‘REDEFINATION OF PUBLIC RELATIONS WILL COME THROUGH REDGECKO’
-TUNJI OLUGBODI

Having started his career in The Guardian, Tunji Olugbodi has almost two decades in Marketing Communications and Media. Undoubtedly, he is one of the finest brains in the industry and as served in several capacities before taking a bow as the Executive Director, Client Service, Prima Garnet Ogilvy. Olugbodi is a full member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, London, Chartered Institute of Marketing, Nigeria, a member of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and also a Course Speaker for U.A.C Training School ; Financial Institutions Training College (FITC) Lagos ; and a Faculty/Circuit Speaker on Marketing/Business and Management.
Presently the managing director of Verdant Zeal, a full fledged marketing communications agency set to deliver exceptional results by consistently fulfilling brand needs across the globe.
In an exclusive interview with Fisayo Ajibola which was held in his moderately furnished, but elegantly spacious office, he revealed the secret of the success of verdant Zeal which is been in operation for five years and why he recently set up Red Gecko, a public relations outfit despite the many challenges he claimed to be facing the PR industry

What are the Challenges so far?
It’s been interesting and challenging. Having the courage to think out of the box and getting man power who share your dream was an issue. Our environment is an emerging market and one really need to be up to date to be abreast in the industry where not just ideas but solution rules. It’s also challenging looking at the economy we found ourselves.
Starting this business was not easy at all. The uncertainty over 2007 elections really prevented many corporate organizations from doing business per se. People were doubtful about the sincerity of the government of the day to conduct a free and fair election in the country. And despite all these fears Verdant Zeal will be five years come March 2012.
I never imagined I could rely on generators almost exclusively for the first three years of our operation. Funding was also a bit difficult because banks are not helping entrepreneurs in this country. However, my take is I shouldn’t deal with any bank that rejected me when I was struggling to stand.
We resolved not to work with people who are already set in their way so that we won’t have to remake them. We started on a clean slate. We left all we knew and started on a clean slate. A lot of rules and laws have to be re-written.Our competition does not come from fellow marketing communications firms but from clients because technology has made it easy for some clients to do some of the jobs themselves.
Getting, retaining and rewarding professionals is also a big challenge in this marketing communications industry because capacity building is not something to take with levity. There is always shortage of copy writers. It’s an industry that clients are looking for the cheapest service which most times is available from the mediocre or those without real knowledge, so you must be seasoned to remain in business or else space will be created for foreigner to come dominate the market.

You recently open a new outfit name Red Gecko, what’s the motive?
The motive behind red Gecko is for specialization. Its our aim to do marketing communications from another perspective to satisfy the yearning of our teeming clients. Red Gecko is into public relations and custom publishing to give quality to any clients on our shelves.

Are you Retiring soon?
Very soon because I have professionals in all categories, we have a very strong culture that has been embedded in our staffs and this among other qualities makes them work under little or no supervision. The company is not built around me so it can survive even if am at the back stage.

When is usually the best time for one to say I now want to be on my own?
For me, I think it works on three levels. One is the power of personal conviction. The day I became convinced, nothing else mattered to me. And when I say nothing else, absolutely nothing else mattered. It didn’t matter whether I was going to be riding a bicycle instead of an official car; it didn’t matter to me whether I was going to be operating from one room instead of whatever, I just knew that it was time for me to go and that was it. Now, the interesting thing about that is that looking back after a few months, many people now started asking me, how come you’ve not been doing this for so long? And to be honest, may be if I did it, I wouldn’t have had the same level of success, if I can put it that way, because it wasn’t based on conviction. For many years, some people had been telling me, you need to go and do your own thing, you need to move on. But I just didn’t find any compelling reason to and the day I found that reason, nothing else mattered. I just wanted to get out and get it done. I think the second way it works is that you must have something to offer. Unfortunately we see today many situations where people operate out of brief cases because everybody wants to become a managing director. Long before I became a managing director, I had met managing directors. So, you don’t have to be called a managing director for you to draw relevance. But you must have something to offer because at the end of the day when it gets to the crunch, it’s what you’ve got within you, it’s what you bring to the table that the people buy. So, there must be something in terms of seed that other people can either invest in or believe in. I think the third thing when you talk about time is also that, if you are somebody that is spiritually led, you will always know. You will always know because many things will work towards that confirmation. Even if they are not obvious, for instance, the year that we started was a very challenging year. It was 2007. It was an election year and I had some people say to me, oh, you know, election year is not good for business, you don’t start a new business in an election year, bla, bla, bla. And I just said well, whether or not, for me, this is the time to do it and we thank God we did it then.

