The only way you can sell ideas is if you crack your brain- Modion Communications boss

Odion Aleobua is the Chief Executive Officer of Modion Communications, a Public Relations firm. With barely three years in the creative industry, the firm has been able to hold its own and solidify its place in the competitive Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) space. The firm enjoys a good number of clients, among which is the Lagos State government. In this interview with Amechi Obiakpu, at the agency’s Lagos office Aleobua delved into issues around the Integrated Marketing Communications space. Excerpt:

Congratulations on your awards- the ‘Outstanding Young PR agency of the Year’ at the 2017 edition of the Marketing Edge Brands & Advertising Excellence Awards and the Innovative PR Agency of the Year, at the 2018 Marketing World Awards held in Accra, Ghana. Knowing, that Modion Communications is barely 3 years, how does it feel like?

A bit of a surprise. But its good not only for me but for the vision we have for the team who are young and have been working to achieve the vision that we set out to actualise.

Would you say it’s a way of appreciating your work despite that you are young in the industry?

I think it is an a testament to the fact that the industry is recognising the fact that we have made a foray into an agency work and that we seem to be doing the right thing

For 3 years how has it been like?

Learning, its tough but rewarding.

Did you envisage any challenge before venturing into PR?

I understood I was going into a tough environment because its not what I started as a career path for my early life. So, some of the challenges I saw were new to me so I had to learn and relearn. Some of the opportunities we have are also phenomenon. I give you an example, more than 50% of the clients we have this year were referrers. People just call from the blues. Infact, 100% of the clients we got this year were referrals. People will just call saying I saw what you did for so and so people come and work for us. So, I didn’t know it was going to be this fast. I thought we were going to stay for a while and do a humongous campaign before people will begin to see what we can offer. What that tells us is that even the little we are doing, people are seeing it and that means we cannot retrogress but will continue to reinvent ourselves.

What can you say Modion Communications is doing differently knowing there are a thousand other agencies out there?

So, what we have done quite well is position ourself as a PR agency proper. We are not your media agentry, which a lot of people confuse PR agency for. They will call you and say put us on ABC platform. We have been able to distinguish that from our plan that we can actually create a solution that help create a narrative for you to maintain or amplify that narratives. We have been solution driven, we have been able to show client that you can use trend or data to change your narrative or grow it we have been able to show clients that you can work at a speed that other agency are not delivering which right now is our strength and what is also tiring us out. We have also shown that PR agency can be very creative. So combine have actually given us the edge.

When PR is mentioned, what comes to your mind?  

As an expert what comes to my mind is building equity for the sake of our goodwill or for CSR.

Of all the brands or organisations you have worked with, can you say you left a lot of them better off?

Definitely, I will give you examples. We always say in the office that Governor Ambode created the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund and we berthed the design, from the logo design to its first communications strategy were design from this office and we have been with them since 2016 and it’s a contract job where KPIs are consistently apply and you don’t get renewed if those KPIs are not met. I think the LSETF is the most rigorous client that we have but we continue to past the test and continue to help them change the narratives. People don’t understand that building a brand especially a government brand is actually difficult because it is difficult for people to trust government and building one that people can actually perceive is going to be partisan is actually more difficult. But, today people who know LSETF don’t come across it as a partisan or that you have to know some one in government and it’s a deliberate strategy to create that narrative and the team can see clearly how you can manage certain aspect of your realities to amplify certain narrative or perception from the public.

People say it is difficult to survive in an industry such as this. For yours with just about 3 years you have some appreciable clients, is there a godfather somewhere?

I would not mind. I don’t think we have the type of clients that will make me strike not gold but platinum yet so am waiting maybe this interview will help us I will be happy to get one. But the truth is we have applied some unsual tactics to help us get into the market. I walk into a place I tell them I do PR they don’t understand what am saying. I do free PR for them. On the phone just now someone called that they needed a job done and they are not going to pay us. But it’s a client that I can easily win next year. So we are going to do a job that we can neither make a loss nor a gain. Sometime we use our money as part of the business development plan to convince clients that, this is the way to go. For me my philosophy is the key that helps you win a client is completely different from the one that you need to keep the client.

What are the pointers you look out for when you want to engage an organisation?

We look at what kind of organisation it is from strategy, to mission, vision, are they aggressive, if they are we can even do stunt for them are they conservative, what kind of stakeholders do they have. We do stakeholder profiling, is there one that needs to be consistently reminded of the core value that the brand brings, is there one that can be directly engaged not through the media.

If you find any red flag or an organisation that do not meet the criteria do you walk out?

