Kenneth Ebbi

11/05/2023

When authenticity meets intrinsic value MAGIC HAPPENS.

02/05/2023

Keep your eyes on the market. Take a listen

20/03/2023

2023 ELECTIONS, WHO'S WINNING?

There are two prominent reasons why hosting global competitions is a big deal; firstly, it is a rare opportunity, given the global focus, to showcase to the world the host nation's culture, distinctive intrinsic values and the capacity to welcome, entertain and manage visitors from all around the world.

Secondly, it provides the social and political will to create huge budgets for world class infrastructural projects with delivery dates cast in iron. These projects bring development to the nation whilst pushing up their Brand Perception Index.

Winning in these events for host nations is secondary, otherwise Qatar, a non footballing nation would hardly have ventured into hosting the World Cup.

Few events provide free opportunity to showcase to the world a nation's advancement as presidential elections, especially for pivotal nations like Nigeria.

Elections should be about flaunting good national intrinsic and shared values.
Leaders exhibiting political maturity while the populace display emotional intelligence.

Furthermore, it is a time to let the world know that we are technologically capable of organising and gathering data as well as building algorithms that enable developmental decisions; today data rules the world.

As usual, the paperwork was impeccable, the budget was robust but on the D-day, "NEPA took light"

We need to double-track our wins in Nigeria. Individuals winning at the expense of national victory is unacceptable.

Recently concluded elections clearly show that we have not made much progress since independence.

Going by NADECO's pronouncement, the "olule" narrator, a founding member of that organisation (now excommunicated), and the principal beneficiary of the process, played a dominant role in the marred electoral process.

Most of the invigilators and examiners of the process agree with NADECO that the process was significantly flawed but the students (INEC and the Federal Government) who set their own questions and wrote the exam have taken it upon themselves to mark their scripts as well. They have awarded themselves "Doctorate degrees" in Election Management.

However, in-between, many mourn their loved ones murdered in cold blood during both elections.

Their souls rest in peace; another set of Nigerians that will never experience the new nation they craved.

All hope is not lost yet, there's one more window of opportunity left to patch this crack and reverse the all time dip in Perception Index, the Judiciary.

The Judiciary is the "last busstop"! If they aim their stone accurately, they could kill many birds with it, including jump-starting the process of savings this ship and uniting a hugely polarised country.

Ken Ebbi is a Brand Activist and the Lead Narrator of House of Parables.

16/11/2022

GREAT BRANDS PLUG GAPS

How would you answer the question, why another brand?

A good number of entrepreneurs focus on their passion.

Passion is great but it isn't enough!

Being overly emotional about your brand can get you stuck in the conflict of intuitive and cognitive decision making.

The objective of branding is to evoke emotional buying but the method of achieving this result is heavily dependent on the cognitive process.

One of the most essential determinants of whether or not to introduce a brand is GAPS IN THE MARKETPLACE.

As simple and common as this may sound, many struggle to determine what essentially constitutes a gap in the marketplace. Human needs do not necessarily translate to gaps in the marketplace.

Market Gaps must be commercially viable.

For over four decades the discussion on global warming had created a gap and consistently expanded the market for mechanisms that run on clean energy. Tesla has taken full advantage of this gap. Today, it is a top rated global brand whose owner is the world's richest man.

Knowing when to launch into the market is critical to success.

The iPhone wasn't the first touchscreen phone ever, other brands like HP had experimented with the touchscreen technology prior to Apple's innovative approach.

Operating the touchscreen with a stylus didn't quite match the level of convenience required to operate a smartphone.

How can we identify gaps?

There are multiplicity of methods to track market gaps, however, let's take a look at two of them in this article.

1. CULTURE CHANGES.
The discussion on sustainability strengthened by government policies created a tribe of citizens in commercial numbers that were willing to make considerable lifestyle changes in favour of reducing Green House Gas emissions. This created a market for electric cars.

In sniffing out gaps, entrepreneurs must consider opportunities created as a result of the success of certain industries and brands, for instance, the success of Tesla brand of cars meant increase in demand for Lithium-ion batteries, charging units and other components necessary for manufacturing and delivery to the final user.

