EMULATING THE GRAPHIC EXAMPLE (SEPT 13, 2010)

Last Friday, the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) organised the 21st National Marketing Performance Awards, where the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) and its Managing Director, Mr Ibrahim Awal, won the most prestigious awards.
The GCGL, which celebrates its 60th milestone this year and a state-owned enterprise whose profitability and growth was described as unmatched by its peers, was adjudged the Best Media Organisation of The Year, while its Managing Director emerged the Marketing Man of the Year.
The ceremony was on the theme: “Africa as an Emerging Market – The Role Of Marketing”.
The mention of Mr Awal as the Marketing Man of the Year for a sterling performance over the last four years, which has seen the company emerge as the most respected state-owned enterprise, was greeted with a standing ovation and a loud applause.
In all 31 individuals and corporate organisations received awards in various categories. The ambience, decor, personalities and the standards portrayed there emphasised the important place of marketing today.
The GCGL, which was formed in 1950 with only the Daily Graphic, currently has seven newspapers and an advertising paper. Just recently, it organised its annual general meeting, where it declared a dividend of GH¢400,000 for the state.
Over the years, the company had sought to become the biggest, most influential and reliable media organisation within the West African sub-region and Mr Awal, who was appointed Managing Director of the Company in 2007, focuses on the financial performance and production of the Company, as well as sale and circulation and advertising. Other areas of major concern to him include market research and corporate social responsibility.
Mr Awal’s quest is in line with marketing, which is defined by the experts as the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. The term has, however, changed and evolved and today it is based on providing continual benefits to the customer.
In today’s marketing, where corporate bodies and individuals try to make a mark and brand themselves and where even nations are doing well to brand themselves, it is refreshing to note that in addressing the ceremony, Mr Jean Pierre Gbikpi-Benissan, the Dean of African Diplomatic Corps and Togolese Ambassador to Ghana, and Mrs Josephine Okutu, President of CIMG, called on African governments to adopt marketing as a strategic tool to attract the needed investments for accelerated development.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, supports the assertion by the envoy that the contribution of Africa to the global economy was enormous and that it was time for the continent to make its presence felt even more as a formidable emerging market.
We also share the view that marketing objectives, goals and targets have to be monitored and met, while competitor strategies must be analysed, anticipated and exceeded.
The joy from the awards won by both the GCGL and its Chief Executive, therefore, should serve as an example for other state-owned media organisations to also strive to greater heights.
While still celebrating the success of GCGL the DAILY GRAPHIC calls on all enterprises to remember the fact that consumer expectations are growing, while the old ways of doing things are changing, hence the need to continuously study the markets to meet customer needs in order to be profitable.