An Evaluation of Theatrical Publicity Management Practices in Selected Nigerian

Universities.

By

John Ndubuisi Bardi (arpa)

Lecturer, Department of Theatre Arts,
University of Benin, Ekenwan Campus,
Benin – City, Edo – State,
Nigeria.
Phone – 234-8034711223
E-mail = john.bardi@uniben.edu

And

Vincent .O. Diakpomrere (Ph.D)

Senior Lecturer, Department of Theatre Arts,
University of Benin, Ekenwan Campus,
Benin – City, Edo – State,
Nigeria.
Phone – 234 - 8055080212
E-mail – vindee333@yahoo.com
Abstract:

Theatrical publicity management involves the coordination of all publicity techniques meant to
attract the audience to the theatre. These publicity technique may include advertising, publicity,
sales promotion, public relations, word-of-mouth, novelty publicity, etc. The purpose of this
paper is to evaluate the theatrical publicity technique employed by selected universities; the
processes of theatrical publicity and the challenges encountered. The interview method was
employed to collect data for the research. The Heads of Departments and the Business Managers
of ten selected universities were interviewed. The study shows that the publicity technique
prevalent in these universities is the Carnival Publicity; mass media publicity is not common due
to the high cost of production and placement. It is concluded that Theatre Arts Departments in
Nigeria undertake effective and efficient publicity campaign because they are able to attract the
audience to the theatre; nevertheless, publicity campaigns in Nigerian universities lack adequate
funding. It is recommended that Nigerian university authorities should improve the amount of
funding for publicity campaigns during theatrical productions. The publicity directors should
endeavour to manage the funds at their disposal and employ effective and cost efficient publicity
techniques during productions.

Key Words: Theatrical Publicity, Cost Efficient Publicity, Adequate Funding, Carnival
Publicity, Mass Media Publicity.

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Introduction :
Theatrical publicity management is a very important aspect of play production. Theatrical
publicity management practice involves the coordination of all publicity techniques meant to
attract the audience to the theatre. These publicity techniques may include – Advertising,
Publicity, Public Relations, Word-of-mouth, Novelty Publicity, Sales Promotion, and so on.
There are many diverse marketing communication methods that can be applied to get to the
audience of the theatre.
The concept publicity, is a very controversial term in marketing communication.
However, the way theatre scholars view publicity is all encompassing of all the marketing
communication techniques used to attract the audience to the theatre. From a marketing
communication experts’ perspective, the American Marketing Association defines publicity as
“any form of non-paid commercially significant news or editorial comment about ideas, products
or institutions”- (Cited in Ohaja,9). The salient point to note here is that publicity is non-paid, it
is free mention of the activities of an organization or individual in the media. It can come in form
of news releases, press releases, photo coverage, interviews, editorial comments in the mass
media that is not paid for, etc.
Furthermore, in theatre parlance, publicity is viewed as all the “efforts aimed at
influencing favourable public opinion, conduct or action towards the theatre or a production. Its
major aim is to promulgate information to the public with the intention of influencing opinion
and persuading the general public to purchase tickets and attend productions”- (Nwamuo, 111).
If you note properly you will see how a theatre scholar describes theatre publicity as all
encompassing of all communication efforts made to attract the audience to the theatre. He did not
limit it to only non-paid news items in the media but he refers to it as “all the efforts aimed at
influencing favourable public opinion…”. As such, the efforts could be Advertising (paid
promotions), Sales Promotions, Public Relations, Publicity, Word-of-Mouth, Carnival, Novelty
Publicity, and so on.
For the purpose of this paper, we shall view theatrical publicity as any form of marketing
promotions aimed at attracting the audience to the theatre. The purpose of this paper is to
evaluate the theatrical publicity management practice in selected Nigerian universities. All the
forty seven (47) universities in Nigeria that offer courses in Theatre, Dramatic or Performing
Arts in Nigeria produce theatrical productions; as such, they undertake in one form of theatrical

