WHY GUARDIOLA IS RUNNING

Pep is running. 

He is trending worldwide right now. Although it is not yet official, it is already an open secret that the man who took the Johan Cruyff system of play to another level at FC Barcelona will leave his post as the head coach at the end of the 2011/2012 season.

His decision to leave, should he decide to, will definitely not come as a surprise. Guardiola has refused to extend his contract for more than a year ever since he was appointed by Joan Laporta as the coach of the team on 8^th of May 2008. Reason? A coach should be judged at the end of the season. He always insisted there was no reason to tie oneself to a clubside for a long time and then fail to produce desired results on the pitch, resulting to a termination of the contract. Many found this peculiar at least when compared to his counterpart on the other side of the capital of Spain, Jose Mourinho. 

For me, the decision to sign for only a year has always been premeditated. It was for situations like this. Pep Guardiola had a script and he is playing it out right now.

Here are the reasons why Guardiola will be leaving FC Barcelona:

1.      That Acute back pain:

During his team’s 1-0 win over Valencia on Wednesday 02 March 2011, Pep Guardiola was observed to be in pain. He was unable to attend the post match briefing as a result. On Thursday, FC Barcelona announced that he was admitted to a hospital the previous day. He was diagnosed with herniated disc. Those who were close to him expressed their doubts. They were sure he would take a sabbatical from the very demanding world of football as a result of the back pain. It was only a matter of time and that time is now. The least physical ailment a football coach will pray to suffer from is an acute back pain. A coach has to sit and stand for the most part of a match. This acute back pain was a decider. It was the ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’.

2.      The limits of success:

Between 2008 when he was appointed and 2012, Guardiola led FC Barcelona to an astonishing 13 trophies;

·         La Liga (3): 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11

·         Copa del Rey (1): 2008–09

·         Supercopa de España (3): 2009, 2010, 2011

·         UEFA Champions League (2): 2008–09, 2010–11

·         UEFA Super Cup (2): 2009, 2011

·         FIFA Club World Cup (2): 2009, 2011

This was his greatest undoing. What else was left to win? Where would the motivation come from? This factor was very crucial when you consider the fact that under his watch, the team played a monotonous system of football. One way traffic; toss the opponent around the pitch until they submit. It was only a matter of time before the routine became boring to Pep. Now, we know it has indeed been boring.

3.     The Mou Factor:

After all is said and done, in the near future, we will all unanimously agree that something special happened in the world of football in the new millennium, especially from the mid 2000’s. football has always seen issues of rivalry discussed since inception. Pele vs Maradona. Zico vs Pele. Etc. the new millennium had us shouting to the top of our voices, daily, trying to figure out who was the best between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Jose Murinho and Pep Guardiola. Don’t ask me where my loyalty lies. This is the fact: Jose Mourinho remains, till date. Pep Guardiola’s greatest Nemesis. He led his Inter Milan team to the Champions League winners’ medal at the Santiago Barnebeu after defeating Guardiola’s Barcelona. That was the trophy that started a chain reaction that has finally led Guardiola to the end of his sojourn with Barcelona. Mourinho was appointed as the coach of Real Madrid with a very simple and clear objective: Unseat Pep and his boys. Has he done it? Yes he has, in my opinion. Real Madrid won its first trophy under Mourinho after defeating Barcelona at the Cope del Rey finals. The team is poised to win its first league trophy since the 2007-2008 season after defeating FC Barcelona at the Cam Nou. Real Madrid may have suffered more defeats to Barcelona since Mourinho came to Spain, but there is no doubting the fact that they have done enough to tilt the balance of success in their favour.

