Advertising agencies record significant growth amid economic challenges – experts
By Oghale Mafuru
The year 2021 witnessed several disruptions to economic activities that had a huge toll on businesses especially those that relied on human to human contact to conduct their operations. In hindsight, most agencies leveraged technology to remain relevant and competitive. Practitioners in Integrated Marketing Communication industry, particularly members of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), who affirmed that the advertising ecosystem is recovering from the impact of the global pandemic, noted that the second half of the year had seen a substantial growth in the sub-sector.
Speaking on the growth indices for the last quarter of the year, Chief Operating Officer, COO of SO&U, Biodun Adefila described the nation’s economy as more stable, but blamed the exponential increase of items on the scarcity of foreign exchange among other pockets of challenges.
She said: “2021 has so far been more stable than the previous year. We remain hopeful and expectant that it only gets better.”
The advertising expert, who asserted that the year 2021 has recorded some level of growth in terms of business when compared to the previous year, noted that agencies have to demonstrate a high level of expertise in delivering value to their clients in order to stay ahead.
Mrs. Adefila, while acknowledging that advertising spend has taken a new dimension, said: “Relevance has played a key role in our activities and engagements. The task is always to discover the most pressing issue for the consumer, match it to the brand’s offering and communicate that promise in a way that resonates and connects.”
According to her, clients are seeking ways to connect with their consumers and are willing to pay as long as they are convinced they will get Return on Investment (ROI). “Clients are more than open to ideas that help them connect to their market and will buy those irrespective of whether you are a roaster agency or not. Brands require ideas that keep consumers showing up at their doorsteps. That is why clients are big on ideas.”
The advertising icon, while lauding the recently constituted Advertising Industry Standards Practice (AISOP), said the new guideline will sanitize the industry and position it for growth.
Similarly, Managing Director of StarCom Media Perspectives, Jude Odia said though the year 2021 was accompanied with mixed reactions, resilience and adaptation enabled the advertising agency to experience marginal growth compared to last year.
He said: “Many advertising networks and media have seen growth in the 2nd and 3rd quarter. We have seen growth in terms of advertisers; agencies are beginning to put up because the markets are opening”.
Speaking further, the advertising juggernaut observed that in 2021, practitioners in the advertising industry have seen an increase in the shift to digitally enabled campaigns and stressed the need for convergence of digital tools and channels.
In his words: “Nigeria is now a digital market and to a large extent, what it means is that when advertisers, agencies and anybody involved in the business of IMC are thinking about campaigns, digital comes to the fore. Digital becomes what is driving the entire ecosystem unlike what it was before.”
Mr. Odia, while noting that digital will continue to grow in terms of relevance to consumers which will invariably attract more attention from advertisers and agencies, averred that convergence is expedient to connect digital across multiple channels in such a way that feedback can be measured real time.
“The pressure on ROI is increasing in the market which means that unlike before, you are bound to give more of ‘on the spot evaluation’ of the value that marketing spend will bring to the business.”
The advertising expert, who decried the proliferation of agencies which has affected the pricing of campaigns, said a lot of smaller agencies that are giving real solutions to marketing needs have increased the number of agencies providing the same services thus making clients pay less than they usually do.
According to him, “A lot of small agencies, portfolio agencies are giving real solutions but the other thing is that it is now throwing our pricing on commercials off the roof. There is no form of system. No form of structure to value or to monetize value in our system and it is making the agencies very weak. It is making the market a buyer’s market and it is not too good for the agencies”.
He charged practitioners to work towards building a formidable and sustainable industry that can stand the test of time.
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