NIPR Seeks BJAN’s Collaboration, Calls for Holistic Reportage of Brands, Industry Activities

The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Lagos State chapter, has called for holistic reportage of brands and its activities.

According to the institute, the call resulted from what Public Relations engagement stands for, which is not just talk but also to research, investigate a problem and proffer solutions.

Chairman of Lagos State chapter, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Comfort Obot Nwankwo said this on Tuesday when the newly elected executives of Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN) paid her a courtesy visit.

The visit is in line with a series of planned visits to stakeholders in the Integrated Marketing Communications space, to intimate them of the association’s activities.

Speaking during her opening remark, Clara Chinwe Okoro, newly elected Chairman, BJAN, said the visits were necessary to form partnerships and collaborations, knowing that is the fastest routes to gaining result in any endeavor that the association embarks on.

“Our major vision for this new exco is to chart a new course for our association being that we represent the buffer between the stakeholders and the consumers with most of the materials we put out within the space where we operate, it helps shape thoughts for the consumers in taking or adopting buy-in decisions for some of the brands our stakeholders represent.

So we felt in a fast moving world it is very necessary to become partners with those who are in the ecosystem in which we work because if you know, when the right hand washes the left and vice versa, everything becomes is clean”.

Clara noted that it was imperative to intimate stakeholders on our planned activities so that as they begin to understand the journey with us, the distances would be bridged “we want a very robust marketing communication sector once again in Nigeria and it is that passion that drives what we do as a body.

“We want the consumers to feel protected and know that the content we put out there is for their own interest and when this is all in sync with our stakeholders, partners and ourselves, we are going to see a more formidable marketing communications sector in Nigeria,” she said.

In her reaction, Comfort Nwankwo who appreciated the visit noted that she and her team were planning to visit the association until she got the notification.

She observed that although there has been a relationship between NIPR and BJAN, this visit would help deepen that relationship.

“PR is about communication. For a brand without communication nobody gets to know what you are talking about. And that is why brand owners need you, brand journalists to communicate their brands to the consumers. And when you project all the positives about a brand without asking all the questions you help flood the market with some of the brands even with all the sub-standardness.

She added that, “You don’t just talk, you follow it up with research. You cannot come in and tell me that a beverage brand is so good, and project all of the nutrients it contains when half of all you are talking about is not in it. So, some day, some how, the consumers will get to know and that will end the trust the consumers have in the brand because it will be broken.

“If a brand comes into the country and make all the promises we should query the brand: are you really what you claimed? Can you lead SON to your organization to query some of your activities?

“These are some of the collaborations that I suppose we will be looking at. And so that when you come around and assert any brand, the market will not doubt because we know you did thorough research about that brand. Situations like that will add more respect to all of us,” she asserted.

Nwankwo also called for more collaborations between BJAN and NIPR members to continue to strengthen the industry. She noted that the role of the Institute in the PR sector is regulatory and wondered why unlicensed practitioners will continue to engage in illegality knowing that they could go to jail.

“To practice you must be a member of the institute but because we are also into relationship building, we don’t come out to picket we go the peaceful way of letting your heart to come to us… we also have the power to prosecute non- members that are practicing… and I wonder why do people always wait till they are enforced before they do the right thing,” she asked.

Since elected into the executive positions last November, the excos led by its Chairman, Clara Okoro, a veteran broadcaster, had embarked on a series of planned visits to stakeholders within the IMC ecosystem in a collaborative/partnership drive aimed at bringing about a robust industry in terms of how consumers interact with the materials that are put out in the public domain and how they shape their decision making.

Other members of the BJAN delegates were; Lukman Ishau, Vice Chairman, Melvin Udosen, Treasurer, Adeyemi Olufemi, Financial Secretary, Amechi Obiakpu, Chief Information Officer (CIO), Afolabi Idowu, immediate past Chairman and Godwin Anyebe.