4.     The abandoned bus at the Camp Nou:

I hear the grounds men at the Camp Nou are still battling with that Chelsea team bus. Chelsea bus at the Camp Nou, you may ask? Yes! That same double decker London bus that, alongside Petr Cech, ensured that Barcelona didn’t score that all important goal that could have paired them against Bayern Munich at the Champions league final. I believe, strongly too, that the better team won. Football, as well as being an attacking game, we must never forget is also a defensive game. Chelsea played to its strength and got the victory. This loss was definitely the trigger that got Guardiola asking questions. What did we do wrong? How did we lose this game? The answers were quite clear, and he saw the hand writing on the wall. We always knew Guardiola NEVER had a back up plan. The closest he came to a back up was the 3-4-3 system of play he employed. Yet, this was only a change in position and not tactics. 

There you have it. Add to this list, I will be glad to see read your opinion.

PS: What next for Pep Guardiola? Let’s just allow the man to take some deserved rest. We will bicker about that when the time is right.

WHY MESSI IS NOT THE GREATEST

His name may be Messi but he shows no Mercy and leaves his opponents Messy. 234 goals at only 24 years of age, and he still has a lot of years ahead to shatter all the records and rewrite history. They call him the greatest footballer that has graced the world of football. Football commentators have almost made his name synonymous with ‘greatest, best, each time you watch a Lionel Messi play, you will be forgiven if you concluded that his middle names are such adjectival descriptions. But, is he the best footballer ever? I am not anti-populist. I don’t necessarily have to go against the crowd for no cogent reason. Although being independent minded is my console. My answer to that question is a resounding NO! The realisation that in life it is pretty normal for some to be celebrated more than others is almost forcing me to stop writing at this point. But I will resist. Note that I am not trying to convince you or make you see reasons with my point of view. It is my opinion. Read it and make your inference.

I appreciate the rationale behind the decision to honour an individual as the best of the pack of footballers. But much like all things in life with pros and cons, this decision has rubbed off on our appreciation of the ‘best footballers’ out there. It is almost a foregone conclusion that the best footballer has to be he/she who scores the most goals. Players with attacking tendencies have made the honour theirs for keeps. Yes, they display a lot of flair and skills on the ball. They mesmerise their opponents into submission. They score some out-of-this world goals that leave our mouths open in awe. How about their dribbling abilities and pace on and off the ball? Always fascinating.

Although the current Barcelona team make it seem like an outdated rule, it is still very relevant and only a naïf will disagree with this: attacking may be the best form of defence, but in order to win a football match you need a good defence. Defending is an art. A team cannot win and maintain possession if it lacks a good defensive foundation. Knowing that a lot of people regard this Barcelona side as the least defensive side, it is only ideal that I use them as an example to buttress the importance of the art of defence. In order to prevent the opposition from keeping the ball, this Barcelona team applies a high defensive line to win the ball back in the vital area of the opponents as well as ensure that the opponent enjoy very little possession in their own vital area. The team wins back possession in its opponent’s vital area and commits fouls in areas with less chance of goal scoring opportunities for the opponents. The foundation of a team’s success is built on a solid defence. And this is a fact. Some are more defensive than others and vice versa. The only difference between teams is the frequency and style of defence employed.

Each time Lionel Messi scores a goal or makes an assist, somebody somewhere records it down. But I ask: who recorded the number of successful tackles that Franco Baressi made in his career as one of the best defenders the game has seen? Who recorded the number of saves that Lev Yashin made in his career. Who recorded the number of interceptions Frank Rijkaard made as a player? Is it that these statistics are just not important enough to be recorded?

On the average, a defender makes no less than 5 successful tackles in a match. Some of these chances could be game saving in some cases. In most cases, especially when teams score from a counter attacking play, a defender has to first win the ball from the opponents before a quick interchange of passes gets the ball into the other half of the opponent. The product of the move may be a goal but the start point of the move must be a defensive play.

How about a goal keeper? How often has Iker Cassillas singlehandedly ‘won’ matches for Real Madrid over the years? A goal keeper is the last man in the defensive set up and has to be on top of the game for a team to get a positive result off a game.

I join my voice with many who have clamoured for the return to the former system where players are honoured according to their positions. If Messi is regarded as the best footballer, can he ever be a better defender that Baressi? Can he be anything near Oliver Khan? Can he run up and down the flanks Cafu or Roberto Carlos did? Can he marshal the midfield like Andrea Pirlo. There is a reason why there are 11 players on a team; they complement each other and play individual but important roles.