This is what I refer to as Gaps in the Horizontal and Vertical value chains.

There are multiplicity of gaps in the manufacturing/service and delivery value chains begging to be plugged.

2. PRICING AND PRICE MOVEMENTS.

Probably the most relevant example is Samsung smart homes. iPhone had captured the premium phone market but its high pricing created a buoyant second-hand market made up of young people who wanted the features of the iPhone but couldn't afford it. Samsung simply created a less expensive phone with the iPhone features plus more. They scooped a share of the market with their brand of phones.

A few years ago Coca-Cola moved their 35cl bottle drinks from N100 to N150, Bigi spotted the gap and took full advantage.

Look for gaps and plug them with brands!

Ken Ebbi is a Brand Activist and the Lead Narrator of The House of Parables.

28/04/2022

A few notes on Nation Branding and politics, today at SILVERBIRD Television.

20/04/2022

I had just finished a sumptuous home made Easter meal and while cooling off with a glass of wine, my attention was drawn to an Easter message from Sterling Bank.

"like Agege bread, He rose!
Happy Easter"

Immediately, I felt a rush of nausea in my system...what a copy!! Completely unethical and hugely disappointing especially coming from a corporate giant like Sterling Bank.

Who approved the advert?

To make matters worse, they offered an apology that confirmed that all was not well with their corporate communications.

In fact that was a monumental brand communication disaster!

If I were the Managing Director of the bank, I will overhaul the entire team for an unbelievable display of unprofessionalism.

But what can we learn from this blunder?

CULTURE
I have repeatedly insisted that brand communication and campaigns must be careful to acknowledge culture.

Religion is a very sensitive discussion globally, more especially in Nigeria. Communication in this space, travels unhindered to the soul with outcomes that aren't ephemeral. Therefore any corporate communication meant for a religious audience must be scrutinized over and over again for consistency in beliefs and nuances.

METAPHORS IN COMMUNICATION

Metaphors are easily open to varied interpretations and by rule, should be avoided in religious messaging. It is always safer to stick to the themes, emblems and icons.

Go straight to the point and keep it simple, no ambiguities!

THE ADVERT AND APOLOGY
LESSONS TO LEARN

The copy writer showed very little understanding of the English word resurrection. Rising from the dead is not the same thing as swelling up! Is it in the character of Agege bread to reappear after going down with Ewa Agoin?

"Ko tie ye mi".

The copywriter in their quest to tell the story in local parlance, chose the wrong allegory.

Likening the most important event in Christendom to the experience of dough in a Lagos suburb is completely ridiculous. Such mistakes in communicating sacred stories will definitely attract some serious backlash.

"Bread of Life" isn't the same as Agege Bread and has nothing to do with resurrection.

But what's more irking is the apology.

Sterling Bank in trying to quench criticisms plays a mind game, they quote a scripture from a biblical event, "...he that does not have sin should cast the first stone".

Very inappropriate for the situation and quite damaging to the brand's personality.

Firstly, you can't be the accused and the judge at the same time. If the woman caught in adultery had posed that question (as they have now done), it would never have saved the day.

Secondly, no apology is good enough if it is laced with any form of arrogance.

Just apologize and move on!

I think Sterling Bank needs to apologise for that apology, the only problem though is that the public space isn't an appropriate place for experiments.

Kenneth Ebbi is a Brand Activist and the Lead Narrator, House of Parables.

16/04/2022

WHEN BIRDS OF UNIDENTICAL PLUMAGE CONGREGATE

That season is upon us again, the season of the strange "mouth organ pipers."

In this season "milk teeth" are used to tear sugarcane apart, the rich eat food from the plate of the poor, uncommon street chefs show up unannounced,

"Lions feed their prey"!!

When you see these things happening, know that the end is near, the end of another four years.

In those days, it becomes glaring that there are no permanent friends or enemies in business, only permanent interests.

These men show no creativity or ambiguity in fallacy.

Recently, our political 'Ronaldinho" (Maradona is taken) gathered some of our loved brands for a small meeting that eventually ended in an endorsement prayer meeting, and who else could be more qualified to deliver the prophecy that the presidential wind is blowing towards the west other than West himself.

