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Brands must be responsive to changing economic landscape in 2025, marketing experts say

By Sunday Aikulola
28 January 2025   |   3:43 am
The nation’s business landscape in 2024 was highly challenging and volatile, as economic headwinds such as high inflation and currency fluctuations tested resilience of many brands.
Sola Akinsiku

The nation’s business landscape in 2024 was highly challenging and volatile, as economic headwinds such as high inflation and currency fluctuations tested resilience of many brands. To survive 2025, brands must be responsive to changing economic landscape suggested marketing communications experts.

At the National Advertising Conference held in Abuja last year, they expressed concern over the nation’s economy, stressing the need to address food security, resolve energy challenges, enhance trade and investment and take advantage of low value of the naira to drive export of services especially under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

They also addressed other issues such as, what will shape the marketing communications landscape in 2025; the digital landscape and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what government should do to prevent exit of brands and multinationals.

Some of the professionals who spoke with The Guardian include former President Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Steve Babaeko; President, Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Dozie Okafor; President Out-of-Home Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), Sola Akinsiku and Principal Consultant at Pandora Global Agency, Kehinde Ruth Onasoga.

Saying 2024 was undeniably challenging, Babaeko, however expressed optimism about 2025.

To him, “the Central Bank appears to have stabilised the Naira, and the government’s bold reforms show promise. With any luck, we should start seeing tangible benefits from these efforts by the second or third quarter.”

Babaeko, who is the founder of X3M Ideas, argued, AI and big data would remain at the forefront of driving productivity and innovation in the marketing industry.

If embraced effectively, he noted AI has the potential to expand the boundaries of creativity, enhance productivity by drastically reducing time spent on previously manual processes.

In these challenging times, he said, “success requires a united effort and a shared commitment. Brands must return to the fundamentals — placing consumers at the heart of every decision and strategy.”

On his advice to the government, Babaeko stressed the need to prioritise addressing security challenges and stabilising macroeconomic conditions.

To Okafor, indicators suggest the economy will be back on track this year. With growth projected at over 3 per cent, he noted this should boost investor confidence. On what will shape the marketing communications landscape in 2025, he advised clients to focus on value delivery.

Saying the job of Chief Marketing Officer has become increasingly difficult as marketing spends become more difficult to justify, he added the industry would be pressed to deliver more value, show better attribution and clear Returns on Investment measurements.

Concerning the digital space and AI, he said: “AI is already here and well in use by marketing communications leaders in the industry. A combination of AI tools are already utilised for ideation, content creation, graphic work, audio and video production as well as strategy development. It’s really an exciting time for marketers as these tools supercharge our deliverables and enable us scale at an unprecedented speed. It is, therefore, imperative that every marketing professional, who intends to survive the next five years, must have a strong grasp of AI and its capabilities.”

Steve Babaeko

He further suggested brands must find ways to ingrate agency partners as part of an extended brand team, explore value opportunities in the market place, including but not restricted to, advance payment to take advantage of discounts and rebates; put in place clear measurements criteria to ensure all investments deliver against set objectives; focusing on the youth market – the critical mass needed to drive growth.

Others include, focusing on driving penetration through reach based campaigns and avoiding the lure of vanity metrics that don’t deliver business growth; investing in data to fuel business decisions and embracing authenticity.

Describing 2024 as truly challenging and tasking, Akinsiku expressed optimism. “I believe very strongly therefore that the outlook for 2025 is brighter and more reassuring than the realities of 2024,” he said.

He added AI has come to transform all areas and aspects of human lives, not living behind marketing communication and allied services.

Onasoga

In 2025, and at all times, Akinsiku insisted every brand must be able to respond appropriately to the challenges of the moment, about which the consumers need solutions. The brand must therefore be flexible both in strategy and tactics in order to adapt appropriately and effectively to the emerging challenges.

That also means that a brand must invest in innovations that take cognizance of the prevailing socio-economic and political realities in other to be on the same page with the consumers at all times. Such will however be achievable where the brand seeks and takes steps to monitor trends in the market place and invests in recent technologies that meet and cope with the changing preferences of the customer.

He also called on the government to create enabling environment for brands to thrive.

Despite the effect of inflation on purchasing power, Onasoga noted quality remains a key topic for consumers, and marketers need to create messages highlighting how their offerings meet customer needs at a fair price.

She added, “I also expect the adoption of a more personalised approach in marketing communications. As marketers, it’s time we started using customer data to create customised content for buyers. Our goal should be to make customers feel the brand message is specifically for them. Any marketer who can deliver real personalisation will gain customer trust, loyalty, and faster revenue growth in 2025.”

On what will shape the marketing communications landscape in 2025, she said, “I believe marketing communications will be shaped by a number of trends, including voice search, AI , social media, and Connected TV (CTV)s.

The use of AI will continue to focus more on task automation and personalised campaign creation. This will be helpful in predicting consumer behaviour and real-time campaign optimisation.

“Voice search is another thing I envisage that will shape the marketing communications landscape this year. We’ve seen an increase in usage from 2024, and I believe this will get higher this year as more consumers use voice-activated devices.”

She observed AI is currently shaping the marketing landscape from building chatbots and personal shopping assistance that provide real-time personalised responses and predictive analytics that predict the market using historical data to creating social media listening tools that help marketers understand what their audience is saying about them, AI will continue to provide interesting solutions in how marketers communicate.

Dozie Okafor

However, she added, “I am more fascinated by the continued adoption of AI in process automation, the personalisation of marketing messages, and the simplification of the customer service experience. She also called for collaborative effort between marketers and the government in data gathering, storage, and access.”

Onasoga suggested brands must be agile and responsive to the changing economic landscape. This means business owners should focus on improving efficiency and productivity to sustain profitability despite higher costs. They should also keep investing in marketing. It is necessary for strengthening consumer’s emotional bonds with their brands. They need to stay in touch with those who buy their products and/or services, offering values that distinguish them from the competition to maintain loyalty.

Concerning what government can do to prevent brands from exiting the country, she advised government to leverage alternative power sources like renewable energy.

She added, “the government can increase our foreign exchange earnings by promoting trade and investment. When power generation and foreign exchange improve, a reasonable aspect of the unconducive business environment is tackled.”

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