Empowers consumers with N300m
The Dangote Cement decision to empower primary target audience (PTA) in the cement value chain proposition with N300 million consumer promotion has jolted the market. Not only does this initiative cause a stir but it is the first time a cement brand is embarking on promotional activity to empower its end users.
Cement no longer a commodity
Prior to this announcement, consumer promo was synonymous with fast moving consumer goods products and/or brands. It is rare to see a car brand, building materials commodities and other related items engage in promotional activities. The reason for adopting that marketing strategy was that customers would always come for those materials whenever they are in need of them.
Therefore, it was almost out of place to see such commodity owners engage in advertising or promotions, such as lotteries and sweepstake, media relations, brand activation and other modern marketing strategies.
The only and most portend sales strategy for them at that time was word of mouth and the ability of the manufacturers to give goods out on credit within a certain period of time.
According to a Lagos-based building material merchant, Ayodeji Salako, “In the past, building materials, such as cement, roofing sheets, plank, nails and others were merely monopoly product; so there was no need to advertise.”
However, that has changed. Nigerite, Lafarge, Dangote Cement and other unknown organisations have made marketing communications the heart of their business. Marketing budget from these companies keep growing year on year and mostly importantly they have embraced sales and consumer promotions as tactic to grow volume, equity and importantly reward consumers.
According the Chief Marketing Officer, Dangote Cement, Oare Ojeikere, cement for them has ceased to be seen as commodity but a brand.
End-users’ sweepstake
Surprisingly, Dangote Cement becomes the first brand in its segment to float a consumer promo. Not only do they become the first in their sector, Dangote Cement also launched the biggest consumer promotion in 2015.
While explaining the motive behind the initiative, Ojeikere said that the primary reason for promo is to reward and empower those promo usually neglected and also be true to their brand as the company has moved from a commodity level to occupy brand status.
“For us, we want to be true to our brand; Dangote is a brand that stands for empowerment and we want to be able to give back to the end-users,” CMO said.
He referred to end-users as forgotten few but most organisations attend to distributors and retail partners while those using the brand are forgotten.
“We tend to do things for our distributors, our retail partners but in cement, we had never really done anything for the end-users.”
Prior to this announcement, consumer promo was synonymous with fast moving consumer goods products and/or brands. It is rare to see a car brand, building materials commodities and other related items engage in promotional activities. The reason for adopting that marketing strategy was that customers would always come for those materials whenever they are in need of them.
Therefore, it was almost out of place to see such commodity owners engage in advertising or promotions, such as lotteries and sweepstake, media relations, brand activation and other modern marketing strategies.
The only and most portend sales strategy for them at that time was word of mouth and the ability of the manufacturers to give goods out on credit within a certain period of time.
According to a Lagos-based building material merchant, Ayodeji Salako, “In the past, building materials, such as cement, roofing sheets, plank, nails and others were merely monopoly product; so there was no need to advertise.”
However, that has changed. Nigerite, Lafarge, Dangote Cement and other unknown organisations have made marketing communications the heart of their business. Marketing budget from these companies keep growing year on year and mostly importantly they have embraced sales and consumer promotions as tactic to grow volume, equity and importantly reward consumers.
According the Chief Marketing Officer, Dangote Cement, Oare Ojeikere, cement for them has ceased to be seen as commodity but a brand.
End-users’ sweepstake
Surprisingly, Dangote Cement becomes the first brand in its segment to float a consumer promo. Not only do they become the first in their sector, Dangote Cement also launched the biggest consumer promotion in 2015.
While explaining the motive behind the initiative, Ojeikere said that the primary reason for promo is to reward and empower those promo usually neglected and also be true to their brand as the company has moved from a commodity level to occupy brand status.
“For us, we want to be true to our brand; Dangote is a brand that stands for empowerment and we want to be able to give back to the end-users,” CMO said.
He referred to end-users as forgotten few but most organisations attend to distributors and retail partners while those using the brand are forgotten.
“We tend to do things for our distributors, our retail partners but in cement, we had never really done anything for the end-users.”
Empowerment fund
When organisation picks three months to give out N300 million, the terminology would change from a promo to empowerment. For Ojeikere, it is a corporate social responsibility. And CSR is selfless while promo is a bit selfish.
When asked how N300 million was segmented, the CMO said: “This is really about giving back to the end-users, especially at this tough time when people are trying to make ends meet and giving out as much as N10 million to three people and N1 million to 180 people is significant.”
