Category: Brand week

Harpic has introduced a new campaign tagged: “Harpic All-in-One.”

At a briefing in Ikeja, Lagos, where the campaign and the brand ambassador Helen Paul were unveiled, Reckitt Benckiser’s Marketing Director West Africa Mr. Oguzhan Silivrili said the goal of the campaign was to enlighten consumers on the superiority of Harpic over other toilet cleaning agents.

Silivrili said: “We know that consumers want products that can remove tough stains, kill germs and freshen their toilets. This is why you see some people buying detergent, bleach and toilet fresheners for their toilet. This campaign is good news to such consumers. They will realise they can conserve their cash for other things since they do not need to buy three different products for their toilets. Now, they can get all they need in one product- Harpic.”

Silivrili restated the choice of  Paul as Brand Ambassador, saying it informed the strong premium the brand manager places on the importance of educating and informing consumers.

He said: “So, we had to dig deep and based on consumer preferences through research to identify a special celebrity whose character is congruent with our brand. We all will agree that Helen Paul will create great impact in the minds of all our consumers with her double personality profiles that made her the ideal candidate to reach out to different facets of our consumers in this campaign and beyond.”

Paul expressed her joy to the firm for the gesture.

The Marketing Manager Harpic, RB West Africa, Bamigbaiye-Elatuyi Omotola, said in the last few years, Harpic has been in the forefront of educating Nigerians on  toilet cleanliness and hygiene.

African Cable Television (ACTV) has launched the first multi-room and independent viewership on cable TV.

In a statement, the Pay TV’s Director of Content (ACTV), Mr. Jide Lawrence, said: “The innovative ACTV Multi-room TV solution gives subscribers the expanded comfort and experience of viewing television contents in as much as four different rooms simultaneously and independently of each other.”

 He said this was made possible with the use of one satellite dish in the homes, hotels or offices and a  better four-way signal connector that feeds four rooms simultaneously and allows the use of four independent remote control units.

Before now, the market was used for the dual view decoder with viewership of channels depending on the person holding the decoder’s remote control.

 But with the ACTV multi-room channel offering, subscribers can  enjoy their favourite TV shows without stress.

Lawrence said: “With the ACTV Multi-room television bouquet, our subscribers can do everything they wish in any of the rooms with TV without disturbing anyone else watching in other rooms. The kids can watch their cartoons, mummies can watch their soaps and daddies can watch their news or movies without the usual struggles for the remote control. Ours is a multi-independent view, meaning freedom for everyone to choose and enjoy TV content anywhere in their home.”

 According to Lawrence, ACTV has carved a niche in providing cutting edge technology, innovative content and top quality entertainment at affordable prices to every and all its subscribers.

 He said: “We are committed to bringing Nigerians the best and nothing else irrespective of their social class,” adding: “It is in the spirit of providing the best that the company earlier introduced the PVR functions to all levels of subscribers at an unbelievably affordable price.”

 Also,  ACTV has introduced its offerings at promo prices believed to be  “unbeatably low for subscribers to take advantage and enjoy the innovative multi-room viewership solution”.

The way Nigerian media helped mitigate the spread of Ebola outbreak has been applauded by media veterans but this is a total departure from the panicky and racist coverage from western media, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

An epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD), the most widespread in history, is still ongoing in some West African countries and other parts of the world but Nigeria has been declared free but veteran media practitioners praised the Nigerian media for the way the news was managed.  “I think in my judgment, the media has done excellently and at least in Nigeria we were able to curtail it. It is an extension of our social responsibility to give an early response to our people,” said a Professor of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, Ralph Akinfeleye.

The disease has caused significant mortality, with a reported case fatality rate (CFR) of about 71 per cent. It began in Guinea in December 2013 and then spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.  A small outbreak of twenty cases occurred in Nigeria, and one case occurred in Senegal. The latter two countries were declared disease-free on October 20, 2014 after a 42-day waiting period.

Secondary infections of medical workers have occurred in the United States and Spain but have not spread further. One imported case has been identified in Mali with as yet no reports of further cases of infection. In August an independent outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo unconnected to the main epidemic.

As of October 25, 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a total of 13,703 suspected cases and 4,922 deaths, though the WHO believes that this substantially understates the magnitude of the outbreak with true figures numbering three times as many cases as have been reported. A top official at WHO warned in mid-October that there could be as many as 10,000 new EVD cases per week by December 2014.

However, since Nigeria was declared Ebola free few weeks ago, the media has received thumped up for managing the information flow, whereas some foreign media has been accused of using racist news slant against the black people. Rather than raising awareness, focusing on prevention, they are accused of using a news judgment that is racist.

