L-R: Prof Olusola Oyewo of University of Ibadan (U.I), External Examiner for the Ph.D Thesis and Eddy A. Ademosu at the Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo State recently
By Nudoiba Ojen
The former president, Association of Communication and Marketing Professionals in Banks (ACAMB), Eddy Ademosu, has bagged a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Mass Communication and Media Studies at Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State.
Ademosu who recently successfully defended his thesis on “Public Relations (PR) Practice and Brand Management in Nigeria’s Pre and Post1996 Banking Industry”, earned the distinction of the academic degree by conducting an indepth comparative study of the interconnectivity between the reputation techniques of PR and Brand Management in a financial industry with utilitarian service of over 68 years.
In an Abstract to the over 225 pages-study, Ademosu’s contribution to academic knowledge stems from the gap created by previous extant studies in the field of Financial Public Relations (FPR) with reference to brand management in the Nigerian banking industry.
The research work jointly supervised by Prof. Muyiwa Popoola, a specialist in Communication, Media, Politics and Conflict Studies, and currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC), Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo as well as Dr Segun Ojo, Sub-Dean, Postgraduate School, Faculty Communication and Media Studies, employed mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology to underscore the potency of PR’s Adequacy, Relevance and Efficiency (ARE) in bank-brand management.
The study also established that today’s PR has advanced beyond the incidental functions of the past to more of strategic communication approaches, validating the propositions of “Excellence Theory of PR” and “Four-by-Four Model of Strategic PR”.
In the study, Ademosu who is a consummate public relations and brand management practitioner of over 30 years experience (mostly in the banking industry), canvassed realignment towards digital communication strategies to meet the future bank-brand management’s exigences.
He also counselled PR professionals in financial service sector to devise strategic approaches that would engender financial knowledge-based stakeholders and build their capacities.
