Second edition of WorldPRDay holds amidst glitz, glamour
By Ibidunni Banjoko
Public relations practitioners across the globe have taken the heroic step to celebrate and tell their stories during the World Public Relations Day (WPRD), which annually holds every 16th of July. The second edition of WPRD 2022 was celebrated amidst glitz and glamour on different platforms, giving future hope to the practitioners and stakeholders, especially in the Nigerian public relations space.
Organised with the theme, “Trust, Truth and Transparency, the event was inspired by the need to present a unified global agenda for a better understanding and utilisation of public relations practice.
Set aside as a day dedicated to truth, honesty and reputation management in a way that is beneficial to all people across the globe, July 16 also honours Ivy Lee, one of the pioneers of Public Relations practice who was born on the same date 145 years ago.
According to the organisers, the event is part of the international PR firms’ general commitment to continually propagate the appreciation of PR and its impact on the world.
Ayuli Jemide, Lead Partner, Detail Commercial Solicitors and Head of NBA Business Law Unit, who was the keynote speaker at GLG communication, noted that PR practice is supposed to inform, persuade and integrate the society.
“Organisations should open a trust bank account for workers and managers, from which they can withdraw intangible assets any time they do well and into which they can deposit assets according to the proportion of their deeds,” he said.
According to the legal practitioner, who has a passion for public relations as a weapon for ‘bridge building’ in an organisational setting, “every stakeholder has to answer a rhetorical question: where is your trust bank where you work?”
On his part, Adekunle Ayeni, chief executive officer and founder of Black House Media (BHM), who is also the convener of WPRD, said: “The profession is grossly misunderstood and underappreciated. World PR Day was created as an opportunity for public relations practitioners and enthusiasts across the world to unite and stake a claim for the practice.”
“The world is doing itself a disservice with the level of regard it bears for the profession. PR is more than a terribly misunderstood, poorly appreciated, and thus poorly remunerated practice,” Ayeni added.
He continued: “It is a very important day and an opportunity for the PR practitioners to tell our own stories. PR is at the strategic level and will continue to create the opportunity for PR professionals to be at the table to guide and counsel communications directors, chief executives, and stakeholders.
“I believe that the central issue that we have is the fact that there is a huge trust deficit in relationships and within communities and that comes from continued intuition of the value of honesty, trust, integrity and credibility.
“The theme for this year is for us to be able to have an honest discussion about the value of this principle, not only to share and learn but to be able to draw the attention of people around the world that need PR.
“I will say that we are better today in terms of how the world understands and uses PR than yesterday. However, there is a lot of work to be done, there is a huge journey ahead of us in being able to create a nexus, find a meaning between theory and practice. And I believe a conversation like this will provide an opportunity for us to send out an agenda.”
Slyvester Chauke, Chief Architects – DNA Brand Architects, said: “In the last two years, PR has come to set a stage in showcasing what we are there to do, at a certain level, identifying, crafting and disseminating messages that help to drive a specific narrative to what we do.
“There has to be so much respect for PR because when the pandemic hit, how we got our message across to people was so important. That is why I like this year’s theme, Trust, Truth and Transparency – as we do that in our profession, how we actually amplify our messages matter.”
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