OOH practitioners envisage positive business outlook for last quarter
By Felicia Nwosu
For many organisations across the globe, the devastating impact of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic is not a memory to forget in a hurry. The first lockdown associated with the Covid-19 epidemic in the year 2020 resulted in an unprecedented drop in activity.
The suspension of activity primarily affected activities involving the closest contact with the public – food and beverage service activities, accommodation, personal services and cultural and recreational activities, as well as air transport. By September 2020, 1% of companies were still closed.
This outrageous global impact did not spare the advertising ecosystem in Nigeria, as many practitioners in the outdoor advertising have to re-navigate and re-invent business strategy in order to survive the pandemic hit. This resulted to all sectors posting negative indices, indicating OOH practitioners business experienced an encouraging business condition better than last year.
According to some of the respondents in the Out-of-Home advertising space, business activities in the last quarter indicated confidence in the performance of outdoor activities. They agreed that business activities have improved significantly with positive outlook in the present quarter as companies and brands want to dish out their last campaign for the year.
Olaotan Olamuyiwa, Managing Director, Folham Nigeria Limited, a leading outdoor company that specialises in advertising, brand management, fire safety and business consultant, confirmed that the previous quarter in the year recorded poor business outlook due to the effect of the pandemic, but noted that with the relaxation on Covid-19 lockdown, business is gradually returning to normal.
The elated Folham MD reiterated that OOH activity is seasonal, but stated that this quarter of the year being the last and a festive season, is jam-packed with various events by brands and companies who want to re-launch in expectation for the next year harvest.
“Business, compared to last year, is better; there is an improvement. While hoping for more, there are prospects and we are doing more transactions. Though not as much, as we would have preferred long term contracts, but most of the contracts seem to be moribund. In all, there is quite an improvement.”
He futuristically attested that the present quarter will definitely outweigh that of last quarter. His words: “This quarter is pretty good, it is looking nice, there were some locations that we had challenges in getting clients for them in the past two to three years, but now, all have been taken.”
From my own point of view, I think that a lot of people are coming back to OOH. They have realized that the impact of OOH on ROI is higher, compared to those who assumed that digital is the best now.”
He revealed that various activities will be the trend in the festive season, as brands will set the city agog with various activities and campaigns to set the tone for next year for a smooth business ride with their loyal customers.
Abuneme Omo- Kingsley, Managing Director/CEO of Beam Media Company Limited, an out-of-home advertising agency, in his own view, envisaged a positive outlook, indicating expectation of an upbeat in business activity, which he attributed to the incoming festive period. He expressed confidence, as he confirmed that index is expected to increase significantly, with more and more clients patronizing the out-of-home advertising.
“With clients coming out during this post-Covid-19, that has renewed our confidence coupled with Christmas season, the boost is there obviously. We have fewer boards that are vacant now. Clients are out, and I think it will last even up to February before we know what happens next.
“Every brand wants to be visible especially for this season, so that alone will drive patronage not just for outdoor but across other media platforms generally, especially for products and services that are related to this period.”
On the challenges posed by delayed payment, he noted that no improvement has been recorded in that aspect, but applauded Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) for the introduction of the Advertising Industry Standard of Practice (AISOP), while describing it as a ‘respite’.
His words: “The biggest respite today is the Advertising Industry Standards Operating Procedure (AISOP) from APCON. Of course there are some push-backs here and there, which is expected, but that brings great confidence in the marketing place. For instance, everyone is sure of where they stand, and there will be relative certainty. So no matter what happens, I am sure that from January, that will be the new order and it will help greatly.”
Another out-of-home expert, Lanre Ashaolu, the MD/CEO, Four Pulley Limited (FPL Media), a top of the market outdoor advertising agency opined that the last quarter indicated a little recovery, but admitted that the fourth quarter is enclosed with positive results.
“The previous quarter showed little signs of recovery, but the fourth is more promising with an increase in activities as the year is coming to an end. This is because brands want to achieve their objectives for the year. They want to make one last push by rounding up campaigns and marketing activities across the board.”
He noted that OOH has well recorded a positive shift with the organizing of Out-of Home Advertising Conference and exhibition which, according to him, was a major highlight for the quarter as well. The outdoor advertising expert also agreed that businesses are returning to normal as entertainment, sports, hospitality industry that rely on marketing and advertising are also getting back to peak period.
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