TECHDIGEST – Another Nigerian Public Relations agency, LSF PR, has emerged a recipient of the Golden World Awards of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) 2022.

With this feat, the firm has now joined Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), the only PR firm from Nigeria that has consistently won the GWA IPRA since 2016.

Founded by Bidemi Zakariyau Akande who is its Chief Executive Officer, LSFPR is a full-service public relations firm with core competencies in corporate communications and consumer brands, representing local and global brands across the entire African continent and UAE.

READ ALSO: IMPR Calls for Entries for 2022 Security and Spokespersons Awards

LSFPR is a multiple award recipient at SABRE African awards held during annual conferences of the African Public Relations Association (APRA).

During the 2021 SABRE award which recognises Superior Achievement in Brand-Building, LSFPR won the best campaign in Mining and Extractive Industries category and bagged Best PR firm in West Africa. In 2022, LSFPR also bagged Certificates of Excellence in Media Relations , Corporate Image and Crisis/Issue Management categories. It was also shortlisted as a finalist in the Energy and Natural Resources category alongside agency counterparts across Europe, Middle East and Africa (SABRE EMEA).

Before this latest development, IMPR, the publishers of PRNigeria, Economic Confidential and Spokespersons’ Digest had remained the only PR agency from Nigeria to have won the GWA of IPRA in more than a decade.

From 2016 to date, IMPR has remained one of the most formidable indigenous African PR firms, winning Public Relations awards at continental and global levels.

Apart from being shortlisted as one of the five finalists for the African Public Relations Agency of the Year, IMPR was ranked number one and identified as the most creative PR agency worldwide in the 2020 Global Creativity Index (GCI).

The foremost statistics portal, Statista identified “Image Merchants based in Nigeria as the most creative PR agency worldwide when the results were weighted by staff size, scoring 1,400 points in the ranking. Second was Kurio from Finland with 933 points. Edelman was the largest PR agency worldwide in 2019, when ranked by fee income.”

The yearly GCI, produced by PRovoke, formerly Holmes Report, ranks the most awarded PR campaigns and firms in the world, weighing their impacts while taking cognisance of their staff size.

Meanwhile, the IPRA Secretariat regretted that it would not hold the Award ceremony billed for Japan in October due to what it described as “ongoing problems around the world.”

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TECH DIGEST – Nigeria is ranked 47th out of 182 countries on the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2020 and occupies the fourth position in Africa.

The top three nations in Africa are Mauritius, Tanzania, and Ghana, while Nigeria, Kenya, Benin, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia make up the top 10 countries on the continent.

The GCI is an initiative of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialised agency for Information and Communications Technology.

It was first launched in 2015 by the ITU to measure the commitment of 193 ITU member states and the State of Palestine to cybersecurity.

It was to serve as means to help the member states identify areas of improvement and encourage countries to take action, through raising awareness on the state of cybersecurity worldwide.

The evolution of cybersecurity risks, priorities, and resources has also led GCI to adapt to give an accurate snapshot of cybersecurity measures taken by countries.

The report said as the COVID-19 pandemic began to take hold in April 2020, Internet traffic increased by 30 per cent. From telecommuting to remote learning, technology played a key role in keeping people connected, and for the digital age to realise its potential, a trusted and safe cyberspace must be key.

According to the report, “global losses due to cybercrime is estimated from as low as $1tn in 2020, to as high as $6tn in 2021,” and there would be 3.5 million to 4 million cybersecurity jobs left unfilled globally in 2021.

Based on the report, the World Economic Forum estimates that approximately one million people go online for the first time each day, and two-thirds of the global population owns a mobile device. And while the advantage of digital technology brings immense economic and societal benefits, cyber risks can quickly erode the benefits of digitalization.

It said that a significant number of countries were yet to develop sector-specific training, and over 50 per cent of countries lack programmes tailored towards specific sectors or professions such as law enforcement, legal actors, small and medium enterprises, private companies, and government officials.

The United States of America ranked first on the GCI, while United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia tied in second position, and Estonia ranked third.

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By MohammedDahiru Lawal

TECH DIGEST – It was indeed a most thrilling moment for me when I became privy to the news that Nigeria’s Image Merchants Promotions (IMPR) Limited, publisher of both PRNigeria and Economic Confidential titles clinched the highest ranking in a rating of the most creative Public Relations Agencies in the 2020 Global Creativity Index (GCI) by PRovoke, in its ninth edition of their landmark survey into creative excellence in the PR industry worldwide.

Incidentally, around the time the ranking came, I was privileged to have been on a call with the ever-dynamic award-winning Crisis Communicator and IMPR’s founder, Yushau A. Shuaib, whose vision, rarity, and exceptional dynamics serves as pivotal instrument to the firm’s many trailblazing wins.

Alhaji had placed me on suspense when he started reeling out the ranking from bottom top. At the time he mentioned that UK’s Tin Man came 14th, I made up my mind that IMPR must have clinched the 13th position but that was not to be as it was another UK firm Manifest that clinched it. As my mind hovered around the possible place of IMPR in the ranking, Alhaji kept reeling out the firms which are Orange 360 (Peru) in 13th position, Trigger (Norway) in 12th position, IN.FOM (Singapore) in 11th, Seesame (Slovakia) in 10th position, AKA Asia (Singapore) 9th position, and The Romans (UK) in 8th position. As my adrenaline rushed with wide expectations and marathon anxiety, I thought IMPR must have been 7th position but no, it was Tribeca, a South African PR firm. By the time the roll call got to the top two and IMPR still was not second, I knew instantly that the multiple award winning IMPR has again done the only it knows how to do best, winning!

