Book Review
Authour Tony Agenmonmen
Publichers: Kraft, Ibadan
Pages: 207
Reviewer: O’Lekan Babatunde
The book “Excellence is not by Luck: Taking charge of Challenging moments” which totally captures uncle T’s or Oga T or Tony’s 32 years in marketing got its title from a short sub-story titled “Strategy Versus Execution” tucked away in chapter 18 and in fact the last chapter of the book. It’s no surprise however, the subject of strategy and execution is one of the most touted but largely misunderstood mainstay of the industry. Quite a handful of “practitioners” just mouth these concepts while a few others like the authour walk the talk by striving for excellence by not leaving things to chance. Though, things go awry some times, as copiously shown in this book, “I’m I God? Anything can happen”, Page 126 attests to this. Yes, you are not God but if you aim for the sky, ending up with the stars may not be a bad attempt. This I believe is the Authour’s preferred mode of operation.
The title section deals with the common place rivalries between those at the strategy and execution ends in marketing chain but Tony with the benefit of hindsight confirms as a well rounded marketing professional, “You need both. Strategy and I mean a good strategy without execution is dead. Conversely, execution without strategy is akin to walking down the dark alley” (Page 194). He warns, “you could break your legs in the process”. And you’ll definitely be thankful if it’s not your head or neck! The Authour underscores the importance of execution when he alluded to the country, “What Nigeria needs today is execution” noting yet again that execution is about excellence , excellence is not by Luck, you plan for it, reinforcing the title of the book.
This little but apt assertion is the thread that held the book together. It is an instructive principle for every student and practitioner of marketing and entrepreneurs in general.
No frivolities! Give me the bad news first as its often said, bad news sells! The author sets to serious work right from the very beginning. Chapters 1-5 parade unsavoury titles such as “Oga, we lost a Contestant”; “50 Cent – One trouble at a time”; “The MD as a Brand Manager” ; “What the hell is Decibels” are chapters rich in crisis! However, the author did not fail to provide the reader with equally rich but diverse hand-one crisis management lessons.
Though the book is not set in any chronological order, but the individual chapter is arranged sequentially taking the reader through the background of particular event(s), the planning stage, the execution, the incident(s), the aftermath and the management of the crisis such that the inherent marketing lessons are not missed out on the reader.
For instance dateline for chapter 1 was August 4, 2006 and the event was the popular Gulder ultimate Search reality show. Tony as the Authour is fondly called is roused from his deep sleep by a persistent phone call from Seyi Siwoku of Jungle Films and producer of the show, -“Oga, we lost a contestant”. From that point starts a detailed lesson in crisis management . “We had gathered enough information about how it all happened. We had to decide on what we had to do next and pretty fast too. Time was not on our side, the hours were disappearing before our very eyes” he records. The primer that arose from the crisis is “take the initiative and manage information. The fact that it is bad news should not matter”. The reader has got bagful of lessons to chew over here.
Chapter 2 follows a similar tone but now it’s about the popular Star lager brand’s Mega Jam one of Tony’s responsibilities. The dossier of activities reached an anticlimax as the 2004 edition has to be aborted after successful shows in Lagos and Abuja no thanks infamous roles attributed to the duo of Charly Boy and his ilk, Eedris Abdulkareem. The last may not have been heard on this particular issue as feelers have it that Eedris feels the Author is frugal with the truth and a response might be in the works. All the same the brand took the initiative, called off the Port Harcourt and Benin legs thereby reducing the intensity of the visible and invisible associated damage to the brand and organization.
The third chapter brings out the fact that no system is perfect. Despite clear-cut delineation of duties and responsibilities, the “Oga at the top” sometimes for personal ego and less than virtuous reasons forces decisions down throats of officers in charge. Here a minnow of an artist was forced on the planning committee by the then MD/CEO, Festus Odimegwu and his friend, this almost sank the 2013 Star Mega Jam. Needless to say the show was an anti-climax however the lessons it teaches are loud and clear for marketing/ management student and professionals.
The Authour might have gone overboard in Chapter 4! This is up to the discretion of the reader. He could not have ignored or glossed over the high profile Publisher of Thisday, Nduka Obaigbena who sincerely warned the NB ahead of the its choice for 2010 Star Mega Jam in R.Kelly on the Account a a deal gone awry between the two. Indeed, the American star was arrested after Abuja Show. While the Authour revered the Publisher for not embarrassing NB Plc by picking up the headline artist on arrival in Nigeria and its inherent more grievous effect, he lambasted the Nigerian media for failing to report the story of R. Kelly’s arrest! Matter of fact, Tony failed to tell the reader what he and his company did to “kill” the story and keep the news out of the press! Were they all bought? Someone will have to unearth this in the near future.