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publicity or the other. The aim of this study is to evaluate how these universities carry out their
publicity campaigns, - the processes and the challenges they encounter.
To achieve the above, ten universities which is approximately twenty percent of the
universities in Nigeria offering Theatre Arts, were selected for evaluation by this study. They
include the following departments -
(1) Department of Theatre and Performing Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
(2) Department of Theatre and Media Arts, University of Abuja.
(3) Department of Theatre Arts, University of Benin.
(4) Department of Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan.
(5) Department of Theatre Arts, Benue-State University, Markurdi.
(6) Department of Theatre Arts, Delta – State University, Abraka.
(7) Department of Theatre and Media Arts, Ekiti – State University, Ado – Ekiti.
(8) Department of Theatre Arts, Imo – State University, Owerri.
(9) Department of Theatre Arts, Igbinedion University, Okada, and
(10) Department of Theatre and Film Studies, Redeemers University, Ede.
The research method that was applied in this study is the survey method . Interviews were
conducted with the various Heads of Departments and their Business Managers to find out the
type of publicity techniques they employ in marketing their productions, to discover the
processes used in applying these publicity techniques and the challenges they faced in deploying
the publicity techniques. In terms of the literary methods, we studied and analyzed the meaning
of publicity and its various types.
The Concept of Publicity:
According to Okwechime (7) “publicity refers to non-personal communication regarding
an organization product, service or idea not directly paid for or run under identified
sponsorship”. Publicity may come in the any of the following forms – news story, feature article
or announcement about an organization and / or its products and services. The point to note here
is that publicity is non-personal and indirectly paid for. Also, most times, it does not run under an
identified sponsor like advertising. The major distinguishing characteristics between advertising
and publicity are that publicity is most times not directly paid for and it does not mostly require
an identified sponsor.

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 Publicity is the art of promotion or advertising a product. It is a process of creating
awareness of the availability of a theatrical product. (Oshiomebo and Idebi, 91). Also,
Ayakoroma propounds that “publicity is any effort you make to influence conduct, action or
behavior. In the media it is a form of free promotion to stimulate a favourable demand,
impression or action towards something” (84). He concludes that this is mostly achieved through
favourable news reports, interviews, talks, newspaper previews, reviews and so on.
Furthermore, Clifford opined that “In general, publicity is the activity whose aim is the
promulgation of information to the public with the intention of influencing opinion and conduct”
(136). He concludes that in educational theatre, publicity specifically seek to inform and
persuade the general public to purchase tickets and attend productions.
From the foregoing, we can conclude that publicity is any marketing promotional activity
aimed at attracting the audience to the theatre. As earlier noted, publicity in theatre parlance,
includes all the marketing communications and not just publicity activities as distinguished by
marketing communication. For the purpose of this paper, we shall abide by the all –
encompassing meaning of publicity as espoused by theatre scholars and practitioners.
In summary, theatrical publicity management is the coordination of all the publicity
techniques applicable in the theatre to promote a theatrical production. There are diverse
publicity techniques available to the Publicity Director that needs to be managed (coordinated).
Most times, the Publicity Director is financially or tactically constrained to use all the available
publicity techniques. As such, they have choice of publicity techniques to make.
Types of Publicity in the Theatre:

Ayakoroma (85) outlines the following kinds of publicity in the theatre – Radio,
Television, Newspaper, Poster, Handbills, Brochures, Billboards, Banners, Mail, Novelty,
Guerrilla, Interpersonal, Telephone, E-mail, Fax, Bulk SMS, Internet and Social Media
Platforms.

Also, Clifford (138-178) mentioned the following as forms of publicity in the theatre.
They include – Radio and Television Publicity, Direct Mail Publicity and Novelty Publicity.
Moreover, Reid (80-99) also highlighted the various forms of publicity applied in the theatre as –
Newspaper Advertising, Television, Radio, Press Release, Magazines, Posters, Leaflets,
Brochures, and Mailing.

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 At this point, it is pertinent to explain the major forms of theatre publicity individually in
detail:

(a) Radio:

Radio is an efficient means of mass communication. It has a very wide coverage and it is
convenient to use, because it can be moved from place to place and it can be listened to while
doing other things. Radio publicity could take the format of jingles, spot announcements, news,
talks or interview, spotlights, magazines, request or greetings programmes (Ayakoroma, 85).
Radio is a very good means to publicize a theatrical production. Apart from radio ad which is
costly to embark on, the publicity director can creatively make use of other publicity methods on
radio, like – interviews, press releases, news conferences, etc, where much money will not be
expended.

