CELEBRATING NEO MEDIA AT TEN
Updated: Dec 22, 2018
Neo media is an award winning integrated marketing communications agency that specialises in public relations and corporate communications, advertising, brand experience, digital marketing and promotional gifts. The agency has established a reputation as experts in the quality delivery of integrated communications services.
ExperientialNG recently sat down with the Founder and CEO Ehi Braimah to discuss the journey so far.
Congratulations on your agency group’s 10th anniversary. Can you briefly tell us about your agency? What do you do and which clients do you currently work for?
Neo Media & Marketing is an integrated marketing communications company offering PR, corporate communications, consumer engagement and trade marketing activations that bring brands to life. Our multinational clients include Nigerian Breweries, Coca-Cola and Unilever.
Take us back to the beginning of the agency. How and when was your agency founded and what were the early challenges that you and the founding team faced?
Neo Media was founded in Qtr4 of 2008 after some of the team members led by me decided to set up a new shop. We moved from our previous engagement due to circumstances beyond our control; so, Neo Media was a child of circumstance. As we mark our 10th anniversary, 14 of the founding team members – our partners, not staff – also clocked 10 years of hard work, dedication, commitment, diligence and loyalty to the business. They were celebrated in a special way for meritorious service. When we started, we had zero capital; so, we practically built the company from nothing to something. Our goodwill and support from First Bank and Diamond Bank in the early days helped us to keep our heads above water.
Our value proposition has always been to deliver the highest standards possible. Our strategy from Day One was to create a winning corporate culture because it is the culture that is the glue that holds everyone and the company together.
Can you share the major high points and memorable moments in the course of the agency’s history? What would you consider the secret of your success?
Our value proposition has always been to deliver the highest standards possible. Our strategy from Day One was to create a winning corporate culture because it is the culture that is the glue that holds everyone and the company together. Secondly, we also recognised that we needed to share/communicate the vision of the company constantly and make everyone a stakeholder and recognise their contributions as valuable. Thirdly, we share success; we praise great efforts and provide useful feedbacks gaps for constant improvements.
We are passionate about building a community of believers around the brands we work for through commitment and constant innovation.
What in your opinion is it that experiential marketing agencies offer the client, and what is the future of the industry/practice?
Experiential marketing helps consumers/customers to experience a brand just the same way it helps brand owners to get feedback for continuity, improvement and innovation. For this to happen, experiential marketing agencies are key stakeholders in the value chain. Clients are in search of strategic partners and not mere agencies; partners who can come up with innovative marketing solutions for their brands that focuses on brand building – achieving significant top of mind awareness - and growing sales volume. Clients have become more discerning as marketing budgets shrink. However, the future of the industry is bright because marketers must reach the hearts of consumers before they reach their pockets! The budgets of big brands around the world are moving from above the line to below the line.
What would be your advice to younger to younger practitioners about how to build their careers in experiential marketing?
First, they have to understand what experiential marketing is all about - consumer engagement activities that allow consumers to humanize the brand through the five senses. Secondly, they have to read and train themselves; they are also required to be passionate about brand building. There are a lot of online resources to build capacity and increase their knowledge in experiential marketing. They also need mentors to guide them.
What is your vision for the next 10 years of Neo Media?
On the occasion of our 10th anniversary, we have broadened our scope of work to include advertising, digital marketing and promotional gifts – a full service IMC company. We are also keen to tap into opportunities that exist in development communications.
Ehi Braimah. The Communications Maestro
Ehi Braimah is a public relations, marketing and brand experience professional who identified and developed a talent removed from his original background. From Government College, Ughelli, Mr Braimah proceeded to the University of Benin. After a university degree in Industrial Mathematics, Mr. Braimah committed himself to a career in journalism and marketing communications, and has acquired enormous experience in media relations, sports, entertainment & leisure marketing; event management and brand strategy.
Over the last 26 years, Mr Braimah has consulted for a plethora of multinational organisations including Nigerian Breweries, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Cadbury, PZ, Promasidor and CardinalStone Partners amongst others. He commenced his career in 1988 with Complete Communications Group, a publishing company noted for Complete Football, Complete Sports and Climax, a general interest magazine. He served there variously as reporter, senior staff writer, general editor and editor until 1991.
He moved to take up appointment as Head of Media Relations and subsequently as General Manager of Ideas Communications Limited in 1991. He served until 1995 when he joined Whitewood Group where he was instrumental to the rapid growth and rising profile of the event marketing and management, media relations and brand development arm of the Group until he quit in March 1999.
By May 1999, Mr. Braimah co-founded TQA Communications Limited and served there as Executive Director until October, 2008. In addition to serving as the Chairman/CEO of Neo Media, he also serves as Chairman/CEO of Adna Hotel in Lagos. He has been a member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) since 1993.
Mr. Braimah is the Vice President and Chair of the Programmes & Publicity Committee of Nigeria American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) where he was honoured in 2013 with the Outstanding Enterprise Award. He is also a mentor of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP); Honorary Fellow of the Business Process Management Institute, Trustee of the Experiential Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (EXMAN) and Fellow of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN).
In order to enhance his professional career, Mr Braimah earned an MBA from the University of Roehampton, London recently and he is currently the 2018/19 President of the Rotary Club of Lagos, District 9110.
Memorable Campaigns
Over the years, Neo media has built up an enviable reputation as the agency tapped to plan and execute several experiential marketing campaigns on behalf of some the Nigeria’s most demanding multinational brands. Here are three of the agency’s most memorable projects.
Gulder Ultimate Search
Neo Media & Marketing built an enviable reputation in the industry as the agency tasked with managing the popular Gulder Ultimate Search TV reality game show from the stable of Nigeria Breweries for many years.
The agency was tasked with the planning and co-ordination of several of the activities that delivered the property such as; the Press conference, Regional auditions, Scouting and preparing the locations for shooting, Contestants welfare, and the Grand Finale event.
The Cowbell National Secondary Schools Mathematics Competition
The Cowbell National Secondary Schools Mathematics Competition is recognised as Nigeria’s premier competition dedicated to promoting the study of mathematics amongst secondary school students. For 15 years the agency regularly undertook the arduous task of planning the maths competition across all the states and Abuja. This involved reaching over 33,000 secondary school students and organising a credible exam simultaneously in each of the 36 states and Abuja. The annual event culminated with a prize-giving ceremony which is always attended by the Director General of the National Mathematics Council, and the Minister of Education.
Maltina Dance All Competition
Maltina Dance All, Nigeria’s premiere dance TV reality show from Nigeria Breweries has been on for several seasons, since 2006.
It is an initiative of The Nation’s No.1 Malt Drink, Maltina where participating family members go through dance training from professional dance instructors and then perform the dance styles they learnt to try and get the votes for the Judges and viewers. Over the years, Neo Media & Marketing has played a multi-dimensional role by managing all the aspects of the process from press conference to the grand finale.
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