‘Price war in Nigeria’s research industry worrisome’ says Geri-Robert
Ugo Geri-Robert, the managing director of Millward Brown Nigeria, a global research agency with expertise in marketing research, advertising, and media and among others digital in this interview with Daniel Obi frowned at price war in the industry. The lady who breathes research would also like to see the human error removed from data gathering in the industry in order to serve the clients better. Excerpts.
Could you kindly narrate the trajectory movement of Millward Brown since you launched into Nigerian market four years ago?
We entered in March, 2012 when we had our physical debut in the country. At the time, it was at the instance of global clients who use us in several other places in the world. As at the time we entered, of course, like any new company, we started with few clients especially the global ones, like Unilever, Nestle, Etisalat, Airtel, Friesland Campina and a few of the local ones. But looking at almost four years down the line, we are growing in leaps and bounds with several clients both local and the middle level clients and we are still counting.
Where will you place Millward Brown in Nigeria’s competitive market?
In terms of volume and value share of the market, of course Tns is sitting at the top followed by Millward Brown. Again in terms of image and offering value then Millward Brown is a leader in that segment.
What it the philosophy behind a parent company having two sister companies operating in the same sector in an economy as we have TNS and Millward Brown owned by Kantar Group
Firstly, when you talk of Africa, Nigeria occupies strategic position and the country cannot be ignored. It is a big economy. When we talk of Kantar, which is our parent company, is a professional organization owning the Tns and Millward Brown. Both Tns and Millward Brown have their different offerings in the market, different expertise and so the idea having two companies from the same parent of takes the lion share of the market. With the different offering, the two companies will together be able to take a large chunk of the share of the market. Again, Nigeria is important and we want to grow research in an economy like Nigeria that is important to the global community. With the two companies, the research business will be growing faster.
Four years down the line what are those inhibiting challenges you have been facing
There are challenges but some of the challenges are platforms for growth. All the challenges are not all negative, it is just like any growing economy. Since Millward Brown came, you can count global research companies that are sitting in this country and that means that the competitive set is very fierce and the standard for measurement has gone up and everyone is on their toes striving to deliver value. But the challenge I would really like to see the back of it is the price war. This has intensified and this should not really be the case. A situation where all of us are trying to outdo each other is unfortunate. Even some clients try to pitch us against each other by identifying cheap and expensive agencies. For me the main challenge is that sometimes the measurement is always price. Research has really not taken its place of importance in an economy like Nigeria. Many companies think it is the price because they cannot really see the immediate return on ROI. Research is not sales but something that has long term benefits.
What are the other challenges?
Human capacity is a huge challenge. When you talk research in Nigeria, the trained resources are not there. There are several factors that are contributing to the shortfall in resources. Among them is that the younger generation see research as boring, too much hard work. And because research is not developed, it still like master-servant relationship. It is not like in other parts of the world where researchers and the clients see themselves as colleagues. But in Nigeria clients think they are doing you a favour. The younger generation doesn’t have those patients as it is not every time those researchers are treated as professionals. Really, research involves a lot of book and hard work and so many people don’t have the patient to come in and be trained. Another major challenge is that people leave research firms faster to set up their own research businesses.
With appetite for quick returns, how then do you convince more companies especially the local ones to embrace research that has long term gains?
This is where the value addition comes in. Some fingers have actually been burnt in the past, so it is not the clients fault. Ten years ago, when you talk research they think it is gathering data for the client. What we are doing now to bring more people on board is that we give them strategic direction. We try to let them see value in the work they have given us to do. We look at the big picture as it is not only research that will answer all the questions. So while we try to answer the research questions we put some of the macro information that can help the client take a definitive direction and help the client make that in-road. Fortunately, Millward Brown is a global company which is an added advantage. This means that even for new terrains, we can look in to our network and get the experts and run from there.
What do you think is the value of research in Nigeria?
I cannot give you any concrete figure but I know that it is growing. Two years ago, we estimated it at about $34 million. Unlike in South Africa, in Nigeria we are still scrambling because only some of the global companies that have research culture that are engaging in research and this is a major challenge to open up middle and home companies to embrace research. Even government has low embrace for research.
Research agencies have made strides in areas of mobile and Computer Aided Paper Interview, CAPI, what is Millward Brown experience in this?
MIllward Brown is 100 percent in mobile and CAPI. The reason is that Millward is an evolving company. We are always at the forefront of any positive change for the betterment of the future. Secondly mobile CAPI is the way to future research. We are also in discussion with Geopoll to deepen our mobile research.
Could talk about using analytics to engage in research, is it developing?
Yes, we are moving towards analytics but for you to do a proper analytics it boils down to the capacity and who is the buyer. Analytics is not something that has become part of Nigerian research. We have been doing that with some of our experts as analytics helps; it adds value and helps to go beyond the space. For analytics to become the order of the day, then research pricing has to change.
Your management style and achievements in the industry have won you some awards, what are the awards
I have won the best lady CEO by Brands Magazine, we have won the best IT research company, there was a Fellowship award by the Institute of Brand Management bestowed on us and we have won best agency of the year 2014 by Marketing Edge and I have also won the most consumer centric CEO. The awards show that the people we have as staff are determined and dedicated and committed to excellence. In Millward Brown, there is no corner cutting whether the job pays us or not, we remain professionally and engage in it as our own business. This drives us to do better. We work with clients instead of working for them.
Africa is rising and with Nigeria is a big pillar in the continent, where do you see research in the next 10 years in Nigeria
When I think of the last 10 years and where research was and where we are today, then in the next 10 years I see research will be like one of the necessities of live. I believe that in 10 years time, most companies at various levels will be research- orientated because we must have come to see that research is the way. Research enables you to keep eyes on the customer that matters and not to assume. Even respondents who were hitherto lukewarm now realize that by responding to research questions they are helping to change situations, so the respondents’ lethargy is reducing.