Expectations heighten as National Advertising Conference beckons
Abimbola Mohammed
As part of the buildup to the 2023 National Advertising Conference (NAC), slated for 6th – 8th December 2023 in Abuja, the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has inaugurated various committees that will see to the success of the conference.
At the unveiling of the committees in Lagos, Dr. Lekan Fadolapo, Director General ARCON, pointed out that a new committee –Brand Nigeria Committee – was included because of the commitment of stakeholders in the industry to analyze Nigeria as a brand and device a campaign aimed at enhancing the country’s image on the international stage.
The committees include; Steve Babaeko, President of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN); Tunji Adeyinka, Chairman of the Planning Committee NAC; Femi Adelusi, President Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN); Tolulope Medebem, President of Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN), represented by Angela Makinwa, Director of Client Engagement, Strategy & Creative at EXP Marketing Nigeria); and Mr. Joe-Eugene Onuorah, rpa, Director of Registration at NAC.
Speaking on what will make the 2023 edition of the conference unique, Chairman NAC, Adeyinka, noted that it is unique because it targets two primary purposes; address Brand Nigeria project and Contribution to GDP and multiplier project.
His words: “The National Advertising Conference is not just a talk-shop, it builds on specific assignments from past editions. This year’s NAC is unique because it is exploring two assignments from the 2022 edition; the Brand Nigeria project and the Contribution to GDP and multiplier project. These are two concrete assignments that would be presented at plenary in NAC 2023.”
Observers believe the 2023 conference is significant because of the role it would play in selling the economic and social potentials of the marketing communication ecosystem to the Tinubu administration.
A former Deputy Provost of the Nigeria Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Lagos, Dr. Jide Johnson, who spoke to MARKETING EDGE on his expectation from the conference, urged ARCON and other sectoral bodies to use the 2023 edition of the International Conference to set agenda for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his team on the need to market Nigeria and her potentials effectively.
“To start with, let me commend ARCON DG and his team for all the good jobs they have done in the last three years. At the 2023 conference, I see this as a great opportunity for stakeholders in the Marcom industry to again let the Nigerian government know that effective communication is strategic to economic prosperity. Year in, year out, government communications briefs are going to quacks and this is telling on our corporate identity as a nation. At this conference, there is a need to set a proper agenda for the government on rebranding, marketing and repositioning of the Nigerian Brand,” he said.
On his part, Akonte Ekine, Convener of Consumers Value Awards, noted that the conference should be used to address issues related to the reputation crisis in Nigeria. He urged the organizers and the Federal Government to use the conference to rally support for the lingering conversation around the country’s image problem and how to address it.
“We can’t be living in self-denial and expect our problem as a nation to be solved. There is no gainsaying the fact that ‘Brand Nigeria’ has a battered image that has continued to be a burden for us on local and international scenes. Until this is addressed, Nigeria will be like a beautiful girl blinking in the dark. What I am saying in essence is that before we start putting forward our potential as a country, our national image has to be rid of the existing mess. This is one area I want the conference to look into and tell the government where the shoe is pinching Nigeria as a brand,” Ekine said.
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