Is PR dead?
Sometime in 2015, Ayeni Adekunle, founder and CEO, Black House Media (BHM), a media publishing and PR
According to Ayeni who addressed dignitaries at the event, it was high time PR practitioners in the country changed their
“As public relations professionals, we should have been at the forefront of big data science, of social media, of location and habit mapping. We should have been the pioneers of digital marketing and experience design and brand story telling. If you don’t disrupt yourself, then you must get ready to be disrupted, “Ayeni stated.
Citing instances of how other industries are embracing change and examples of the fate that befell industries that failed to innovate, Ayeni said: “It happened to the search industry, happened to media and photography. It has happened to computer and mobile messaging. It happened to advertising. And now, as transportationand telecommunications industries face unprecedented disruptions, public relations itself is undergoing an assault by new ideas and tools. New technology has ensured that every industry today must innovate or die. Newspapers are now playing catch up with blogs and websites. Telcos are being forced to rethink their business model because of obvious threats from Skype, Whatsapp, Facebook and co. Google built a global advertising business while ad giants were snoring.”
And so what is the way forward for PR in Nigeria? The answer: Innovate or perish. This, in a nutshell is the summary of the first part of the Nigeria PR Report 2015: Inside Public Relations industry in Nigeria, an annual publication of BHM Group published in collaboration with the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN). The publication modelled after the renowned Holmes Reports and edited by Ayeni Adekunle is divided into two parts. The first part as already stated above chronicles the history of PR in Nigeria; x-ray the challenges facing the industry and also charts the way forward.
The second part of this revealing and incisive book reveals the state of the industry in the past year via an agency by agency research. From affiliations to billings, campaigns and awards, Nigeria PR Report 2015 avers that there are indeed some positive developments in the industry in spite of obvious challenges of
And as an icing on the cake, the
Perhaps because of Ayeni’s background as a trained scientist turned journalist and PR cabal, the mode of research adopted for the publication is precise, the style of writing is lucid and engrossing while the illustrations are
The publication couldn’t have come at a better time than this. Buffeted by hard times, brand owners are groaning, brands are dying. Producers of fast moving consumer goods and service providers are cutting cost and downsizing. This development will definitely impact negatively on marketing campaign budget PR inclusive. But rather than give up, the PR consultant would have to be more creative and think out of the box to survive and thrive in this hard times. This is the kernel of the campaign PR is dead that kick-started Nigeria PR Report 2015 project.
About BHM Founded by Ayeni Adekunle, Black House Media Group is the parent company to Nigerian Entertainment Today (NET), Black House Media and ID Africa.