It is noteworthy that while other countries like the UK, USA and Singapore had at least two winning firms on the ranking, Nigeria had only one and that was IMPR.

The renowned multiple-award winning IMPR which was weighted on staff size along other competing global PR firms, scored a whooping 1400 points when the runner up, Finland’s Kurio who scored 933, trailed behind the very wide 467 margin given by IMPR, whereas there was not much margin in between subsequent winners as the third position, United States’ Joy Collective who scored 727 was given a 206-point margin by Kurio.

This is not only outstanding, but remarkably fascinating and an event of national pride.

The point that a small African, nay Nigerian PR firm could submerge gigantic PR Corporations in Europe, America, and across the world in terms of dynamics and solutions driven creative possibilities, should catch the awe and fancy of any progressive mind, a feat which in itself is a representation of the very idea that patronage of foreign products and services is more and more becoming a wild goose chase, especially when we have firms that can exceed expectations and satisfy needs.

In particular, our commercial businesses and politicians should see clearly from this that they do not need to launder stashes of hard currencies into foreign lands just to pay lobbyists exorbitant charges for an image make-up when home-based firms could deliver double on the bargain.

The IMPR ranking did not come as a surprise, it has won several local and global awards from revered institutions back-to-back and the uniqueness of its campaigns are just magnificently awesome especially the referenced “NAF’s Women of War” and “CBN on Fire; WhatsApp to the Rescue” Campaigns.

This is among other overt and covert campaigns it has championed for national interest none of which has ever failed.

Founded by award-winning Crisis Communicator, Yushau A. Shuaib, Image Merchants provides PR advisories to financial sector and critical institutions including military, security, intelligence and response agencies in Nigeria and it is indeed a remarkably outstanding PR firm from the past, in the present and for the future!

Long live IMPR!

God bless Nigeria!!

Mohammad Dahiru Lawal is Campus Journalist of the year 2020 and Convener/Managing Editor, Arewa Agenda for sustainable development.

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TECH DIGEST – The Image Merchants Promotions (IMPR) Limited, publisher of both PRNigeria and Economic Confidential is ranked number one and identified as the most creative PR agency worldwide in 2020 Global Creativity Index (GCI).

The ranking is confirmed by Statista, the leading provider of market and consumer data and the best statistics portal in the world.

The annual index, produced by PRovoke, formerly Holmes Report ranks the most awarded PR campaigns and firms in the world, weighting their impacts, while taking cognisance of their staff size.

In ranking agencies against their peers, the weighted table is segmented along regional lines, producing the top five rankings for North America, EMEA and Asia-Pacific.

Image Merchants, which is not affiliated to any larger PR firm, is also ranked number one in the list of top-weighted PR agencies in Europe, Middle-East and Africa (EMEA).

Founded by award-winning Crisis Communicator, Yushau A. Shuaib, Image Merchants provides PR advisories to the financial sector and critical institutions including military, security, intelligence and response agencies in Nigeria.

Since 2016, IMPR, has consistently won African PR Awards, SABRE Awards and Golden World Awards hosted by African Public Relations Association (APRA) and International Public Relations Association (IPRA) respectively.

The Global Creativity Index reports that “in 2020, the first position title on top weighted PR agencies is taken by a Nigerian firm Image Merchants Promotions Limited, thanks to campaigns for the Nigerian Air Force, Nigeria Communication Commission and Nigerian Customs Service. Finland’s Kurio ranks second, moving up from third in 2019, with Brazil’s Sherlock Communications dropping from second last year to fourth.”

In the third spot is US firm Joy Collective, thanks to its Crown Act campaign for Dove, while Romania’s Rogalski Damaschin moves up from ninth to fifth.

The geographic diversity of the weighted table again stands out. In addition to Image Merchants of Nigeria, Finland, Brazil and Romania in the top five, there are also firms from Australia (CampaignLab), South Africa (Tribeca), Slovakia (Seesame), Singapore (AKA Asia and IN.FOM), Norway (Trigger) and Peru (Orange 360). Three firms from the UK also make the top 15, led by The Romans, up to eighth from 15th last year.

Meanwhile the top of the overall agency table is dominated by global PR networks for their volume of awards.

BCW has taken top spot in the 2020 edition of the Global Creative Index, marking the first time that the WPP PR firm has ranked first in PRovoke’s annual benchmark of creativity in the public relations world.

The ninth edition of the Global Creative Index analyses entries and winners from more than 25 PR, digital and marketing awards programmes from around the world over a 12-month period, up to the 2020 Global SABRE Awards.

The formula takes into account the expansion of ‘public relations’ work across multiple categories at advertising-oriented shows such as the Cannes Lions, although several of these competitions did not take place this year.

BCW’s performance was powered by a range of work from across its global network, including award-winning campaigns for Boehringer Ingelheim, Coca-Cola, Huawei, Lenzing, the NBA and Tencel, with much of the work originating from its Asia-Pacific, EMEA and LatAm markets.

BCW moves up from second in 2019, ahead of Edelman and Ketchum, with just four points separating the top three this year. Edelman jumps from fourth, benefiting from campaigns for Causes for Animals Singapore, Coop, Gerber and Unilever, among others. Ketchum, meanwhile, stays third, supported by campaigns for Gillette, Mastercard and Wendy’s.

Weber Shandwick, which ranked first in 2019 for the fourth time in five years, drops to fourth in 2020, ahead of Ogilvy and Dentsu — neither of which change positions. There is a major leap for Golin, up from 21st last year to seventh in 2020, while FleishmanHillard, H+K Strategies and ICF Next round out the top ten.

Sources
Statista: Most creative PR agenciesworldwide weighted by staff size in 2020, according to Global Creative Index

Provoke: Global Creativity Index

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