With politicians and political parties strategising for victory ahead of the 2019 general elections, a foremost strategic communications group in the country has announced its readiness to provide cutting-edge political services towards the elections.
CMC Connect Limited (Perception Managers) made this announcement at the launch of its two political products in Lagos recently.
The two services launched by CMC Connect Limited through its subsidiaries, Connect Intelligence and i-Octane Digital PR (Online Reputation Managers), are Political Market Research and Political Online Reputation Management (Political ORM), respectively.
Aimed at offering electoral data on the one hand and online reputation management on the other, these services are coming at a time when many political office-seekers in Nigeria go into elections knowing next-to-nothing about the terrain they seek to represent/govern or the issues that affect their constituency.
With the launch of these services, politicians and political parties seeking to understand the attitudes, behaviour, needs and wants of the public and key stakeholders within their domain can now take advantage of these offerings.
Speaking at the launch, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, group managing director, CMC Connect (Perception Managers), said both services were designed to deepen democracy and engender maximum participation by all stakeholders.
“In today’s political space, you cannot afford to underrate the potential power of data and content. Anyone who does that does so at his or her own peril,” he said.
Olufunmilola Olufunso-Oke, associate group head, Research & Intelligence Development, CMC Connect Burson-Marsteller, explained that Political Market Research is a fundamental part of political campaigns in developed countries as it has been very useful for politicians and political parties, government departments and councils in their pursuit of political goals.
“Despite concerns about governance, Nigerians are becoming increasingly politically engaged and more discerning. For proper development to happen through the 2019 elections, politicians and political parties need to understand the ‘Peoples’ Power’ by paying more attention to the demands of the electorate,” Olufunso-Oke said.
To achieve this, she said, political office-seekers need Political Market Research, which is a systematic and scientific process, to feel the heartbeat of Nigerians through targeted efforts that provide accurate data on and analyses of voters’ needs, sentiments, attitudes, as well as hidden perception and opinions, the size of the supporters and antagonists, among others. These insights, she added, in turn enhance efficient and effective political strategy.
Olufunso-Oke listed some of the services provided under Political Market Research to include perception audit, opinion polls, vulnerability test, communications research, opposition research, segmentation studies and stakeholders satisfaction surveys.
Also speaking, Opeoluwa Duntoye, team lead, iOctane Digital PR, described Political Online Reputation Management as a process of analyzing, building and managing the online reputation of political aspirants using efficient digital tools.
“With permutations for 2019 elections becoming primary in the minds of politicians, the digital media space cannot be ignored. The terrain carries a positive influence in shaping the conversations and choices leading to the 2019 elections,” she said.
