‘2023 elections and the Integrated Marketing Communications’

By Godwin Anyebe

Election year is always critical to the integrated marketing communications industry of every country, as politicians often make of use marketing communications experts to engage the larger society.

In Nigeria, the aftermath of the 2023 general elections came with mixed feelings. For instance, while some practitioners believed that elections pending have a positive effect on their bottom line, others are of the view that the marketing communications industry did not benefit much from election spending.

Speaking on this issue, a Marketing Communications Expert and head of GDM Group, Victor Afolabi said, “From what people said, I think the people that, expected election spend for this year to be the way it used to be also missed it. This is because they have failed to realise that, the industry has shifted. In the group, we had the privilege to manage some election campaigns. I can tell you that, it was one of the most profitable projects we have managed in the last twenty-four months. But, guess what? They were not on traditional media.”

According to him, “People are complaining because they expected plenty of television commercials. But, when you look at it critically, you will begin to ask: why do need to spend N50 million on television commercials when people are not watching television? Why am I going to spend so much on radio jingles when people are not listening to the radio like before but watching skits? Why do I need to run full page advert in the newspapers when the ‘Sorosoke generation’ don’t read newspapers?”

“But, was the election keenly contested? Yes, it was. But, it was at the level of influencers. What do you do with influencer marketing? What do you do with opinion-shaping? Do you have the tools for sentiment analysis? Have you invested in those tools that could help you? Because we were doing surveys, researches and all manner of permutations. Do you have such competence? If you do not have such competence, there’s no way you can benefit from the election spending.”

Continuing, he disclosed that, “we were running surveys every two s and we were telling our clients where there were vulnerabilities, not only from the ward level but, from the local government and state level.

And we were getting that sentiment analysis they were using them for action. The question is; was money spent during the 2023 general elections? Yes, did it go in the traditional direction? No, and that’s why the industry feels that the election did not have so much spending. So, the challenge again for the Industry is, how and when people spend their gagged.

Also, a Marketing Communications Expert, Gani Olowu said; “the fragmentation and de-segmentation of the industry played out when one considers the impact of 2023 elections on the Integrated Marketing Communication. You will discover that social media specifically WhatsApp and Twitter played major roles in the orchestration of political messages by various political parties. Those two media were well stretched in selling their candidates and their manifestos.”

According to him, “The whole idea of political communication being single-minded and integrated has been eroded. So many campaign themes and varied messages were developed by candidates and political parties to sell themselves.

The only missing word in all these campaign themes was ‘integrated’. I discovered that fewer and fewer Agencies got political communication briefs as politicians are now engaging Hot Shops and one-man ‘Brief Case’ advertising firms thereby eroding creativity, the real and effective synergy of thoughts in campaign planning.”

He pointed out that, “this is a dangerous trend and needs to be discouraged. We didn’t witness the robust and creative depths of campaign deployment by political parties in this year’s elections. I recall the nostalgic advertising appeal and messaging of SDP versus NRC in the MKO Abiola Hope 93 campaign. That was a gone era. Call to action, melodious line, single-minded messaging is conspicuously missing in this year’s elections.”

“Although APC tried to create some level of impact with its “Renewed Hope” campaign. But there is more cacophony during the electioneering period than clear messages.

A simple test will suffice: What can you remember about any of the candidates or political parties and their campaigns? None, I guess.”

On his part, a Public Relations Expert, Akonte Ekine said; “the first thing we should all note is that the IMC is not in isolation and therefore the industry was also challenged in a mixed manner.

One is that there were many marketing communications activities from the political class that didn’t go through as expected while also on the other hand the activities of the political class completely dominated the space such that very few brands were able to play. The fight for a share of voice was predominantly between the political parties.”

“while the gains in the industry could be seen from the media billing, there is also some measure of growth for the production companies in the industry. On the side of creativity, I would rather say it was low when we benchmark the quality of creativity, we have enjoyed in the past to what we saw in this last election, from my humble observation it was low. So, the mixed bag is good for the industry and we should look at the good side.”

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Also speaking, a brand and marketing analyst, Dan Obi stressed that “the impact of the 2023 elections on the integrated marketing communications is a mixed one in the sense that some aspect of the marketing communication industry benefited from the process while others do not benefit as much as expected. Before now, there was this expectation that campaigns of political parties will be a lifting lever for the marketing communication industry but, the result was not as expected.”

For instance, he continued, “PR did not benefit much, creative did not benefit much, Outdoor was selective, media independent did not benefit much, social media benefited much, the press did not benefit, radio did not benefit much, and the benefit for television was less than 40%.

The reason for the mix was handlers the campaigns by themselves and they do that through rookies who are none registered practitioners. Also, they relied more on below-the-line, they also believed that they could do it by themselves.”

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