By Our Correspondent
The Insurance Industry in Nigeria is set to embrace a deliberate attempt at measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of its public relations and other related communications campaigns. This came to fore after a round table interactive session by members of the Corporate Communications and Branding Managers of Insurance Companies under the auspices of Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) popularly known as CAMCONIA. The interactive session was led by a paper presentation by Mr. Philip Odiakose, the Managing Director of P Plus Measurement Services on the topic – Measurement and Evaluation of Communications Campaign. The interactive session addresses issues such as why the Advertising Value Equivalent (AVEs) was denounced as flawed being a tool of measurement, the Seven (7) Barcelona Principles being a guideline that directs and not necessarily a tool of communications measurement, the crises of selective media monitoring. The discussion generally centered around five identifiable valid metrics to measurement which are brand awareness, brand preference, brand reputation, customer metrics and competition metrics.
In the words of the chairman of CAMCONIA, Dr. Tunde Odeyemi, it is high time that the insurance industry began to make concerted efforts at investing in strategic mass communications campaigns to further enhance the image of the industry. He said to achieve this, there is need to have an effective and efficient means of evaluating and measuring the impact of such campaigns. He added that, there is still a lot to achieve in strengthening insurance penetration and patronage in Nigeria and that the perception of Insurance is a critical factor to accomplish this, the right perception can be achieved by excellent and measurable mass communications initiatives. Recalled that CAMCONIA recently concluded a retreat held in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State on the theme achieving positive corporate identity and superior brand management in a turbulent economy in which topics such as harnessing marketing communications strategies for positive corporate image, crisis communication, evaluation, strategies and effective positioning, contemporary techniques for managing media relations and negative press were discussed. Additional topics discussed amongst others are strategies for growing brand equity in a turbulent economy – the Nigerian experience and building virile corporate reputation: issues, challenges and strategies.