The management of Mediacraft Associates Limited has been charged to continue on the path of consistent growth and resilience which it has exhibited in the past 18 years.
The Chairman of C&F Porter Novelli, Nn’emeka Maduegbuna, gave this charge on Thursday, September 9, 2021, during a virtual webinar organised in commemoration of the 18-year anniversary of Mediacraft Associates.
Addressing the theme ‘Mediacraft @18: Celebrating Growth & Resilience’ he commended the Founder and CEO of the PR agency, John Ehiguese, and the team in Mediacraft for their commitment to excellence and ethics.
He pointed out that the Public Relations practice has changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which started last year and due to other industry-centric changes.
“Tried-and-tested Public Relations is losing its shine and efficacy. The operating environment is moving away from traditional media, figureheads, and brands, towards a plethora of decentralised and entangled ‘actors’,” he added.
Maduegbuna stated, “Brands now must make themselves heard in ever-decreasing media space, a space that is heavily cluttered with all sorts of materials.
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Highlighting other challenges in the industry, the chairman of C&F Porter Novelli said, “Clients are not fully convinced about the value that Public Relations brings in its current form.
“Without a focus on high standards and continuous talent development, the industry will not effectively reorganize itself; it will most likely stagnate and possibly wither away.”
He said agencies of the future like Mediacraft Associates need to evolve into an organisation that creates content using data with a strong connection to media planning and buying.
According to him, it is important to move away from being a hierarchy of generalists to communities of specialists in planning, research, and analytics; content and creative development; channel engagement, aggregation, and management; and business development.
Maduegbuna advised the agency to explore ways in which brands can contribute to social good and what support brands can offer to their customers and the communities in which they operate.
Projecting on the future of the public relations industry, Mr. Emeka noted that the industry will evolve from a system of generalists to one of specialists to address the changes taking place in the industry.
He called on practitioners to become management consultants, advising them to put effort into maintaining a high standard in value delivery to their clients, continuous talent development.
The chairman expressed delight in Mediacraft Associates processes and system, urging the organization’s management to maintain high standards, and warned that failure will result in stagnation and possibly extinction.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, Ehiguese appreciated Maduegbuna for taking out time to share his wealth of knowledge and experience.
He said, “It has been a rollercoaster ride in the past 18 years. I started my PR career in Porter Novelli and you are a boss forever. We need words of encouragement from you.”
Since its launch in September 2003, Mediacraft Associates has grown steadily to become one of the leading PR firms in Nigeria, with a staff strength of over thirty (30) full-time employees.
Mediacraft Associates is a full-service Public Relations and Integrated Brand Communications consultancy firm operating out of Lagos, Nigeria. The company provides bespoke communications solutions to a discerning clientele.
