Advertising spend will rise in 2022 enabled by electioneering campaigns-IMC experts
By Oghale Mafuru
Practitioners in the Integrated Marketing Communication industry have expressed optimism in the rise of advertising spend this year following increased electioneering activities which are expected to proceed to the 2023 general elections.
According to the experts, the year 2022 is expected to record an exponential increase in ad spend through the culmination of campaigns by brands that are beginning to adapt to the changes occasioned by the pandemic.
Sir Steve Omojafor, former Chairman of Zenith Bank and co-founder of the renowned Rosabel Advertising Agency, while affirming that 2022 will yield more revenue for the advertising industry, said that: “Clients are beginning to face the realities that they certainly need to be back to the marketplace. They also need to as much as possible showcase their products, their brands and their services to the world both locally and internationally”.
Commenting on the impact of the pandemic on the revenue generation and outlook for this year, CEO X3m Ideas and President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, Mr. Steve Babaeko, posited that the year 2021 was not as devastating as expected.
He said: “I think last year was the year we kind of narrowed the gap between pre-pandemic years and post COVID years”.
While affirming that the electioneering campaigns will contribute immensely to the revenue generation of agencies this year decried the use of foreign agencies who are not abreast with the culture and ideology of Nigerians by politicians during election periods.
“We are crying in this industry that we don’t have FOREX, the naira is crashing, yet the little FOREX we have in store, we take it and go and pay foreign agencies who don’t know anything about our culture, who don’t know anything about our cultural nuances in this country to come and be talking to Nigerians. We are hopeful that the government will act against their natural instinct to patronize foreign agencies”. He said
He noted that if Nigerian agencies are given the opportunity to create memorable campaigns that resonate with Nigerians, advertising revenue will inadvertently rise.
On her part, Temitope Jemerigbe, CEO DKK Nigeria, a renowned marketing expert who observed that 2021 witnessed an increase in ad spend compared to the previous year expressed hopes that 2022 will be a rebound year for the industry.
In her words: “I believed that as we bounced back last year, we should be looking at improved performance this year for the industry. The spend of politics is really going to be huge. At the beginning of the year, before politics and everything, you will find a lot of brands. Although when the whole whole politicking really breaks, we might find a downturn of campaigns by brands because they don’t want to get swallowed up in the noise but I see a very huge spend in the industry and of course politics will be a big deal in it”.
Similarly, seasoned advertising and marketing professional, Mr. Babajide Fagade projected an exponential rise in ad spend for this year asserting that improved technological utilization will impact significantly on the growth of the industry. “In terms of outlook, it is a very hopeful one. We just have to keep innovating. We need to engage in the use of technology the most. We have a huge audience size in Nigeria because of the population of the country. So I believe that if IMC practitioners can continue to innovate and become more creative and then engage the use of technology, the industry will be better for it”.
Speaking further, he stated that “ I think most of the consumer’s touch points, I am talking about the channels will be used by candidates and as such we will have an exponential growth and I think basically, we can’t put our fingers on how our platforms, I mean advertising platforms will be engaged by politicians in the coming election but by and large, it will add to what we have in the marketing space because brands are still active. Again, the world cup is also around the corner. The Africa Nations Cup is going on, so we have a lot of things that will bring about that engagement in the industry this year. It is a bumper year. He concluded
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