Experiential marketing summit comes to Nigeria

Nigeria, for the first time, will host African Experiential Marketing Summit (AEMS) where stakeholders and marketing professionals in various organisations across Nigeria and Africa are expected to converge to deepen their knowledge on marketing strategies towards creating return on their investments.

The summit, previously held in South Africa and Kenya, is coming to Nigeria at the instance of Exp Marketing Nigeria Limited. Nigeria’s economy is expanding with increase in foreign direct investment and associated competition. It is therefore the objective of the summit to expand companies’ focus on marketing, especially embracing experiential platform for deepening consumer connection and profit.

Wole Olagundoye, managing director, Exp Nigeria, who spoke with BusinessDay on the summit holding July 12 this year, said the platform would give marketers from the West African region insight on how to better their campaign goals. “A lot of clients don’t really understand what experiential marketing does to their business. Some guess on what it can do, but what we are doing is to bring some thoughts so that people can understand technically what experiential marketing can do to their business,” Olagundoye said.

The one-day summit, with the theme ‘Re-invent your Experiences’ will feature people who have shaped experiential marketing globally, such as some of the world’s leading experts – Dan Hanover, editor/founder, Event Marketer Magazine, USA – world leading provider of experiential marketing content, and Kim Skildum-Reid, sponsorship author/consultant, Australia.

Along with other notable marketing experts, Hanover and Skildum-Reid will showcase more than 100 case studies, highlighting top trends, the latest best practices, video tours of events in action as well as demonstrating how using live experiences amplifies reach, converts customers and drives sales. “Marketers simply won’t find a better day with more case studies and content,” he said.

As Africa’s largest and leading experiential marketing agency and with 30 years experience on the African continent, Olagundoye said “Exp uses the African Experiential Marketing Summit as a platform to drive thought leadership in activation, sponsorship, events and digital marketing.”

Announcing the summit, David Boon, Exp Group CMO, explained that AEMS as part of Exp’s vision of making it easier for marketers from across the continent to personally experience the experiential marketing revolution heating up in Africa and around the world.

“The 2013 AEMS is now a three-country event that will be happening in Johannesburg (South Africa), Nairobi (Kenya), and Lagos (Nigeria) in 2013. Exp has been overwhelmed by the response we have had at previous summits and we are exceptionally excited to be bringing it to Nigeria, bringing in speakers that will add real value to how marketers think,” he said.

He promised that the conference also provide opportunity for sharing experiences as he encouraged marketing professionals to join the executive conference on experiential marketing on the continent.

DANIEL OBI