In this interview, Damien Arrouas, the Head of Kantar TNS in Nigeria looks at the impact marketing research growth can have in Nigeria during recession. Damien who started his research career with Ipsos Group in 2001 in France before moving to Kantar believes that clients in this time of recession can leverage mobile research method because it is cost effective, assures speedy result, covers large areas, and cuts lead time.
With recent entry of more research firms and foreign companies into Nigeria, how do see the growth of research industry today?
The industry is relatively new in Nigeria. Kantar TNS assisted to deepen the industry when it was established. Now, there are a lot of local and international players. The competition is much more intense than it used to be. This is good for us and our clients because it makes us raise our game and for clients because they now have more choice. What we are currently doing is to reorganize our business in different areas of expertise, in line with the different needs of clients who are in different sectors such as, FMCG, Finance, or Technology.
Could you tell me more about the consolidation in the Kantar family?
Today Kantar TNS is working more closely together with all other Kantar sister companies to better serve clients and realize synergies that lead to better ROI to our clients. There are other benefits. For instance, we don’t work in silos any more for our top clients. We approach them as one team. Now we collaborate with Kantar Millward Brown more deeply to offer client the best service as we have different areas of specialization and competence.
I am told you have worked in different, markets. How would you compare research in Nigeria with other markets?
I don’t think the differences are massive versus France, China or the UK where I was based previously. In Nigeria, as agencies we need to be better at challenging clients. In European markets for instance, agencies feel more comfortable at challenging clients, pushing harder on business questions and this is for the benefit of our clients. Here, it is a case of ‘you are my agency and you should do what I am asking you to do’. I believe we can get there and build stronger partnerships. If we shape better briefs, results are insightful and impactful and everybody wins. What we need is changing the client’s mindset.
How would you say recession affects your business and that of your clients?
Let me start from the position of clients. If recession is hitting us, at the same time we observe that there is a real need for marketing researchers to understand what is going on. This is because the cost of making the wrong decisions is bigger; therefore clients want to make sure they are making the right investment. Also from my observations since we entered recession, there is an ever bigger need for speed of delivery. Because of the high level of volatility, clients need results within days or weeks, not months.
In this recession, there are companies who are ready to invest in marketing to build their brands and those who disinvest. The latter are the ones that will lose market share to competition. These losses will be extremely hard to recover when recession will be over. Marketing Research is impactful in this tough environment simply because with the right insights, clients can transform businesses. It is true that those clients who don’t invest in difficult times would in the long run lose therefore it is essential our clients cleverly deplore their financial resources to create continuous relevance.
So how is recession affecting investment in marketing research?
Some clients have lower budgets for marketing research, so we have to be creative to find cost effective way to deliver insights. One thing about recession is that it forces companies like KANTAR TNS to rethink their business models and in our case we have to leverage systems and field operations to create new and scalable efficiencies. For example, your mobile is your best friend with new a huge penetration in this market. Recession is a catalyst for mobile interviews to pick up. But we need to get the clients on board and embrace it as a smart cost effective way to gather data.
If clients are cutting research budget, then how are you managing with small budget for the same exercise?
It is not just about winning from the competition but increasing the size of the pie. This is why we are bringing more expertise. For instance, we recently built stronger partnership with some of the top banks in Nigeria, and I am confident that more will come on board. If traditional consumer of market research is decreasing, then we will find other ways to close the cap. In UK, the research for financial sector is huge. But with volatility and uncertainty I cannot predict what would happen.
In this time of recession, what are your clients looking for through research?
In this environment consumers are sensitive to price so pricing and price compliance is a core area. Clients want to determine the right pricing for their product as there are price war(s) going on. Second is what is happening to trade. Clients are interested in better comprehending what is happening in the channel system and how consumers and traders are reacting to all of these developments.
What do foreign companies want to know before investing?
They want to understand better what is in the consumers mind and what are the forces and trends in the trade. If they want to launch a new product in Nigeria, they ask what they need to do before introducing the product and how to position it. We do a lot of exploratory work via qualitative researches to deeply understand what the right context for the brand to grow is. Asking questions about social and political environment too is important. Most of the requests for proposals usually come from US and Europe but last year, a lot of companies from China and India came to us prior they secured investment in Nigeria.
It is alleged that research results could be manipulated, is this true?
Integrity is most important and you see it everywhere in our business. WPP, Kantar’s holding company and the world leader in advertising and marketing services, has zero tolerance for fraud. Hence, most of our clients come to us because they know we spend much more to check data quality and accuracy, one of the industry’s biggest challenge in this market. Data integrity is our reason to be.
Clients are getting interested in measurement for their campaigns, how do you measure research impact on ROI?
A large proportion of our business is about tracking ie. measuring brand success or price compliance over time. Measurement is about tracking progress. Brands want to know success in building equity, they want to know whether the campaigns on TV and radio are working and whether more people love the brand.
How can government assist in growing market research?
Politicians have a lot to win by understanding what the people really want, then act on it and again measure success. Some state governments do research which is great so people’s needs are better addressed and investments prioritized in a more optimal way. There are other areas the industry can grow as research here is too small compared to the size of the economy. USA and German governments for instances are heavy consumer of research and here we should emulate these governments for the good of the people.
How do you entice SMEs who would like to engage in research but see you as expensive?
It is up to us to craft or define solutions that are affordable to SMEs. My idea is that clients are a bit controversial – whatever the size, client should tell upfront a ballpark for the investment in research they are ready to commit and we will create the best solution whether they are SME, multinationals or public institutions. This will create efficiencies but to get to this space trust in the industry is paradigm.
