APO Group’s Advisory service
Creative & bespoke PR solutions to fit any brief

Aliko Dangote is a man who needs little introduction. Dangote is known for his international charity work and was recently named one of the 50 most influential people in the world.

His PR team has worked with APO Group for many years. Their challenge is not necessarily in generating PR, but in shaping a strategy that keeps his profile high and his messaging sharp in markets outside of Africa.

Challenge

In September 2017, Mr. Dangote was speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York City. His PR team was busy trying to line up business meetings for his trip, so allocating media slots in unfamiliar territory was a tough assignment for them. Mr. Dangote is known as a man more comfortable talking business than speaking with journalists.

APO Group’s Advisory team was asked to do whatever they could to attain interesting and positive coverage of Mr. Dangote’s US trip. The first step was to engage the services of a journalist who was one of the few invited to attend a seminar where Mr. Dangote was speaking on a panel along with the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.

Solution

During the seminar, Mr. Dangote talked about the opportunity to diversify African economies. “Africa will be the food basket for the world,” he said. Within minutes the journalist had tweeted the quote and an accompanying image.

APO Group also took the opportunity to publish the portrait of Mr. Dangote on the NASDAQ tower in the heart of the city, creating huge public awareness of the brand at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising.

This type of unconventional, but effective PR service is a powerful way of elevating the profile of well-known people and organizations in creative and imaginative ways.

Outcomes

APO Group’s Advisory team knows that timelines are often tight, and opportunities to make a real impact can come and go quickly. That is why it is imperative for us to think & act fast.

Press releases cannot always capture the message effectively in the fast-paced world of high-profile figures like Aliko Dangote, so PR teams need to think outside the box and find new and exciting ways to tell a story.

The Dangote team gave APO Group their complete trust in creating a unique PR programme that truly delivered the goods.

View Dangote Feature on TIME Magazine