He disclosed that the other thing for the company was to make a leadership by statement through initiative like this. “People usually see cement as a commodity but for us, cement is a brand; we have a strong brand in 3X and the only 42.5 cement grade sold in this market and also in some way can we excite and reward our base that we intend to forget for quite a while.”
“We are going to do this within a three and a half month period and especially because it is going to coincide with the holiday season and it should in some way give people needed excitement they will require this season,” he said.
When organisation picks three months to give out N300 million, the terminology would change from a promo to empowerment. For Ojeikere, it is a corporate social responsibility. And CSR is selfless while promo is a bit selfish.
When asked how N300 million was segmented, the CMO said: “This is really about giving back to the end-users, especially at this tough time when people are trying to make ends meet and giving out as much as N10 million to three people and N1 million to 180 people is significant.”
He disclosed that the other thing for the company was to make a leadership by statement through initiative like this. “People usually see cement as a commodity but for us, cement is a brand; we have a strong brand in 3X and the only 42.5 cement grade sold in this market and also in some way can we excite and reward our base that we intend to forget for quite a while.”
“We are going to do this within a three and a half month period and especially because it is going to coincide with the holiday season and it should in some way give people needed excitement they will require this season,” he said.
Packaging
Executive Director, Stakeholders and Corporate Communications, Mansur Ahmed, described the promo as a major event for his organisation and in line with its motto of touching lives. Besides, it is meant to say thank you to its numerous customers. He further said that the promo was part of its consistent effort to provide affordable cement as everybody needs housing and some form of infrastructural facilities, which cement is a critical aspect.
Amed said that because customers were key element of its business, the organisation also felt it would be good to share its success with its customers, who have kept faith with the company and ensured that it remains in business. He promised that the company would be continuously scaling up to ensure better satisfaction for its customers and stakeholders.
Highlighting the winning prize, Ojeikere stated that the mark is quite simple, there is N30million for the grand prize for 3 persons, N180 million for the N1million prizes that we are going to give out to 2 people every day over a 90 days period and there is also a N90million consolation that will go to 20 people every day and that will be N50,000 over a 90 days period so the prize pool along is N 300million.”
Targets
Unlike some promos that targeted at middlemen, the Dangote Cement Mega Dash promo is conceived for end-users the cement value chain and they are Block Makers, Masons, Bricklayers, Building Contractors and Home Owners (as awareness of promotion spreads via winners’ campaign)
According to Ojeikere Dangote Mega Million Dash is a consumer promotion targeting end users and to qualify, one needs to buy Dangote cement. Each bag of the Dangote cement that you buy has a mega million’s token on it.
“You cut out the token and collect five of them and put them in an envelop with the entry slip which you would have prepared yourself (a piece of paper with your name and address and phone number and your signature) after completing it you drop it in any of our collection centres such as Access Bank branches, which is our partners and collection centre which would created in the areas where cements are sold or used across the country”
Promo, tactic to drive volume
Ojeikere debunked any insinuation that the promo is a ploy to soar the dwindling volume as a result poor economy.
He said “I think we are having an excellent period October was probably one of our best months ever so we are having a really spectacular time in terms of sales volume. What is different in our case is that we have a production capacity in Nigeria of 29.4million metric tons but right now this country consumes 21 to 22 million metric tons.
“Therefore, we make more cement than this country can consume so there is no reason why we cannot sell more or push to sell more. For us really we have capacity that is lying idle, we have brought down the price of cement, make it more affordable when cement sells in some part of the country as low as N1350, N1380 and N1400 and this is just to ensuring that people actually want to buy cement knows that cement is actually affordable and secondly they can actually buy and choose us. It is not because we have low sales. In fact at this time we shouldn’t actually be running a promotion but it is for us to push for more because we have a capacity which we can sell.”
‘We make more cement than this country can consume so there is no reason why we cannot sell more or push to sell more. It is not because we have low sales. In fact at this time we shouldn’t actually be running a promotion but it is for us to push for more because we have a capacity which we can sell.’
Executive Director, Stakeholders and Corporate Communications, Mansur Ahmed, described the promo as a major event for his organisation and in line with its motto of touching lives. Besides, it is meant to say thank you to its numerous customers. He further said that the promo was part of its consistent effort to provide affordable cement as everybody needs housing and some form of infrastructural facilities, which cement is a critical aspect.
Amed said that because customers were key element of its business, the organisation also felt it would be good to share its success with its customers, who have kept faith with the company and ensured that it remains in business. He promised that the company would be continuously scaling up to ensure better satisfaction for its customers and stakeholders.
