Thursday, November 13 was a
remarkable day for me. A day in which I sat through two intriguing,
research-driven presentations on emerging trends among two segments of the
Nigerian society: entrepreneurs and the youth population (I understand that the
new fancy word for describing them is ‘millennials’, meaning people between the
ages of 18 and 34).
The first presentation was titled:
“Job Creation in Sub-Saharan Africa –
Entrepreneurs, Governments, Innovation”. It was essentially the report of a
research project jointly undertaken by Forbes Insights (the research arm of the
Forbes media conglomerate) and Djembe Communications. It looked at the attitude
and perspectives of young Nigerians on entrepreneurship, and how the inherent
entrepreneurial drive in them can be purposefully harnessed to tackle the
pervasive, worrisome issue of youth unemployment. Djembe Communications, by the
way, is a Dubai-based, Africa-centric PR consultancy firm taking its first
tentative steps into the Nigeria market.
The second was by Chain
Reactions, a leading Nigerian PR consultancy firm, and it went by the rather
sexy title: “Unwrapping The Nu Natives –
A Bespoke Report on Trends Among Nigerian Youths”. This was about the
identification and analysis of current and emerging trends among the Nigerian
youth population, and it was based on a study conducted in a collaborative
effort between Chain Reactions and UK-based research firm, TrendWatching.
Both reports presented very
useful and though provoking insights from the populations surveyed. But such
details are not really my concern here. I am particularly interested in
highlighting this new positive trend by which our PR firms are beginning to
make the investment of sponsoring research that will not necessarily only
benefit them directly, but that can also be useful for the ‘public good’.
It goes without saying that
research is integral to the Marketing Communications project, across the entire
value chain. At one end of the spectrum research throws up data which is
analyzed to elicit information and insights that drive the campaign strategy.
At the other end, research again comes in to help evaluate the results of the
campaign, in terms of the outputs and outcomes, providing a scientific basis
for ultimately computing the campaign’s effectiveness and ROI.
It is noteworthy that even the research
itself is evolving, from the traditional emphasis on audience demographics and
psychographics, to the new paradigms of trend spotting and analysis.
As important as research is to
the work we do though, it is regrettable that very little investment is made in
it in Nigeria, largely because many clients appear reluctant to pay for it. One
might probably be justified to draw a direct correlation between this state of
affairs and the poor quality of work that many of our agencies turn out.
There has been so much talk, it’s
so reassuring to see Nigerian PR agencies that are finally beginning to ‘walk
the talk’, spending their money and resources to commission research which throw
up consumer and audience insights that are not necessarily campaign-specific,
but can also serve as invaluable inputs for planning and policy formulation in
the wider economy.
Way to go, guys!
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