To contribute to Marketing Brands, click here for information

On July 9, 2007, USP Brand Management Consultants flagged off the first Brand 2 Wealth Seminar with the theme: “Basics of Building SME Brands” which was organized for selected SMEs under its social investment initiative, at Fidelity Bank's Training centre in Ikoyi. The seminar had the objective of equipping Nigerian SMEs with the requisite branding knowledge to develop globally competitive products and services

The project which is a partnership between USP and selected banks is aimed at assisting SMEs in building globally competitive brands. Participants nominated by Fidelity Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, and the Fate Foundation were on hand to update their knowledge on how to build their small businesses into globally competitive brands and hopefully, big global brands.

This article is not an attempt at reviewing the events of that day. However, on a lighter side, there were some things that happened at the seminar that need to be brought out with the aim that some will hopefully serve as a guide to those that are finding it difficult to define what they are bringing into the market.

Before the seminar proper, participants, during the formal introduction used the opportunity to introduce themselves and their products to fellow participants. Those that introduced tangible products were jokingly asked by participants to leave sample products behind. However, there was this particular participant that introduced himself and his company. He is into mortuary services.

According to him, he has the latest technology that keeps the dead very fresh before interment, unlike the common embalming practice. As he was going through the details of what he does, the hall was dead silent. As the anchor person for that session, I jokingly asked the participants why nobody asked for sample products just like the way they asked others for the samples of their products.

During the brand clinic session, the mortuary service product was used as one of the case studies after the young man had confessed to having a challenge with branding his offering. What came out of that session was the fact that any product that does not properly define its market and what it is offering in terms of value will have a challenge with standing out as a brand.

Patrick Heineger is the CEO of Rolex. He was once asked how the watch market was doing. His response is instructive: “Why do I need to know how the watch market is doing? I'm in the business of luxury”, replied Heineger.

Everybody knows that the core product of Rolex is a piece of watch. But from the response of the CEO, Rolex has left no one in doubt that everybody that wears watches is not its target market. Its target market includes those that desire luxury and those that desire to experience and express their luxury through watches. In other words, Rolex is selling luxury and a sense of fulfillment rather than watches. What this also means is that Rolex is not just competing in its technically defined product category, but competing with other luxury items like artworks.

Rolex is not in the market to offer a solution for man's basic need for a timepiece (quartz watches and other basic timepieces meet such needs), but to satisfy man's need for self-actualization. An offering that addresses our susceptibility to the power of ego and the perception of others. A value that can only be afforded after attaining certain “levels”. A value that is tied to emotional benefits.

At this point, it is instructive to note that the key to brand immortality is emotional attachment; and that emotional footing can not be found without a well-articulated value offering to a clearly defined market.

There is something our friend that attended this seminar can learn from Rolex to overcome the current challenge he is facing with people not being able to differentiate his latest technology on keeping dead bodies fresh before burial. He needs to know that he is not in the business of mortuary services; that market is generic and unappealing. He is selling something much more than that; he is providing specialized services; and properly articulated and communicated, his market is special and huge, especially in this part of the world where the dead are given “decent treatment” (which sometimes may have eluded them before their death) from the moment they are pronounced dead down to the grave, even extending to post-mortem birthdays, awards and sometimes century-old remembrance anniversary ceremonies!

It is no gainsaying that we celebrate those ideas that meet and reinforce our socio-cultural idiosyncrasies. Thus, a proper understanding of our culture as Africans will show that we welcome any product/service that amplifies our desire to “impress the dead”; to give the dead the best treatment they desired or that we desire based on our sentimental attachment to elaborate and grandiose ceremonies at whatever expense and extent.

It is on this emotional level that our “decent body preservation” provider should aim to connect with the huge market that awaits him out there.

Those that patronize Victoria Court cemetery are not looking for just any cemetery to bury their dead. They are simply buying a 'befitting' peaceful rest or real “rest in peace” for their loved ones who though have departed from them but desire to be given the best even in their graves. Above all they are communicating their status.

A neighbor of mine once revealed to me that his mother was buried in a $50'000 (yes! 50'000 US Dollars) casket because his elder brother wanted everyone to see him give their mum the best farewell possible given the brother's status as 'Yankee-based'. It is instructive to note here that the departed woman died of a curable ailment at just 52.

Therefore, an appropriate understanding of such values will help the young man appropriately define his market and offering, while appropriately positioning his services for sustainable growth. Furthermore, a clear and succinct definition of his offering based on the culture-based value of “pleasing the dead” will grant him the key to a competitive advantage that will help him in building a sustainable brand that may outlive him.

This approach will further help him identify his target audience and develop appropriate communication materials and methods that will achieve the best possible response in the market place. Properly articulated and presented, his unique service offering will appeal to our emotional need to feel a sense of gratification by doing what we consider as the best for our dead beloveds, by among other things, giving them the best and coolest preservation before saying goodbye.

Apart from our friend at the Brand2Wealth Seminar, there are so many other businesses in Nigeria that needs to redefine their products and service offerings for proper positioning to move their businesses forward.

I will desire an insurance company that can offer me a peace of mind or enrich my life rather than selling me a product that will “be there for my family in case of eventuality.” I will prefer a brand of milk that keeps my kids smart and intelligent rather than just creamy and quality brand of milk. I desire a real estate product that will sell fulfillment to me rather than just affordable shelter because I can get that even under Eko Bridge.