(b) Television:

Television is regarded as the most powerful medium of mass communication because of

its ability to combine the audio and visual elements in communication. Television is quite
captivating as a means of communication, it requires absolute attention from the viewer if he is
not going to miss any details.

A television promotion of a production could take the form of announcements with

captions, news, interviews or a spot commercial, (Ayakoroma, 86). Television advertisement is
expensive, hence, it may be out of reach of an average educational theatre outfit. It is advisable
that the publicity directors should create a rapport between them and the television house so that
they can broadcast news, interviews about the organization free of charge. However, if the
theatre outfit can afford to pay for a television spot commercial, it is quite advantageous because
it is very informative and expressive.

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(c) Newspaper:

Again, Ayakoroma (86) asserts that “newspaper publicity takes the form of news, opinion
page, editorials, previews and reviews”. There could also be placement of paid adverts – it could
be full page, half page, quarter page, earpiece, or classified. It can also be in form of publication
of pictures about the production in the newspaper. It could be pictures taken during rehearsals or
in past productions.

Reid observes that “there are two types of newspaper advertising: classified and display.
Every theatre needs to appear in the entertainment section of the classified of its local paper. This
is where the regular audience will look to check what’s on” (80–81).

Classified adverts are smaller in size than the display adverts. As such, it is less
expensive to use in theatre publicity, especially in educational theatre that has the problem of
funding. Although, the display adverts are more conspicuous, but because of the high cost of
purchasing adverts space in the newspaper, it is advisable that educational theatre should go for
classified adverts that are more cost effective. Through this means, more classified adverts
insertion can be purchased on different days.

(d) Poster:

A poster is a kind of graphic communication that can be used to publicize a theatrical

production. Posters are used for specific purposes: to inform, to persuade, to sell, and to
stimulate (Clifford, 146).

Poster has to be –

 Attractive
 Simple
 Appropriate for the play
 Economical
 Informative, in order to be effective and should minimally have the following
contents –
 The name of the producing organization.

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  The title, the author and the director of the play
 The venue, date and time of showing
 Ticket information

In summary, a poster should be very attractive and informative. It should be

compositionally effective, well-illustrated with attractive colours. In final analysis, “the essential
thing is to ensure that the posters are removed after the production so that any new one will draw
attention easily”. (Ayakoroma, 87). None systematic removal of the posters after productions can
lead to defacing and littering of the environment. As such, it is essential to remove the posters
carefully after productions.

(e) Handbills:

According to Reid (93) handbills are also known as leaflets, throwaways. They are
handy, publicity materials that could be distributed on the street, in buses, in trains, ships,
markets, super markets, libraries, schools, offices, etc. (Ayakoroma, 87). Most times, handbills
or leaflets are miniaturized posters. All the information in the poster are also contained in the
handbill; it is just a smaller version of the poster.

(f) Billboards:

A billboard is an obstrusive roadside publicity strategy (Ayakoroma, 88). A billboard

most times comes in form of designs on a plant (that is, ad billboard). The illustration on the
billboards mostly are loud illustrations and little advert copies. The pictures are most times more
than the advert copies. This is because the target audience of billboards are people on the move;
as such there will be no enough time to read the copies if they are much. Consequently, the users
of billboard use the old adage that a picture is more than a thousand words.

Billboards are quite effective in advertising because they are cost effective and they can
reach a large audience, and it can last for a long time if well maintained. It can be intrusive
because any passerby - must see it and the person can be affected to take action by patronizing
the advertized product.

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(g) Banners:

These can be forms of publicity materials designed on canvass that are meant to
compliment posters and handbills. Banners contain all the information that a poster contains;
though they are bigger in size, as such more expressive. For more effectiveness, the lettering
should be bigger than that of a poster; this will make it more attractive and readable.

