Discordant tunes trail conversation on practice and business of advertising
By Zion Rufus
Currently sparking conversation amongst marketing communications experts is the issue of drawing the line between the business and practice of advertising, where some have argued one can not exist without the other.
The industry stirring topic birthed during an interview with MARKETING EDGE by the APCON REGISTRAR, Lekan Fadolapo, began to pique the interest of industry practitioners as well as brand owners.
In his interview, Fadolapo identified failure to draw the line between the practice and business of advertising as one of the biggest challenges facing the industry, while noting that the challenge has created a lot of gaps and “big” issues for practitioners and operators within the industry.
No doubt, the conversation resonated with some of the experts in the industry.
In her submission, Dolapo Otegbayi, a marketing Amazon and Specialised Nutrition Director at Nigeria’s foremost dairy company, Frieslandcampina WAMCO, noted that the practice and business of Advertising are two sides of the same coin. According to the marketing expert, the “value of Advertising is in the practice”
“The authentic practice of Advertising delivers value for the Client, Brand and the Agency. Unfortunately, there are many people parading themselves more as businessmen and women, with little or no added value and benefit to brands,” said Otegbayi.
“Similarly, many Agencies have become jack of all trades and master of none. What is their distinctive asset? What is their value proposition? Whilst I respect their versatility, not many Agencies are able to integrate the marketing communication services offered to benefit the Brand.”
BB Buzz CEO, Yomi Olaniwun believes that advertising must deliver on the target objective of the brand and be practiced within the confines of the law that is stated by APCON.
“What we have found out in the industry is that a lot of people get these briefs so that they can actually just make money, not because they need to help the brand,” he pointed.
“Meanwhile, when a brand reaches out to you, it is because they have a problem and they need you to help them solve that problem. Solving the problem can be broken down into different parts. A problem can be awareness, another problem could be sales, another problem could be solved by visiting the website to take action.”
“Once you are aligned with the client’s objective for the campaign it is a must for you as an agency handling the brief to ensure that the objective is delivered; if you do not deliver it, then you have not practiced advertising well. If all that is important to you is making money, then you are not practicing advertising.”
On his part, Managing director, Creative Xone Limited, Doyin Adewunmi disclosed that a lot has happened to the practice of the business of advertising, which has impacted negatively on the professional aspect of it.
He said: “Whether you like it or not, you just have to find a balance between the two. It is a profession because we have values that we are supposed to deliver to every brand, we are supposed to build brands, we are supposed to peak brands, and in the process of that also do not forget that we are also in business to survive, and to keep our heads above water.”
Also weighing in on the subject, Creative Director, Ogilvy Africa, Nigeria, Jolomi Awala noted that although money is important, the business of advertising is very necessary, so also pushing the business of advertising.
“To a very large extent, this assertion is correct, and if I say there are no agencies like that, then I most likely would be lying. But I imagine that there are organizations that feel they are in the business of advertising even though they pretend to care about advertising, but i can say for a fact that Ogilvy is not one of those; Algorithm Media also doesn’t share that sentiment, and many other agencies too, that if you look at how they approach advertising in Nigeria you can tell it’s not from the monetary aspect. It is also important to note that money is the soul of any business, and because money is the soul, we can not deny the role of the business of advertising.”
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