Nigeria is an important Market-Tim Love, Chief Executive Officer Omnicon Apima Region

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I like Tim Love sense of humour. He sees fun and life in the business he is known for. Tim is the Chief Executive Officer of Omnicom’s Asia Pacific India Middle East Africa (APIMA) region. Omnicom is a leading worldwide marketing and communications services company. Tim is responsible for helping Omnicom and its clients be more collaborative and effective at global brand-building, areas in which his own background and expertise are particularly well suited for the challenge. His experience is diverse and extensive, providing him with the unusual perspective of a true citizen of the world.

An active member of the advertising and international business community, Tim serves on several boards and advisory committees, including the Advertising Council, the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the Heart of America Foundation, and the Yale School of Management’s Center for Customer Insight, the Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT) and the Institute for Advertising Ethics at the University of Missouri. He also has been a member of the 4A’s Government Relations Council and has served on self-regulatory panels for the National Advertising Review Council.

Tim was a founding member and the first chairman of the 4A’s Minority Advertising Internship program, a former board member of The Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and is a founding member and current advisor for Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA), an industry volunteer organization focused on improving international business cooperation.

He has had numerous articles published that share his insights, and presented an array of papers and speeches on globalization, and consumer and cultural understanding. He has been a guest lecturer at many venues worldwide—including Oxford, Harvard, Yale and Columbia universities, the Institute for Public Diplomacy and Security at Ohio State University, the United Nations Business Council and the Tokyo Foreign Correspondence Club. Tim needs a good introduction; he is not a common man. To me, he is the Albert Einstein of the advertising industry. In this exclusive chat on a Sunday afternoon with KEHINDE OLESIN, Tim gives details of his visit to Nigeria, the CASERS Group relationship, Nigeria having a global brand and many more. Excerpts.
What is your day like as the Vice chairman of Omnicom Group and the Chief Executive Officer of the Group’s APIMA region?

I am still having fun in this business. So I tell people that I usually go where I am invited. Usually when people want to solve problems they tell you to come and help them. So I give them an opportunity which is why I am here in Nigeria. So far, I am enjoying the work.

So what is your mission to Nigeria?

One of the things when I came to this company over a year ago is that I redefined the region most companies call the region Asia Pacific. They normally include Nigeria into what is called EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa). But when I came into Asia Pacific, I asked the CEO John Wren  to allow me to change the definition of the region. He said why and I said because I want to provoke a question. I want to provoke a discussion that allows us to share a more enlightened view about the way the world is developing, and I thought that Africa should be included. This was a year, this was before the World Cup, and I told him Africa has to be included because it is more like China and India. And it is like Western Europe or Eastern Europe in terms of its development and progress. I also knew because I lived in Japan for 2 years from 2004-2006. Japan, China and India were investing in Africa. You don’t see it from New York, you don’t see it from London but you see it from Asia.

And I thought that with the World Cup coming, there would be more attention drawn to Africa. In much the same way the Olympics did the same to China which I had observed and  seen, having worked in china over the years. So I also found out over a year ago that Africa got exposed to broadband in East Africa and we know what broadband enables people to do in terms of education, knowledge and unification and I felt this was the ideal time to signal to my own company and the clients that we were aware of the way the world was unfolding, especially Africa. But the interesting thing obviously was in the last 2 years how true that has become is how we have also seen some of our clients actually redefining their region to include Africa with Asia.

Omnicom Group, has a well established network of agencies, and so does Casers Group, in Nigeria. What is the relationship between your company and Casers Group?

We started working together with an affiliation on DDB. One similarity is that we are both relatively young. OMNICON in 2011 would be only 25 years old. So we are just a kid, and Casers is relatively new too. What we discovered in working together with DDB is that there are a lot of similarities in values. We have similarities in our approach to business and our approach to creativity. At Casers they have this independent way of thinking and understand the people that develop ideas. They are motivated by recognition certainly and ability to freely to express your talents. I think that OMNICON & CASERS realize that what motivates creativity is fun. The way you bring out the best in a kid, you have to make the business fun though we know it is business, we know that ultimately we have to run profitably unless we are not in business. So how do we balance that?  As an art major I have realized that this business is more art than science so therefore creating ideas is not an idea until it turns to a fact. An idea is not an idea until it is realized; when an idea is realized it is called an innovation. We want to be creatively inspired but innovation driven.

What are the expected benefits to both parties?

I think that there is no question that West Africa and Nigeria are big opportunities for our clients.  If you look at West Africa as a totality it would be roughly the 4th largest country in the world.  It is very important when we know that Nigeria is between 50% -80% of the population, so on anybody’s measure Nigeria is an important market for everyday household products to help improve lives. Earlier in my career when I worked on somebody’s product I thought maybe I was not in the glamorous part of the business. What I realized later was  that I was cutting my teeth on things that really change people’s lives and I was always prepared. For example Always pad is a remarkable thing because it allows women to participate more in external activities and it allows them to exercise more. Pampers too has allowed people to move more freely and not leave their children in the day care. It, has allowed fathers to participate in diapering. These are the kind of products that will move very well in this area. The little things make a big difference in people’s lives. We don’t think we are so arrogant to just think we would come in there without learning from people that know it best. One thing about CASERS is that they want to learn in both ways by exchanging ideas.

