Former AAAN president advocates review of advertising industry rules
Top executive leadership of sectorial groups in Nigeria’s advertising industry has been admonished on the need to rise up and take more proactive measures by reviewing and re-examining the fundamental rules of engagement guiding the advertising business in the country.
Most importantly, an industry wide stakeholders meeting needs be convened to bring to a round table discussion advertising agency practitioners under the umbrella of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) and the clients’ body, Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), with a view to addressing the various controversial areas of the advertising business, particularly, the agencies/clients relationships.
Giving this admonition was an ex – President of the AAAN and Group Managing Director/CEO, Cosse TTL Limited, Funmi Onabolu, while speaking in exclusive interview with Marketing Edge in Lagos.
According to the agency chief executive, the advertising industry in Nigeria presently is bedeviled by a number of unfavorable and negatively challenging circumstances and unless the key players in the sector rise up to the occasion and take proactive actions the industry might as well be drifting away towards extinction.
Highlighting on the various challenges in the industry, the top advertising industry practitioner listed among other things, the frosty and unhealthy clients/agency relationships, the rising wave of industry indebtedness, the controversial credit payment terms, lack proper appreciation of the value of agencies offerings by the clients and the general economic downturn that has brought dwindling fortunes generally for businesses in the country.
“I think our economy is under pressure, and that definitely has affected everyone. The IMC industry itself has its own very peculiar challenges, particularly the creative agencies, which we used to know as the advertising agencies. Of course, a lot of things have moved and there has been such a high level of fragmentation of solution offerings and quite a lot of us have been caught napping.
“I believe that our industry was much slower to take off and a bit complacent. We are used to old ways of doing things, sitting down and expecting while so many things were taking from under the feet of the traditional advertising agency. And it seems they were unaware of what was going on.
“I mean the industry has evolved and must continue to evolve. It’s not going to die. It’s still evolving and that’s what practitioners need to understand just like in every other business. You have to challenge the very principles upon which your businesses run vis-a-vis the environmental circumstances, otherwise the business will die,” he said.
Though, reluctant at putting figures to the size and volume of advertising business presently in the country he was, however, optimistic that marketing communications industry in Nigeria has a great future. He pointed out that despite the current economic downturn, the country was strong and resilient; and given its potentials was bound to come out of the woods and play a positive role in the development of the global economy.
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