Ekine: Technology Drives Consumers Value Awards
CEO, BrandXchange, Akonte Ekine, speaks about the impact of technology on consumers and their choices of selection, since the commencement of the Consumers Value Awards, which is now in its third year running. Emma Okonji presents the excerpts:
The Consumers Value Awards, which is an annual online award programme, organised by BrandXchange is in its third year. What has been the impact on consumers since inception?
The impact can be seen from the fact that consumer rights awareness is on the rise, today the words are common and conversations around consumer rights are increasing, and we can even conclude from the calls and references we are receiving from people about how to reach or engage on issues of poor service experiences.
Let me say that recently we got informed about a vehicle loaded with iced fish parked on the highway in Lagos for days due to a mechanical fault and we tried to reach regulators on it, we got informed about Ikeja Electricity mishandling of a consumer and we referred the consumer to both Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. So gradually, it’s safe to say that the awareness is on the rise. Brands are also responding to the fact that consumers are validating the claims they are making with a vote or otherwise.
Tell us more about the consumers value awards programme. What informed the initiative and what does it seek to address?
The consumers value awards is an attempt to raise the bar in the market about services and that is our advocacy for ensuring that manufacturers and service providers are doing their best to provide the right quality of service against the backdrop of what they are set out to do in the first place.
By voting for brands, consumers are validating the brands with badge of honours, which can be a symbol or testament of consumer satisfaction on the brand performance in the market. This is also a situation where consumers are guiding fellow consumers in choice making especially when we realise the issue of fake and adulteration in the market.
What informed the initiative is that we had series of market experiences from the airline industry to manufacturers of products and services that were so poor that attempting to reach regulators was also a challenge and there and then we said if we could continue to talk or engage the larger public, we might start getting the right institutions to be more active in addressing situations.
As at today, we can say that it is looking great as we embark on the journey with an online consumer forum for consumers to start an engaging conversation on market experience daily, which we think will greatly influence and shape brand activities on the subject of satisfaction.
How have you been able to leverage emerging technologies to enhance consumers’ experience in the last two years?
Interestingly, it is all within the technology space. Everything about the Consumers Value Awards is driven by technology. All consumers are expected to be part of the process from nomination to voting. It is happening on the website. It is the power of engaging with technology that we are using to raise the movement for better value offering.
In the last two years of identifying and validating brands with the badge of honours, we have stayed within the technology space from the concept to execution and we have grown in terms of the sample population strictly by driving traffic to the size to over 10,000 respondents.
What we are doing is to expand the conversation channels with the introduction of the social media platform like WhatsApp for nominations and voting when we get to that stage. Let me add that the only physical side to the initiative is the event where we present the badges to the Value-for- Money brands based on consumer votes.
Technology is fast evolving and consumers’ taste and desire are fast changing in line with technology trends. How has BrandXchange been able to blend consumer’s growing needs with evolving technologies?
So, we are a multi-disciplined organisation with strong bias for technology, hence we are consistently investing in research to understand the market dynamics along the line of the focus of the business of consumer engagement. This enables us to stay with trends and develop products along the line of technology evolution, which is one of the reasons we are also launching the first online consumer forum on the website as a melting pot for consumers interactions
In the last two editions, we have carried out data analysis to see the voting pattern and demographic responses showing the behaviour of consumers and where the market is moving to as well as the expectations of the consumers.
The reactions of regulators to issues in various sectors are also observed, which is the reason for creation of categories that will recognise performances in the area of advocacy and all these are happening through the technology watch.
The entire team of BrandXchange is also committed to consistent review and study of technology for the purpose of staying ahead of the market.
What are some of the new features introduced in this year’s online nomination and how will the features impact positively on brands?
The industry is big and dynamic, and we are seeing responses now with specifics such as ladies’ brands or women gender specific brands request for nomination and up for voting. We have the expansion in the health category from pharmaceuticals to medical equipment and even drugs.
As dynamic as possible, we are evolving due to consumers activities. This is purely the consumers speaking about the values they are enjoying from the brands.
What technology is doing to consumers preference is what we are enjoying on the platform, and brands that are getting the right level of mentions at the nomination stage are enjoying a testament of approvals.