Media, citizens critical to nation branding – PRCAN forum

The importance of nation branding has again been brought to the fore as the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN) says at a forum that the concept, which will involve not just the government but the citizens, is significant to achieving the implementation of socio-economic policies.

Speakers at the forum – ‘Destination branding,’ agree that the involvement of the people in building a nation brand cannot be overemphasised as public relations cannot sell the dreams of the country if the people themselves cannot agree and deliver the dreams.

In his speech, Wendy Tlou, guest speaker and chief marketing officer, Brand South Africa, says one of the things that made South Africa successful in nation branding is that the people that deliver the services were made to understand the value chain properly.

Tlou says that the people and internal strength are important as the power of inclusion made the South African story a success today, explaining that the synergy of the media, methods and platform are also needed as the media remain very important to public relations consultants and there is a need to establish a working relationship with them.

According to her, “The media is a very important part of the work we do. I believe that in telling the truth and being transparent, the media will be helpful. It is up to us as PR consultants to actively engage the media, but if we don’t, we have lost it.” She says that at the very heart of brand in South Africa, one thing the promoters did was to value and appreciate the roles Nelson Mandela played in giving South Africa freedom. But in using his values and understanding his views, he was never used as the core of South Africa’s branding.

“We wanted to build ourselves outside the Icon, Mandela, and so we constantly asked ourselves what it was that makes us important outside Nelson Mandela, and we leveraged that,” she says.

In making this a reality, she notes that nationhood programmes have been put together rather than government programmes, and South Africa built capacity to match professional needs.

“In telling the story of Nigeria, you need to own the means of communication as we can only change the narrative if we own it. The PR and marketing industry needs to own not just the content but the means of communication and it will begin to change the narrative,” she says. John Ehiguese, president, PRCAN, and CEO Mediacraft Association, says that PRCAN has continued to make contributions to issues that affect the country.

South Africa has been very successful in rebranding itself, especially as it becomes an important global tourism destination, that is what informed the choice of this year’s theme, ‘Destination Marketing: A Case Study of the South Africa Experience,’ so as to learn from the experiences of the South Africans, he says.

Ifeoma Okeke