The death of Public Relations has been
announced. Born to the Nigerian Railway Corporation and UAC in 1948 in Lagos,
PR lived for 66 years and moved extensively around Nigeria before passing away following
a protracted digital illness which began sometime in the late 2000's.
A memorial service of songs was held in its honour today
at BlackHouse Media, 32, Community Road, Off Allen Avenue, Lagos. The venue was
on of PR’s many locations before its untimely death. Those present at the
memorial service included CEO BHM Group Ayeni Adekunle, CEO X3M Ideas Steve
Babaeko, CEO CMC Connect Yomi Badejo Okusanya and Funsho Arogundade of PM News
amongst other PR and Marketing Communications industry professionals.
Speaking at the sombre event, Yomi Badejo
Okusanya enjoined all present not to dwell sorrowfully on the past but to look ahead
and create a future which PR will be proud of looking on from heaven. He said, “Sometimes it is good to die because that
death gives us an opportunity to resurrect and redefine ourselves and create a
new future for PR like a phoenix rising from the wreckage of a damaged
industry.”
On his part, Ayeni Adekunle encouraged all
PR practitioners to remember the values and skills taught to them by PR during
its lifetime and use these to chart a new course for the industry. In his
words, “Those of us here who are
Christians should know the story of Jesus. He was not murdered and he did not
commit suicide. He came for a purpose and that purpose could only be fulfilled
by his death. That is how we should see this death – as something that needs to
happen for us to fulfill our purpose.”
Following the death of PR, it is expected
that a major reorganisation will take place in the PR industry, with PR firms
and practitioners carrying out mergers and acquisitions, reinventing themselves
as Tech/ICT companies and evolving completely new methods and tools of creating
value internally and for clients.
PR is survived by several children and
grandchildren, including Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing,
Storytelling, Digital Advertising, Big Data and Big Ideas.
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