Demystifying Campaigns
Raheem Akingbolu reviews ‘Power Play’, an enlightenment tool conceptualised by the Ikeja Electric Plc to educate and entertain customers on the hazards and common violations in the power sector
Educating consumers on new invention, application and hazards, is one of the attributes of a responsible corporate organisation. Though it helps companies to bond with their patrons, consumers gain more as such steps equip them with relevant information about products and services. In particular, because of the sensitivity of the power and energy sector, such a campaign is highly recommended to safeguard human lives.
According to BRG Communications, a United States-based public relations firm that engages mostly in consumer education, involving in consumer awareness campaign promotes mutual relationship between brand owners and the target audience.
In Nigeria, many organisations have toed the global path to boost their equities as well as impacting on consumers. The recent being the effort of Ikeja Electric Plc (IE), through a product tagged ‘Power Play’, which is designed to entertain and educate consumers on information relating to hazards and common violations.
Awareness campaign made simple Perhaps because of its status as the nation’s largest electricity distribution company, Ikeja Electric Plc (IE), has taken its safety enlightenment campaign a notch higher with the unveiling of its proprietary board game tagged Power Play.
Power Play is a registered trademark of Ikeja Electric and is conceptualised and manufactured locally. It comprises a segmented board, dice, tokens and labeled cards with instructions on how to play.
The game, which is novel in the electricity industry, is designed as an education and entertainment tool, which provides information relating to hazards and common violations as well as other operational aspects of the business, to customers in IE network, in a family-friendly format.
Speaking on the tool, Head of Corporate Communications, Ikeja Electric, Felix Ofulue, noted that Power Play is the first of such campaign in Nigeria, adding that it is in line with the company’s vision of improving lives by enabling people to live safely, feel better and live longer.
He said: “At IE, we remain committed to our vision of improving human lives by enabling people to live safely, feel better and live longer and this initiative is another way to further demonstrate this belief. Power Play is one great way to connect with electricity consumers, give them required information, entertain and educate on crucial areas of our operation.”
He pointed out that the company has continued to innovatively bridge service and communication gaps between the company and their various publics.
Ofolue admitted that the risks and hazards of the electricity sector needed to be communicated in a creative way, such that all customers including family units could embrace tenets of safety and care, while enjoying fun time.
“The changing communications landscape is a major factor in IE’s quest to seek new and very innovative ways of sharing important messaging that cuts across all customer segment. We have to find creative ways to communicate to all stakeholders in a manner that is both fun and factual. This is why we have created Power Play and we hope it will provide helpful information that will reduce accidents, protect from hazards, help provide operational information and even save lives”, he said.
The Head of Corporate Communications stated that the choice of the launch location was strategic because it provides a platform to share the educational tool with the students with a view to stimulating their interest to become champions of safety education.
“We are beginning with our secondary school children as we believe that they will best embrace the knowledge embedded in the game and of course they will champion the fun-learning process in their various families, being at a significant time of their lives where board games are still a thing of interest and adventure”, he pointed out.
Stakeholder endorsement Meanwhile, the company has disclosed that professional bodies such as the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and Lagos State Safety Commission have endorsed the game, which is currently being distributed across secondary and tertiary institutions in Lagos State.
In recent time, IE has attracted many awards as a result of its stellar performances in the area of safety. It has also made giant strides, acquiring the coveted OHSAS 18001 and the ISO 9001Certifications- the first of its kind in the industry.
During a pilot launch of the product in Lagos, stakeholders and some selected customers were seeing in groups playing the game and expressing how delightful they are about the product. While many commend the company for the innovation, some described its dual advantages of being educative and entertaining as next to none.
An engineer with one of Ikeja Electric’s subsidiaries -Owutu Undertaking, Ikorodu, Mrs. Amdallah Sanni commends her organisation for coming up with the product. She said the tool has gone a long way in simplifying awareness campaign.
“To me, I think this will help our customers, especially women and children to learn with ease about the hazards that are associated with electricity. It is designed to achieve more than education and entertainment. It will keep our customers busy and increase them in qualitative reasoning. On the lighter mood, as we all know, devil finds work for the idle hand, with this, our customers can mind their businesses,” he said.