Operators groan as top brands prefer foreign agencies
Like in most sectors in Nigeria, things are not looking good for the Nigerian advertising industry. The sting of the economic recession and the danger it portends is causing operators a lot of heartaches and majority of the agencies are barely stand on their feet. But the recession is not the only worry the beleaguered industry operators have to contend with, now they also have to worry about the penchant of some Nigeria businesses to patronise foreign agencies at the expense of the Nigerian ones.
Not too long ago Union bank, a wholly owned Nigeria bank with over 100 years of operation in the local market travelled to South Africa to get Landor to execute their rebranding project. Nigerian Breweries also snatched away Star beer’s creative business from a Nigerian agency and handed it out to JWT South Africa and several months ago, they also did same with Gulder, which was hitherto warehoused at Insight Communication.
A number of other top brands doing business in Nigeria are also guilty of this practice. While some have surrendered their complete creative budget to foreign agencies, others have divided theirs between Nigerian and foreign agencies, like Airtel Nigeria, which is said to maintain multiple creative agencies on its roster.
As this trend persists, it leaves a big hole in the pockets of Nigeria advertising industry because billions are being lost to foreign agencies as a result. “Every day we cry that there’s unemployment in Nigeria, we all look to government to create jobs for us, yet those who have an equally pivotal role to play in employment generation are proudly taking jobs meant for Nigerians to foreign lands,” Stanley Nwabia, a media consultant and CEO Firewood Media said.
Unfortunately, there seem to be nothing anybody can do to stop the hemorrhage, because there are no legal frameworks to discourage it or even check it. Perhaps if the proposed Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) reforms had gone full circles, the challenge would have been nipped in the bud long ago. “It’s back to some of the conversations we’ve had about our industry generally. Are there policies? Are the policies being implemented? “Lanre Adisa, CEO Noah’s Ark said recently.
Continuing, he said. “I think the aim of that (APCON) reform was to ensure that the local industry does not suffer as we’ve seen in some of those instances. I’d hope that we all get that message and we can take the implementation, otherwise more clients will take a cue from that and say that is what I want to do.”
Yet, APCON is not totally handicap, because it has the backing of government to act as a clearing house for the industry, and would not deal directly with a foreign agency.
However, some brands, in connivance with local agencies may have found a way to circumvent the system for their own gains. According to the APCON Registrar, Alhaji Bello Kankarfi some Nigeria agencies serve as middlemen to foreign agencies, even when they are not affiliated to them,” They know that if they come directly to us we will not clear them,” The APCON Registrar said.
Now, while the industry waits, and hopes that the Federal Government acts fast on the constitution of the APCON Council, the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) is already working to create address the anomaly I their own way.
“It’s a situation that we are studying, and we’ll be able to come up with our position soon. There are dimensions to the problems. What is the moral implication, what is the social implication? It’s a very unwholesome development and it’s uncalled for,” AAAN President Kayode Oluwasona said.
But there is another aspect that requires urgent attention; and that is the issue of quality in the creative industry.” While we are working at the policy level, we also need to work at the ground level in terms of ourselves as the agencies. What quality are we providing, what kind of service are they getting from us,” Mr. Adisa said.
But whatever needs to be done, must be done fast to safeguard the industry from further hemorrhage and preserve the dignity and future of the advertising industry in Nigeria.
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