By Goddie Ofose/Lagos
Integrated marketing communication (IMC) stakeholders have railed against the growing influence of middle level managers, otherwise known as brand manager, in how a business pitch swings.
In most cases, pitches are decided by a panel of up to 10 senior officials, yet brand managers with direct responsibilities play a pivotal role in who gets a piece of the pie.
Azuka Onwuka, Strategist/Brand Management Consultant, August Consulting, noted that the brand manager is critical in brand management, because he is the driver of the brand.
In his view, the brand is the baby of the brand manager and he determines how the baby grows.
Nobody is closer to a brand like its brand manager, so ideally he understands the brand more than any other person. He designs the activities of the brand.
As far as top management and funds permit, the brand manager determines the promotional support to the brand in terms of advertising, public relations, promotions, packaging, said Onwuka.
To him,brand managers play a role in determining which company wins a pitch. But he expressed regret that many abuse the role.
His words: “The corruption that has hit other sectors of our national life will not single out brand management as the only segment to spare. Some brand managers and marketing managers have pre-determined winners for their pitch even before inviting the agencies to pitch. That makes a mess of the pitch process.”
Onwuka, a marketing journalist, said there is nothing professional about collecting bribes to determine the winner of a pitch, because a brand manager who loves his brand should choose the best agency for it.
“When a brand manager is compromised, he will find it hard to be firm in his dealings with the agency regarding the brand. To avoid putting the power in the hands of one person, some companies have a team of judges from different departments, including external consultants, to assess the presentations of the agencies and choose the winner.”
Ashton & Layton Chief Executive Officer, GbengaX-adebija, added that brand managers are the nexus between internal stakeholders and the agency, and “most times they have to tread a difficult path and strike a delicate balance between seemingly conflicting objectives.
That is why a brand manager should be a strategy-driven visionary able to identify both immediate and long-term benefits to the brand as well asgalvanise required resource to achieve brand objectives, he added.
Prima Garnet Africa Chief Executive Officer, LoluAkinwunmi,distanced his agency from the practice, saying,“to be honest we are not aware of this because we have never experienced it.
“I don’t think this is a general or blanket situation. No brand manager can play a more influential role in a pitch process than any of his or her seniors, except of course such powers have been delegated.
“Where a system is professional, it is very unlikely that what you have described will happen.”
Akinwunmiis also the Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCN).
However, a CEO of a leading public relations agency, who preferred anonymity, confirmed that brand managers “constitute a nuisance” in most pitch exercises, demanding “all sorts of things from agencies.”
In most cases when the account eventually swings to your side, he said, “they make it difficult for you to work if you don’t play by their rules.”
Dan Oshodi, TMKG Chief Executive Officer, reiterated that bribery is not professional.
He noted that the pitch process in most serious businesses is judged by panels of up to 10 members in some cases and even more in others, and “in such a scenario the brand manager will have just one vote.”
Yet, the industry is inundated with complaints of unethical and unprofessional conduct by some brand managers.
Accounts have been relinquished because of the over bearing influence of brand managers, some of whom demand shares from agencies, quarterly kickbacks, project by project allowances, and sponsorship of holidays abroad.
Because of the corruption, some multinationals plan to eliminate human process in business pitch.