Yes we have walked out from an organisation who didn’t know whether they are building brand or they just want to have an agency. It was a contract business. But again, we are in the business of selling ideas and the only way you can sell ideas is if you crack your brain. If the client does not allow you to ideate, you should let the client go. We are not just in the business of making money but also by being creative and consistently ideate.

PR is all about managing brand image and perception why is it difficult to sell brand Nigeria?

Like I said earlier, a lot of people don’t understand PR you get into a place and people will say go and put me in Punch or Guardian and I say that is not what you need. We need to know your strategy and why exactly you need PR. Let us look at you and suggest to you if you really need what you request. What if the people you are targeting don’t read Punch or The Guardian. And once we know you are ready to listen to solution we know that you are the client we are ready to work with. Look we have had course where the paper we ask client to use is a sports paper even though they don’t sell sports but if you look at their stakeholders profile and perceive clearly that their target segment use a certain segment of the media- sports whereas this person is saying he wants to be put on Businessday. That is where I come out about looking at trend, data and all kind of insight to the consumers and stakeholders for all kind of solution.

Brand Nigeria?

The government has never really set out to build Nigeria as a brand. The only first attempt was by Olusegun Obasanjo with the Heart of Africa which was closer, even the Nigeria: Good People, Great nation, by Dora Akinluyi was a slogan. That was not building Nigeria as a brand. Building Brand is too comprehensive for just launching a campaign. To build a brand firstly, I always say you have to look at the entire P of marketing. Whether you are looking at it from Jeremy Mccarthy four Ps or the entire eight that most scholars have proposed. What is constant is that the first P is product- what is product Nigeria first? When I show up in Nigeria either as a visitor or a citizen what does brand Nigeria gives me. That has to be in place before I start to sloganeering. What happen is that we keep sloganeering. I cannot go out and MOPO flogs me for doing nothing other than ask him not to blow siren near me and then I go home in the evening and I see good people great nation, it will not sink. Because I still have the pain of the crack of the whip on my back and I know that there was no one I could call to seek redress. There is no recourse to correcting the mistreatment I got from the institutions that are supposed to protect me. And then you tell me.. am not going to buy it. If you say PR engenders goodwill, that will fail from day one so there is no way. I have not seen deliberate brand building by the government. But the truth is, it is possible. Am always angry when I hear people say Nigeria or Africa’s biggest problem is perception, am like its true and we should be billionaires because we should be the one solving those problems. Because again it provides a huge opportunity and there is a whole lot to be done.

Then what kind of solution would you proffer?     

So first, build the institutions right and make sure there is a clear brand promise. If you say police protect you, the police should protect you. If you say the police is your friend then mean it by the letters and action. That means if you say police is your friend you create an institution that ensures that that friendship is exacted. And that if it fails there is a place I can make recourse to and ensure that I get served as a friend. If police slaps you today as a friend where do you go to? If I come into Nigeria and the first thing I smell is the stench from the airport toilet and I go back tomorrow and everybody still have their jobs I cant be claiming to be proud of that country. So we must get things right, there must be clear fairness and there must be deliberate attempt to provide for Nigeria. I must see infrastructure investment in safety net. It is those emotions that if people are happy that those thing that can connect PR to. The emotion that is there now is negative.

Nigeria must first have a vision, what is our vision? The greatest country in Africa? That is not difficult but let me show you how it is done. Am a PR adviser and I hear that a Nigerian is beaten in Uganda, the president is sending someone there because we are the greatest country in Africa, you will have to explain why you did that. It’s a PR gimmick. What happen is by the time they see the pressure that Nigeria then brings on Uganda every Nigerians walking on the street of Uganda will be bouncing knowing clearly that they have a government whose influence transcended beyond the border. They hear that there was an attack in Burkina Faso and 7 Nigerians are there and we fly an aircraft to go and pick them people will want to be Nigerians. So when you envisioned that you will be the greatest country in Africa, then your people must just be as great as the nation. Do you beat prince walking on the street- no. Nigerians should be prince and princesses walking in any other streets in Africa. But, we are disrespected even in Tanzania. And you expect Nigerians to die for their country. If the court grants millions in damages to a Nigerian whose rights are violated by a police officer and within 3 days the amount is paid the force will sit up. But even with the pronouncements by the court nothing happens how can I be proud of that country?

What kind of awareness are people like you bringing to help government people who are not knowledgeable about these things?

So, next year, am going to be writing more and start bringing some of the issues to the fore. Write in such a way that it does not look like you are fighting the government- because in Nigeria writing also can get your business into trouble. The mind-set am trying to look at is, how do I write the truth without looking like you want to go and fight somebody. Because the government can come on you and frustrate your business I don’t want to do that. Am also will be working very close with the NIPR to ensure that the institution is used to push the advancement of professional PR practise in Nigeria among others, those are what am promising myself in 2019.

