Omolaraeni Olaosebikan, CEO of McEnies Global Communications has given credit to practitioners within the integrated marketing communication space during the conduct of the 2023 Presidential, Governorship, State Assembly and National Assembly elections in Nigeria, stating that they proved their mettle during the election circle.
According to her, smart political stakeholders who employed the services of seasoned professionals to manage their campaigns, commercials, public perception and other electoral activities and plans remarkably got value for their money.
Omolaraeni who is presently out of the country dropped these hints in Lagos via Zoom Webinar on Wednesday at a policy dialogue held at Sheraton hotel where opportunities were given to stakeholders to discuss the strengths of integrated marketing communications in political campaigns.
She said: “As an industry stakeholder and with due respect to all my mentors, I can confidently say Integrated Marketing Communications has come to stay in Nigeria and impressively some smart politicians explored its strengths and opportunities in driving their campaigns to woo voters and gain dominance within the political space and I must salute the efforts of my both senior and junior colleagues for exhibiting their excellent feats during the election circle.
“Our seasoned professionals truly proved their mettle and made those who didn’t engage them to realize it was a bad outing for them in terms of outputs. I saw our people developing increasingly sophisticated tools and techniques during that period. Remarkably, these thrilling narratives and success stories which are becoming more visible in Nigeria at a time like this must be applauded. The practitioners, mostly youngsters, are not just making tremendous contributions to the growth of the industry, they are positively disrupting and developing the nation’s broader business and political landscape.
“Several young Nigerian marketing communications experts are equally pulling favourable recognitions and headlines outside the country with their innovative works. As usual, some of them were among those honoured for their pacesetting ideas.
They are the continent’s revolutionary thinkers revitalising ideas and industries with fresh business models and innovative leadership.”
Omolaraeni added; “It is further evident that several young Nigerian marketing communicators are moving beyond creating cool and engaging contents as well as helping brands in strengthening their market positions. They are clearly proving that businesses can perfectly use marketing campaigns in various ways to engender success, victory and as well douse sovereignty-threatening issues.
“It is very clear that they are seriously concerned about creating and translating opportunities into appreciable gains. It is also very clear that they are seriously concerned about proving that they got all it takes to perfectly drive the future of the country. It is empirically clear that in such Nigerian youths, a new and prosperous Nigeria is possible.”
Whilst fielding questions from the high-profile audiences during question-and-answer session, concerning leadership, Omolaraeni advised that “a leader must be daring and cannot be seen to abdicate responsibility. He or she must manifestly lead from the front, if the boat is sinking, a leader does not keep quiet and pass the buck. A leader must be bold, must own up to his decisions and does not need to sacrifice himself just so he is perceived as a ‘nice’ leader. A leader must clearly define tasks and be very clear and specific about the parameters for measuring results.”
She further noted, “When things are not going right, ask yourself, as a leader, what guidance or assistance are you giving? Never take success for granted, always take advantage of whatever you have. Always take into consideration every piece of information in your brief. In every organisation, there will always be politicking. What matters is what you do to rise above it and demonstrate your ability.” Omolaraeni disclosed.