Calling Messi the best footballer ever is like referring to soap as the ultimate cleaner. It will do a lot of cleaning but can it be a substitute for toothpaste? If still in doubt try it tomorrow morning.

At the end of the day, life is not fair.

HOW RIM INTENDS TO SELL THE NEW BB PORSCHE

The boundaries surrounding the world of marketing are being wiped out in today’s world. Perhaps, this border has gradually shifted into an illusory outline in the psyche of today’s marketers. Modern marketing techniques have evolved to a large extent that marketing has turned out to be the driver of a product. It is obvious that marketing and sales are not the same. Marketing makes sale superfluous. At the end of the day, the premise on which a marketing process is upheld will be valid or invalid when the sale of a product is considered. The implication of this is that sale will be the benchmark used to evaluate the success of a marketing campaign.

Contrary to conventional believe that high price and relatively small amounts of the product available defines a luxury product, we now know that some of these products are sold in their millions. At the end of the day, the definition and understanding of a luxury product is relative, and evolves with time.

Recently Research in Motion (RIM) announced the release of the new Blackberry Porsche P’9981 into the market. As you already know, the product was greeted with a lot of fanfare, trending worldwide on several social media and forum. Techies have written reviews about the phone. Almost everyone has an opinion or two to voice about this new product. The main point of discuss was the cost of this product and its ability to become a success on the sales front.

In its quest to ensure that the new P’9981 became a marketing success, RIM employed 3 key theoretically possible anomalies in the general theory of demand. These are:

1.      The Veblen Effect: preference for buying them increases as their price increases, as greater price confers greater status, instead of decreasing according to the law of demand.

2.      The Snob Effect: preference for goods because they are different from those commonly preferred; in other words, for consumers who want to use exclusive products, price is quality.

3.      The Bandwagon Effect: preference for good increases as the number of people buying them increases.

There will be 3 groups of people who will purchase the product going by the above, and they are:

a)     The majority of the initial buyers of The P’9981 who will go for the product because it confers on them a greater status

b)     The next line of buyers will purchase it because it is different from the currently most preferred product and

c)      The last set of buyers will buy because everyone is buying.

In addition to this, RIM employed your service as a marketer for the new BB Porsche. Still in doubt?

As the product became an instant hit on social media and online forum over the world, it registers in the mind of prospective consumers of the product. An instant desire to rise above the average smartphone user will therefore be conceived in the minds of the consumers. You created this awareness. Yes you! Still in doubt how you did this? Did you send out tweets on twitter mocking the exorbitant cost of the new BB Porsche? Did you follow any harsh tag related to the new product on twitter? Did you send out funny broadcast messages about the product on BBM? If you answer yes to any of these questions, then you were a ‘marketer’ for RIM for the product.

Occupy Nigeria; some more questions



The primary reason why we decided to OccupyNigeria in the first place is the monumental waste that we have seen over time. The government has vowed to cut cost, but what do we see? January 10^th Daily Sun has 5 full paged advert powered by Neighbour to Neighbour initiative. Simple question from me to whom it may concern: who funds the N2N?

Let us analyse the ridiculous submissions from the N2N on the front page of the said advert.

Were the poor really benefitting from petroleum subsidy?

Government’s subsidy on 1 litre of Petrol was N75.70

Mama lives in Maza village in Plateau State. She walks to her farm and back. Cook her meals with fire wood. She has no need to commute by bus or use any petroleum products. She got N0.0 kobo as subsidy.

Adam, a gateman, takes a bus from Kubwa a satellite town in the FCT to federal Secretariat and back. It takes a bus about four litres to do this journey and back. This bus takes sixteen commuters. Fuel subsidy on the 4 litres of fuel used is N302.8. if you divide this by 16 people in the bus it gives you N18.90. Adam got N18.90 as subsidy.

