HLB Zambia successfully hosted the 2019 Accountants Golf day at the Bonanza Golf Estate in Lusaka on 28th June 2019.
The HLB Zambia golf day is one example of what happens when like-minded professionals come together for a soft day of golf with a common corporate objective of ensuring their brands remain visible and relevant, whilst ensuring continued collaboration.
“Times have been tough this year therefore the event this year was structured in a way that participants in the tournament could sponsor teams that would participate”, said Head of Marketing Micheal Chola a few days before the tournament. “I actually had to give up my slot in the tournament due to the overwhelming response from various accountants who saw the importance of being a part of this annual event”.
This year’s event saw companies collaborate with HLB Zambia to host the event which was a statement of intent on the importance of brand visibility and corporate collaboration. With marketing budgets trimmed, the concept of “crowd marketing” was a clear win-win for all participating companies.
Opinion
As I walked into the Bonanza Golf estate to attend HLB Zambia’s annual tournament, I soon forgot the impact of some of the June financial data my team and I had been analysing during a gruelling week that saw Fitch downgrade Zambia CCC (deeper into non-investment grade). With corporate flags from Lafarge Zambia, Airtel Zambia, SEEF Zambia, Zamtel, and the hosts HLB Zambia flying around the estate, I knew that brand marketing continues to be a significant factor for going concerns regardless of the macro economic outlook.
At half year 2019, many companies find themselves questioning whether they need to have a substantial position as regards to their marketing budgets. With Purchasing Managers Index data indicating a bearish outlook on expenditure coupled with an inflation rate that has now breached the upper 8% limited as foretold by the Central Bank, some companies are now looking at innovative ways of promoting their brands. One such way is HLB Zambia’s innovative execution of “targeted crowd marketing”.
However, what many participants did not realise is that HLB Zambia has also been building a collaborative love mark with its partners. This has been through process of showing the market that sometimes out of the box approaches are the best way to survive.
Evidence of the love market strategy is seen in how, over the years, they have hosted events that continue to communicate the importance collaboration in business. The synergies that arise become the ingredient of future success. This is the mantra of the leadership of HLB Zambia which has not seen their geographical footprint extent to Malawi.
Understand the concept of Love Marks
Lovemarks is a marketing concept that is intended to replace the idea of brands. It appeals to the human side of marketing where a company positions itself as one that gives and receives. Associates of the company over time begin to appreciate the significance of the gestures by the leadership and become inclined (fall in love) to have commercial dealings with the company.
The idea was first widely publicized in a book of the same name written by Kevin Roberts, CEO of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. In the book Roberts claims, “Brands are running out of juice”. In the Zambia setup, out of the box thinking is required to achieve this as money sometimes is not enough to win over customers. Building a love mark over time can be the difference as companies navigate our financial times.