NIPR to establish measurement body by June
The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has concluded plans to set up a measurement and evaluation body by June, 2017. But experts have kicked against it, insisting that the body must be independently set up.
Speaking with MARKETING EDGE, National President of NIPR, Dr. Rotimi Oladele, noted that the measurement and evaluation body will be inaugurated alongside the mainstream examination policy of the institute.
The argument by those opposed to NIPR’s move is that whilst it is important for the industry to have such body, it must however be seen to be independent in order for it to be free from credibility crisis.
Managing Director, Topcomm PR Concept and Events Management Company, Mr. Temi-Tope Ogbeni-Awe, said that should the NIPR go ahead and establish the evaluation body, it may run into problems because it will not have the opportunity to operate as an independent entity.
But the NIPR President has stressed that setting up the measurement and evaluation body was necessary as that would help practitioners in the industry to adequately measure the value of PR campaigns.
He however added that some practitioners were already advocating that PR should no longer use the Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE). The AVE is a measure that has been used in the public relations industry to ‘measure’ the benefit to a client from media coverage of a PR campaign, but the tools has come under criticism over the years having been described as inadequate and unethical.
The argument for proper PR measurement outfits has been a major talking point among practitioners over the years, who are worried that clients were increasingly questioning the impact of PR campaigns on the brad building value chain, in the absence of empirical proof of campaign impact.
This has led to massive reduction in PR budget as the years go by and even outright cancellation of PR budget by some clients. This situation has however forced many PR agencies to begin to reposition by inculcating measurement and evaluation into their PR campaign processes in order to convince clients of their relevance.
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