Nigeria Content Online

It is the season
for political campaigns and the media space is agog with several
messages aimed at winning the minds of the electorate. This piece will
focus on the campaigns for the highest office in the land – the
presidency, due to the fact that it should set the pace for others.

A communication
campaign should be strategic in all ramifications. The strategy reaches
for the end goal in mind – what change is expected at the end of the
campaign. The strategy is that single thread that holds the entire
communication campaign together. And when this is faulty, all other
elements fall apart.

For any
communication campaign to realise its purpose, there should be set
objectives to be achieved. These should be placed within the campaign
time frame and what the desired response of the audience should be. The
campaign objectives will help in designing and planning the chain of
activities that will achieve a tangible outcome.

Based on this, it
is obvious that none of the political campaigns of the aspirants have
coherent strategy that can resonate with the electorate.

Personally, I have
not seen that campaign that brings out the distinctiveness of the
brands, that is the aspirants. It seems all they are interested in is
buying advert space and using ordinary acronyms to project the
aspirants. A political campaign should be issue based, which eventually
will touch the lives of the people.

For instance, it is
not mandatory that the declaration of interest should be done through
open rallies. What stops a presidential aspirant from going to a rural
environment to drive home his message of making every Nigerian have a
sense of belonging? One of the aspirants tagged the campaign ‘Making
Good Things Happen.’

The question is, in
what specific ways? Let us take unemployment for example; the aspirant
can provide us with empirical evidence of unemployment in Nigeria and
proceed to offer workable strategies to empower the vast majority of
the youth.

There should be a
concise message you want to pass across to the target audience and in
this case, I have not seen any that will strike a chord in the minds of
Nigerians. The other day, I watched a documentary on one of the
aspirants. It was more or less a Tale by Moonlight story, as there was
no single message to hold on to. It is the message which is hinged on
strategy that can drive the campaign process.

Strategic branding effort

One thing that
stands President Barack Obama out is his message, which is based on a
strategic branding effort. The campaign, the speeches, and the message,
positioned him like a high end consumer brand. I believe Nigerian
politicians should take a cue from this. It is also imperative to state
that Obama was positioned like a real brand, and this stood him out.
His was a very robust and colourful campaign that endeared him to the
people. From his campaign, he utilised several strategies to achieve
his aim of firing the enthusiasm of his audience. He really moved his
audience with his speeches and the response was instantaneous. We need
such vibrant campaigns that will really inspire us and open a new
chapter in our political landscape.

Quite a lot of
money has been expended without Nigerians holding on to a specific
message and how the campaigns will translate to benefits for Nigerians.
We should ask ourselves, what is the benefit of the campaigns to us?
Every brand, short or long term, holds a promise of benefit to its
target audience. It is the expectation of this benefit that stimulates
desire.

Even though I
stated earlier that this piece will be limited to presidential campaign
alone, I remember vividly Jimi Agbaje’s campaign some years ago for
Lagos governorship. It was one that was very strategic in all intents
and messages. It really aroused the curiosity of Lagosians and arrested
their attention. His campaign endeared him to several people and he was
even the preferred choice of some young people. Why? He had a focused
and inspiring campaign that was hinged on a coherent strategy.

Political campaigns
in Nigeria should be innovative, inspiring, and dynamic. It is also
important to develop tactic as part of the communication campaign that
addresses specific targets in the country. It is also imperative for
the campaign handlers to first focus on the aspirants as brands.

This will go a long
way in coining several messages aimed at moving the people to action. I
have not seen a notable pay-off or slogan that appeals to the
generality of Nigerians. A coherent strategy delivers impactful
messages, which ultimately influence the target audience.

Ayopo, a communication strategist and public relations specialist, is the CEO of Shortlist Ltd.

shortlistspecialists@gmail.com