Statement-Making Is The Name Of The Game!

In 2007, Bobby Taylor was a newly established Public Relations company based in Canada and fairly unknown in the Nigerian scene. But by the following year 2008, it would have as clients, some of Nigeria's hottest acts including D'banj and M.I - all thanks to a bright pink gift bag.

"I had a strategy for coming back to Nigeria", Bukky explains

"I noticed that the Future Awards was having a ceremony so I contacted Chude Jideonwu and introduced myself and my company to him. I told him that I wanted to donate gift bags to all the winners of the show and he agreed. The deal was at every interval, it would be announced that the gift bags were donated by the Bobby Taylor company. So I went and got this beautiful bright pink bags with Bobby Taylor written on them. Inside the bags were House of Tara brushes, music by Asa and TY Bello, Shirts by Mr King, books by Ekene Onu and even ipod shuffles. They also had my company profile in them. Keep in mind that every time someone won an award, they were carrying a Bobby Taylor gift bag and camera men were photographing every moment of it''

It worked like a charm. The word was out and by the following day, she got a call from D'banj who was one of the winners that year and recipients of the Bobby Taylor gift bag. Since then, Bukky's client base has grown spanning not only the entertainment industry, but also the beauty and even corporate sector with clients like Estee Lauder, Clinique and MAC cosmetics.

Born and raised in Lagos, Bukky whose father owned a shipping company was exposed early on to PR as her mother worked as MD Marketing for Nigeria Airways.

"I grew up with Charley Boy riding his bike to my house every Sunday. My mum was very involved with the USA 94 Super Eagles team because Nigeria Airways was the official carrier for all the athletes and everyone so I had PR as a background. I also did quite a number of Nigeria Airways commercials and I sang in the opening of the 1984 Most Beautful Girl in Nigerian competition."

As a result of all the exposure to PR, Bukky says she no longer thought of it as work, and opted instead to study African American History with a minor in Women's Studies at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She goes on to describe her time there as "meaningful and deep"

"I was very involved in school and the arts and being black. I actually started off with psychology then I took my first African American History course that talked about slavery and the impact it had on blacks and the Americans as well. It also touched on the fact that majority of slaves were from Nigeria. Before then I had gone to the states every summer and saw a lot of black people but I had never made the connection with this huge slave trade situation so I never knew the depth of it and I found it more interesting. As a result, I had major identity crisis, I didn't want my hair relaxed anymore, I cut it all off. I started tying head wraps in colourful African fabrics, stopped shopping in stores because I was very against sweat shops. I was also a very strong activist. When University of Massachusetts got rid of affirmative action in their admission process, I led a rally. We took over their administrative building and lived there for 2 days. Also for one of my courses, I spent an entire term in prison talking to black women and finding out why they were there. I was very pro-black. I became president of my sorority which was the first black sorority ever founded in the states called the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority incorporated. I was the vice president of the MPHC council, Black Student Union, PR person for African Students Union. "

Interestingly enough, Bukky got selected after school to do a 5-year PhD program in African American History which would put her in the forefront of becoming a professor but she turned down the offer and moved to Washington where she worked in Law firm and also became heavily involved with the Nigerian community there. She would later move to Canada where she worked as the Special Assistant to the Associate Dean of Medicine.

The Birth Of Bobby Taylor

I started working for a PR company called ICPR and that was when I realised all the things I'd been doing naturally could be turned into a business. When I was in the states, there was a fantastic organisation called the NRC and we had a Nigerian reunion every year where we picked a state and everyone that was Nigerian flew in for it. I was heavily involved in this without even being asked and people appreciated the work I did. I just never realised that it could be turned into a business and as soon as I knew that I could, I went for it. I tapped into all of my past experiences from my undergraduate days, the Law firm which helped me with drafting MOUs for my clients, also my time with the Dean furnished me with administrative skills and also planning itineraries which came to play in individual PR clients like D'banj. In the end, all the things I did gave me the training I needed.

Bukky who says that being a returnee offered no particular advantage to her, asides giving her a global perspective to doing business cites landing the Fela on Broadway contract as her lucky break moment.

"I went in with other agencies, pitched and got the gig and the event was successful. Broadway New York coming to Nigeria and knowing that the event was largely supported by Asiwaju was a big deal for me."

For someone who earns a living from planning events, it's no surprise that she no longer finds them exciting. What she does enjoy, however is a good party.

"I party to unwind. For me to really relax I need a crowd and very loud music. I like people around me and I like my music loud because it almost blocks everything out."

A tomboy at heart, Bukky admits that she only recently started attempting to wear dresses and lists Republic of Foreigner, Tiffany Amber, Phunk Afrique, Ejiro Amos Tafiri and MAI as her favourite designers. Clearly a lover of good shoes, she picks Mo Abudu's closet as one she'd like to raid if she ever got a chance to.

"I totally want all her shoes" she responds with a glint in her eyes.

Work notwithstanding, Bukky reveals that her family comes first before anything and would sooner postpone an appointment than miss picking and dropping her children from school.

"Family is most important to me. I'm very family oriented. I do all school runs myself. I will turn down any meeting because I need to pick up my child. I do all homework and lesson teaching myself."

Of her biggest learning so far, Bukky says that its knowledge of self and confidence.

"Know who you are and be confident in who you are or you could be taken advantage of. Also know what you're doing and you have to deliver, that's what sells here. You can't deal in half measures you need to deliver over and above measure so that when you charge, people will believe that when they pay top dollar, they'll get top service"

The Bobby Taylor tag line reads "because you're buzz worrthy" and I can't help but wonder if everyone really is buzz-worthy. Her response:

"Everyone I represent is. I do not represent any client who's brand I don't believe in, its very personal for me. Even if you come to me with millions of naira and I don't buy into what you're doing, I can't sell it which means I'll most likely fail so I'll most likely reject it."

7 years after penetrating the Nigerian market through a clever strategy, Bukky is not done making statements. Nor is she done with strategic positionings. This much is clear when I inquire as to what the Bobby Taylor signature is. Her response - an experiential relationship with the press.

"I want our relationship with the press to be different. I like to create experiences for our press people because I'm more interested in earned media as opposed to paid media. If a new perfume is coming out there's no reason why the journalist I want to write about the perfumes won't have a bottle. I want when my press people hear that Bobby Taylor has this account they'll know that some VIP experience is going to come out of it. So when they're putting the word out its easier and more authentic because they have experienced it first-hand."

"Strategic" she concludes with a smug smile.