Abuja has hired Levick, a public relations and lobbying firm based in the United States, to manage its image and the All Progressives Congress (APC) proposes to engage another American entity, AKPD, to handle its campaign for the 2015 vote.
This does not go down well with the majority of communication professionals, who say it undermines local content pursuit.
Contrary to this position, however, a respected player and former President of Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN) and Global Strategist for JSP Communications, Phil Osagie, maintains that any organisation, even the government, is free to seek communication solution anywhere in the world.
Osagie, who holds a PhD in communication and has recently expanded his firm to North America, spoke with senior Correspondent, GODDIE OFOSE, from his base in Canada.
Global appreciation of PR in integrated marketing communication
Appreciation of public relations and integrated marketing communications (ICM) is growing all over the world, because the need to communicate, connect and persuade is greater than ever. With the explosion of social media, the appreciation and strategic deployment of PR (public relations) is on the rapid increase globally.
Management guru, Peter Drucker, once came up with a tagline, “innovate or die”. Whilst that still remains a truism, “communicate or die” may soon be the motto of growth hungry brands.
Professionalism in Nigeria compared with the West
As in other areas of endeavour and societal development, Nigeria still has some catching up to do. There has been tremendous improvement in PR practice but we still have a long way to go.
There is a positive correlation between societal value systems and overall professionalism. Professionalism does not exist in isolation. Commitment, the relentless pursuit of excellence, great work attitude, desire for continual improvement and a strong value system are the main components of professionalism.
In North America and other countries in the West, professionalism in most sectors is integrated into the system and is almost a way of life. Professionalism and authentic consumer satisfaction and sovereignty is far more than fancy talk or brand posturing.
Government apathy towards PR
The federal government has a right to seek the best PR solutions from anywhere in the world. What is of greater importance is communications authenticity and message credibility. Whether the PR message is crafted in Washington or some back office in Mushin in Lagos, the action and intention behind the message is more important than the message itself.
Brand authenticity is when a brand delivers on its core promise and measures up to the inherent consumer expectation.
The question then for Nigeria and the greater priority for its communications managers is the need to drive the campaign from the inside out.
Sincerity of intentions, clarity of focus, leadership credibility and authenticity constitute the foundation of any communications campaign, whether for a product or country.
The fundamentals of PR and communications do not change and the key success factor remains maintaining harmony between words and deeds. Because “you cannot carve fine art out of rotten wood.”
Impact of lack of billing on PR
Yes indeed, billing is a major issue in Nigeria. In fact, it is always a global discussion point. The challenge with billing lies more in the definition of value. The meaning or interpretation of value is seen differently by the client and agency.
In Nigeria, we are yet to have a standardised billing format. Some of the international affiliated agencies fix professional retainer fees based on hourly rate. But most agencies still play it by the ear and base billing on how they see the client. So some clients are grossly under charged while some others are over billed.
Billing will be a work in progress for a long time to come. The focus should remain giving value. When you give clients value and creative PR solutions, billing becomes a secondary issue.
Is merger or acquisition solution to financial woes?
This is a good question. As I stated above, it is all about delivering value. The more we deliver on value and provide clients with well thought out strategic solutions, the more income increases. Money always follows value. It’s like bees and honey!
The challenge for Nigerian agencies is to raise the level of the game and match up or even exceed their clients intellectually. Rather than scrambling after the same accounts, the industry can create new growth areas.
This is best explained by the concept of blue ocean strategy and red ocean as advanced by Kim and Mauborgne in their best seller, Blue Ocean Strategy.
They explained that the business universe consists of two distinct kinds of space, which we think of as red and blue oceans. Red oceans represent all the industries in existence today – the known market space.
In red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are well understood. Here, companies try to outperform their rivals in order to grab a greater share of existing demand.
As the space gets more and more crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products turn into commodities, and increasing competition turns the water bloody.
Blue oceans denote all the industries not in existence today – the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid.
There are two ways to create blue oceans. In a few cases, companies can give rise to completely new industries, or completely new product lines. But in most cases, a blue ocean is created from within a red ocean when a company alters the boundaries of an existing industry.
