Tunji Olugbodi sits atop Verdant Zeal, one of the leading advertising agencies and marketing communications companies in Nigeria. In this interview with Prestige International Magazine, he opens up on various issues including how the agency became a mega brand in the industry, the practice of marketing communications and challenges facing the running of business in Nigeria. According to him the practice of advertising in the past was analogue, while it is digital today.
How did you come into advertising and marketing communications?
I came into advertising by accident. I started my career as a journalist with Guardian Newspapers. At some point I said that I wanted a change. I did not spend a long time in journalism. I started out in Advertising as a Copy Writer. I said it was by accident because I thought I was going to spend a long time in journalism but at a point I needed something that is more engaging and interesting.
Let’s talk about the story of Verdant Zeal, how did it start?
Verdant Zeal is a God given vision. It started as a result of my interest in better fulfillment. I had wide experience in advertising before we set up Verdant Zeal in 2007. I played significant roles in organizations I worked with before setting up Verdant Zeal. We did an appraisal of entire landscape of the industry and we felt that ion terms of values there are one or two things that we may want to correct. With that on ground we are able to have dynamic stakeholders and that has been helping us in whatever we have been able to do over the years.
What is the values and philosophy of the organization?
We believe in delivering the service with excellence in consideration of professionalism. As a professional you can become an authority in the area of your core competence. We want to be full blooded Nigerian agency with global outlook. That means that whatever ideas we are bringing on board must have bearing on the person, who is our target audience. I always advocate that whatever we are doing must be original and have bearing on our roots. Most of the times, we try to cover the west, but we need to understand that advertising mirrors the society. Despite the fact that we still copy the west in some areas, the west can not determine our identity. Our identity, beliefs and ways of life are totally different from the west. Even the way we name ourselves is different from the west. We are full blooded Nigerian organization with global outlook and direction.
Can you tell us some of your blue-chip accounts?
We have a different understanding to this question; we don’t talk about our accounts and clients on the pages of newspapers. We want our clients to appreciate us by virtue of what we do for them.
What is your view on the emergence of in-house advertising agency in some multi national companies?
I think it a phase that will come and go. It is a phase that is self serving and selfish. What do I mean by this? Every organization that cannot decide to be doing everything that professional is expected to do. There are reasons why people in manufacturing are in manufacturing, there are reasons why people in production are in production. Also, there are reasons why people who are lawyers are lawyers. My question is this. If you are able to set up in-house advertising agency, are you going to set up a legal practice? Are you going to set up an accounting practice? That is why I called it self serving, self serving because some people are profiting from it. No matter what they claim, they can never do it the way professionals will do it. The funny thing is that they don’t hold themselves responsible for how things should be done. What they are doing is to undermine the duties of the agency. The fact is that any agency that is doing that will continue to be on the same spot. My advice is that; give the jobs to the professionals, who are guided by the ethics of the profession for excellence delivery of service. I think it is better for people to face their areas of core competence. They may be thinking that they are saving money, but this cannot be a long time goal but a short term benefit.
The in thing now is global affiliations among agencies. What is your view on this?
I am not too sure that that statement is correct that in thing is for agencies to have global affiliations. I think it is a phase that has come but how far it is relevant now is very debatable. Before you go for global affiliations you need to weigh the options, you need to know what you get and what you benefit. You need to weigh all these things along the line of your own business objectives and interest. You also need to weigh the options along your own identity. It depends on the direction which organization wants to go, but I think the way global affiliation is now it is being remodified compare with what is obtainable in the past. Anybody can decide to go and do his business or set up agency anywhere, but one needs to consider the direction of the organization and profitability for the agency.
Can you compare and contrast the practice of advertising now with what is obtainable many years back?
Nowadays, due to the advancement in technology information is at your finger tips. You can decide to google out any information at any time. Advertising practice in the past was analogue, if I may put it that way. Today advertising has gone digital. Now with the advent of technologies people now have better options to choose from and there are healthy competitions among the practitioners.
What is the company’s strategy for a competitive edge?
Our strategy is very simple we try to make sure that we are cost effective. You have to operate with urgency it deserves. How do you get there before others get there? We don’t rest on our oars, we always operate professionally. You may not find us queuing behind a well known brand. You may not find us doing what people have done. We are not afraid to start something new and be original, grow it and develop it into maturity and partners with clients. We are not afraid to build into the future.
What is your style of management?
Our style is flat and focuses on what is benefiting the society and what is benefiting the communications world. Our style is open, dynamic and flexible and futuristic.
What are the challenges facing running advertising agencies in Nigeria?
It is the same challenge facing any business man or entrepreneur in the country. We have the challenge of infrastructures, power supply, security, over taxation. There is also a challenge of human resource.
What is the relevance of integrated marketing to advertising?
It is a matter of nomenclature, let’s forget about the nomenclature, let’s go to the market, understand the market and know what the clients want. The most important thing is to understand the dynamics of the market. We need to know what the market wants. They don’t want clichés. What they want is to add values to them. We need to take into consideration that whatever clients spends on getting the products to the end user is cost effective and interesting.
What are the subsidiaries under Verdant zeal?
We have various subsidiaries like brain box media, first2marketing, gr8measures, forwardmotion, redgeckoonline and neomantraimages. They are professional in their own right.
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