Experts express divergent views on airport advertising
By Felicia Nwosu
Professionals in various sub-sectors of the Nigerian marketing communications space have expressed divergent views on airport advertising in the country. They, however, agreed that the airport provides a perfect opportunity to deliver eye-catching, attention-grabbing advertising services when maximally utilised.
The industry leaders, while underscoring the point that the airport is a gateway to boosting economic growth, also urged airport advertising providers to take necessary steps to ensure the provision of undiluted quality service through round-the-clock availability of brand messages, cost effective investment, state-of-the-art medium of communication, use of cutting-edge technology, and right use of data to enable their clients enjoy countless opportunities in reaching and captivating their audience.
The call was made at the just concluded stakeholders’ workshop, organised by Airpower Limited, which was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja GRA, Lagos.
Emeka Okeke, Founder/Managing Partner, Group Chief Executive Officer of MediaFuse Dentsu International (Nigeria) and Director of Dentsu Ghana, while giving his view, noted that the rise in insecurity has increased traffic at the airport. He alluded that access points for people cannot be reserved only for premium brands to advertise any longer and, therefore, called on the service providers to ensure affordability with consideration to exchange rate.
“In my view, what we expect is that you introduce a kind of affordable package at the airport that would allow enough brands to come on board. We are ready to negotiate with you. We are ready to partner with you. Please, make the rates affordable, give all the support, but more importantly, be a lot more flexible with what you are putting up at the airport.
“In terms of the locations, do we have interactive boards? Do we have more quality shops that are really duty free? And when you say duty free, then the taxes on them are more expensive than anything I can buy. That is not good for our own environment,” he said.
Kelechi Nwosu, Chief Executive Officer of TBWA Concept, emphasised the need to leverage data and interact with the pricing so that people could get good packages that will spur them to invest.
“It is important that the data supports the value even if you are going to go retail. From the creative angle, if airports are a moment of truth, it is an opportunity for us to use the vacant spaces available. Even when you don’t have a paid audience, we can use them to convey very good messages about us.
“I don’t think you should have them vacant, especially the interactive boards. It is an opportunity to pass real social messages that help the ambiance, and give value to the boards, particularly at the international terminals,” he said.
Femi Adelusi, President, Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), reaffirmed the importance of data but suggested that such should be in context of consumers’ occupation, age, gender and demography to help in planning, profiling and targeting on brand.
“Beyond the static content and advertising messages, I think this platform will offer opportunities for unique, engaging content and perhaps interaction as the world embraces digital technology. Metaverse is closer to us than we think and we should be able to talk about the news at the airport. If I am unconsciously or consciously delayed as we know by some local flights, but at least the passenger can have the benefit of enjoying the moment,” he noted
Tosan Omagbemi, the Managing Director of Interaction Channel Limited (ICL), commended the providers’ ability of democratizing airport space to different classes of people and providing opportunities for a broader array of brands to be able to participate through technology.
“Data needs to be a lot more dynamic and also be put into a format where planners, advertisers and brands will be able to access and use it actively to run a campaign. What data does is also to be able to provide you that opportunity to appreciate value because what everybody is looking for, irrespective of size, is value. And I promise you, if they can see value, they would not mind advertising at the airport. There is a need for an engaging content management system, driven by data, that allows you to deliver real-time impressions that are measurable,” she stated.
Dozie Okafor, Managing Director of PHD Nigeria, noted that innovation can be a bit disruptive which makes it difficult to incorporate new technology to fully operate within the confines of what is currently available within the airport. He urged the airport service providers to make their mode of service more flexible with accessibility to the airport.
“Talking about cost and understanding the clients’ businesses, forget about the annual budget they give you. When the year starts, the reality sets in and even if you have the purchase for that, it will become irrelevant. So, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and, by extension, Airpower also need to be able to help understand that there will be moves and shifts. You will be able to move from this airport to the other one, using whatever data you have, understanding that our budgets are flowing and that we will need to make a lot of changes on the flight.
“Now the challenge we have is that you probably have an annual structure of payments with FAAN, and you’re not able to give us that level of flexibility. But if a client sees that it is going to be a rigid commitment, he would rather stay away from it. That is what is reducing the amount of investment that’s coming to the airport,” Mr. Okafor said.
Emmanuel Ajufo, President, Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), on his part, noted that the out-of-home is indeed evolving, and urged FAAN and the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) to continue to partner with the practitioners to move the industry forward.
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