Highlighting the winning prize, Ojeikere stated that the mark is quite simple, there is N30million for the grand prize for 3 persons, N180 million for the N1million prizes that we are going to give out to 2 people every day over a 90 days period and there is also a N90million consolation that will go to 20 people every day and that will be N50,000 over a 90 days period so the prize pool along is N 300million.”
Targets
Unlike some promos that targeted at middlemen, the Dangote Cement Mega Dash promo is conceived for end-users the cement value chain and they are Block Makers, Masons, Bricklayers, Building Contractors and Home Owners (as awareness of promotion spreads via winners’ campaign)
According to Ojeikere Dangote Mega Million Dash is a consumer promotion targeting end users and to qualify, one needs to buy Dangote cement. Each bag of the Dangote cement that you buy has a mega million’s token on it.
“You cut out the token and collect five of them and put them in an envelop with the entry slip which you would have prepared yourself (a piece of paper with your name and address and phone number and your signature) after completing it you drop it in any of our collection centres such as Access Bank branches, which is our partners and collection centre which would created in the areas where cements are sold or used across the country”
Promo, tactic to drive volume
Ojeikere debunked any insinuation that the promo is a ploy to soar the dwindling volume as a result poor economy.
He said “I think we are having an excellent period October was probably one of our best months ever so we are having a really spectacular time in terms of sales volume. What is different in our case is that we have a production capacity in Nigeria of 29.4million metric tons but right now this country consumes 21 to 22 million metric tons.
“Therefore, we make more cement than this country can consume so there is no reason why we cannot sell more or push to sell more. For us really we have capacity that is lying idle, we have brought down the price of cement, make it more affordable when cement sells in some part of the country as low as N1350, N1380 and N1400 and this is just to ensuring that people actually want to buy cement knows that cement is actually affordable and secondly they can actually buy and choose us. It is not because we have low sales. In fact at this time we shouldn’t actually be running a promotion but it is for us to push for more because we have a capacity which we can sell.”
‘We make more cement than this country can consume so there is no reason why we cannot sell more or push to sell more. It is not because we have low sales. In fact at this time we shouldn’t actually be running a promotion but it is for us to push for more because we have a capacity which we can sell.’
Harpic advocates improved toilet hygiene for healthier Christmas season
In planning a successful Christmas party or for most festivals, toilets are not usually the first thing in the minds of many organisers. This is why Harpic, Nigeria’s No. 1 toilet cleaning brand from the stable of Reckitt Benckiser (RB) has re-echoed the need for Nigerians, even during this Yuletide season, to look beyond the need for cozy facilities and quality food and include clean toilet facilities, as the tempo of celebration mounts into Christmas and the New Year.
Commenting on this while analysing the impact of the just concluded World Toilet Day celebration, Reckitt Benckiser’s Marketing Director-West Africa, Mr. Oguzhan Silivrili, said: “The availability of clean toilets should be an issue in a festive season like this, especially against the backdrop of over 32 million Nigerians not having access to functional toilet facilities and defecating in the open even in normal times. With this season’s daily merriment, drinking and eating, this challenge will definitely expand.”
Harpic, one of RB’s power brands has consistently put on the front burner the importance of having access to clean toilet and the potential health implications as well as the vulnerability it poses, especially to women and children.
At this year’s World Toilet Day held at the Idi-Araba community and Idi-Araba School Complex, Mushin, Lagos, Silivrili explained that consistent enlightenment of Nigerians had become quite necessary because open defecation has multiple effect on the larger society, as it affects living conditions resulting in increased child mortality, cholera, diarrhea in addition to its considerable social costs, including loss of dignity or risk of physical attack and sexual abuse. As a result, Nigeria loses N455 billion annually, which is 1.3% of the Nigeria’s GDP, to poor sanitation and hygien. This increases the risk of disease and malnutrition.
Silivrili spoke further: “This year, WTD is focusing on the link between sanitation and nutrition, drawing the world’s attention to the importance of toilets in supporting better nutrition and improved health. Lack of access to clean drinking water and sanitation, along with the absence of good toilet hygiene practices, are among the underlying causes of poor nutrition. The aim of World Toilet Day is to raise awareness about the people in the world, who do not have access to a toilet, despite the fact that it is a human right to have clean water and sanitation.”
He also pointed out that Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals was to ensure access to water and sanitation for all. “Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in. There is sufficient fresh water on the planet to achieve this. But due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, every year, fecal contamination of the environment is the root cause of an annual average of 5,400 cases of cholera affecting Nigeria. Harpic has been in the fore front of this campaign reaching 1,000,000 homes yearly across 16 cities within the country to educate consumers about how to keep a clean and hygienic toilet
Also speaking at the WTD event, Category Manager Harpic, Bamigbaiye-Elatuyi Omotola stated that Harpic’s toilet hygiene campaign initiative builds on the strong commitment already made by UN Member States. Her words: “ The “Sanitation for All’ Resolution (A/RES/67/291) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in July 2013, designated 19 November as World Toilet Day. The Day is coordinated by UN-Water in collaboration with Governments and relevant stakeholders like Harpic”.
