NAN-S-10
Paralympian
By Millicent Ifeanyichukwu
Lagos, Jan. 23, 2017 (NAN) Paul Kehinde, a gold medalist at Rio 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil, on Monday called on corporate organisations to consider the use of paralympians in advertisements.
Team Nigeria won 12 medals at the Rio Paralympic Games against their able bodied counterparts who won only a bronze medal in the football event.
Kehinde, who competed in the 56kg men’s class made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the National Stadium, Lagos.
He explained that the use of paralympians in advertisements would help to improve advert recall, build brand equity and project positive images for the brands and companies.
According to him, using Paralympians for adverts will resonate well with a wider audience, and make the ads stand out from the surrounding clutter.
“We have local and foreign companies in Nigeria and they do promotions and campaign across the media, so we will be glad to tap into such opportunities.
“Our participation and achievement in the Paralympics gave us fame because, a whole lot of people saw us receive medal as champions and famous athletes,’’ he said.
The Paralympian, who broke the African record in 56kg at the 2015 All Africa Games in Brazzaville Congo, said the opportunity would also provide additional source of income for the athletes.
NAN reports that Kehinde has broken the men’s 65kg world record and clinched gold medals for Nigeria in Powerlifting event at the 2015 Africa Games and 2016 Paralympics Games. (NAN)
MIL/ENN/PDE
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(Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Peter Ejiofor)