The only drawback was that the message came in a whirlwind wind, causing the prophet to vibrate unusually. This made the recipient of the prophecy a little uncomfortable. He kept his eyes wide open with unbroken focus on Prophet West, in case things went awry.

"Adi amama" (you never can tell), strange things happen these days, "make dis pastor no come bite person here. This is not the kind of dirty fight I was referring to".

Brand association is one of the proven methods of reaching your target audience. When you associate with a brand, automatically you earn or lose brand equity.

But what went wrong with this endorsement?

For brand association to produce positive results one factor is of utmost importance and that is alignment of values.

As things stand, politicians have a dearth of values and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu may not left out.

In fact many believe he is corrupt!

However, he was being endorsed by some of our most loved brands who have managed to keep their public image intact.

JJ Okocha, Nwankwo (Papilo) Kanu, Victor Ikpeba, Taribo West etc. I still watch their exploits on YouTube with great delight.

So the problem wasn't the concept of endorsement through brand association (in fact, every brand should be deliberate about building strong and profitable brand associations) but the nonaligned values of the associating brands.

No one would bat an eyelid if it was a sociopolitical group; "after all na dem dem"

Every brand could use the help of other brands to reach their target audience but to avoid such associations being counter productive, check meticulously for consistency in core values.

What brand associations are you leveraging?

Kenneth Ebbi is a Brand Activist and the Lead Narrator, House of Parables.

12/04/2022

Last week at Sheraton Hotel, the branding discussion continued with some great executives.

INTEGRITY! The root word is Integral.

To achieve Brand Integrity, brands must be careful in their communication process (external), to ensure they create icons that help easy recognition and connection with core values (internal).

How's your BRAND INTEGRITY??

Kenneth Ebbi is a Brand Activist and the Lead Narrator, House of Parables.

01/04/2022

22/03/2022

BEAUTY AND THE BULL
Going by public opinion, I think the most appropriate way to describe Ebele Obino's situation in the latest "Naija reality show" is, SLAPPED BY A BRAND.

But can going physical in this circumstance or any other circumstance for that matter be excused for any reason?

The altercation at the swearing in ceremony of Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, the recently democratically elected governor of Anambra State was quite disturbing to say the least, not even the presence of the exiting governor or the incoming governor and the aura of his name "Soludo" (pursue peace), were enough to deter the rampaging bull. Only God knows what would have happened if she was punctual to that event.

If the account of her opponent (as things turned out), is anything to go by, it is likely she had been gyrating with her cohorts and capped their session up with a few shots of whiskey to gain altitude, before proceeding to the venue of the self staged bout.

In introducing the contestants in this battle that lasted a few minutes, let me borrow the parlance of Michael Buffer, the popular host of most heavyweight boxing bouts;

Weighing “250 pounds”, in the red corner, the wife of the immediate past governor of Anambra State. If dressing were all you needed to conclude on her capabilities, then one of her most identifiable public photographs says it all, yes, the one where she was cladded with clownish sunshades. I think we are dealing with a self-acclaimed queen of Pop/Rock palace rascality, please don’t ask me what genre of music that is. If you really want to know, you may add the phrase to "iberiberism" and do the word/grammar search for both in the Oxford Dictionary…

“man pikin tire”.

Anyway, weighing “200 pounds”, in the Blue corner is the widow of a well respected military officer and war Lord, Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu. She was Nigerian ambassador to Spain and the Vatican, she is a lawyer, politician and businesswoman as well as a beauty queen.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's get ready to rumble!!!!

Okay, seriously, here are the brand takeaways.

The impact the attitude of leaders and public figures have on the perception index of a people is overwhelming and I think we have all let ourselves down as a nation in this wise. We have directly and indirectly destroyed the structure and processes that distill and filter leadership from the crowd and we are now paying dearly for it. So, there goes another knock on our Nation Brand Index (NBI).

Will it ever be permissible under the circumstances for a lady to slap a fellow lady, moreso coming from a renowned diplomat? I don't think so, no matter the bullish provocation, it could have been handled more professionally.