On the other hand, Joe Collins, an Executive has 6 cars. His official car, one for school runs, one for his wife, one family car, one afterhours car and one for the dogs. He buys up to 300 litres of petrol. Multiply that by N75.70k subsidy. Our Executive got a subsidy of N22,710 each time he bought petrol.

So who really was benefitting from subsidy?

It is right to Transform the way we do business in the Petroleum Sector.

It makes sense. (sic)

First, a government that is very proud to tell the world and whoever cares to listen that in the 21^st century it has citizens who walk to their farms and back, cook their meals with firewood, and have no need to commute by bus or use any petroleum product, should hide its face in mud. Is this shameful? Yes! Is it a fact that in reality there are millions of people like Mama in Nigeria today? Yes! This is another cogent reason why we must demand for the heads of the lunatics who have plundered our resources into a state of infamy. This is one of the reasons why we have decided to OccupyNigeria in the first place

Next, Adam, a driver takes a bus from Kubwa…Blah Blah Blah. Unfortunately for Adam this government is willing to confiscate the singular benefit that he is provided with.

Finally, fortunately, the Executive mentioned in this case is not a politician neither is he a member of the draconian group that loots the commonwealth dry. He is hard working and earns every kobo that he spends. He doesn’t have the luxury of ‘eating’ over N2.5 million daily.

This is the reality that we face in the Nigeria of today: The government is now willing to ensure that Mama in Plateau state gets nothing from the subsidy as usual. It wants Adam, whose minimum wage, debated for years is not more than N18, 000 to get nothing as subsidy. It is willing to ensure that Mr. Executive, the hard working and successful young man, must get nothing from the government. And so I ask: what then would we need a government for in Nigeria if we have to provide our own power, healthcare, education, infrastructures, security, etc?

The saddest reality in my opinion of this N2N campaign is the fact that once again our ‘Rulers; have demonstrated to us that not only are they incapable of providing us the basics of life and leading us to the Nigeria of our dream, they are also incapable of entrusting our money into the hands of the right people.

Who heads this N2N? Who sanctioned this fable they are trying to sell to us on the pages on newspaper with our money?

It doesn’t make sense!

OccupyNigeria we shall!

Occupy Nigeria; the real issues

On paper and in practice it is a noble economic policy. So, exactly what is the whole uproar about the removal of subsidy about? In my humble opinion, trust, deceit, management, priority misplacement; a few of the real issues here. On one side of the divide is the government; while on the other are the people. Who is to blame? Both sides have to responsibly accept responsibilities for the decay that we experience today in Nigeria.

Over time, successive Nigerian rulers have instilled a firm sense of distrust in the minds of the people. The general consensus is that each time a new policy is introduced into the system, there is a hidden agenda somewhere in the mind of the few who have held the nation to ransom to defraud the commonwealth.

As the #OccupyNigeria trains marches on, I as bothered about certain tendencies and decision making tactics that have bedeviled us as a nation and therefore ask:

1. If eventually this government agrees to withdraw its decision to remove subsidy, would we have achieved a better Nigeria?
2. The whole subsidy fraud amounts to more or less N1 trillion annually. Do you know how much is siphoned out of our nation annually as embezzled funds? Have we ever protested against such?
3. How many innocent citizens have lost their lives no thanks to the menacing Boko Haram threat? Have we ever protested against such loss?
4. What is/are our priority?
5. Are we being pushed to react?
6. What is our ideology?
7. What are we fighting for?
8. Are we fighting the real battle?

Those who know me will attest to the fact that I don’t believe GEJ or the PDP is the problem we have in this country. Far from the truth. Shun the lies that some have filled you with. These lunatics are only a reflection of the larger society that we live in. They are only a mirror through which we see ourselves. The problem with Nigeria is Nigerians, myself inclusive. A people deserve the leaders they have. All leaders were once followers. Bad followers breed bad leaders. Let us humbly admit our faults and identify where we faulted. How did GEJ find his way to Aso Rock in the first place? Have we learned our lessons yet?

