By Martin Ekpeke
Irvine Partners, a hitherto South Africa based and one of the leading Public relations and integrated marketing agencies on the African continent, has expanded its footprints to Nigeria.
The company said in a statement that its entry into Nigeria is as a result of the strategic importance of the country market, reputed to be one of Africa’s dynamic country. “Nigeria is a dynamic and important market and our clients need us there,” says CEO Rachel Irvine.
She believes the physical presence in the country means the company is able to directly service its international clients in the Nigerian market, and Nigerian clients, internationally.
The new office is in addition to Irvine Partners’ offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg. It is being headed up by Marian Balogun, who has experience in handling external PR for multinational firms and a knowledge of Nigeria.
Already, the Lagos office is already tasked with handling blue-chip accounts such as Google Nigeria, which the agency also represents in South Africa, and will be aggressively pursuing new business opportunities.
Irvine Partners kicked off its Lagos operations with the recent Google for Nigeria event, attended by Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Irvine Partners worked with the Google EMEA communications teams to ensure blanket media coverage across all channels.
Irvine says her team is actively looking into other markets on the continent – specifically Kenya.