Kindly let us into your Background and growing up?
I was born in Lagos on March 26, 1964 to the family of Pa Joshua Oyedele Olugbodi, who hails from Ara town, in Osun State. my father retired from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
My mother, Mrs. Grace Olabisi Olugbodi, a trader is a native of Abeokuta, Ogun State and we are eight boys and one girl. Growing up was fun because of the great parental care at our disposal especially from my mother who was always around to watch over the children while our father was constantly on the road looking for livelihood.
In spite of the challenge posed by the early retirement of my father in 1981, the development did not stall our education as all of us benefited from university education. By the time my father left the CBN, only one of us was in the university, meaning that the other eight had to be sponsored through retirement benefits and through our mother’s support.
I attended Salvation Army Primary School, Iyun Road behind the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos between 1969 and 1974, but had to move to Ejigbo, Osun State for my secondary education where I attended Baptist High School between 1974 and 1979.
I really still can’t explain why my parents just decided I should go to Osun State for my secondary school education. My parents woke up one day and took me there to go and write a common entrance examination which I passed.But today, I don’t have any regret because part of my experience in my formative years were informed by my experience in Ejigbo.
“Those were days when senior students looked like fathers because they were very mature in age.Interesting, I was vulnerable in school because of my Lagos accent and my fair skin. It was easy for the seniors to pick on me from the crowd. There is something original in that rustic environment. I learnt to appreciate Yoruba language the more. I was lucky to have schooled in a society where people value lives. The spirit of being one’s brother’s keeper is still in me up till now.
For my university education, i attended Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye between 1983 and 1987 where I read English Language. My dad wanted me to read law but I preferred English Language as a discipline. He was one of the first set of law students at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in the 1960s. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t complete the course because he was an indigent student, so he saw my admission as an opportunity for him to realize his dream. I didn’t want anybody to dictate my course of study to me and I decided not to pursue the admission My stay in the university was the most definitive period of my life.
I had a stint with the Guardian Newspapers first as a sub-editor and later, as a judicial reporter said I have always been involved in art-related work. I have always been involved in things that have to do with acting and speaking.
‘For instance, right from my secondary school days, I had been a member of the school’s literary and debating society as well as a member of the drama group.
I did my National Youth Service in Markudi, Benue State and returned to the Guardian where i worked between 1984 to 1989.
I had to combine my sub-desk work with reportorial on the judiciary desk. The bulk of my job on the sub-desk was on the editorial page where I made contact with heavyweights in the Guardian at the time. These were people like Dr. Olatunji Dare, Odia Ofeimum, Femi Kusa, and Edwin Madunagu among others. I left the Guardian in October 1989 because I realised there was more to the profession than I had the aptitude for. From there, I joined Saal Advertising Agency in Fadeyi, Lagos as a copy writer.
I spent three months there before joining Promoserve in December 1989. Although, I was to start as a copy writer but I had to start in client service department. In January 1992, I joined Prima Garnet where I spent 15 _ years and rose to the position of an executive director.
I quit Prima Garnet in March 2007 to start Verdant Zeal. Starting from a zero customer at Prima Garnet to an enviable level was part of the milestones the company achieved those years. I left the place because I felt there was nothing else to achieve there because I kept doing the same thing over and over again. I then told myself that I could start from the scratch again.
So when we started Verdant Zeal, there was no client, just a handful of people who believed in me.