Part 3 of a 3 part series on visiting Nigeria.
Does it snow in Buffalo? Of course it does. And branding always matters when a destination, a person, or a cause competes.  Just like with businesses, products and services. Brands are cumulative mental impressions and serve as an edge to connect with the market.

Strong brands make the choice easy, whether you are seeking votes, support or investments.

As many of you know who read my blog, I was recently in Lagos, Nigeria addressing the Brand Journalists Association on branding in government. This is the final blog post in series of three. To read the previous posts go to: Part 1, Part 2.

Highlights from my presentation included:
The difference of  commercial branding verses government branding are:

• Goals for government branding should be to provide: public service, help all people and be cost effective
• Selling proposition is also different. In most cases, it is: trust, certainty, integrity
• And the outcome is: confidence and loyalty with the brand, progress with urgency, unity of stakeholders and community pride

My recommendation for improving any brand, commercial or other is to follow this formula. Great brands are molded by these four factors.

1. Simplicity
2. Creativity
3. Unity of voice
4. And consistency

While the focus of my program was on government programs, the topics of country branding, leadership and commercial branding were also addressed. To see my PowerPoint on government branding, click the image below.

My trip to Lagos, Nigeria was memorable and very eye opening experience. The event that I was speaking at had an audience of over 500 marketing, PR, branding journalists and practitioners, and government leaders. An elaborate production, it included a big band and two comedians before my talk, food for miles and room decor like the Oscar Awards. I was seated at the head table with former Minister for Information of Nigeria, Chief Alex Akinyele, Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State and  the husband of Professor Dora Akunyili, both were honorees of the event.

My program was well received. I closed with The Bob Marley parody I produced called Stand up! Brand up! Tell your story Right. The crowd went crazy as everyone stood up and danced along with me, singing the words to the song. Seeing a room full of professionals so excited about the branding field and wanting to learn how they can do it better and can help their country change its perception was amazing. It’s moments like this as a speaker that are truly priceless.

My new friends 5,000 miles away have place in my history and my heart. I will forever be grateful for this very cool opportunity. I hope you enjoyed this journey as much as I did. I look forward to sharing others with you soon! Within a few weeks, I will post the full speech and night on my Youtube channel.

Closing insight I learned from this trip as a speaker on branding.
1) Press conferences are excellent opportunities to promote an event like this when you are visiting a foreign country. Be prepared with your key points and have copies available to provide journalists too.

2) As a presenter in a foreign land, customize your program to the market. I redesigned all of my images to reflect the local culture and received many compliments and accolades about this extra touch.

3) Always carry a printed introduction with you to provide the MC, even if you sent the organization one weeks before the event.

4) Be prepared to shorten your presentation at the moments notice. One of the honorees was three hours late for the event, which meant the program was delayed and the audience was drinking and getting tired. I condensed the content and adding even more energy to grab everyone’s attention.

5) Keep a Powerbar with you, so if things run behind, you are fueled up and not starving.

6) If you are seated with high ranking government officials or celebrities, be ready for extremely aggressive paparazzi and make sure your hair curls are pinned on tight.

Part 2 of a 3 part series on visiting Nigeria.
Andrew, part my bodyguard, part my cinematographer and part photographer and I flew Delta Airlines. Fortunately we got to fly business class and it was a great experience. In fact, the Delta service team was one of the best ever on the way to Nigeria. On the way back was another story, which I promise I will write about in the next few weeks.  The food was excellent too. It was just a little weird dining at midnight, right before you popped an Ambient sleeping pill.

Delta to Nigeria

Our plane arrived 11 hours later about 3 PM Nigerian time. We were greeted by our government assigned, armored, traveling security team with big AK47’s. From there we plowed through at least a million cars and saw miles of poverty en route to our hotel on the island of Victoria. This is a sad sight considering the amount of oil money that comes from this country. It does seem like there should be a better outcome.

City scape in Lagos

The ride was intense and not without fear. The driver had two speeds: super fast and stop. I honestly thought this was one of my last trips on earth.

Scary car ride on way to hotel

One hour later, we arrived at the Ecko Hotel. The hotel was comparable to a lower end 3-star US hotel. Contemporary, it had some cool African art in the lobby, and was gated with several towers. Andrew and I were split up. In hindsight, I should have demanded this be corrected. Fortunately, our four days were safe and without incident.

African art in Lagos

The service was very good. The wine was divine. The food OK and interesting. Lots of plantains, which I like. But everything had an odd fishy flavor to it that I’m still trying to identify. I believe it’s the cooking oil. I’ve noticed this in other countries I’ve visited too.

Our rooms were comfortable, once you got past the constant horn blowing outside, the fact the internet moved like a drunk snail and the power completely turned off about every couple hours without notice. Apparently, this has to do with a power supply issue. We did get used to that, but it totally sucked when Andrew’s only power cable blew up from a surge. $200 later, a scarier cab ride, a tire blow out and some serious sweat, he was back in business.