However, she will get away with it for two reasons:

Firstly, people voluntarily make excuses for loved brands. In the later days of Michael Jackson, many accusations were leveled against him; he had performed multiple surgeries on his nose, leaving it incapable of staying erect. He died shortly before "This is it", a completely sold out concert meant to be his last...his fan base never dwindled.

The brand Bianca is just too powerful for Ebele and to make matters worse, she initiated the fight.

Secondly, public opinion is skewed in Bianca's favour. At the breaking of the news, people without giving it much thought went for the brand that was more identifiable with decorum (what image are you building into people's subconscious about YOU?), "the moment of decision rarely allows much time for deep thinking" that's why organisation budget billions to gain top of the mind (TOM) spots.

This rule of thumb in branding is the basis for product positioning and consumer decisions.

People chose Bianca above Ebele, overlooked her mistake and nailed Ebele to the cross.

EFCC made matters worse with the timing of Governor Obino's arrest.

Even if there was any plan for damage control, it may not happen as efforts will now be diverted to getting the principal off the hook. By the time he gets out, events would have overtaken this issue and the molten magma would have simmered down to produce a lasting negative cast on her image.

"You see how the thing goes?"

Kenneth Ebbi is a brand activist.

18/03/2022

BAMBA
Nigerian Music Artistry is Creating Authentic Connections

Ha! You want to bamba?
You wanna chill with the big boys
Na you dey run kiti kiti
You dey run kata kata
No fit drink water drop cup

Ha, hey, you see how the thing goes?

Great song!!

You really never know what makes a song a hit, but you know a hit when you hear one.

Everybody is miming this song and I didn't know how far it had gone until I stumbled upon a compilation of TikTok short videos on the song...
..then I realized that another image gold mine had been created, waiting for miners with great vision.

Connection is the proof of authenticity.

True connections transcend the ephemeral, they wander eternally in the soul realm where branding lives.

Here, in a jiffy, boundaries can collapse like a pack of cards giving rise to new alliances, concessions and consequently followed by action.

The biggest problem in creating a brand is AUTHENTICITY.

Brands (especially destination and personal brands), fail when they try to create authenticity rather than discovering it.

Authenticity can be seen and experienced but its origin is from an unseen realm.

If there is one thing that can create a beehive of connections it is authenticity and there is no better way of creating brand loyalty outside of genuine soul to soul connection with your audience.

I was riding along with my son and to be honest, I can't remember exactly what happened but he broke out with the first line of the song,
Ameno Amapiano by Nektunes featuring Goya Menor, "you want to bamba" he sang..

Jolted by his chant, I quickly took it from there, "you want to chill with the big boys" and like a power surge, we chorused, "na you dey run kitikiti, you dey run katakata, you know fit drink water drop cup"

The atmosphere in the car was electric, the spontaneity was unprecedented...
You don't get too many moments like that in life!!

My son's face lit up. He felt that I was truly his "gee" dad.

"You know that song, dad?" He asked

Of course, I answered with that air of, "I still dey"

Days later, we relived that event, this time with my wife...
..and it turned out that she knew the song as well!! 🤩🤩

We all had a good time previewing videos on the song and just marvelling on how another Nigerian content was rocking the global space.

At the end of it all, I asked my son why he thought the song was successful?

His answer was thought provoking. He said:

"The song helped us to say something we all want to say but lack appropriate expression for...and that is:

Be YOURSELF...
more like, be AUTHENTIC!

THE BAMBA CONNECTIONS

So an authentic song, preaching authenticity is linking hearts, old and young, linking people from all over the world.

Everyone wants to identify with the song and there lies the opportunity it presents for nation branding.

You ask "You want to bamba," for nation branding? Of course.

I saw a video where a Caucasian returned home to his African wife with an Ancestary Report that declared him 0.3% Nigerian.

For him, that was a good enough reason to dance, celebrate and be counted as a member of the "Bamba Nation".

Branding especially destination branding, never really thrives on hard themes like economic indices.

Samba football played a great role in anouncing Brazil to the world and Bob Marley helped in endearing Jamaica to the hearts of people all over the world.

More recently, Usain Bolt used his athletic skills to keep Jamaica in global reckoning.