For instance, Newsweek magazine’s August 29 edition rolled out a cover story about how African immigrants might spread a deadly virus in the United States. Headlined, “A Back Door For Ebola: Smuggled Bushmeat Could Spark a US Epidemic”, it displayed on its cover an image of chimpanzee which critics described as a racist slant. The profoundly shocking image and message immediately drew criticism that Newsweek had deliberately used the image to mock Africans.

“What in the ever-loving f..k is this racist bullshit? Are you frickin kidding me right now?,” a tweets commented. But CNN has been especially relentless, chasing down every conceivable Ebola angle and a few inconceivable ones, too without any racist slant.

In Nigeria, the report of the first case on July 25 in Lagos appears only as small cover flash on the front pages. At the missing Malaysian plane, the Kaduna Bomb blast, the #Bringbackourgirls media campaign, remains the big story on front-pages, blogs and social media, the media only reported that a suspected Ebola victim, Patrick Sawyer, a diplomat, had flown to Lagos. The media report was not so panicky though it underscores a major crisis. Considering the population of Nigeria, it was expected that the outbreak in Nigeria will create a major crisis in the continent but they the media managed the information flow on the disease remains remarkable. For instance, Vanguard, The Nation, The Guardian and others followed the same slants. Though a panic reporting slant but it calmed frayed nerves with its rider: “Suspected Ebola Patient in Lagos” with a rider: “Govt: No cause for alarm”.

On July 26 when Sawyer died, the media spent better part of their coverage to collaborate with the Lagos State government, which is the port of entry for the first case in Nigeria. Though starting with a low-key news rating as a result of running news of other major crisis, the media issued a red alert when the Liberian victim died. This forced the Guardian on Saturday, July 27 to scream with a bold front headline with big type size: “Nigeria issues Red Alert on Ebola virus.” The newspaper also in its rider helped government to direct attention to port of entries into the country where foreigners could easily import the virus into the country: “Keeps close watch on Ports of Entry, WHO, FG trail potential victims.”  Also, Saturday Nation maintained the same slant with The Guardian.

While the FG was busy to ensure that no further victim flew into the country, the Lagos State government was busy managing the current case to prevent spread to other states of the federation.  To ensure that every Nigerians are vigilant, the first incisive report on awareness, epidemiology, and treatment came from Vanguard veteran health report, Sola Ogundipe. With an headline: “Ebola Virus: Enemy at your door…Dead victims cremated on page 36, the story deeply from a human angle, detailed the epidemiology of Ebola, the cause, symptoms and how it can be prevented. The story also raised issue of lack of preparedness of the Federal Ministry of health who has failed to provide awareness information on its website. “But doubts about the level of preparedness persist. For instance, a visit to the website of federal ministry of health does not provide cogent information on Ebola virus,” Vanguard wrote in two-page features.

On 19 August, it was reported that the doctor who treated Sawyer, Ameyo Adadevoh, had also died of Ebola disease. Adadevoh was posthumously praised for preventing the index case (Sawyer) from leaving the hospital at the time of diagnosis, thereby playing a key role in curbing the spread of the virus in Nigeria. The Nation, Punch, Guardian and others at other time devoted enough space to celebrate the Heroine while they continued to increase the level of reportage to ensure that the woman didn’t die in vain.

A former veteran broadcaster, Mr. Dele Adetiba said though the reports from the media was panic reporting but that it achieved its purpose of raising awareness.  “There were avalanche of coverage of Ebola, A lot of it from panic side which served its purpose in terms of awareness. Luckily, we were able to beat it otherwise the panic coverage could have been disastrous,” he said.

The second managing director of Nigeria first advertising agency, Lintas and former Chairman of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Mr. Chris Doghuje said Nigeria won the Ebola war because the media helped galvanized Nigeria government into action. “For me it is excellent because the media helped to galvanize Nigerian into action. Today, Nigeria has survived it something. The America is finding it difficult and we have solved but the media must be praised for the excellent job of making information available,” he said.

Describing the reportage as bold and effective, a veteran artist and broadcaster, Mr. Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett said, “Media coverage was excellent, bold and very effective. I know various authorities rose to the challenge but the media led in making the information available to the public. Every issue you attacked like that. We would have been disseminated if the level of awareness by the media has not be there.”

The chairman board of the Nigerian Media Merit Award, Engineer Vincent Maduka said the if other countries can learn from Nigeria media, they will curtail the spread in their countries. He praise the Lagos state government and the Nigerian media for the great feat. “The media has done a damn good job. A lot of country has to learn from us. Spain for instance has a crisis because they didn’t do as much as Nigerian did. You can have a nurse, who has been treating a serious case of Ebola, come to Spain without a proper screening and check. Whereas here in Nigeria one man enter and even a doctor sacrifice her life. The Nigerian government, especially Lagos state government and the media has done wonderful job,” he affirmed.

With the news of the spread over in Nigeria, the media attention has shifted to other African countries, Europe and America.