Why did you left the corporate world for PR and at what point did you think this is it for you?

Ok, so I left IGI and went to Oando, from there I went to head Corporate Communications at Forte oil. So I put in a lot of energy into corporate planning and PR strategy and I know that I could make a lot of money instead of doing it for just one organization but multiple organizations and I know that a lot of organisations have actually benefitted from me. And I wanted to do that before I was forty and I was in a hurry at one point.

For the record, it was not for the money. It’s a generational position because at some point those who are leading the group will exit. It’s a natural order, who are the people who will lead next? Is it quacks who are coming through and calling themselves PR practitioners or people who are trained for the job. So you have to stake your place in the place of history and that is what I want to do.

Are you comfortable with some of the things you hear from the industry?

No. And that is why I told of the things I planned on doing in 2019, to write more and play a lot more roles in shaping NIPR. Really, am not going to beg to get government job, but if someone makes a case for me- that will be welcomed. Am also not going to be in a hurry except I get the assurance that the government will listen to my strategy. So, yes, am ready to work in a role that makes impart, I have been making impact in every organisation I work with.

For start-up, how do you come to their aid especially those who are interested in PR services but could not afford it?

Sometime we provide free services for them. But what they don’t then get is our fast response. There are some SMEs we have afforded free services to, but you cant brief us today and expect response the next day, except you are a paying client. For me as a start-up except it is critical, the first thing is to build your vision. Make sure your mission is clear because for me, that is what am going to act on if am to consult for you. This should come first, before your finances or taxes. That should come first before any other things are put in place.

What kind of support do you think government should provide to business owners?

I will like to see good tax incentives, I will like to see tax officers act as agents rather than enforcement officers. For businesses when you get taxed your mind cuts, I don’t think it should be like that- the agents should relate on advisory role than result to threat. I think Nigerians want to pay tax. I have seen small businesses act as tax consultants with people keen about tax payment. Except am deliberating dodging, I want to see tax organisations become service agents, people who will come to teach you than ‘threaten’ you because the tax officers should understand that they are better off in surviving organisations. If they should kill all of them where will they get tax from? So my survival is critical to you and I think you should make oxygen available for me to breath.

In your opinion, why do brands with Nigerian origin find it difficult to outlive their founders?

Short term planning, lack of vision and lack of succession plan. We did a training some time ago, and the guy just threw us a curve and asked everybody to write down the vision of their organisation and we got 70% of the staff writing the same thing. And I think that is what it should be. When everybody understand that this is the direction we are pulling through, it is easier for somebody to run with it and don’t build the business around yourself, I understand that sometimes, nobody can drive your vision better than you but beyond the visioning and actualization is short term planning.

I mean did they prepare for 100 years. Founders whose brands outlive them plan for it and lay succession plan for all to see.

What should we expect from Modion Communications in the year to come?

A whole lot, from January/February, we will start showing that the three years we have been in the industry we were just testing the water. We are going to be in the social media week and going to be discussing something on the new media- research. We are not going to be discussing research because we google it, but because we did it. So, we just concluded a research on what is going on in the in-trading segment of traffic trading- we call it the ‘Go-slow economy’, what data and trend is telling us. The truth is that the Lagos go-slow is an economy of its own. You will be shocked the ecosystem that is there.

Do you mean the volume of sales from the go-slow?

What is the demography there. Let me give you an element that stood up from there. When we say who are the people that trade in the taffic am sure you will say the young people. The first person we interviewed was a 65-year-old. Meaning this 65 years old has a lot of stamina to engage in go-slow trading. You will be shocked what research unearths for you. So some of what we think we are seeing there are more to it. What we have actually seen is that these guys are nomads. They actually mark movement. They are not just staying one place but move from one place to the other. So, most of the time its actually the same set of people you see in about different places. One day we will mark the movement of a particular person and his impact. The third one is where do they get goods from. Are they an extension of a true distribution or is it a creation of its own.

But we know that there is clampdown on go-slow trading by the government…

That is why we are looking at it, is it based on research, what do they understand. When they clampdown on them because I say its an ecosystem, does it not affect others. Let me give you an example there is a guy who has freezers along these routes where the trading goes down for the day how are the drinks still cold each time cold drinks are demanded. So, there is a place where the goods are kept for a fee. If you knock that guy out when you remove the traders on the go-slow, then you realise that you have created unemployment for more people, this is because one do not have a full picture of the ecosystem. That is what we want to unearth in our research.