PR Practitioners Advocate for Establishment of Independent Measurement + Evaluation Body

September of every year has been set aside as the measurement and evaluation month by the International Association of for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications (AMEC). To mark this year’s edition of the iconic month, foremost communications firm in Nigeria, CMC Connect Burson-Marsteller in collaboration with AMEC, and a brand intelligence and research company, Ornico Group organised a one-day breakfast workshop which held at CMC Connect’s head office in Lagos on 28th September, 2016.

The workshop themed ‘Can You Measure Up?’ brought together a host of experienced communications and public relations practitioners from different organisations including Airtel Nigeria, Accenture, Jagal, FBN Quest, Access Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Nigerian Breweries, representatives of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) to mention but a few.

Director, Corporate Communications & CSR, Airtel Nigeria, Emeka Oparah; MD, CMC Connect, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya; President, Lagos Chapter of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Olu​s​egun McMedal and Executive Director of CMC Connect, Raheem Olabode at the PR Measurement and Evaluation Workshop facilitated by CMC Connect & Ornico​ ​in ​Lagos, Tuesday 27th September, 2016.​

In his keynote address at the event, Country Managing Director, Accenture Nigeria, Mr. Niyi Yusuf, spoke on the importance of measurement to communications, saying that setting specific return of investment (ROI) model will help PR practitioners define measurement and evaluation. He went further to emphasis the role of technology as a disruptor, which provides an opportunity to reach a wider in conducting research or survey. He charged PR consultants to prove the value of PR to clients using quality measurement metrics.

The key facilitator of the event, Mr. Francois Van Dyk based his presentation on the Barcelona Principles 2.0. He extensively delved into the 7 core areas of the Barcelona Principles. Going further, he reemphasised the important of ROI in communications while stating that the Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) method being used by practitioners is wrong. The highlight of his presentation during the workshop was his live demo of the AMEC Interactive Framework, an online tool which is designed help communications professionals measure the impact of their campaigns from goals to impact using a variety of metrics. He reassured participants of the safety of their data on the online interactive tool.

Airtel’s Director of Corporate Communications & CSR, Mr. Emeka Oparah, in his remark reiterated the importance of measuring communications activities and how it positively affects the organisation’s bottom-line as this is a way to position the communications department as a value adding unit to the organisation. He also went further to advocate for the establishment of an independent measuring body for communications practitioners. He said this will help ensure objectivity in the quality of the measurement and evaluation.

In his closing remarks, MD, CMC Connect Burson-Marsteller, Mr. Yomi Badejo-Okusanya thanked the participant who were present at the workshop and charged them to ensure that the highlights from the workshop are put into practice. He said this will help reinforce the value which the communications department is adding to the organisation.

According to him, the aspect of measurement has remained a knotty issue in the field of communications for a long time. The adoption of the measurement principles endorsed by the global measurement body AMEC will go a long way in helping practitioners prove the value of their activities to the bottom-line of their respective organisations.