Brandzone Innovation Summit to Tackle Economic Volatility

By Nosa Alekhuogie

Brandzone Consulting LLC in conjunction with its knowledge development arm Brand platform Lecture Series is set to host a bare-it-all summit with the theme, ‘Branding in a Volatile Economy’.

The Summit is a gathering designed to enable practitioners and Brand visionaries/owners to share insights on branding and growth strategies inclusive of opportunities inherent in the market place locally and globally.

A release weekend stated that the full day summit, which holds on May 10, at the Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, will focus on how branding, marketing and communications experts can reach today’s technologically savvy audiences, build deep customer relationships, and connect with the consumer in a positive way.

Already, registration for the summit is open on the website http://brandzonellc.com/brandplatform/.

According to the organisers, the summit shall give participants fresh insights and new knowledge to continue creating the most innovative strategies and ideas for businesses and products while building profitable businesses.

Speakers at the summit are industry thought leaders who are marketing, branding and communications experts from diverse sectors that include FMCG, Telecommunications, Banking, Oil and Gas and Advertising representing Multinationals, Fortune 500 firms, Blue Chip companies and top rated indigenous corporations.

“The Summit Advisory Board is filled with industry thought leaders. The members are responsible for the strategic direction of the Conference. The support and participation of these executives from top performing organisations ensures that we create excellent content and a conference that delivers maximum value”, Managing Partner, Brandzone Consulting LLC and Converner and Visioner, Brandplatform Lecture Series, Chizor Malize said.

She said: “We are as excited as ever organizing this highly cerebral event not only with the timeframe in our national space and experience, but also having such a virile platform to warehouse the insights, knowledge and expertise of top industry players – on a single platform – in advancing not only the professional practice of branding and advertising but also championing and shaping discourse around issues that have overriding benefits to the economic development and growth of the Nigeria.

So, it is against the background that this year’s Summit is aptly entitled, “Branding in A Volatile Economy”. A clinical attempt at diagnosing and proffering solutions- from branding and marketing communication perspectives- to myriads of challenges facing the nation. Nigeria’s economy she continued, is at a crossroad which thus portends a great danger to the continuous existence of numerous businesses and other professional service providers- of which the marketing communication industry is not exempted.

As marketing communication experts, it behooves discerning and dynamic practitioners to begin to look inwards with a view to providing perspectives that would help shape both professional and national discourses toward economic rejuvenation and advancement of Nigeria.”

Malize said: “A cursory look at the lineup of resource persons for this year’s Summit bears eloquent testimony to the veracity of the quality of intellectual insights and fireworks expected at the Brand Innovation summit 2016.

From the keynote speaker, Aigboje Aig – Imoukhuede, an accomplished technocrat cum institutional czar, to Olajumoke Adenowo, a top rated practitioner in the architectural landscape in Nigeria, to the ebullient and dynamic media prodigy, Chude Jideonwo to the resourceful and ‘poster child’ of indigenous business conglomerate, Bukky George balanced with the international perspectives and insights to be provided by Yaw Nzarkoh of Unilever Nigeria PLC, the one day event would no doubt provide participants the necessary nuggets to navigating their businesses and brands through an unstable economy. “

She added:  “As the nation grapples with the impact of dwindling oil fortunes, devalued currency and weakened economy, there is no better time to become more creative with brands and branding for quality, competitiveness and growth”. In her opinion, “the marginal propensity to consume and the disposable income of consumer in a wobbling economy is shrinking due to the prevalent uncertainties. Consumer become more discerning and selective in their consumption habits owing to the lull in the economy. This also have impact in sales and revenue and therefore further weaken corporations overall performance.  It therefore, behooves the practitioners in the industry as well as business and brand visioners to innovatively and strategically connect their brands with the consumer minds to remain relevant and ensure continuity in patronage, growth and profitability”. Continuing, she opined that “today’s economic realities have significantly changed the behavioural and consumption paradigm of consumers. Therefore, there is the ‘battle’ to maintain a share of the consumers mind and wallet through cutting edge branding solutions. There is the need for strategic and conscientious approaches towards attracting, engaging and retaining consumers of goods and services of companies and organisations in meeting the expectations of their consumers. So, essentially, one of the crucial take-away for participants at the summit is that they will be availed the technical/ professional know-hows to continue to drive their brands through growth and profitability- even in the midst of economic volatility.”

Malize stated that the dynamics for Branding and marketing is totally different today as brands battle for consumers’ minds and wallets.  The mechanism for customer engagement has also changed with the emergent of more innovative communication platforms predominantly driven by technology. Furthermore, she said the Summit will provide participants insights into the 21st Century consumer engagement strategies that would help practitioners and brand owners shape and create robust and winning customer engagement platforms for brands while developing positive relationships and associations that elicit excitement and action by consumers.

The summit is structured to address the key and contemporary developments in branding and communication that can support organisations drive increased brand penetration, revenue and profitability. The resource packed summit programme includes a keynote address and four different plenary sessions and panel discussions all taken by industry experts.

The sessions will examine a wide variety of topics critical to the sustenance of brands in an economy experiencing a lull.

It would provide insights on the strategies for connecting brands to consumers while driving profitable businesses. The sessions would also provide participants fresh insights, experiences and knowledge on Communication practices, concepts and principles of building and sustaining profitable businesses in a fledging economy.

Focused on achieving collective intelligence, the Brand Innovation Summit is hinged on the collection and documentation of new knowledge and best practice in the areas of branding, marketing and Communication Management with a view to aid industry development.

Part of the process is to provide a platform where participants will gain new knowledge and insights needed to propel businesses to profitability; increase knowledge on the interplay and interrelatedness of elements in moulding a successful business venture; learn and share branding best practices with industry experts with a view to increasing brand affinity and growth; increase knowledge on social enterprise dynamics as a catalyst for organisational growth; learn and share branding best practice with industry experts as well as network and connect with industry leaders and practitioners across diverse sectors.

The summit would equip participants to drive positive impact in their organisations.  “The Brand Innovation Summit targets over 100 top professional and provides an opportunity for individuals to learn new concepts and principles for effective brand management. It would be a great platform to learn, deepen knowledge on Branding and Communications with an unparalleled networking opportunities”, Malize added.