Creative experts harp on capacity building in talent industry
By Oghale Mafuru
Ahead of full implementation of Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, ARCON law which directs the use of a minimum of 75 percent cumulative local content for all advertising and marketing communications in the country effective from January 1st 2023, creative experts in the Integrated Communications Industry have called for a repositioning of the talent industry with increased focus on capacity building in line with new realities and trends.
The creative experts who spoke separately to MARKETING EDGE revealed that brand owners engage foreign talents due to their wealth of knowledge and expertise which is often acquired through rigorous and painstaking efforts on talent development.
Maurice Ugwonoh, Creative Director of Noah’s Ark Communications, who stressed the need for local talents to enhance capabilities to conform to global standards, stated that creative agencies need to improve on the quality of production by maintaining certain standards which will motivate talents to outperform in advertising campaign projects.
“If you are in that field and that industry, there is a need for you to work on yourself. Beyond this, there is the need for the creative industry that is using them to demand certain standards. Sometimes, the things that come out of agencies do not challenge these guys to reinvent themselves. Oftentimes, what you find out is that rather than do creative advertising, which demands so much more from these talents, your models or voice-over artistes, what you have them do instead of advertising is publicity”.
“So, there is no theatre of the mind. The producers themselves aren’t challenged to bring a cinematic experience. There is little that challenges the talents to do more because they are limited and bound by the scripts. So, when you look at this vis a vis the foreign counterparts, they demand a lot more from the artistes in terms of the quality of the scripts and the technicalities that are required as well. In terms of comparison, the foreign artistes have more opportunities to do something new and fresh.
According to him, global exposure and varied opportunities beyond the shores of the country open a vista of opportunity for local talents to expand their horizon to deliver well on advertising campaigns especially those with cross-border audiences.
“No matter how localised your idea is, we live in a world where everybody is connected, so your audience is not just local but global as well. So, they like artists that understand what it takes to do something and make it have a global appeal. So, they usually would prefer foreign directors but they need to be in tune with local nuances or just hire somebody that has it”.
On his part, Idu Raphael, Chief Creative Officer, Poke Ltd, stated that value is very important for clients and would require a high level of expertise and creativity from service providers.
“Value is in the production, the cameras and technical expertise. Sometimes, brands go global because they want the technical expertise of a bigger production outfit. It is not because of the models. They are not going abroad because of the models. Models for video adverts depend on where you are shooting. In some countries, you might not be able to find Nigerian models. It also depends on the clients, if they are shooting for a regional market “he said.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Comment
No comments found.