Prior to the event, Harpic had a community engagement walk in partnership with United Nations Information Centre, distributing fliers on toilet hygiene and sanitation in addition to one-on-one sanitation awareness and education to residents of Idi-Araba and environs on the need for better toilet hygiene practices. Members of the community were also taught basic hygiene techniques on how to maintain toilets, while Harpic demonstrated good toilet hygiene practices and also donated two mobile toilets to the community.
Message from the United Nations Secretary General, Dr. Ban Ki Moon was delivered by the UNIC Director, Mr. Ronald Kayanja, while a brief pictorial presentation of the Sustainable Development Goals in relation to sanitation/WTD was equally presented.
In planning a successful Christmas party or for most festivals, toilets are not usually the first thing in the minds of many organisers. This is why Harpic, Nigeria’s No. 1 toilet cleaning brand from the stable of Reckitt Benckiser (RB) has re-echoed the need for Nigerians, even during this Yuletide season, to look beyond the need for cozy facilities and quality food and include clean toilet facilities, as the tempo of celebration mounts into Christmas and the New Year.
Commenting on this while analysing the impact of the just concluded World Toilet Day celebration, Reckitt Benckiser’s Marketing Director-West Africa, Mr. Oguzhan Silivrili, said: “The availability of clean toilets should be an issue in a festive season like this, especially against the backdrop of over 32 million Nigerians not having access to functional toilet facilities and defecating in the open even in normal times. With this season’s daily merriment, drinking and eating, this challenge will definitely expand.”
Harpic, one of RB’s power brands has consistently put on the front burner the importance of having access to clean toilet and the potential health implications as well as the vulnerability it poses, especially to women and children.
At this year’s World Toilet Day held at the Idi-Araba community and Idi-Araba School Complex, Mushin, Lagos, Silivrili explained that consistent enlightenment of Nigerians had become quite necessary because open defecation has multiple effect on the larger society, as it affects living conditions resulting in increased child mortality, cholera, diarrhea in addition to its considerable social costs, including loss of dignity or risk of physical attack and sexual abuse. As a result, Nigeria loses N455 billion annually, which is 1.3% of the Nigeria’s GDP, to poor sanitation and hygien. This increases the risk of disease and malnutrition.
Silivrili spoke further: “This year, WTD is focusing on the link between sanitation and nutrition, drawing the world’s attention to the importance of toilets in supporting better nutrition and improved health. Lack of access to clean drinking water and sanitation, along with the absence of good toilet hygiene practices, are among the underlying causes of poor nutrition. The aim of World Toilet Day is to raise awareness about the people in the world, who do not have access to a toilet, despite the fact that it is a human right to have clean water and sanitation.”
He also pointed out that Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals was to ensure access to water and sanitation for all. “Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in. There is sufficient fresh water on the planet to achieve this. But due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, every year, fecal contamination of the environment is the root cause of an annual average of 5,400 cases of cholera affecting Nigeria. Harpic has been in the fore front of this campaign reaching 1,000,000 homes yearly across 16 cities within the country to educate consumers about how to keep a clean and hygienic toilet
Also speaking at the WTD event, Category Manager Harpic, Bamigbaiye-Elatuyi Omotola stated that Harpic’s toilet hygiene campaign initiative builds on the strong commitment already made by UN Member States. Her words: “ The “Sanitation for All’ Resolution (A/RES/67/291) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in July 2013, designated 19 November as World Toilet Day. The Day is coordinated by UN-Water in collaboration with Governments and relevant stakeholders like Harpic”.
Prior to the event, Harpic had a community engagement walk in partnership with United Nations Information Centre, distributing fliers on toilet hygiene and sanitation in addition to one-on-one sanitation awareness and education to residents of Idi-Araba and environs on the need for better toilet hygiene practices. Members of the community were also taught basic hygiene techniques on how to maintain toilets, while Harpic demonstrated good toilet hygiene practices and also donated two mobile toilets to the community.
Message from the United Nations Secretary General, Dr. Ban Ki Moon was delivered by the UNIC Director, Mr. Ronald Kayanja, while a brief pictorial presentation of the Sustainable Development Goals in relation to sanitation/WTD was equally presented.
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