(h) Direct Mail:

Direct Mail publicity consists of “any publicity material sent by mail to specific prospects
on a large scale. It includes a number of forms such as postcards, letters, brochures, folders, and
flyers, that are sent out for the purpose of obtaining orders,..” (Clifford, 168). In a similar vein,
Ayakoroma (88) propounds that direct mail “involves the use of postal services to keep the
theatre patrons abreast of what is happening. Brochures, tickets, and season’s information are
mailed to them well in advance”.

It must be noted- that direct mail publicity can only be effective in advanced countries
with good postal services. It is also quite expensive to pay for the postal services of reaching
each person. The next snag in using direct mail is compiling the mailing list. This can be
compiled by keeping records of the patrons that attend the theatre. This can be achieved through
audience research. To be effective, the mailing list needs constant updating, so that those that
have changed their addresses can still be captured.

(i) Novelty

Ayakoroma describes novelty as a situation where souvenirs like pens, bags, openers,
face-caps, T-shirts, jotters, and so on, with the publicity materials are distributed free to the
target audience- (88–9).

Novelty publicity is a good public relations gimmick, but it may be too expensive for
some theatres, especially educational theatres. To buttress the above statement, Clifford states
that - “Novelty publicity can be expensive, and there is no guarantee that they will obtain
satisfactory results. They should, however, be tried occasionally for they can help a publicity
campaign-” (175).

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(j) Guerrilla or Jungle Publicity:

This is a form of publicity in which the publicity crew go around town or campus
dancing, singing and attracting prospective audience, and time telling them about the
performance and sharing flyers or handbills to them. Furthermore, bits of the expected drama can
be performed to give the audience an insight into what they will get when they come to the
theatre.

Presently, Jungle publicity has advanced into what is called a “music blast” – a situation
where music equipment is mounted on a vehicle and it blasts music around the environment
while the publicity crew dance to it and distribute handbills. It is advanced because it can reach
more persons; instead of using ordinary voice to announce the programme, microphone is
applied in music blasts. This is a very effective way of publicizing a production especially in an
educational theatre.

(k) Interpersonal or Word – of – Mouth Publicity:

This kind of publicity is “one – on – one” kind of publicity. It is from word-of-mouth,

from one person to another. It is highly interpersonal and intimate. It is one of the cheapest and
the most effective means of publicity in the educational theatre. It can be in form of the publicity
crew moving from one hostel room to another or addressing students in class. It can be effective
because you have instant feedback and you can also sell your tickets in the process or collect
research data from the prospective audience.

(l) Telephone:

In this modern era, telephone publicity can be effective, because almost every adult use a
telephone these days. Phone calls can be made to some important theatre patrons and prospective
audience. It can also be in form of sending short messages to them (SMS) intimating them about
the theatre’s programmes.

(m) E-mail:

Electronic mails are effective and less expensive means of publicity. It is an invention of
the computer age. The computer could be used to send letters to different email addresses at the

9
same time. It is also very cost effective in the sense that the mail could be copied to many
persons. (Ayakoroma, 89).

(n) Social Media Platforms:

The internet now provides various social media platforms for production publicity
ranging from Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln, Badoo, You Tube, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, and
Blackberry Messages to mention just a few- (Ayakoroma, 90).

In educational theatre publicity, social media networking is very important due to the fact
that the major targets are students, who are predominantly youths, who are now obsessed with
the social media. As such, any information sent through the social media patronized by the
students will definitely get to them. Special groups or pages can be opened by the theatre
organization in the social media networks and messages placed on them and sent to various
persons in the groups. It is a cost effective way of getting across to the audience.

(o) Internet (worldwide web (www) or website).

This is a situation where the theatre organization feeds information about its activities
into its website. This way, anybody who accesses the web will come across such information and
act on them. It is another cost effective way of publicity.

In conclusion, publicity in the theatre is very expedient to the survival of any theatrical
organization. This is because, it is through publicity that audience are attracted to the theatre. The
Publicity Director or the Business Manager should be very creative and know the publicity
methods that will serve their theatre effectively in a cost effective manner. Before you embark on
any publicity campaign, the publicist should be abreast of the cost and the benefits derivable
through that publicity. As such, a publicity method should not just be used because it is
attractive; it has to be cost effective and profitable. In this present generation, social media
platforms and website advertisement should be given adequate attention; because the target
audiences in an educational theatre are now internet freaks, as such we should have a way of
reaching them effectively.