The age-old issue of trust between client and agency is also well captured in the book, enough to teach the agency to always be on guard and also the client to be wary. Some may be justified, however a particular one stuck out like the famed leprous finger.
Chapter 2 page 46 -47, discourses 50 Cent and Eedris allege fight based on wide disparities in the fees foreign and local artists engaged by NB Plc. Alleging a leak led to the imbroglio, the Authour exonerated everyone from the brand team, to legal department in company and their families from possible sacrilege of leaking 50 Cent’s fee of $1million to a soft sell magazine, but Lowe Lintas, the roster agency was not that fortunate. It became the Authour’s only prime suspect – someone in the agency must have done it. Hear him, “Though all the relevant people in the agency denied (I actually did not expect anything different), it is still my firm belief that someone in the agency was responsible for the leak”, yes, in such brawl, the agency is the whipping boy. A bit too hard on the agency here! EXP again got the Authour’s scalpel as the agency became infamous by the authour’s report which claims the respected event agency almost destroyed the Abuja show of 2007 Star Mega Jam with Kanye West. “The problem we always had were the second shows. Based on this knowledge, we agreed at the planning stage with the event agency EXP that there will be parallel set-up. The cost requirement for a parallel set-up was made and approved and EXP gave repeated assurances this would be done”. Displaying enormous disappointment, the Authour writes, “the commitment to have a parallel set-up was just empty words and nothing more”. He adds “the excuses were sickening”. Same event had to contend with the “Decibels” drama gimmick by Kanye West managers to abandon the chow but the client managed to salvage the situation the show and it got a commendation letter from the sitting MD, Michiel Herkemij as one of the best.
The Authour in Chapter 6 pointed out how the Late Christy Essien-Igbokwe was white washing by Mr.Odimegwu bothering on how not to be a judge of a reality show – a lessons for judges and panels of ubiquitous reality shows in the country. In like manner, the Authour did not spear the company’s Managing Director, Mr. Odimegwu, Christy’s assailant. Odimegwu did the unthinkable at the finals of the Star Quest 2002 when he declared D Commedians (Raw/Klint) as winners against the judges’ choice of KC Presh.
As someone who has worked extensively with musicians and in the music industry in the course of his job at Nigerian Breweries, Chapters like “Battle of the Saxes” and “Spare the boys, Spoil their Career” 7 and 12 respectively provide learning on how to behave as a music star and budding stars. How Bisade Ologunde (Lagbaja) never made it to Nigerian Breweries shows is quite revealing and instructive. The entire book is awash with snippets on artists and music management and their roles in building brands. Star lager stands out as a case study in the regard.
Perhaps, one of the greatest Chapters in the book is 11, “Shine Shine Bobo: Breaking the rules” In vivid terms the book captures Star’s comeback from the brinks – how it was ignited by one man, a one-man agency armed with just a small cassette recorder. Uncle Ted Mukoro with no proper written brief single handedly wrote Star out of intractable decline and brought it back to market leadership and profitability – Page 165. It is a record in posterity for this great advertising man who had recorded great creative works for Star and other brands. He once again proved his mettle when called in as an independent to rescue the brand when all hope seemed lost. A great and inspiring lesson in marketing and Advertising, you’ve got to read it.
One of a brand manager’s nightmare is to have his brand faked! Tony went through it and even consumed the fake Star not out of ignorance though! He reeled out: care, love, passion for the brand as some qualities of a brand manager. The Author brought out the profound role of research in marketing but justified occasional skepticism put a question mark on the integrity of some of these research agencies – their antics are issues deserving a second thought.
In a nutshell, the book published by kraft Books, Ibadan, 2016, is rich in instructive first hand industry experience, easy to read and understand, as it is couched in rich but simple and straight forward prose. The choice of words and ease use of the language is commendable except for a few, technical jargons are rarity.
Although, publications by marketers are far in between in the industry, this is an outstanding one that touches on relevant allied service industries. The book comes handy, well printed and highly recommended for practitioners and students of marketing.
The finishing could be better, especially the binding could be firmer as sections of my complimentary copy are almost falling off. In all, it’s a generously portioned gift for the industry that could set a new pace and quality parameters for intellectual contributions to an industry/profession stricken by dearth of relevant home grown case studies and intellectual text materials. {fcomments}
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