Where my 2 loves meet: Public Relations and Fashion Awards

The Late Kofi Ansah inducted into the Fashion Hall of Fame

I had the opportunity to attend the 2015 Institute of Public Relations (IPR), Ghana Excellence Awards and also the 2015 Ghana Fashion Awards event last weekend.

How these two events got to be on the same weekend I could not fathom with. Both events happened on Friday and Saturday respectively.

The exciting thing is that these 2 events represent the 2 industries I am passionate about.

As a Public Relations professional, my specialty is in the fashion, beauty and lifestyle industry; Fashion PR Professional.

Fashion PR focuses on managing brand positioning and developing brand awareness.

Some members of IPR Ghana

The IPR Awards

The IPR awards, organized to reward outstanding performances of Public relations practitioners and organizations held its 4^th Excellence Awards and 8^th Presidential dinner dance for members at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel.

I got there just as the main event was about to start. With this profession as old as it is, I expected to see a lot of people especially the young ones. I think the institute should find a way to absorb many of the young PR practitioners to become active in the institutes activities.

The night was climaxed with the PR Personality of the Year and PR Discovery of the Year titles conferred on Dr. Joyce Aryee, Executive Director of Salt and Light Ministry and Gifty Bingley, Director of Corporate Communications & Responsibility at Tigo Ghana respectively.

I am proud to see these women soaring greater heights. They are an inspiration to many of us.

JOT and Vanessa Gyan, presentors at Ghana Fashion Awards

Ghana Fashion Awards

To my second love; Fashion. The fashion industry in Ghana has received some recognition in recent times. Awards events are being organized to encourage and recognize hard work and creativity. The Ghana Fashion Awards 2015 was just timely.

The night started off with a cocktail and networking session at 7pm to 8:30pm at the World Trade Center. Though it was scheduled to start was 8:00pm, we started 30 mins late which isn’t bad looking at our expectations influenced by our experiences at similar events.

Hosted by media personality and e.TV Ghana’s JOT and Vanessa Gyan , students from Joyce Ababio College of Creative Design and BlueCrest College thrilled guests with some refreshing designs on the runway and performances by Nana Yaa and Adomaa

After all the fun, Pistis took home the plaque as the Fashion Designer Brand of the Year and She by Bena was the Emerging Fashion Design Brand of the Year. With some nominees disappointed about the outcome, I could only say that they need get their PR game on next year and could be the winner.

As a judge for the Ghana Fashion Awards, one thing that was evident was that designers need to step up their game in creating a fashion brand identity as well as create brands that challenge the status quo and have strong business modules worth emulating.

The Convergence

The IPR and Ghana Fashion Awards are both young in existence hence the need for both institutions to work hard to gain credibility and reputation of members and industry people.

Having attended these events, the importance of PR in fashion and to any business is unquestionable.

The role of public relations in the fashion industry is to put the face of clients and businesses by generating buzz about the brand to fashion bloggers, celebrities and the public. Fashion businesses need carefully planned PR campaigns to become successful brands.