UNILORIN Urge Students To Excel In PR, Advertising

The authority of the University of Ilorin (Unilorin), Kwara State has begun the process of repositioning its Mass Communication undergraduate students before the completion of their programmes, to deeply understand, and tap into the huge potentials inherent in the practice of Advertising and Public Relations in order to ensure a better future for them.

In view of this, the institution organised Advertising and Public Relations competition among leading eight Nigerian universities to prepare them for future professional tasks in the field.

The competition saw the University of Ilorin clinching the first position, while the University of Ibadan came second just as the Kwara State Polytechnic picked the third position.

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Tertiary institutions that participated in the creative contest include the host university, the University of Ilorin, University of Ibadan, Al-Hikmah University, Kwara State University, Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara State Polytechnic, Summit University and Fountain University.

Tagged pitch-a-ton advertising creative contest, the competition provided students with real-world experience of creating a strategic advertising/creative pitch for a corporate client.

The competing students from various universities were able to display a high knowledge of Advertising and Public Relations, based on a hypothesis from the perspectives of individual universities.

The convener and a lecturer of in Mass Communication department of the institution, Dr Kehinde K. Kadiri, told Saturday Vanguard in an interview that the students were expected to develop a creative advertising plan for a real product/service and then present for consideration their work to advertising professionals in the industry.

Kadiri said, “We believe that there is no better way to learn about advertising campaign process than by actually developing a campaign for a real client

“The field of creative communication is like a battlefield and I believe that to be relevant, the students have to be better prepared to face this battle. This preparation should not just be theoretical but also practical exposition from professionals in the field who have tasted the war and are conquering.

Continuing she said: “The advertising industry in Nigeria is a volatile and dynamic one. Hence it is important that students start learning about the tricks right from school so that they would not meet a drastically different approach from what they were used to when they eventually get to the real world.

‘Hence, this creative competition will not only add to the reservoir of knowledge of both students and lecturers in communication, but it would also shrink the town and gown relationship that is needed in academia”.

Credit: Vanguard