During our stay, as long as we remained inside our compound, we felt safe, just on alert, as there were always several armed guards outside our windows at all times.  There was also a high degree of missing trust and crime related issues that were apparent. Below is the sign that greeted us upon check in? This is a shame because the country is filled with many more honest and trusting people, than the minority of bad folks who have tarnished the country’s image.

The first day there was a press conference at 10AM promoting the event. We were driven over and greeted by a roomful of 25 plus curious journalist, Internet, print and broadcast. Everyone was unbelievably friendly and warm. This calm tone changed dramatically at the event. The media at the event was like no paparazzi I’ve ever imagined, swarming like bees, hungry for up close photos of the Governor and the branding speaker, “moi” from the US. There were a couple times that I had big fears, not for my life or safety, but that my hair piece (curls) were definitely going to fly off.

Both days, everyone wanted to know how branding could help their country, leadership and ultimately the people the government served. I covered the highlights at the press conference and encouraged everyone to attend the event later that night.

I will cover this topic of government branding and post my presentation in my next blog post.

Until then, here are a few more lessons from African trip. Missed my first one?
1) Always pack two power cables for your computer if your work depends on power.
1.5) Pack legal pads, so when you don’t have Internet service, you can still write.
2) Save your earplugs from the flight, so the cab horns don’t keep you up all night.
3) When visiting another country and doing an event with 500 people, pack a box of business cards 500+.
4) Pack at least a dozen energy bars, in case you are not loving the food.
5) Pack super light, international airport travel will not be so stressful.
6) Don’t wear anything scented – hair product, lotion, nothing. Mosquitoes love the stuff. You don’t want them sucking your blood and giving you a serious disease.

Part 1 of a 3 part series.
About one month ago I received a call from a Nigeria speakers bureau, inquiring about me addressing a journalists meeting in Lagos, Nigeria. He also mentioned, he had worked with one of my fellow branding peers Martin Lindstrom. Martin is a global branding expert too and author of Buyology and Brandsence, both excellent books.  So I reached out to Martin to inquire about his experience. Martin explained, you will be safe, it will be a memorable experience. He was right on both accounts.

Several weeks went by and the meeting was not booked. Then one week before the event TO, my rep from the speaker bureau, phoned me back up. They want you, please get your Visa and passport in order and they want you to address branding in government.

So the hoop jumping starts. I was actually still in NY city at the time and my lame AT&T phone had no service, so most of my communication was via email. Even though Martin said I’d be safe, traveling to a country with a questionable reputation and that I’d never been to by myself was not an option. Sure, I wanted the opportunity to visit Nigeria, but I also wanted to contain my risk and American Express travel does not offer a travel escort service, but they do offer a companion ticket with the purchase of a business class ticket. So now my goal was who could I get to travel with me and provide some value beyond being my body guard. I called Litewavemedia. They are a local company that produced my speaker video. I contacted Christian, the owner and explained the situation. Christian was booked on a big commercial shoot, but said one of his colleagues would be happy to do it. His name was Andrew, a UT film grad and well rounded, light, sound and video guy. Perfect! The trip planning could begin. Having Andrew with me was one of the smarter investments I’ve made, ever! He not only is a great video dude (taped me speaking and other event highlights), but took lots of still shots and was by my side every minute. His dedication to his craft and my safety was priceless. Thank you Andrew!! In the picture below is Andrew to the right and Paul our guide to the left. Paul works in Imo State government office in investment development. The hospitality he showed us and his friendship were awesome.

Here are a portion of my top lessons from my African adventure. See next couple blogs for more.
1) When you get an opportunity to do business in a country that is new to you, get personal references and get paid upfront.

2) Knowing the time and travel preparation needed for an event of this magnitude, I will not commit to anything with less than 2 weeks advance notice, full payment and contracts signed. Even though I pulled this off, it was a lot crazier than it should have been, unless they are paying me $100,000, which they did not, never again am I doing an event like this with that kind of short notice.  Immunization shots only take two weeks to get in your system.

3) Even though I am a seasoned traveler, I would not travel to Lagos by myself. PERIOD.

4) Tightly enforce contracts and terms and stick with them. I got lax on this and paid consequences that I should have prevented. Specifically — Only when all 100% of funds and contracts are received, will program prep start. I spent too much time chasing down money. There is a clause in my contract that states “Client must get all promo materials approved before printing” or the contract is void. The client published items not consistent with my brand, a very old photo of me and inaccurate bio info. Include in contract all extra requests like press conferences, timing and details. PLUS, specify that your traveling companion must be in the same building as you are and internet fees are covered by client.

5) Always carry an extra few copies of your bio for press conferences and at the event. My agent had provided this bio, intro to the organizing group, but 4 minutes before I was to go on stage the MC had nothing and was asking me for my intro through a screaming crowd of 500 people.