For example Gillette is marketing in Africa. But there is much to be learnt from what we are doing in India on Gillette and also from Western Europe and North America. Growing up in The United States, the biggest category was automobiles, the second biggest was soft drinks, the next biggest was quick food restaurants, the next was FMCG. In China it is changing up to some few years ago, it is Skin Care.  In Africa two of the biggest categories are telecoms of course and banking and it makes sense .With the kind of business expansion we have in Africa and invariably Nigeria, I think both CASERS and Omnicon would benefit more from this collaboration. The other thing is that Nigeria is trying to become a more active and engaged participant in the global economy. To do that, there are some practices and behaviour and requirement from basic business activities that Nigeria is working very hard to participate in.

What is  special about Omnicon University?

We have Omnicon University, it is not like any training programme I have ever seen. It is for leaders and emerging leaders. We have now put  more than 2002 people through the programme in our organization. It is the best thing that Omnicon ever made, we started it in 1995. It’s trying to help us become a teaching culture, in a teaching culture it is like I have the responsibility to see each opportunity as a potential opportunity to learn. I think Enyi Odigbo and his team share this idea.

What are your views to affiliation and perspectives of advertising agencies in developing nations?

Everything is all about control. There are different kinds of partnerships and arguments on whose name comes first and why. I have had to say concerning a partnership before that I would rather have 40% of something that makes money than 60% of something that doesn’t make money. Although, I think I understand now that the whole thing about percentages is how well two people can work together. It has to do with whether they trust each other or they are either trying to mutually benefit from the relationship.

There is this one paper in my blog which people have given me much comment on; it’s my mother’s 7 tips of having a good relationship. I liken affiliation and perspectives to the first tip; Marriage is not a 50/50 relationship. It is more like a 70/30 relationship, where you always feel like you are contributing more than the other person. She said that each side always feels like you are contributing more to the relationship than the other. She said you just need to accept this as a starting point and that the problems start when the balance is even more slanted–Iike when you feel you are contributing way more than 70%. Whether it’s 60/40 or 70/30 her advice was that you need to accept the feeling of imbalance up to the point where it really is way, way out of whack. Then, and only then, do you need to speak up and take this up with your partner. Because when the imbalance is so great is when you can only really make a point that can lead to progress. If you are always quibbling about the balance, it will only break down the relationship. I have found this secret, the 70/30 test, to be true in my business relationships with my clients. It is a great way for an agency partner to measure their contribution. I know it is a great way for a client to gauge when it is time to declare a time out with their agency partner, to fix a potential situation that may be developing. Remember the 70/30 principle and only yelp when you really feel the imbalance is so crystal clear, there can be little debate.

What is the future of media in Africa?

It is because of future of media in Africa, one of the reasons we are partnering with DDB. It is going to be a new script. For example we have in Africa more people using mobile phones than those who have electricity. When you tell people in the developed markets this they find it hard to believe they don’t realize that you (Africa) are leap frogging. Especially in mobile and handheld computing where people in some markets will go from no phone to cell phones. What is happening in Africa now is that there are some leap frogging where people would do their mobile computing and their mobile accessing with the web and they may never have one of these (personal computer). They may go from nothing to hand held computing they may never have a desktop, they may never have a laptop because they won’t need it.  All those things we are seeing elsewhere are going to come on a different pace and in a different way in Africa. I think we would like to be part of it rather than on the outside and watch it happen.

Do you foresee a global brand like Coca Cola and Nokia coming out of Nigeria?

Yes I do see a global brand coming out of Nigeria. This is the big question in India and China. I don’t see why it couldn’t.

Which category do you think this can come from?

It would be from the authentic products that come from Nigeria. For example, Nigeria has different noodles and beverages where the global brand can come from. I don’t think that should be a problem, our children are growing up in a more diverse environment. We have face book, and communities are less biased about certain things. I personally did never think I could eat raw fish-sushi and it even became a favourite. It may be your art it may be your story telling like Chinua Achebe. There are some formula in skin care that has been passed down from one generation to another which could be a sought at brand. If someone figures out that branding such skin care formula can be a good product, it could end up being some thing good enough that could go worldwide.  A mixture of guava, lime sulphur and sheabutter could be the answer.

How can media agencies help clients in building their brands in the fast paced digital world?

By helping the clients see and learn from this leap frog phenomenon. The clients would definitely put more attention in the market.

What drives your instincts as a professional?
To find the truth in things. The truth about why a product or service deserves to live or not. The truth behind a person’s feelings and behaviors. The truth about characteristics of communication that might be inhibiting understanding. An example of the latter, is the work we are doing to better understand how the language one thinks in has a fundamental impact on programming neurological processes of information interpretation, beliefs and behaviours. I have never lost my desire to understand my fellow man, to find ways to touch their lives and make life better. When I do that, it makes life better for me and my loves ones.

What is your view on Multiculturalism?

The advertising industry exists in the idea-exchange between people. With increased access to advanced communications technologies, people are the first media today. The more diversity of understanding exists, the more able we are to create ideas that can change the world for the better.
Is this field your first love?
Yes. After baseball. I also love to paint, read and run.