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Evaluation of Publicity Management Practices in Selected Universities:
In this section, we shall critically appraise the publicity management techniques
employed in the different universities under study. We shall treat each university individually.
(1) Department of Theatre and Performing Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria:
The Head of Department informs in an interview that the department makes use of the
following publicity techniques to publicize their productions – Posters, Carnivals, Handbills,
Social Media, and occasionally Radio Jingles. The Business Manger also concurred that the
above techniques are applied in the publicity campaign in the department. The Business Manager
asserts that considering the fact that the university community is the main target of the publicity
campaigns, that the above publicity techniques are effective enough to attract audience to the
theatre. It must be noted that they do not make use of the print media and television medium due
to the cost of placement of the adverts in the said media.
The major challenge encountered in the publicity management of the Department of
Theatre and Performing Arts, Ahmadu Bello University is financial. Being an educational
theatre, there is no much money budgeted for publicity due to the low budgets for their
productions. As such, at times they are left with no option but to limit the publicity techniques
used for a particular production. Most times, they apply the most effective in terms of cost;
hence, must times they use Carnival Publicity {Carnival procession} which comes at little or no
cost.
(2) Department of Theatre and Media Arts, University of Abuja:
The Business manager informed in an interview that the department makes use of the
following publicity techniques – Handbills, Banners, Social Media (Facebook, WhatsApp
Groups) and Gyration (Carnival). She stated that these techniques are cost effective and efficient
as means of publicity. It is noted by the Head of Department that the department do not make use
of the mass media to publicize their productions. This can be attributed to limited funds at the
disposal of the Business Manager.
Once again the main challenge faced by the department in theatrical publicity
management is the issue of inadequate funding of publicity activities and the productions in
general. The Business Manager most times do not have enough cash to embark on massive
publicity campaigns; consequently, they limit themselves to the most effective techniques.

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(3) Department of Theatre Arts, University of Benin:
The Head of Department averred that the department makes use of the following
publicity techniques to publicize their productions – Carnival (popularly known as “Jungle
Publicity”) Posters, Handbills, Banners, etc. She noted that presently they do not make use of the
new media officially, but that it is in the pipeline. The Business Manager added that Professor
Muyiwa Awodiya a removed scholar and theatre management practitioner introduced the Jungle
Publicity in the department and that it has been an efficient and cost effective means of publicity
in the department for decades. The Business Manager also motioned that at times, that is, on
occasional basis, the department makes use of mass media as a means of publicity; especially –
mass media interviews, mostly organized with former students and friends working in the media
houses. There is most times no money to buy spots for mass media adverts. The department also
surprisingly do not officially make use of the social media for their publicity. It is left
uncoordinated in the hands of the students. We believe that the department should review that
policy because of the latest importance of the social media in publicity.
In summary, the department also faces the problem of lack of adequate funding for their
productions and publicity in particular. As such, they are most times limited to just Banners and
Jungle Publicity. Unfortunately, the department is also facing problems with the Jungle Publicity
because the students are aversed to it, they do no longer show much interest in it again.
Nevertheless, the Business Manager states that they are making attempts to revive the Jungle
Publicity tradition in the department.
(4) Department of Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan:
The Head of Department stated that the department makes use of the following publicity
techniques during productions – Posters, Handbills, Banners, Media Jingles, Road Shows on the
Campus (Carnival) and Social Media like – Facebook, Text Messages, WhatsApp and so forth.
The Business, Manager also concurred with the above, only that he did not mention they also
make use of media jingles. That notwithstanding, the Head of Department noted that media
jingles (radio and television) as well as the social media are the most effective publicity
techniques used by the department. The department must be applauded for making use of media
jingles; because most departments do not make use of it due to the cost of production and
placement.

