The Warm Heart of Africa is beating faster now and the
legendary welcome is there for all who wish to experience the unrivalled
combination of Lake, Landscape and Wildlife in one of Africa's most beautiful
countries. Malawi is like none other in Africa: small, yet with an immense
diversity of scenery and a vast inland sea. (www.malawaitourism.com)
There are two things to note in the above. The first
is Malawi's appropriation of "The Warm Heart of Africa" while the
second is its bold claim to a unique place on the African continent. Students
and practitioners of marketing communications, particularly those with an
interest in place branding, will notice the significance of these two phrases.
The first boldly highlights the "unique word or phrase" that can be
owned by a brand. There must be obvious brand attributes that make this
appropriation natural. In further defense of this title, take note of the
"Malawi is like none other in Africa" with the clear description that
goes ahead to justify the statement.
Any discussion of the current efforts to rebrand
Nigeria by the Federal Ministry of Information and Communications that does not
examine the history of that "failed" campaign, as she put it, is an
effort in futility. Our first challenge therefore will be to return to the
scandalous revelation by Prof Dora Akunyili that the creators of that earlier
campaign plagiarized a campaign slogan that has been in use by another African
country. Plagiarism in Marketing Communications is akin, if not worse than
election rigging. We therefore should ask the honorable minister to reveal the
identity of the consultant who subjected our nation to such ridicule. The least
that consultant can do is to offer an unqualified apology, or at worst, to
explain his own side of the story. That consultant should also refund whatever
was paid him for that misdemeanor.
I know that Alder consulting is reputed to have
created the campaign. And this much is documented in the company's website:
"To accomplish this (a cohesive image program that would promote the
country's national brands while…addressing the negatives) Alder Consulting
conceptualized what is known as the Heart of Africa Project (aka the Nigeria
Image Project). Even then, I still hesitate to jump into conclusions on such a
sensitive issue. As consultants, we know that client sometimes impose their own
ideas, and since he who pays the piper dictates the tune, maybe the consultant
has been compelled to action on this? However, perhaps Mr Leke Alder can shed
some light on this delicate matter?
Despite this, the Heart of Africa project, in terms of
process, was miles ahead of the current effort by the Honorable Minister.
According to the Alder website, "we conducted a Brand Asset Audit of
Nigeria and evaluated the strengths & weaknesses of those assets. (This was
done to identify strong and credible Nigerian brands to be marketed). We also
executed extensive research to identify Nigeria's brand eroders and their effects".
But as I have noted before, the biggest problem with that effort, as was agreed
by many who followed the story, was the messianic, all knowing complex
displayed by the creators of the campaign. Our insistence was that the brand
Nigeria campaign cannot be created by one or two "eggheads", no
matter how brilliant, locked up in their corporate laboratories and concocting
"brilliant" ideas to sell our country's image to the world. To the
world! (We shall return to this topic presently).
So there was an attitudinal problem. Many turned off
from that effort when they noticed the "shepherd" mentality of its
creators that left every other person feeling like the herd! The first major
effort at announcing the project to the topic was a big press conference where
creatives were already on display! At the time, despite receiving a few knocks
here and there, many did not or could not contribute to the debate effectively
because the subject itself was still fresh and almost alien. So they got away
with it. At the end we were told that a budget of N600 million was appropriated
for the project, even then, many professionals thought that this was a paltry
figure. When the Nigeria Image project was to be changed to the Heart of Africa
project, it was done under the same clandestine shadow. This time around, there
was even an effort at selling the project to Nigerians, they took it abroad,
completing the circle of alienation.
It is obvious, and has always been to anyone who is
willing to face the truth, that Nigeria's image problem is homegrown. Any image
enhancing campaign must therefore commence from the home front. But you cannot
then, having made this great discovery, jump over every other professional
protocol an take the process to the open market, like the respected professor
has done. I am convinced that Prof Akunyili, like Martin Luther-King, had a
"dream". Dreams can easily translate to visions when infused with
clarity. That dream is what she now pursues with visionary fervor. But dreams
must be properly analyzed, completed (dreams often have several missing parts)
and forged through wind, fire and water. Then it becomes a living vision.
