Renown Marketing expert, Ikechukwu Kalu, who just joined Customer Passion Point Limited, after a successful stint at First City Monument Bank Limited says ‘Value creation is the way to go if we must help growing businesses set up properly and operate profitably’.
Interestingly, Kalu had ventured into this new and evolving area of consulting while he was sojourning in Tanzania. He and his wife Chinwe set up Customer Passion Point Limited in Tanzania in 2011 and within few months started making waves. They competed and won the brief to develop and implement a Promotional Campaign for Ecobank, Tanzania.
‘We worked with the team to develop and manage (end-to-end) a six month sales promotion to drive quality awareness, growth in customer acquisition run rate and massive drive for low cost deposits. The campaign which was supported by a robust promotional mix including advertising (Radio, TV, Outdoor and Print), PR (pre, during and post), Social Media and Experiential customer engagements (roadshows, event draws etc) was effectively and efficiently executed, evaluated and properly closed at the end of the six months. Little did we know that the bank will replicate same concept in Nigeria and other markets within same period, thus attesting to the veracity of the concept’.
‘Another example worthy of mention is the work we did with Benchmark Productions, the owners of Bongos Star Search (a musical talent show similar to project fame), and the leading musical reality show in Tanzania. This brand asset was in its 5th year during which monotony had set in with negative impact on its equity. We worked with the team to repackage the asset to widen its appeal to youth brands in Tanzania and in so doing positioned them well enough to attract premium brands as sponsors’.
Kālu’s passion comes through as he talks about Customer Passion Point: “We work with our clients to understand the specific needs they have and we provide appropriate solutions and follow through to ensure success is achieved and learning documented. Our goal is to provide practical solutions that are tailored to the need of our clients and stay with them through implementation. We are only satisfied when our client is making good progress, when every investment made creates value for their stake holders.”
He explained further “we believe our customers should not call us again for the same problem. So we help our customers build the required capacity to enable them deal permanently with identified issues. We are committed to building capacity to enable growing businesses, understand and leverage the passion points of their customers to create value. That is why we focus on value creation which is expressed through – Marketing Advisory Services, Training and Development, and Management of Brand Assets/Value Added Services’.
‘Central to what we do at Customer Passion Point Limited is understanding customer needs and working closely with them to develop solutions and interventions that are specific and appropriate to solve the core issues from the insights developed. Insight has been defined as a deep routed need that a consumer has which if met will unlock huge opportunities for businesses. We believe that if insights are properly identified and understood, the job of crafting strategy and assigning resources becomes easy’.
Regarding the primary target of Customer Passion Point Limited, Kalu says: “What we are trying to do is build big African brands. We have lots of businesses that have immense potential to become mega brands in Africa, currently operating as SMEs. These are the organizations that would require our wealth of experience’. Kalu, a sage his field of operation and been celebrated on many occasions. He is a Chartered Marketer with over 30 years’ experience spanning across segments, industries and cultures.
In conclusion, Kalu says: “I am one of those who believe that Marketing is the engine of any business. If you get your Marketing right then your business will grow. That is why I decided to start this consulting firm here in Nigeria to help SMEs and other organizations which do not have well developed Marketing departments. Having practiced out of Nigeria, I feel there is a need to integrate my experience to serve Nigerian businesses also. The ultimate plan is to serve African businesses at large and grow into an African brand. Starting here at home, especially being the land of vast opportunities is the wise thing to do at this time.”