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 The Business Manager noted that the main challenge faced in their publicity
management, is the choice of publicity techniques to be employed. He stated that most times the
Head of Department and the Play Director decide which publicity technique to employ without
the input of the Business Manager at the initial stage. The Business Manager noted that most
times, these decisions are made late and not based on any empirical basis. It is suggested that in
the future, it is necessary to involve the business Manager in decision making about the type of
publicity techniques to be deployed for their productions.
(5) Department of Theatre Arts, Benue – State University, Makurdi:
From the perspective of the convener Business Committee, the department uses Posters,
Carnival, Social Media to publicize their productions. The Head of Department added that they
use Flex Banners, Handbills and occasionally, Radio to publicize their productions. They
affirmed that these publicity techniques attract enough audience to the theatre. The actual
problem they face in their publicity endeavour is lack of enough funds to prosecute the publicity
campaigns. Because the productions are not adequately funded, the money allocated for publicity
are not always enough; as such, they select those publicity techniques that are efficient and also
cost effective.
(6) Department of the Theatre Arts, Delta – State University, Abraka:
The Business Manager asserted that the department make use of Carnivals, Posters,
Banners, Handbills, Word-of-Mouth to publicize their productions. He noted that they do not
officially make use of the Social Media to publicize their productions. He however observes that
the students sometimes handle that personally. The Business Manager notes that they creatively
make use of the Carnival Procession by doing that a few days to the production and also on the
day of the production to create awareness.
The problem faced in their publicity campaign is that despite the seemingly standard
publicity techniques employed by the department, they still face the problem of audience
paucity. This the Business manager attributes to – poor economy, lack of security, tight schedule
of students and the lack of interest of the university staff. They also encounter the challenge of
inadequate funding of the publicity campaign and the production in general. Hence, they lay
much emphasis on the carnival publicity that is cost effective and at the same time efficient.

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(7) Department of Theatre and Media Arts, Ekiti – State University, Ado – Ekiti:
According to the Business Manager, the department deploy the use of – Posters, Flyers,
Banners, Carnival and Social Media in their publicity endeavours. The Head of Department
concurred to the above and added that they do not make use of the electronic and print media due
to the cost of production and placement and also due to lack of adequate finance for publicity. He
affirmed that these publicity techniques attract enough audience to the theatre. The only problem
they encounter in executing publicity campaigns is lack of adequate funding of productions and
the publicity campaigns by the department. To ameliorate this problem, they go for those
publicity campaigns that are more efficient and cost effective.
(8) Department of Theatre Arts, Imo – State University, Owerri:
The Business Manager and the Head of Department are of the opinion that the
Department of Theatre Arts, Imo – State University embarks on comprehensive and effective
publicity during theatrical productions. They informed that they employ the following techniques
for their publicity – Posters, Handbills, Banners, Mail, Interpersonal, Telephone, E-mail, Bulk
SMS and Social Media Platforms. Although they do not make use of any of the mass media, you
will agree with us that the above publicity techniques are comprehensive for an educational
theatre, which most times cannot afford the cost of producing and placing mass media
advertisements or radio, television, newspapers and magazines, etc. The major problem they
encounter in their publicity campaigns according to the Business Manager is inadequate funding
to undertake diverse publicity techniques. As such, they are constrained most times to select only
those publicity techniques they can afford and at the same time that are efficient.
(9) Department of Theatre Arts, Igbinedion University, Okada:
The Head of Department stated that the Department of Theatre Arts, Igbinedion
University, Okada make use of the following forms of publicity strategies – Flyers, Banners,
Posters, Radio, Carnival and Social Media. The Head of Department said that they creatively and
aggressively make use of the above techniques to attract the audience to the theatre; yet, there is
paucity of theatre audience in the university. She believes that the situation can change with
regular productions and consistent, creative and aggressive publicity. Apart from the audience
scarcity, another problem they encounter in their publicity endeavour is lack of adequate funding
for publicity and theatrical productions in general. The money released for productions are paltry
as such, it affects the variety of publicity techniques that can be deployed for a production.

