Admen Confab resolves to reposition industry, Nigeria despite lingering challenges
An overwhelming leadership and membership, including a who’s who of Nigeria’s marketing communications industry recently converged, the first of its kind, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nigeria. Esteemed sectoral groups, namely – the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), as well as significant stakeholders in the advertising industry which include Advertisers’ Forum, the International Advertising Association (IAA) Nigeria Chapter, the Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN) and the Association of Communication Scholars and Practitioners of Nigeria (ACSPN) were fully represented at the conference.
Tagged National Advertising Conference 2019 with an ambitious theme: Advertising in the Post Digital Age: The Profession, The Business and Nigeria’s Socio-Economic Development, the conference held at the prestigious Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
It was a rallying cry to re-examine and reposition the advertising profession and at same time, Nigeria. In an unprecedented fashion, different generations of admen turned out in their numbers and clustered at the confab where professional specialisations and interests within the industry and the public, including private organisations that employ advertising, no matter how conflictual, were freely addressed.
Declaring the confab open, the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) Acting Registrar, Ijedi Iyoha, noted that the advertising profession had been a key contributor in Nigeria’s economic system. The profession’s activities, she emphasised, brought positive balance and helpful social effects in the people’s dealings with one another, adding that advertising wielded enormous influence in information dissemination and commerce more than the prevailing public perception.
“Many people do not appreciate the role of advertising in our relationship as a nation with other nations and in our existence as a people. Many have not come to the realisation that the advertising industry commands a great deal of influence in information dissemination, technology, commerce, politics, religion, sports, social investment programmes and so on.
“This is an opportunity that is made for every stakeholder to be seen and to be heard. It is an opportunity to open a welcoming chapter in the advertising industry. The prominence of our domestic investment, our ability to persuade and retain foreign investors and the acceptance of our market in the international community cannot be better put together without us – the advertising industry. We have tremendously helped in shaping our economy into what it is today,” she said.
Presenting his keynote, Lolu Akinwunmi, Group CEO, Prima-Garnet Africa, who also commands depths and professionalism in the industry, advocated a critical review of public communication policy by Nigerian government, stressing his conviction in the all-encompassing role of advertising and marketing communication in national development.
“There should be an urgent review of communication policy by the government. Nigeria and Nigerians need an effective public communication policy because that is the only way we can accord communication a strategic direction.
“I am convinced that after this conference, the powers that be will begin to understand that marketing communication can do a lot more for this government than it has done for the previous administrations,” he said.
For two days, one of the immersive halls of the Hilton heaved and resonated with creative and stimulating discussions about advertising in all its glamorous practice and erudite scholarship. After the robust keynote by Akinwunmi, penetrative panel discussions were held by different sectoral groups, and thought-provoking papers were presented while creatively nostalgic reflections were held with the dean, as it were, of the advertising profession in Nigeria.
Tagged “Breakfast Chat with Advertising Icon”, Biodun Shobanjo, the Chairman of Troyka Group and the doyen of Nigeria’s advertising, in the most convivial atmosphere, relayed his creative adventures to an informed and futuristic delegates and audience whose passion for the profession far outweighs survival.
Dwelling on one of the ills bedeviling the industry which is lack of succession among prominent agencies and their founders, Shobanjo insisted that those who dabbled in marketing communications just to survive would always end as a flash in the pan, adding that the only way agencies could outlive their founders was if the agencies earnestly engaged in constant manpower development.
“Advertising business is a knowledge business. I appreciate mostly the manpower aspect of marketing communications business. Many practitioners in this hall can attest to the fact that they acquired their first experience from our group,” Shobanjo said.
After engaging in professional soul-searching and telling themselves some home truth, stakeholders from all the sectoral groups present at the conference pointed out that the much desired renaissance and exponential growth expected of marketing communications was a task that must be done by no one else but the industry practitioners. Irrespective of their unique perspectives, each speaker, moderator, panelist, delegate and guest maintained that advertising as a noble profession could only take its pride of place and earn national and international respect when practitioners begin to take themselves seriously.
The confab ended on an upbeat note with delegates taking the arduous responsibility of regulating, sanitising and repositioning the industry vis-a-vis Nigeria in line with global best practices.
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