Ad spend to resume in Q2 as experts project budget cut
By Oghale Mafuru
As the political landscape settles down after the 2023 general elections, experts in the media planning and buying business in Nigeria, have projected a rise in advertising spend in Q2 of 2023 amid rising pressure to prove return on investment, ROI.
Speaking separately to MARKETING EDGE, the media practitioners stated that during the electioneering season, advertising campaigns were suspended by brands as they focused on other aspects of the business to navigate the economic challenges.
According to them, the myriad of challenges including the dwindling purchasing power of consumers adversely affected the organizational bottom-lines which necessitated a decline in advertising budget or a redirection of advertising spend.
Promise Oduh, Associate Director, mediaReach OMD said brand managers are prioritizing value brands with high propensity to generate increased patronage and return on investment.
“They will advertise but the advertisement will be focused on very crucial brands that drive their return on investment. It started happening even since last year. Some of our clients even deferred campaigns to this year because of exchange rate issues. The budget that was met for advertising was moved to increase production, smoothen distribution, their retail and e-commerce. That also spilled into 2023.
“Some of our clients we were supposed to run some campaigns for in February, had to move those campaigns because of elections as almost all the stations were talking polities and all that. They are environmental and economic dynamics that are making it a bit difficult for brands” he said.
According to him, as brands continue to find ways to navigate the inflationary pressures, the focus will be to advertise within a relatively tight budget.
“People will buy more SKUs because they want to be efficient with their disposal income. So, what brands will do smartly would be running shorter campaigns to drive sales, focused on brands that drive their targets. This is not going to drive much growth in terms of spend” he added.
For Ada Adheke, CEO Peacock Media, stated that most brands that deferred advertising campaigns due to the elections are expected to commence marketing activities from 2nd quarter of 2023 but will not invest much as they continue to grapple with other economic challenges.
“For brands, the money that they would have spent in first quarter, they are going to use it in second quarter and then roll it down to the end of the year. It is in the second quarter that we can bounce back and be able to look at media activities. But again, if the brands are not doing so well, when it comes to third quarter, the brands will want to take a decision looking at their bottom-line. Some of them will cut their budget. The spend will not be much even if there is going to be any spend” she said.
She affirmed that investment decisions will be based on budget optimization with focus on aspects which will have direct impact on the bottom-line.
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