Despite this criticism, I think the professor ought to
be proud. Her effort to re-brand Nigeria, just like her efforts at cleaning the
nation's food and drugs cesspools, has achieved a major feat: citizenry
involvement. At no time in the history of our dear nation has the subject of
how we manage our image taken such a centre stage in public discourse. Almost
everybody is interested, almost everybody is having a say. The challenge is how
to bring all these divergent views to the table and make sense out of it. Do
not forget that all this is over a paltry budget of N120 million! With a debt
of about N12million which the honorable minister has agreed to offset! Under
Chikelu, we were told that N600million was to be expended. We were never, until
now told how much was to be expended on Frank Nweke's Heart of Africa project,
now, we know it was N1.05billion. Against these huge figures, the professor's
budget is puny indeed and we must commend her courage to soldier on under such
difficult circumstances.
I have tried to read many of the opinions that have
been published on this touchy subject so far. They move from the rational to
the emotional, from the angry to the sublime and from the adoption of bolekaja
rhetoric to enlightened rigor. If the learned professor of pharmacy is reading
these articles, obviously she would have had an education in nation branding,
and in this case from a Nigerian point of view. I must also say that there has
been a lot of mystification and some level of confusion about this small
business of nation branding. Most of this confusion arises from the very nature
of branding itself. A relatively young concept in these climes, there are a lot
of emergency analysts who are coming to the table with sometimes very high
sounding analysis that confuse the issues rather than clarify them.
First, let us try to demystify the very concept of
branding. My favorite definition of branding, mine, is that it is the
progression from the generic to the particular, or specific, if you like.
Imagine ten white identical babies on a flat table. How do you differentiate
(and that's it) one of them? Simple, paint it black! Now you can see, in that
mental picture we have created, that one baby is standing out black in a crowd
of white babies. The key word, and for me, therefore, the most critical element
that everyone needs to understand to get a good grasp of this subject is
differentiation. So simple isn't it? Ok, so let us move on, to nation branding.
What should a nation first do in its search for a good
brand identity? You got it; it's differentiation! It's not the search for
perfection; it's the search for a set of differentiators that will be
aggregated into a short phrase or sentence that can be owned by the subject in
question. This is conventional wisdom in marketing. Now I will like to address
some of the issues that have been raised in this debate. Many writers have made
the point that there is no brand and in the absence of a brand, you cannot
commence a process of rebranding. I disagree entirely with this position. Of
course there is a Nigerian brand. The question is what kind of brand is it? I
do not think I need to spend time proving this argument. A little research
about what makes a brand will suffice. After all, there are 140million people
who claim membership of that family, for good or for bad. Indeed, Nigeria meets
all the basic criteria of a brand.
The Parable of the Apple.
This simple parable will help us clarify our current
situation and define a way forward. A brand, any brand can be compared to an
apple. So, dear reader, you are the owner of that apple and it is your decision
to do unto it as you wish. Even though this is an exercise in branding, you
will agree, at the end of the day, that it is just commonsense and you do not
require an expert to help you make the right decision. You do need an expert
however to help you develop a strategy and execute so that you can avoid the
landmines, and more importantly, achieve best practice.
The inside of the apple is rotten.
In the first instance, the apple is irretrievably
rotten from the inside. The skin may be looking fresh but you cut it open
either with a knife or with your teeth and you discover the rot inside. Perhaps
the skin is even corrupted and the rot is so obvious that you did not need to
cut it open to discover how bad. Now we all know that you cannot repair a
rotten apple. Unless you want to poison yourself you will be well advised to
dispose of that piece of fruit no matter how famished you may be. The delicious
inside of an apple is the essence of the apple; it is the core, the original
character without which it cannot be called an apple. You cannot replace it.
This is the fundamental problem with the apple that has a rotten inside. You
have to throw it away.
The skin of the apple is soiled or damaged.
In the second scenario the inside of the apple is
preserved. Its essence is not damaged. But the skin is badly soiled or even
damaged. If you like apples like I do, you do not throw away an apple because
the skin is dirty. Perhaps it fell off the apple tree straight into a pool of
mud and the mud caked? Perhaps the skin was slightly damaged during packaging
and transportation? If the skin is dirty, I would recommend that you wash it!
