THE idea behind Neta & Netas
Right from the time I worked with Contact Services, that was many years ago, I’ve had that dream that I would establish a company that would further expand on what Contact Marketing was doing, at that time. Even while I was in the media, the dream never died. So I’ve always had the dream. So when I left The Sun, it’s like going back to my dream. The next thing was what do I do? I took on Public Relations, Media Relations, Event Marketing and journalism. I had interactions with various people and the question was how can you be doing PR? The fact that you are a journalist does not mean that you are qualified to do PR. I had difficulty in convincing them that I’m not just a journalist that I’ve also worked in below- the- line marketing agencies. So this is just to inform you that I’ve registered a company, Neta & Netas. It simply means the truth and the best, because that is what the name, Neta, means in English. Interestingly, that is what we are going o stand for and uphold in our dealings with our clients at Neta & Netas.
My credentials speak for me
Neta has been within the nation’s media and integrated marketing communications industry for close to three decades; twenty nine years, to be exact. I started from Vanguard, as Special Project Executive, a dual function of having to interview companies and run their ads in a package. I did that for Vanguard, Sun and Concord. At Concord, I went a bit further in joining the team to set up the first exhibition in newspaper business, the Concord Fair. Then I took on a page in Weekend Concord, doing features stories and reporting fashion. From there, I went to Daily Times, where I worked in Saturday Times Title on the Features Desk and still maintained my Fashion page. I was eventually engaged as a Media Relations Manager, there. Later on they took me to Lagos Business School where I had the training on PR, in Media, in Marketing communications. The first brand I handled was Sand Cream Soda. I was in the team that developed the brand from the scratch. I’m talking of the naming, the packaging, the distribution, the launch into the market, merchandising, the brand positioning and all that. I was also part of the team that organised ‘Loud in Lagos’, the biggest concert that I think Nigeria ever had. All these actually attest to the fact that I practise PR, branding and integrated marketing communications, not just by mouth. I can pin-point brands that I’ve worked with. I was among the top team that set up The Sun Newspapers.
From Advert Department, which I christened Business Development, I went into Corporate Services, while I was still having my brand coverage and all that and the results are there at the Sun to show.
The longest page sponsorship deal that I contracted is still running and it’s been on for 14 years now. That’s the longest ever in the industry. So there is the need for me to tell my story so that the public and my prospective clients will know where I’m coming from. To let the world know that though I have that journalism background, I also have the marketing and events backgrounds, too. So I believe I’m an all-rounder and highly qualified to toe this line.
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Our partnership with APCON
It was a franchise agreement with APCON (Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria) as an editorial and marketing consultant for their in-house magazine, the Advertising News (AdNews). We are expected to repackage the magazine in such a manner that it will move on from just being a mouthpiece of APCON and covering the advertising industry, to having to look at issues within the industry, monitor the trends and help advertising practitioners to sustain their jobs in terms of having to do more on education, on industry issue. It’s more like education now, in the sense that it shapes the advertising practitioner into a better professional, by providing latest information. We’ve been given the magazine to manage. Neta & Netas is in charge of everything that has to do with the magazine.
Though APCON is still the publisher, we agree on contents together because they have their objectives, we have ours. So I’m managing everything. I source for the contents, the ads, I do the marketing, we just agreed on a sharing formula.
Neta & Netas will throw up more professionals
Neta & Netas is not going to be all about me. It’s not going to be like what happened at Contact Services when I left and there was a huge vacuum, which is also being experienced somehow at my last place of work. Now we are having and grooming Netas, that is the people that will go out, be on their own, stand on their own. So for those that will work here, it’s not just about being an employee of Neta & Netas but being another Neta, and vastly-improved one at that.
Brand journalism and the nation’s marketing communications space You see there is something about us, brand writers. When you write, you travel with the brand, you experience the brand. So, as a brand writer and now a business executive, it gives me an advantage. I have an advantage of being in tune with many of these brands. I know where some of these brands started from. I can conveniently tell the story of certain brands in Nigeria. So if I go out to pitch for some of these brands, I’m speaking from a position of knowledge of such brands, a better knowledge of the brands. That is what I believe we brand journalists have that added advantage of interfacing with some of these brands. We cover almost everything. That is why sometimes we even see ourselves in politics, studying and providing political communication. I can tell you of stories about politicians and political parties from the angles of communication. I can tell you and analyse to you the story of Abiola’s campaign, because I’ve always been a brands person. So if I’m going to propose to any politician, I’ve been there, I know where to start from. So I have that edge of having to understand this brand over the average PR company in Nigeria, because some of them have never travelled with these brands. It is the stories I have written the stories you have written that they use in their packaging. Don’t forget, I have a Master of Science in Media from Pan Atlantic University. I was in the place for two years, analysing brands and sharing experiences of brands for those two good years.
We are ready to fight for our share of this market I believe all these experiences put me in good stead to successful navigate the ship of this new company, Neta & Netas. Though highly competitive and tough, but I have the strong belief that I’m more than qualified to survive in this terrain, and very ready to fight for our own share of the market.
and then