Lekan Ishola, MD, PR Redline speaks on what it takes to run a successful PR agency

Lekan Ishola is the Managing Director of PR Redline, one of the leading Public Relations agencies in the country. In this interview with Prestige International Magazine, the amiable professional bares his mind on various issues including the practice of public relations in Nigeria and what it takes to run a successful PR agency.

How did you get into public relations practice?

It is a long journey; I actually started out as a journalist. But before that I read Communication Art from University of Ibadan. When I was asked to go and do my national youth service in Taraba State, I didn’t know the quality they saw in me, I was appointed the corps Public Relations officer (PRO) for NYSC office in Taraba State. We were the first set of corpers to be posted to Taraba State that was in 1992. I happen to be the first NYSC PRO and I had to work directly with NYSC information Officer. My first assignment was a crisis management, at the orientation camp corpers rioted and at the end of the day they embarrassed the Governor of the State. Governor was so angry to the extent that organizations and offices were asked not to admit corpers for their primary assignments unless corpers go and beg the Governor. That was my first assignment and I had to lead the team of Corps Liaison Officers (CLOs) together with NYSC Information Officer to meet with the then Governor Jolly Nyame. I had to speak on behalf of the corpers and Governor was so impressed that he said “I have forgiven all the corpers”. I did not know that I was coming to do that as a professional at the end of the journey. In journalism I covered various beats like education, business and brand. Latter I asked myself ‘After Journalism where else can I deploy my experience, talents and educational background having read communication art in school ’. I saw Public Relations (PR) as a fantastic idea. I came in; I started from the scratch being a media relation person. By the grace of God I have been in that field now for 15 years.

What are the various organizations you worked with before getting to PR Redline?

I started with SDI Associates, from there I moved on to TPT, but in TPT I was not in core PR, I was in publications. Then Brand Faces was our flagship publication for brand. It was then I sat down and I conceptualized idea for special publication for Gulder Ultimate Search from the conceptualization of idea to when a winner would emerge. And we sent the proposal to the Agency that was handling Gulder for Nigerian Breweries and they loved the idea. I coordinated the production; we called it a Mini Brand Faces for Gulder Ultimate search. Nigeria Breweries people loved the idea. From there I started seeing myself as a strategy person. The bedrock of PR is strategy. But I had to move on and I went to Ruyi Communications. It is a 360 degrees marketing communications agency. They do Advertising, Media Buying and PR. They were working for UBA, that was when UBA has just being acquired by Standard Trust Bank and they were doing the merging. We worked on UBA successfully, from UBA we moved to ARM. Along the line Lekki Concession Company came up where we had to be involved in stakeholders’ management. From Ruyi I was called back to TPT to become Group Head, Publications. It was a bigger assignment for me then. Latter this opening came up to become MD of PR Redline, then we were FCB redline. We thank God we have done some fantastic things in the last 5 years.

What stands out PR Redline among its peers?

First and foremost; we are 100 percent for clients’ happiness. We do not believe that we have to be making noise when our clients are not happy. We are into business strictly to make clients happy. Clients will be happy when you deliver on agreed objectives. And that is what we always do whether it is a big budget job or small budget job. We believe that we must keep clients happy by delivering on agreed objectives. There are no clients that we have worked with and we had not over delivered. We have never shortchanged our clients. That has been our core strength. For instance, you cannot talk about the success story of Moneygram without talking about the inputs of PR Redline. To the extent that the Lagos State Government awarded PR Redline for what we did for Moneygram.

Can you compare and contrast the practice of Public relations now with what was obtainable when you started then?

Things have really changed. On the good side, there are many tools you can easily assess as PR person. We thank God for the internet and the growing technology. We have tools that we can work with, technology has really helped. More and more clients are beginning to realize the importance and the need for public relations. On the other side, there are so many PR practitioners that don’t really add value at all. By the time these people don’t deliver; clients might be thinking that PR has nothing to offer. Also, a lot of media people are going about claiming that they do PR and PR is not limited to media relations. But the PR practice has carved a niche for itself and people have come to see it as a profession that adds values.

For the sake of our readers, what is your own definition of PR?

PR is a management art that helps organizations and individuals to build goodwill with their target public, the keyword there is in building goodwill. It is not about making noise; it is about the outcome of being heard. Organizations have their target public and your message must meet the target public. Organizations want to be seen as responsible, performing, effective, good corporate citizen. It is the function of PR to help organization achieve this.

Can you tell us some of your clients?

We are serving Phillips, it a global brand; we are serving eco bank; moneygram, we are serving city of Knowledge Academy, which is one of Nigeria emerging bigger school. In the recent past, we served Heritage Bank, Skye Bank, Wema Bank, PZ, especially when they brought Canoe Detergent. On the government side, we work for the APC government. We worked for Osun State Government. We did something also for former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, when he was coming for the second term. We brought the idea of Nollywood Unite for Fashola.

What is your management style?

I believe very much in delegation, I believe very much in team work. I believe that to get things done you need people and objective. So, mine is of management by objectives and micro managing. I like to break my objectives down into units. So that, individual will be driving each units of achieving that objective. That is micro managing. There must also be an objective, before I set out to do certain things I must known where I’m going. I must known where we are driving to, that is why I’m here. We are not interested in I’m the one doing this; we are interested in the happiness of clients.

What is your view on the emergence of in-house PR/ Advertising Agency in some organizations and multinationals?

I will not condemn it, because they must have their reasons. The truth is whether you have in-house experts or a consultant working for you it is important for you to understand what you want to achieve for the brand. It is also important that people who look at your brand with third eye will give you a better assessment of your brand.

Can we say the practice of PR in Nigeria is of international standard now?

It is of international standard; we are moving on and doing well. The problem of comparison is that, culture and tradition are different. Also, the level of development is not the same. We do a lot here.

When you are not busy as a corporate executive, how do you unwind?

I’m a complete family man; work takes me away from my family a lot. Any small time I have, I spend it with my family. And I like to spend time with my constituency, which is the media. I also talk politics a lot. I also write poem. But when on my own I like to listen to music.