Ononiwu tasks agencies on innovation, adoption of new trends in 2024
By Abimbola Mohammed
Henry Ononiwu, Head of New Business Projects/Partnerships, PHD Nigeria, has urged agencies to be innovative, evolve and embrace new trends that will shape the marketing landscape in the year 2024 as well as position themselves to be able to offer these new capabilities.
According to the seasoned media practitioners, there are three major trends that will shape the perception and relationship between brands and their marketing agencies. These trends, he noted, are Gradual Emergence of new Agencies, Evolution of Agency offerings and Agency Remuneration Models.
Ononiwu made this submission at the just concluded MARKETING EDGE 4th Quarterly Virtual Summit, with the theme: “IMC Trends to Watch Out for in 2024”. The summit was held virtually.
His submission was based on the need for agencies to position as problem solvers who can help new brands and businesses following the departure of some household brands from the country.
His words: “We may begin to see the emergence of new advertisers as brands who produce locally try to fill in the void left by brands who are pulling out of the country.
“For weeks and months we’ve seen quite a number of big brands leaving the country, especially in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector. People are wondering what the implication of these household brands’ exit will mean. Interestingly over the past two or three weeks, I’ve had to attend meetings and briefing sessions of local manufacturers who said they have never advertised before. But for some reason the management of those organizations are saying there is void and it is time to come into this place of advertising.”
Ononiwu added that as new brands begin to advertise, they still will have a model to climb in terms of trust. According to him, from an agency point of view, there seems to be a gradual opportunity that may open up with a new set of advertisers.
“I think in 2024, we will gradually see some of these new advertisers, either those who are breaking away from the traditional big holding groups or companies that have not been advertising. They will want to explore the advertising space to push their products. They will need a lot of guidance and hand holding from agencies as they come into the space,” he said.
Speaking on the second trend which is evolution of agency offerings, he said that, with rise of digital platforms, media agencies are expected to expand their capabilities in data analytics, AI and digital content creation.
Agencies, he noted, should think more on how to leverage AI, content marketing programmatic, social commerce etc going into 2024.
“We shouldn’t just be evolving from an agency model, but also evolving in terms of the talents that we have and the group in the branch skill set to provide these services and talent to the branch.”
He added that, as agencies begin to evolve and build on talents, they need to look at how they (agencies) are being remunerated.
“A lot of the speakers initially have spoken around shrinking budgets and how brands are asking for more, on less budgets. But I dare say that these assets are not only for budgets for campaigns, but they also impact the budget for agencies’ remuneration. The fees the agency earn are, in turn, used to pay for talents.”
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