Three major events – Civil War, Miss World Beauty Pageants crisis in 2001 and the Boko Haram insurgency – led to the failure of the Federal Government’s planned rebranding, the Chairman of Silverbird Group, Mr. Ben Bruce, has said.
He spoke at the second edition of Marketer’s Evening held by the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) in Lagos.
Speaking on theme, From local to global, building the Nigerian Brand, Bruce said the events had become bad public relations because of the inability of the government to effectively use the media to manage them.
He said over the years the country had made effort to become a global brand but it was affected by the inability of the government to use the media effectively to win some of the wars that are rattling its global brand valuation, hence making the three events turned out to be a bad publicity that undermines its crave for a global brand brand.
“What is happening in Nigeria on the Boko Haram and the negative publicity it generated for us has happened three times in Nigeria without appropriate way to manage the crisis through the media,” he said.
According to him, the events denied Nigeria the opportunity to market its potential to the world, he said.
He said while the Biafra warlord, the late Chief Odimegwu Ojukwu, used the media effectively as a propaganda tool and got the French Government backing, Nigeria could not.
“Nigerian won the war but Biafra won the battle using the media, the Radio Biafra,” he said.
Bruce also cited the Miss World Beauty Pageant in 2001, which was stopped by the government as another major event that affected the nation’s brand building.
He said the event, which the world could have reported to showcase the beauty of the nation and it’s potential as a brand, however, turned out to become a bad press for the nation following riots in some northern states over a story written by a national daily (not The Nation).
“My topic is promoting your brand across the globe. The whole world was in Nigeria and all eyes were on Nigeria. Agbani won the Miss World in South Africa and we hosted the event in Nigeria, which we spent millions of dollars to host. A few days to the event, over 100 world media had gathered in Nigeria,” he said.
However, he said Nigeria’s missed the opportunity to promote its brand offering to the world when the Kano crisis, which was aggravated by two lines in a story published in ThisDay led to planned attack against the Miss World event.
Boko Haram, Bruce said, appeared to be the mother of all threats against the effort by government to build the Nigerian brand.
The President of ADVAN, Mr. Kola Oyeyemi, said the evening provided an opportunity for marketing directors to gather periodically to deliberate on issues and concepts that would move marketing industry forward.
He said the event also gives them opportunities to be abreast of events that are changing the marketing landscape, such as technology, change in consumer behaviour, among others.