I believe in #OccupyNigeria and hope that it serves the primary purpose it should: show Nigerians that at the end of the day the real and authentic leaders are the people, and not a bunch of psychotic rulers who sit somewhere to share the spoils of democracy.

Let us make our point and decide to chart a new course for our potentially great nation Nigeria.

Who ‘eats’ over N2.5million on food alone on a daily basis? Ask a psychiatrist!

THE CONCEPT OF A PERFECT PRODUCT

I recall vividly how the concept of ‘A Perfect Product’ registered in my mind.

Back in 2002, just a year after the advent of GSM in Nigeria, my mum had a Nokia 3510i mobile phone. Now, don’t beat me yet, cast your mind back to that time and you will agree with me that the phone was a super mobile phone - Downloadable polyphonic ringtones, GPRS, coloured screen display, and of course MMS etc. At the time I thought and actually looked forward to a 5 year time frame which would berth a mobile phone that I anticipated as the perfect product. My expectations were quite simple: Nokia would in time release a mobile phone with features that will satisfy all its buyers, by building continuously on the current success and features of the products of the day. And so what happened? Was I wrong all this while or did Nokia fail to carry out what I thought was an elementary marketing decision? I think I was wrong, but you really cannot say that I was wrong either. I guess I was a naïf.

The concept of a perfect product, however bogus it may appear is a realistic target for the world of marketing. It will in turn eventually become a title worthy of more concrete study. At this point a definition of a perfect product becomes necessary. Here is my definition of a perfect product: “a product with the ability to meet and surpass the expectations of ALL individuals in its identified target market - For all purposes and intent, the product being specific and not a generalized product.”

S/N	SPECIFIC PRODUCT	GENERALISED PRODUCT
1	Nokia C2-01	Mobile phone
2	Blackberry 9800/iphone 4	Smartphone
3	Toyota Camry 2010	Car
4	Breitling Windrider Watch	Timepiece

Unlike a generalised product, a specific product maintains an open market because it allows for competition, fair pricing and all the advantages of a non-monopolistic market. Should we favour a generalised product, we would then have to face a situation where for example, all car buyers will have only one option to purchase from.

The unique challenges presented by a perfect product will be better appreciated by an individual with a fine understanding of the rigours of identifying an appropriate target for a product. Target market identification is such a herculean task on its own, and to be considered successful and useful it must identify a segment that is:

         i.            Definable: the market segment must be describable by a degree of homogeneity. In addition, it is also useful to be able to measure the market size and define the boundaries of the segment.

       ii.            Sizeable: is the segment large enough and can it produce the required turnover and profit for the organisation?

     iii.            Reachable: there must be a way of reaching the segment both effectively and efficiently.

     iv.            Relevant: this is considered the most important test for any described segment. It cannot be considered in isolation from the other criteria as there is no point in describing a relevant segment that cannot be reached, definable or sizeable.

Add to the above, Segmentation variables:

         i.            Characteristics of the buyer: demographic, geographic, psychographic and lifestyle.

     ii.            Behavioural segmentation

   iii.            Benefit

And many more, depending on your abilities and know how. Yet, the concept of a perfect product presents a far reaching challenge that is capable of jeopardising all efforts expended into the process of target market identification – recall that for a product to be perfect it must meet and surpass the expectations of ALL individuals in its target market.

To drive home the concept of a perfect market, let us play out a simple illustration thus:

A new mobile phone manufacturing company announced its intent to become the number one Smartphone manufacturer worldwide. In a bid to make this a reality, the company recruited a group of seasoned marketers to be actively involved in the process of the formulation of a perfect Smartphone from the product formulation phase down to the actual target marketing and finally, sales. The group is expected to work with renowned experts in the field of Smartphone technology – this is to allow them include certain buyers expected features they discovered from previous market studies. In the brief sent out to the marketers, the company makes one simple demand: FOR THIS PRODUCT TO BE CONSIDERED A SUCCESS, ALL INDIVIDUALS IN THE IDENTIFIED TARGET MARKET MUST PURCHASE ONE OF THE SMARTPHONES. i.e. the success of the product will be based not just on 100% sale of its production but on 100% acquisition by the target market identified.

