By Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

 C&F Porter Novelli, a strategic communication company, has advised media professionals to ensure personal branding through reputation capital development.

The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of C&F Porter Novelli, Mr Tony Ajero, said that such branding would make media professionals to remain relevant.

Ajero spoke  at an online training for media professionals in commemoration of the company’s 25th anniversary celebration.

Ajero, who spoke on “Branding, Identity, Character and Reputation”, urged media professionals to continuously hone their reporting skills and seek innovative ways to carve a niche for themselves.

He said that it had become imperative for media professionals to look for ways to  distinguish themselves.

Ajero defined branding as making an organisation/product/service unique to enable it to stand out and be more successful than its  competitors.

He urged media professionals to create unique brands for themselves.

He, therefore, advised media professionals to imbibe the six marketing Ps: production, promotion, pricing, packaging, placement and positioning to strengthen their personal and professional brands.

Ajero said that the company, in commemoration of its 25th anniversary, introduced some Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives to celebrate its various stakeholders and media partners.

He said that the CSR included a personal and professional branding workshop for journalists and a give-back initiative to Mrs Rose Julius – the Nigerian pensioner who displayed patriotism by donating her monthly pension to support the current administration of Muhammadu Buhari.

“C&F Porter Novelli, a company very passionate about purpose, also saw the need to put Mrs Rose Julius on a monthly allowance as a way of encouraging patriotism and rewarding actions such as that taken by her in 2016 to support the Buhari administration’s  anti-corruption war.

“Julius, who retired as a cleaner from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital in 2016, reportedly donated her entire monthly pension of N10,000 to support the administration’s war against corruption.

“Julius pledged to contribute N1,000 every month toward the rehabilitation of  Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as her way of encouraging the Federal Government to restore the lost glory of Nigeria and curb corruption.

“The company has taken the decision to remit the sum of N10,000 every month to Mrs Julius for as long as she lives,” he said.

Ajero added that the company had initiated an Academy for Business Communication West Africa, a platform for free training of Nigerian undergraduates  on communication and public relations.

He said that the training would be delivered online in partnership with  academics and professionals from its sister companies in the integrated marketing communication group. 

According to him, the best students will be mentored in their chosen career paths and encouraged to impact others.

The Supervising Director of C&F Porter Noveli, Mr Kelechi Nwosu, said that businesses with positive reputation were likely to overcome crisis easier and faster than those with negative reputation.

Nwosu said that positive reputation would enable companies to control their prices better and achieve industry recognition and leadership.

Speaking on the topic: ”Beyond Transactions: Delight Stakeholders Build Reputation,” he said that setting objectives,  budget planning,  recruiting and training staff, developing facilities and managing resources would be needed by an organisation to achieve good reputation.

The Chairman of C&F Porter Novelli, Mr Nn’emeka Maduegbuna, said that the company had strengthened its strategic communications offerings to ambitious clients in both the public and private sectors.

“With global partnerships and in-depth local insights garnered over two and half decades in the Nigerian market, our partnership with Porter Novelli (PN) has strengthened our strategic communications offerings to ambitious clients in both the public and private sectors.

“This, no doubt, contributed to C&F becoming PN’s hub for West/Central Africa and strategic partners across the globe,” Maduegbuna said.

Originally called Corporate & Financial Communications Ltd., C&F started in 1997 as a specialist consultancy focused on corporate and financial communications. 

The company grew into a driving force in public relations and the corporate world.

In 2007, it took a major step toward solidifying its global reach by joining the Porter Novelli network as an affiliate partner in West Africa; hence, its rebranding to C&F Porter Novelli. (NAN)

 

Edited by Ijeoma Popoola