6)Don’t count on the same kind of technology when traveling to emerging countries. My phone did not work and my internet was a daily mess.

This shot is of Neta Nwosu who was the chairman of the event for the Brand Journalists of Nigeria.
She also is an editor with the top newspaper (DailySun) in Lagos.

See next blog posts for remainder of trip.

For more global branding adventures, view:
Making history in Saudi and 5 lessons from the experience.

Amazing. It’s 2011 and I can’t get my phone system to work in NYC. I have an iphone through AT&T.  Not a signal anywhere – in my hotel (Battery Park), the streets, the cab, anywhere! Calls drop, no signal, SO FRUSTRATING!!!!

I’m finishing up my journey in the big apple, after Saudi.

It’s been great. Got here Tuesday. Had hope to do a lot of book writing, did not really happen. Been a bit distracted with meetings and things. But have been thinking a lot and connecting some important dots.

I stayed at the Ritz battery park because I was attending a party here for one of my mentors Alan Weiss. It was his 65th birthday. I attended his 6oth and it was great fun. Since I had to fly through NY for my Saudi trip, I thought why go back to Tampa? Why not hang in NYC? So I did.

Booked everything via American Express travel. Which was a good experience. They did all the work and got me a room upgrade, two nights free, a $100 food certificate and breakfast everyday.  This is the 2nd time I’ve used them, it was definitely helpful and a value add.

I travel to NYC a few times a year and try to stay in a new part of the city to make it an adventure. Battery Park was nice for the party and maybe a day, but that’s it. Nice service, good view, large space for NYC, then it stops.

The cell communication and even my Verizon broadband card was useless. Plus, with all the long cab rides, I could have bought a nice piece of jewelry. I won’t ride the subway, after seeing the rat movie about the rat. I’m a warrior, but can’t get past that image.

Since I’ve been here, I’ve done some fun stuff.
I would recommend the following:

Jubilee, good neighborhood french bistro. Met some pals from Houston who live in NYC now.

Tried to write at The Ritz Carlton by Central park. A spectacular, classic, elegant spot. And Johnny in the bar is the man. Makes you feel like the queen of the city and helped me brain storm on my book cover art. Handsome, eye candy and a great new friend.

Met with the McGraw-Hill folks, my new publisher. They are awesome and I can’t wait to work with them.

Borders bookstore at Columbus circle. Good coffee and fabulous green tea cookies. Very slow internet connection, bet it was AT&T.

Then went off to Land, an amazing hip, great food and way cheap restaurant. Entrees under 12 bucks, cool decor, killer service and perfect Thai food. They have several locations in NY city.

Next, the Comicstrip comedy club on 82 and 81st at 2nd avenue. Watching comedy performers can teach you a lot about content delivery, timing and body theater. I went with a pal I had not seen in 20 years, who lives in NYC and works for NYPD. Great fun, rocking experience. All the comedians were really good, but the MC Ray Ellin was my favorite. Check him out for sure. He’s coming to Florida soon, can’t wait.

Went to CNN, way cool! Met with a producer who has called me on several stories. Saw Anderson Cooper’s desk. I have a big crush on him, I know I’m not his type, still really admire his work.

Best cupcakes, Magnolia Bakery and Baked by Melissa for baby bite-sized ones.

Got interviewed by NYTimes. Joe Sharkey, a travel writer. The interview should be in Monday or Tuesday’s edition. He was a very cool guy. Survived the big plane crash in Brazil, 151 perished, he lived and has written a bunch of amazing works.

Saturday, went to big party at Ritz. Met a bunch of interesting people. Eat and drank too much, oh well. Had fun, all is good. Parties like this are always intriguing, you show up, don’t know a soul and connect with some remarkable minds.

Today, working in my room. Cranking on my book. It’s hard. Made some progress, not a ton, but I know it’s around the corner. I am Pondering and thinking and I know I will be connecting the dots soon.

Around 6PM, needed to get out of my room, craving Indian food. Read a story in WSJ about Junoon. The most amazing super hip, fab food, fun place I’ve been too. Met the chef, bought his cookbook, loved the experience. Bar staff Daniel and Jane, the best. The food is beyond brilliant! Must check it out if you like Indian food and are in NYC. Ranks in my top five of all restaurant experiences, loved it!!!

Headed back to Tampa on Monday. Really love New York. Really hate my phone and AT&T.

Looking forward to my wonderful car service in NYC, Felix who has been my airport service and hauling me around for over 14 years. If you need a trusted, reliable company in NYC, Felix is the man. And then back in Tampa, Lino is the man. I’m just one of his celeb customers. He provides service to Jeter, ARod and many more. An excellent resource, who’ve I had a relationship with for over 10 years.

More soon!

For more on bad service experiences, view:
Can a strong brand make a visit to the dentist less painful?
Global phone mess – a lesson in assumption.