It's slightly more complicated if the skin is damaged. I would, as a layman,
not educated in the higher sciences of food and drugs preservation perhaps(?)
simply get out my knife and remove the damaged part of the skin, then I can
wash it thoroughly and then it's ready to be consumed. I must say that we will
still require the advice of the Professor of pharmacy to tell us if this is
safe enough! I would take the risk meanwhile. When the cleaning process is
complete, we must go out and let others know that the apple is now clean! Many
authorities however believe that you do not need to wait until the apple is
absolutely clean before you go tell it on the mountain. Once you begin the
process, you can tell the world, and once they know you are serious about it,
they will actively help you to get a spanking clean apple. It's in their
interest too!
Apple in a Monkey's shadow
The table is set and the gentlemen are ready for
dinner. But from all they can see, the apple, which has been promised for
dinner, is in a monkey's shadow. From all they can see, it has lost is healthy
bright green hue. It's looking very dark and unhealthy. It's in a monkeys
shadow and not looking very palatable at the moment! But the chef insists that
the apple is fresh, clean and healthy and not only consumable, but very
delicious! So what is the problem? One: We have to find out(research); Two: We
have to take action(correct the situation in line with feedback) and Three: We
have to communicate to the gentlemen at the table that dinner can commence. But
we must be sure! We don't want to poison anyone remember, and don't forget,
good communication kills a bad product faster! The research reveals the simple
problem: The monkey perched itself very close to where the apple was placed. It
blocked the rays of light from the window and cast a dark shadow on the green
apple, giving it an artificial hue that is not natural to it. Simple solution:
The chef takes off the apple and places it in a different location or scares
the monkey away. Then he calls the attention of the gentlemen at the table to
the apple and they can see that the apple is actually healthy and clean! It's
not dark, it's green. Dinner commences.
Which of the three apples represent Nigeria's brand?
It depends on where you stand in the debate. But for passionate nationalists
like me, its no 2. And the solution is obvious. There is no problem with the
essence of the brand. Therefore there is a great truth in the new slogan Good
People, Great Nation. That's what we are, essentially. But like the second
apple, we have, especially over the last 30-40 years accumulated so much debris
(attributes) that we now require a great cleaning process for our brand to be as
desirable as we want it to be. The most important, and perhaps most valid
argument against this new re-branding process is the failure of this
administration to commence the cleaning process before the communication, which
is what logos and slogans are about.
Good People, Great Nation.
Now, let us look at the first step of the re-branding
process and measure the effort against what has been proposed earlier in this
article. We have said that branding is the movement from the generic to the
particular and that this is achieved through the process of differentiation.
Lets therefore do a simple test on this new slogan. Let us attempt to apply it
on several countries across the continents.
Is USA a great nation with good people?
Is Ghana a great nation with good people?
Is Japan a great nation with good people?
Is India a great nation with good people?
Is Great Britain a great nation with good people?
Is Saudi Arabia a great nation with good people?
Is Australia a great nation with good people?
We can go on and on. If the answer to the above is
largely yes, then we already have a problem. Can Nigeria own or acquire that
description or phrase when so many countries, with certainly superior
credentials to that title exist? It's your answer. Why did India choose
incredible India? (They have a superior claim to that word even if other can
also claim it)Why is South Africa excited about being the land of
possibilities? If you ask me, Nigeria is the ultimate land of new opportunities
(How about In Nigeria, anything can happen!) It's a frontier! A slogan must
ring true and must never be generic. How about "Come to Warsaw, whatever
the weather!". So sometimes you can take a slogan that demystifies even
the negative by highlighting it, no surprises!! Good people, Great nation is
the most generic description for a nation that anyone can imagine! It fails the
crucial test of differentiation! It is the equivalent of what we refer to as
communal properties. Every nation has a right to make that claim.
