Professor Stanley Ohehen of Bowen University, Iwo in Osun State, has identified standardisation as a top metric for producing a good brand.
Ohehen, who is an Associate Professor, Theatre Management Arts Administration Advocacy & Entrepreneurship at the varsity, made this known at the Africa 100 Most Valuable Brands summit 2023, themed: ‘Creating African Global Brands: Imperatives for Building Globally Competitive Brands.’
Ohehen, in his capacity as chairman of the occasion, explained that what makes a brand global is the standard of the product and not the location. “A brand should be a product that can stand anywhere in the world. It’s about the quality and the worth, not the location,” he stressed.
He, therefore, urged all brand managers to focus on standardisation of their products and not globalising it.
His words: “If there is nothing special about your product, it will not be noticed.
“We need to focus on something extra to stand out from others.
“One percent extra to your 100 percent on your product will make your delivery extraordinary and that’s how we would arrive at a brand.”
Also, he mentioned relevance, distinctiveness, and constituency as components of a strong brand. According to the don, “a brand must have something that differentiates its product from another. Relevance should not come out from you, it should be from someone else’s contribution from a past experience, and consistent.”
Ohehen, however, identified perception as one of the major challenges of brands, noting that a product is affected by the way people see it.
“The perception may be wrong, but the product carries a name. The way the world sees us determines the worth they give us; hence, brand managers must work on their perception to build a strong brand,” he advised.
