were nonexistent and the one that existed were in various stages of decadence.
This case is unlike the nation rebranding of such countries as India, Make in India (2014) which was titled “Zero Defect Zero Effect” which in every sense signifies total quality management in Production process as well as zero adverse environmental and ecological effects.
Some of the attributed benefits of the rebranding project included the receipt of US$17 billion worth of proposals from companies interested in manufacturing electronics in India.
Today with a GDP of nearly 3 trillion USD India is the fastest-growing trillion-dollar economy in the world and the fifth-largest overall, with and indeed a force de tour in global economic relations.
Rwanda is yet another example. What Rwanda has achieved in the area of tourism development has become a case study for other nations in Africa and beyond. By making Kigali clean and safe, the country introduced an initiative called the “Incentives Conference and Exhibitions” (MICE) that sought to make the capital top choice for major events on the continent. Forbes magazine reported in May 2018 that the International Congress and
Convention Association (ICCA) ranked the capital Kigali as the third most popular conference and event destination on the continent after Cape Town, South Africa and Casablanca Morocco.
According to the author, in truth, a nation brand is pretty much like a product or service brand and follows same patterns of formulation, production and market identification, distribution and marketing. The only difference and which also makes it a lot more complicated are that a nation brand depends and relies on the aggregate performance of all the experiences, deliverables and touchpoints in the country to register its own
proposition. In other words, a nation brand fails if the component brand touchpoints are weak. To understand this better, it will be necessary to read the book especially pages 143-168.
Ladies and gentlemen, as I seek to conclude, it is important to note that although this book in my view is well edited with very minimal typographical errors, I however hasten to say that one of the key areas which the author had curiously left out in his research is what I
call the female economy.
In a global economy wherein women are said to hold major influence on the economic activities, the reader would have loved to read Ikem’s perspective on female marketing and the influence of women in controlling the global marketing spend. Women drive 70-80% of all consumer purchasing, through a combination of their buying power and
influence. Influence means that even when a woman isn’t paying for something herself, she is often the influence or veto behind someone else’s purchase.
This is shown in their consumption on in six industries: food, fitness, beauty, apparel, health care, and financial services. Their word of mouth marketing is also phenomenal hence an inquiry into the dynamics of the female economy is always helpful in having a holistic appreciation of some myths about female economy. Also the use of such jargons as psychographic segmentation, Netizens and brand ambush could make an uninitiated reader skip some pages.
Conclusion
Nevertheless, the book, Pitch: Debunking Marketing’s strongest Myths holds great promise for various types of readers. For the CEO who is a beneficiary of the traditional role of chief priest, this book helps you to redesign your thinking towards innovation and marketing especially in appreciating why
great brands also have great marketing strategy.
If you are a Marketing Consultant, then this book is your necessary compass to reposition your business. For the Lecturer in the university, this book challenges you to take a second look at your curriculum to ensure it aligns with the era of the 4th industrial revolution.
For the undergraduate studying marketing I suggest you read the book to explore how and why brands emerge, grow or die. For the small businesses you are lucky to have this book as it teaches you that you honestly do not need to borrow money from a bank to successfully implement a marketing strategy.
If you are a Public Servant, seeking to understand how a book in brand and marketing affects you, then read through page 89-104 to appreciate the value and impact of personality branding to leadership success.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I am indeed proud to recommend to you Pitch: Debunking Marketing’s strongest Myths written by Ikem Okuhu.
This is one book you can judge by its cover and really not go wrong.
Nduneche Ezurike, Fellow, Nigerian Institute of Marketing, Opt- in Member, Harvard Business Advisory Council