Our PR industry must start creating new market space or “blue oceans”, and reduce swimming in the “bloody red oceans!”
This can be done using different means, including injection of fresh energy, new talents, international alignments, mergers and possible acquisitions. What is more critical is to see the need for the PR industry to start or fast track on creating new growth areas and uncontested market places.
Other industries such as management consultants, HR (human resources) companies, logistics companies like FedEx Red Star and a few others, are already moving along these lines.
You can apply this blue ocean strategy to every other business sector or endeavour, including the newspaper industry!
Relationship with government and other groups as PRCAN president
PRCAN has always strived to maintain a good rapport with the government and other sectoral groups. We need the government to create the regulatory framework and enabling environment for the industry to strive.
In my tenure as president, I did not have as many engagements and dialogue with the government as ideal. The current regime further built on this and has increased the level of engagement with the government, which also represents an important source of business.
But then, the government has its hands full, especially with the security and other giant socio-political issues. The PR industry must seek ways to support the government in finding solutions to some of these challenges, especially from a communications point of view.
Contribution of PR to brand building
No communications solution can work successfully in isolation in the brand building process. PR does play a significant role in this process, as PR provides that extra magic and credibility that increases the buzz and ‘talkability’ around a brand.
This in turn elevates and consolidates the presence of the brand in the minds of the public. In the new market place, share of mind is as important as share of voice.
How PR can revamp a product or nation’s image
As we noted earlier, PR cannot fix a bad product. The first responsibility of PR consultants in trying to revamp the image of a product or nation is to first come up with ideas and actions that can market the product sincerely good.
“To do good and communicate, forget not.” So, the priority in a revamp campaign is to put in place a number of creative and specific actions that can enhance the credibility and authenticity of the product or country.
Unfortunately, campaign managers are too quick to jump to the nomes wagon, rather than first creating the credibility platform. The lure to scream and make product noise is often too strong to resist.
Coping with flying around
The world is now a global village and where you are based is becoming less and less relevant. In the new knowledge economy, your factory is your brain. You can be based anywhere and connect with ease. When you believe in people and raise them up and put the right processes in place, the company runs.
A company is only as great as the quality of its people. And the company should not revolve around just one individual. That is the meaning of real growth – where the company has a multiplicity of great service providers, rather than a singular solo effort.
God has enabled us to create a great working atmosphere and an amazing team spirit. It is also satisfying to get to a stage in life where you can let others grow by standing on your shoulders.
On PR affiliations
A lot more PR agencies, especially the bigger ones, have overseas affiliates. I agree there is a lot more room for growth in this area. In fact, the PR industry will be stronger with more affiliations, foreign ownerships and more specialised agencies. Competition makes the industry stronger.
Hopes of PR budget superseding advertising budget?
PR budgets are not likely to supersede advertising budgets, because by definition, PR is an unpaid for tool. Which is why it is more credible.
Fall of advertising and rise of PR?
That statement by Al Reis (in his book, The Fall of Advertising and The Rise of PR) was probably meant to generate controversies and debates than as a statement of fact.
Advertising and PR play different roles in the life of a product and in the brand building process. They are both elements in the marketing mix. And like any great cocktail, the effectiveness is in the mix. The mix will be incomplete without any of the main ingredients.
Based on the campaign, either tool can play the lead role. One is not subservient to the other.
PR practitioners still errand boys?
PR people being referred to as errand boys is old school thinking. A lot of PR people have moved up the intellectual chain and are able to measure up to their clients and other service providers.
One must admit that there are still cases where PR and advertising people just do what they are told or what the clients say. There is such a one way relationship, whether in advertising or in PR, or indeed any business field.
Sharing your industry knowledge
I am already doing so in this interview! But I try to share my experiences at every opportunity. I also teach PR Strategy at the Pan African University. I’m also constantly learning and getting ideas from others.
I find learning quite exciting. You can only give what you have. So the more I learn, the more I have to give!