You want to Bamba is giving people all over the world another reason to love Nigerian artistry but who will make the necessary connection in order to squeeze out the juice from it to nourish our Nation Brand Index (NBI)?

People all around the world are really just looking for reasons to love others and the only phenomenon that provides that reason is, AUTHENTICITY.

Kenneth Ebbi is a brand activist.







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18/03/2022

IS THE RUSSIAN BEAR FIGHTING A LOST BATTLE?
Branding lessons from the on going war.

The instincts to dominate and refuse domination are innate in humans and has been a source of global quagmire.

What we see panning out in Ukraine is no more than Russia's idiosyncrasy in these directions. To my mind, Russia is refusing western domination by dominating her little brother Ukraine.

History has shown us that conquest is a palpable tool in pursuance of these instincts, however, things changed significantly after America dropped the Atomic Bomb in Hiroshima, this singular event signaled the dire need to regulate hostilities as a strategy for global dominance; just a few bombs could now wipe out humanity.

It was Mao Zedong, one of Chinas most respected leaders that cracked a joke about the outcome of a global nuclear war when he said there will be at least 500,000 Chinese citizens left to inherit the earth after any such war. The effect of a nuclear war is far too devastating for its admittance in the settlement of disputes.

So, to think that Russia is at war with just Ukraine is to not fully underscore the reason for the present hostilities in Eastern Europe.

For those who are unaware, Putin is irked by the expansionist tendency of NATO eastward. He believes and maybe rightly so that the presence of NATO in Ukraine simply will be too close for comfort, more especially because they are still reeling from the pain of the collapse of mother Russia.

Therefore, he embarks on what the "free media" refers to as an invasion that in its true sense may be no more than a military operation aimed at bringing Ukraine to the negotiation table, albeit from a disadvantaged position in order to extract a commitment to not join NATO. In my opinion it may be working, China is already mediating a seize fire talks with both sides.

One may argue that Russia is right to oppose this encroachment from NATO because to think of it, the US would hardly tolerate any pact that positions Russian military base in Cuba.

Pragmatically viewed, Russia certainly has a good reason to go on this military operation. If they do, why is public opinion heavily skewed against them? The answer is CULTURE!

Therein lies the first branding lesson from this war. No marketing, branding, war or whatever campaign can succeed if it goes against culture. To go against culture is to swim against the tides, it's tiring and energy sapping. The onus falls on every entrepreneur or brand manager to always check strategy in its minutest forms for consistency with culture before deploying.

The event at Hiroshima made it clear that military might as a tool for nation branding was now too costly for the global community, as a result, it became necessary to pursue culture change (a change in mindset). Against this backdrop, the US invested heavily in promoting the tenets of democracy and today, the global culture has significantly swung in favour of human rights. This has strengthened the voice of the people and weakened the resolve of tyranny. The true intent of this ideology is however questionable but that's a story for another day. It is interesting to note that while the US and the western world invested heavily in spreading their political philosophy and ideology, Russia pursued military armament. As things stand, they lead the pack with 6,257 nuclear warheads, a stockpile capable of wiping out the earth more than ten times over. Nonetheless, without strategic investment in global perception of Communism, they are left with a declining followership and it is just a matter of time before they are annexed.

Culture is a powerful force! As an entrepreneur, if you are not privileged to be an influencer, you will do yourself a great service to find out where the influenced are headed and take advantage of it in achieving your objectives.

The second lesson dovetails the first; “He who controls perception, controls outcome”. For great results, the most important thing to work on in virtually any endeavor is perception. Today, the media is the single most important tool for building perception. You ignore the media at your own peril, particularly at this time in human advancement when physical contact is receding, placing perception largely on virtual interaction.

Even though I do not think that Putin has completely misplaced his priorities in this war, I believe Russia should invest more in ideology campaign to catch up with her rivals who have invested heavily in spreading the western ideals. Democracy (human rights) is winning where it matters most, the perception war!!

As an entrepreneur, brand manager, nation image handler, ask yourself, am I winning the perception war in my space?

Is it possible for Putin to win this war through military might alone? Yes, it is, but then, at what cost?

Kenneth Ebbi is a Brand Activist