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(10) Department of Theatre and Film Studies, Redeemers University, Ede:
The Head of Department and the Business Manager note that the department make use of
diverse publicity techniques to publicize their productions. Such techniques include the
following – Jungle Publicity (Carnival), Introduction of the Programme in the University Chapel,
(in form of an announcement), Posters, Banners and Social Media. There is a unique publicity
technique employed by this department, that is – introduction of the programme in the University
Chapel. This is possible because the university is a Christian university, as such, almost all the
students attend the Chapel, as such, it is a good means of publicity. The department do not
embark on any form of mass media advertisement; but this is a matter of choice, because they
have enough funds to embark on that. The department do not face the problem of funding of
productions and publicity.
Summary of Findings:
From the above data analysis, the following findings were deduced –
(1) All the Universities studied under take one form of publicity of the other for their
productions.
(2) Almost all the Universities studied except Redeemers University, have the problem of
inadequate funding of publicity campaigns.
(3) It is also noted that Carnival Publicity is common in all the universities. This can be
attributed to its efficiency and cost effectiveness.
(4) Redeemers University has a publicity technique that is unique to the university. The
University Chapel is used as a platform for announcements. This is a good form of
publicity because being a Christian university, almost all the students attend the Chapel
regularly.
(5) The use of mass media is not common in the universities studied. However a few make
use of radio jingles. Only University of Ibadan makes use of television jingles. This may
be attributed to poor funding of publicity campaigns in Nigerian universities, as well as
the nature of educational theatre, where most times, their target audience are the campus
audience.
(6) It is also discovered that most of the institutions studied have embraced the new media
(Social Media) as a means of publicity. It is only University of Benin and Delta – State

15
 University that are yet to start employing the Social media officially. It is mostly their
students that embark on it at times in an uncoordinated manner.
(7) Despite the poor funding of publicity campaigns in Nigerian universities, the Business
Managers and their Publicity Directors utilize the available resources to attract enough
audience to the theatre. It is only few of the universities that complained of audience
paucity.
Conclusion and Recommendations:
This paper concludes that publicity campaigns in Nigerian universities are effective; that
despite the poor funding of the publicity campaigns, the Business Managers and their Publicity
Directors have been able to manage the available funds and deploy effective and cost efficient
publicity techniques. Despite the success achieved with publicity campaigns in Nigerian
universities, there are still rooms for improvement; as such the following recommendations are
made –
(1) The Business Managers of Theatre Arts Departments of Nigerian universities should
specifically seek for the funding of their publicity campaigns. They can seek for
companies that can sponsor their Banners, Posters, Flyers, etc. In return, the names and
Logos of the companies will be printed in the Posters or Banners; and this will serve as a
form of publicity for the companies.
(2) All the Theatre Arts Departments in Nigeria should develop their Social Media
campaigns in an coordinated manner. This is a very veritable means of reaching out to the
youths who are mainly their target audience. The universities of Benin and Delta – State
should as a matter of urgency start deploying the Social Media officially as a publicity
technique because of its potency
(3) Because of the importance of publicity to every production, it is recommended that the
various Heads of Theatre Arts Departments in Nigerian universities should improve the
funding of publicity campaigns for their productions. This will go a long way to engender
more audience attendance to the theatre
(4) The Business Managers in the Department of Theatre Arts in Nigeria should be prudent
managers of resources. They should creatively manage the little resources available for
publicity. They should go for cost efficient but effective publicity techniques.

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(5) Despite the poor funding of publicity campaigns in Nigerian universities; they can still
have mass media presence if they are creative. The Publicity Directors should develop
good rapport with the Mass Media Editors and Reporters (media relations). Through this
means, they can receive some media coverage like – news releases, news reviews and
previews, publication of photographs, interviews, talk shows, and so forth. With good
relationship with the media, most of the above techniques are not paid for.

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 References

Ayakoroma, B.F. Theatre Management in Nigeria: An Introduction. Ibadan: Kraft Books

Limited, 2014.
Clifford, J. Educational Theatre Management. Illinois: National Textbook Company, 1972.
Nwamuo, C. Essentials of Theatre Administration. Calabar: University of Calabar Press, 2003.
Ohaja, E. Mass Communication Research and Project Writing. Lagos: John Letterman Ltd,
2003.
Okwechime, C. Essentials of Advertising in Nigeria. Onicha – Ugbo: Prime Legacies Limited,
2009.
Oshionebo, B. and Idebi, K. O. The Principles and Practice of Theatre Management in Nigeria.
Ibadan: Impact Motion Pictures and Media koncept Nig, 2009.
Reid, F. Theatre Administration. London: Adams and Charles Black, 1983.

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