I expect that by now the realities of the challenge of the perfect product will be clear to you, especially if you are a member of the marketing team.

I tried to do a simple search for a perfect product and came up with these two interesting ones:

a.      ...It hasn't been fundamentally improved upon for 1,000 years. Few other products in the world match it for reach and purity of function. It's cheap, transportable, sharable....offers universal and timeless appeal across all nationalities, religions, races, creeds, politics, classes, education levels. No other product you can name matches the book across the efficiency/cost/intimacy/experience matrix. It's flawless. By: Mark Morford (www.markmorford.com)

I like Mark’s observation. Crisp and intelligent, but I am quick to dispel it because it refers to ‘book’ as a generalised product, as against our use of a specific product.

b.       The perfect product has the following attributes:

1. Fulfills(sic) a need or want

2. Has either niche market appeal or mass-market appeal

3. Has at least a 2:1 margin; 5:1 or higher is optimal

4. Has a high perceived value

5. Must be replenished or repurchased by the customer often

6. Is easily upsold and cross-sold

7. Has a related back-end product

By: Ryan P. Allis, 20, is the author of Zero to One Million

Let us take a closer look at Ryan’s list, and then try to rearrange them into some of our aforementioned considerations for a successful segmentation.

1. Fulfills(sic) a need or want - DEFINABLE

2. Has either niche market appeal or mass-market appeal - RELEVANT

3. Has at least a 2:1 margin; 5:1 or higher is optimal - -------------

4. Has a high perceived value - RELEVANT

5. Must be replenished or repurchased by the customer often - REACHEABLE

6. Is easily upsold and cross-sold - BENEFIT

7. Has a related back-end product – BENEFIT

Did you observe that I omitted item no 3 i.e. Has at least a 2:1 margin; 5:1 or higher is optimal? Actually, that was deliberate for two reasons:

1.      I assume, strongly too, that Ryan was referring to a 2:1 sales margin. He further said a 5:1 margin or higher is optimal. These appear to be high margins, but do they meet the primary target set by the company in the above illustration? NO

2.      I decided to exclude what I considered the most important singular factor the quest for the design of a perfect product: PRICING.

Once manufactured, the perfect product is expected to be expensive compared to that of the competition. Let us reconsider the previous illustration to reconstruct the stage of pricing in the marketing team’s decision making:

Basically, in order to manufacture a perfect product in the form of a Smartphone, we should strongly consider merging the features of the current leading Smartphones in the current market, laid side-by-side with the demands of the identified target market. What we would be doing here is simply:

A.      On one hand, we collate the features of the leading products in our intending market, assuming here that the manufacturers of these products have carried out a comprehensive, effective and efficient market segment study and analysis before production. This will provide us with a fair idea of what our target market will demand for. In addition, we should also have a good idea of choice of pricing system of our competitor.

B.      On the other hand, we carry out a fresh market analysis of our own and assume we never embarked on (A) above. This is to ensure that we don’t have a premeditated result. This will provide us with a good pricing structure of our own.

Note that in the present market environment and structure we would have to consider at least four (4) different competitions in the Smartphone market (e.g. RIM(Blackberry), Apple(iPhone), Samsung, LG, HTC).

Hence, even though it is not express, our pricing structure is expected to present a higher price compared to that of our competitors since we intend to incorporate each of their product’s strength into our own product.

For all purpose all intent, let us assume that we are able to effect a similar pricing structure to that of our competitors, so as to eliminate the challenge of overpricing, would that be enough to make our product a perfect product?

POINT OF DISCUSSION:

If the marketing team is able to present a product at about the same price with that of the competition, with an all inclusive feature that merges all the strengths of the competitor’s, assuming that all other marketing tools such as promotion, advertisement, branding etc are effectively engaged, would that be enough to make the new product a ‘PERFECT PRODUCT’?