Centrespread: A Story of ‘never-say-die’ Spirit, How Agency got back its Grooves
Wale Akintunde, (FCA) COO, Centrespread flanked by Claude Mwamba, Director, Client Service and Yomi Martins, Director, Strategy & Account Planning
It’s no story that about a decade ago, agencies in Nigeria in general could be said to be in a hemorrhagic condition. The situation according to industry expert is not unconnected with the loss of critical lines of income to specialist agencies such as media and PR specialist agencies, loss of cash cow businesses and some strategic alignments gone awry among others.
Centrespread is no exception, the agency went through terrible weather in the recent past. The management of the 33 years old agency confirmed there was been a lull in the business for some three years back which placed the agency in a dire strait. Similar fate befell the agency about 11 years ago but it managed to wade through and bounced back on its feet.
The recent lull in the agency, the management is quick to inform has been reversed through a deliberate repositioning exercise put in place by the company to deepen confidence both within the agency and more important in its services to clients.
Speaking on the infectious enthusiasm pervading the agency right now, Wale Akintunde, a chartered Accountant and former finance director of the agency now occupying the position of the Chief Operation Officer (COO) believes that the agency of today is different from the agency of 2005, the environment is much more complex and competitive.
As a financial expert, Akintunde says the problem ravaging the agencies today is as a result of “failing to run like a business first all before the much flaunted creativity. Agencies need to be fully aware that they are businesses to survive in the actual sense of the word”.
Indeed Centrespread had its fair share of the topsy-turvy business environment pervading the business landscape. The lull in business occasioned the exit of some critical management officers who of their own volition left the agency. The agency’s 15 years’ affiliation relationship with the FCB global agency network suffered when Centrespread pulled out of the relationship.
According to the management the reason for the painful decision to ditch the 15 years old relationship was due to a ‘self re-examination which reveals the envisioned future could not be supported by such relationships’. While the management could not totally absolve itself from the backlash of the result of some of these decisions and issues the resultant PR baggage, it did not spare the opportunity to take a deeper soul searching to channel the way forward.
As with every brand that has a lifecycle which is made up of introduction, growth, maturity, and decline stages, the only way out when it seems headed to decline state is to engage in a process of reinvigoration and rebirth to keep the brand ever youthful and in tune with the realities of the day.
The young turks currently running things in Centrespread did just this. “We are happy to say that after 33 years in business and a thorough soul search, we came to the conclusion that there must be a process of re-engineering to infuse more dynamic, responsive and strategic team to be able to deleiver. It is a strategic goal setting to move to the next level to be able to serve our client better” announced Yomi Martins, Director, Strategy & Account Planning.
The re-engineering that has its short and long term goals underscores the importance of getting the agency to become a force to be reckoned with again in the industry while ensuring that the client becomes its centre of conversation.
As a resilient, never-say-die agency, “we have been able to restructure”, interjected the COO revealing that there are more young, brilliant, creative minds in the agency in the agency now who are deft in providing solutions to needs of our brands and clients. “We have got some of the most energetic and passionate young professionals who want to change the norm. We are deepening knowledge, forming strategic alignments and we are seeing the results”.
Indeed the results are evident and dashing too. Centrespread currently has impressive seven new businesses in its kitty including some of the juiciest businesses in the land such as Airtel, Skyebank and HPZ with many more in the works.
Right from Vodacom, V-Mobile stint, Centrespread has been involved with the Airtel brand except on very few occasions when the brand intermittently exited the agency. Its landmark works ensured a role for it as an impromptu agency when the situation dictated such. Such sterling works for the brand so far also got it a place on the last pitch where it emerged one of the roster agencies for the brand in Nigeria recently. The account is sure one of the business that helped the agency to roar back to life.
The story of Skyebank also followed the same trend. Centrespread berthed Skyebank from now forgotten Prudent bank. The agency’s sterling campaigns on the brand included “Skye Bank is coming to town” and “Akunamatata”. The agency however lost Skye Bank four years after. A recent development showed the brand strolled back into the agency through a pitch that happened 5 years after its initial exit. The agency recently launched a new thematic campaign for the bank tagged “The skye is big enough” – a lofty testimonial centric campaign that deployed grass to grace stories of self-made celebrities like Ladun the blogger and Taofeek Adegbite.
Despite the severance of affiliation with FCB, the network’s global client, Moneygram against the norm has chosen to remain with the local agency. Other new grounds currently being conquered by the agency include public sector businesses and automobile – Kia Motors Advertising in Nigeria now resides with Centrespread Advertising. Now the campaigns are rolling out of the agency, getting it back to the grooves of the past and the tempo is very likely to increase when work fully commences on the new businesses.
The positive effects of the agency’s resilience and dynamism are also observable in other companies in the group. For instance, DKK, the second line agency recently clinched the MTN public relations business having repositioned itself as a 360 degree marketing solutions provider; Pure Imagination – the group’s digital agency also has exciting success stories to tell winning new businesses while PR Redline is also proving its mettle in it’s area of specialization in the industry.
For Claude Nwamba, Clients Service Director, Centrespread, with the re-engineering of the system by deepening strategies, research, creative account management among others, the agency is thrilled by what is happening and the spirit is high. However, he noted “according to our marshal plan, we are still not where we planned to be”.
Instructive as that may be, time will tell, more so now that the agency is left in the hands of a new generation of professionals (paid managers) with the Founder/ Group CEO, Kola Ayanwale (who will be 60 years in a few weeks) being assigned a new role of mentoring and tutoring from the background. It will be recalled that Mr. Ayanwale once left the scene before he returned to “steady” the ship. How long these new arrangements and rhythm of successes are sustained are left to be seen. Time shall tell! {fcomments}
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