My personal opinion is that the honorable minister
needs to reconsider that statement and urgently begin to examine the
possibility of reviewing it. I am a bit worried that the committee that
presented, or approved, or selected this slogan includes such tested marketing
communications professionals as Julia Oku-Jacks(The patient dog eats no bone)
and Lolu Akinwunmi (We take your briefs(illustrated with undergarments) to
town). My suspicion is that they were swallowed up by the usual civil service
disfunctionality. Maybe it was selected through voting by the 22 man committee.
If voting was done, I wonder what two or three professionals who know what they
are doing can achieve in a sea of broadcasters, actors, politicians and
academics who may not know much about these basic marketing concepts or
processes. This is without prejudice to the fact that many of the professionals
referred to are ladies and gentlemen who have achieved excellently in their
chosen professions and do deserve our respect and gratitude for the time spent
in that committee.
Way forward
Where to start!
I support the move to go to the secondary and primary
schools to campaign to the kids. But this does not require any jamboree. I am
also opposed to a staccato, pose-for-the-press, occasional visit that would
achieve very little. She should sit down with her colleague in the ministry of
education and review the curricular of primary and secondary schools. Is the
honorable minister aware that the history of Nigeria has been virtually wiped
off the teaching curricula of primary and secondary schools? That our children
are no longer taught West African history? That they do not know about the
Ghana, Mali and Songhai empires? That they have never heard that there were
thriving civilizations right here in Nigeria that lasted for many centuries
before the white man set foot on our shores? That there was a ruling dynasty in
Kanem Bornu(Sefawa) that lasted for 1000 unbroken years until it was brought to
an end by the equally illustrious El-Kanemi, whose descendants rule till today?
That our kids are no longer taught that there were civilizations in the forest
regions of Nigeria with highly sophisticated systems of government with checks
and balances that thrived for hundreds of years(in the case of the OYO empire,
400 years) that there was a great kingdom of Benin that lasted for centuries
with a highly stable administration and a civilization that built great
highways and produced works of such great significance that the British who
invaded and ultimately defeated the Ovonramwen's gallant forces nearly went mad
with envy that not all their "Christian" piety or civility could help
them resist the urge to steal these works of art, which their own civilization
could not rival? And that these works of art, till today, still grace the
shrine of the British empire and civilization, the British Museum??
Is the honorable minister aware that our languages and
literature are no longer, or hardly ever taught in our schools and that our
kids are told, both by their parents and teachers that it is a thing of shame
for them to speak their own languages when they can speak in English? That our
kids in secondary schools do not know who Awolowo, Zik or the Sadauna are? That
they don't know about the Islamic Jihad of the 19th century, the great wars of
resistance against the British and other pernicious invaders and indeed the 400
years long evil of the slave trade? Who are our kid's heroes? Madam Minister,
ask your kids. If not Arnold Shwarzennegar, it would be Mariah Carey or 50cent!
That is all they get, from interminable hours sitting in front of local and
satellite television! Are we not in trouble? How can they engage the idea, the
very idea of a Brand Nigeria? For these class of people, Nigeria is the first
apple. That is their experience and if something is not done urgently, we will
not be discussing the subject of a brand Nigeria when they take over, because
there be none. It's just not in their brain!
Finally, in the light of most of the comments and
opinions so far expressed, it would be anti-democratic to go ahead with this
campaign without first addressing the myriad issues raised so far. I think there
is a need for an urgent review before we proceed, and proceed we must. I have
always insisted that we need to start the process of re-branding Nigeria. If
your brand or product has got a problem, you have got to do something about it.
The process of re-branding does not begin with logos and slogans. It is about
properly codifying our core essence, not re-creating it, because it is there in
the one thousand year history of our journey as a people. We just need to
refresh our minds and write it in very simple language. Then we must define our
desired image. It is a desired image, which already means that there is a
journey. We are not there, and we need to commence the journey, so the argument
that because we are not there, we should not begin, is, in my humble opinion,
not valid. We should define it and begin the journey. This cannot be achieved
by the Honorable Minister alone, the President must lead that effort, let's get
his buy-in! And we must all be part of it, one way or the other.
Akin Adeoya is chief consultant of Marketing Mix and
Company and Publisher of M2, the Marketing Magazine. He can be reached on
akinadeoya@marketingmixideas.com
Great thoughts
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