IMC industry is resilient for 2022 despite Omicron – Experts
By Oghale Mafuru
As it currently sits, some nations of the world are still battling with mutability of the COVID-19 virus which seems to defy every attempt made to completely eradicate its biological invasion.
Although there seems to be some ray of hope in terms of the accessibility to vaccines around the world, the World Health Organization, WHO has warned that repeated COVID boosters are not viable preventive measures against the mutating virus and that half of Europe, will have caught the Omicron COVID variant within the next six to eight weeks.
Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, NCDC said in its report on January 11th 2022, that the country has recorded about 422 new confirmed cases and 1 death.
Despite the surge of the pandemic in Europe and the imminent challenge it currently poses for businesses globally, professionals in the Integrated Marketing and Communication Industry are resolute and determined to exceed previous records of success and achievements this year.
According to them, the pandemic has enabled agencies to discover their inherent capabilities to surmount challenges by seeking creative and innovative ways to navigate through daunting setbacks. The advertising experts were of the view that agencies are more resilient and indomitable than ever before.
Commenting on this, the President of the Association of the Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, AAAN, Steve Babaeko noted that the pandemic disrupted businesses and the advertising industry was not left out of its devastating impact.
“It has been a challenging year no doubt, again, looking back from 2020, with the pandemic and the lockdown, we are still suffering from the hangover of all of that into 2021 and even though you saw a little bit of more bullish movement of activities in 2021 way better than 2020, but the challenges are still there, you saw the virus militating from Delta Virus to Omicron,” he said.
The advertising expert, while acknowledging the impact of the pandemic globally lauded the dogged nature of Nigerians which was “evident” in the way agencies adapted to the new normal occasioned by the pandemic.
He added: “What I will say is that the never say die spirit of the average Nigerian is what has kept us going. We are Nigerians; we know that tough times are going to come. The average Nigerian entrepreneur is one that will stand up and fight despite all of the odds swimming against the tides to still make a global impact”.
The advertising leader who noted that advertising agencies in Nigeria recorded outstanding feats in the out-gone year with a plethora of global awards, assured that agencies are more enthusiastic to build on the existing successes in 2022.
In his words: “All of the challenges that we didn’t even anticipate at this moment, nature is going to throw at us all kinds of curve balls, but as long as we keep our wits about us, and we have our determination, then we will overcome all of these. We are really positive about 2022. Tough times don’t last, only tough people do,” he added
On his part, President of the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria, Femi Adelusi who averred that running and maintaining business in Nigeria has become more challenging, exacerbated by the advent of the pandemic affirmed that agencies were resilient despite the myriads of challenges that accompanied the pandemic year.
“I think it is safe to say when you look across the sectors; there is a lot more to celebrate right now than what we have had since the last 12 months or prior to now. It is a season of optimism and positivity and things can only get better”
“When you think about it, in terms of brand activities on the general level, in terms of marketing activities on a national level, and the opportunities that brands are taking now compared to before, there is a lot of progress. Yes we are not in the pre-Covid19 era numbers, but we are moving gradually towards that and significantly ahead of the numbers. From feedback from key players and some of our partner agencies, the numbers now are getting to the pre-COVID numbers of pre-COVID and even exceeding in 2019 numbers”.
Speaking assuredly for the advertising industry this year, he said “for me I see just more of upward swings, in level of activities from the brand management standpoint, even from the public service standpoint and even government activities as well”.
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