Victoria Uwadoka, Corporate Communications, Public Affairs and Sustainability professional at Nestlé Nigeria, has identified audience understanding, genuine human connection and responsiveness to people’s needs as essential ingredients for communication excellence. In her view,  feedback and audience relevance in building stronger relationships with stakeholders is very critical.

At the same time,  she maintained that,  understanding the people they address, communicators can ensure that their messages do more than reach an audience but  also generate understanding and meaningful responses. Speaking at the 2026 MARKETING EDGE Awards in Ikeja, Lagos, Uwadoka maintained that effective communication goes beyond distributing information to establish meaningful connections between communicators and their audiences.

Explaining that a message achieves its purpose when the recipient receives it, understands it and provides feedback, she added that, “Communication is about making connections. It is not about putting out information, communication professionals must pay closer attention to how people receive and interpret messages instead of concentrating solely on what they want to communicate.”

Again, she argued that practitioners who understand their audiences can create more meaningful interactions and deliver greater value. More significantly, Uwadoka described a genuine interest in people as a fundamental requirement for anyone seeking to excel in the profession.

“If you do not like people genuinely, you are in the wrong profession. If you do not like to be useful to people, you are in the wrong profession, start with the people, start with being useful to the people and also, start with meeting the needs of your audiences.”

Building on this principle, she urged practitioners to place audience needs at the centre of their communication strategies, understand the expectations of the people they serve and ensure their messages encourage engagement.

Furthermore,  the communication expert stressed that communication remains essential to human relationships because every meaningful connection involves an exchange of information, ideas and understanding. She therefore encouraged professionals to pursue mutual understanding rather than rely on one-way messaging.

Turning to the awards, Uwadoka expressed gratitude to MARKETING EDGE for recognising her contributions to the communications profession through her nomination for Outstanding Communications Personality of the Decade.

“I am really humbled and honoured. It is not a small thing. I am really excited, thankful and appreciative of MARKETING EDGE for the recognition,” she said.

Adding another reason for celebration, she revealed that Golden Morn and Milo, two brands associated with Nestlé Nigeria, had also recognised, making the occasion particularly exciting for her and her team.