The cookie crumble as succession crisis threatens Nigerian advertising
Over time there have been suggestions about establishing a hall of fame for the creative industry in Nigeria, where some of the great advertising works and creatives of the last three of four decades will be immortalsed, so younger generation of creatives can have a sense of how far the industry has come and acquaint themselves with some of the icons and stars, past and present of the industry. But if such project ever sees the light of the day, it will be a mixbag of emotions. Some of the works that will most definitely make the list would have become nothing but an epitaph of long gone agencies. Agencies who in their days shone like a thousand stars, but have since fallen off the firmament of advertising in Nigeria, and their place taken by younger agencies.
A sense of this reality played out during the Veteran’s night of the recently concluded Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Abeokuta. Like the name suggests, it was an event planned to allow younger and the not so young practitioners have a time with their older colleagues and learn from their history and milestones. The veterans on the night were Sir Steve Omojafor, founder of STB McCann, Lolu Akinwunmi Group CEO at Prima Garnet, Mrs. Dayo Thomas of LTC/JWT and Kola Ayanwale of CentreSpread. Between these four are some of the grandiose and most enduring moments of the Nigerian advertising. In their days, their agencies dominated the industry like a colossus and worked on some of the most lucrative brands. Their influence truly had no end.
But fast-forward to 2018; the picture is much different. These agencies have since been relegated to fringe players in an industry that has evolved significantly. Their inability to quickly adapt to digitalization and rapid transformation in the media landscape have made them unable to compete. The more severely affected ones are Promoserve, Lintas, MC & A, Hunter Publicity, CT & A and Rosabel Advertising, whose recent demise sent shock waves around the industry. Rosabel, reputed for some of Nigeria’s most iconic campaigns, including MKO Abiola’s Hope 93 has sensationally morphed into a total eclipse, ending one of the great chapters in the country’s advertising history.
Many have said that this tragedy apparently has little to do with the abilities of the founders as admen, but more to do with weak succession structure in the agencies. Steve Babaeko, CEO of X3M Group says it is an issue that calls for worry because it is a major dents on the industry’s administrative and entrepreneurial capabilities. He also noted that a major part of the industry’s history and heritage has been eroded by the failure of succession and impairs on the sector’s future greatness.
“Where are the generational agencies or any of the creative enterprise that we used to know of. Which examples do we have where people succeeded in handing over the baton to the next generation it give worry?” he asked rhetorically. Babaeko was one of the major pillars of success at 141 Worldwide, a subsidiary of Prima Garnet. He pulled out in 2012 to set up X3M Ideas. While Prima Garnet has struggled to re-enact its old glory, Babaeko’s X3M ideas has prospered beyond expectations.
For Lanre Adisa, CEO of Noah’s Ark, the challenge is a threat to the future of not just the individual agencies but also the entire creative industry. “If we don’t take the matter serious enough, as individual agencies and by extension the industry then of course we cannot be too sure of the future,” he said.
But while Nigerian creative businesses have struggled with this issue, their counterparts in the developed world have done it over and again. JC Decaux, a global behemoth in outdoor and digital advertising has been transform into a more profitable venture by Jean-Charles Decaux, first son to the founder Jean-Claude Decaux. Publicis Groupe the third largest communications network was founded in 1926 and its stronger than ever. BBDO and American agency started operation in 1891. Grey Advertising which recently got affiliated to CenterSpread is 111years old and still going strong. Leo Burnett an American agency network was started in August 1935. Young & Rubicam also started in 1923. JWT is one of the world’s oldest agencies, it was started in 1864 and it is still thriving. This list goes on and on.
But perhaps one could say that Mr. Biodun Shobanjo’s Insight Publicis is Nigeria’s example one can point to of a seamless transfer of leadership to a new generation of leaders, who have sustained the trajectory of success. Last year, Shobanjo’s Insight Publicis, appointed Feyi Olubodun as its CEO, the first non-founder to be so appointed. At the time of the appointment, Insight Publicis, one of the first generation agencies, was conveniently seated at the top bracket of the industry and the company has continue on that path since Olubodun took charge.
Of course, almost all the surviving first and second generation agencies, including CentreSpread, JTW/LTC, STB McCann etc now have new faces at the helms of affairs. But while Olubodun’s mandate is to sustain or possibly surpass the momentum of success at Insight Publicis, his opposite number in these other agencies have little to sustain, they simply must first stabilize the ships and then make them competitive again. Such is not likely to be the case at Casers Group. The 30 years old network has recently embarked on massive restructuring at the leadership levels to address present or future leadership challenges across its subsidiaries.
The reason for this succession crisis is not far-fetched; some analysts have blamed it on the pervasive sit-tight culture in Africa. Mr. Tunde Adodoyin Managing Director of Media Views and current President of the Outdoor Agencies Association of Nigeria (OAAN) says some founders of agencies have been reluctant to relinquish their leadership position and when they eventually did owing to old age, it was too late.
“Yesteryears founders left too late. When they eventually started thinking of that, the good hands already moved on. By the time they handed over, those who got the job were not ready to receive the mantle of leadership and what eventually happened was that they ran the agencies aground. One of such example is Pal Communications. By the time the original founders were going, they were in their late 70s. They lost all the good hands. And they handed over to people who were just learning and few years after, the agency went moribund.”
Some other analysts have argued that for there to be a seamless handover, the problem of talent has to be addressed squarely, because often times the industry have been starved of quality talents that are ready to step in when called upon. According to Adisa, while the industry has been able to produce great talents in their numbers, it has failed to retain them. This unfortunate brain drain has left the industry with a shrinking pool of business savvy human resource talents and they are been constantly recycled among the big agencies with deep pockets, leaving the smaller agencies to fish for talents in the shallow waters.
Babaeko made reference to this when he said “the problem is between the old generation that will not give up power and the new generation that is not properly equipped to even take the power even if you hand it to them, now being in a hurry to take power and when you don’t give them they set up. Whichever way you roll the dice, the industry still loses.
But what is the way out of this quagmire that is threatening the heritage and future of the advertising industry in Nigeria? Adisa says founders must think beyond the now by given room to others to flourish. He noted that they must come to the point of embracing collaboration as a way to sustaining the legacies of their enterprise. “You only get better with the quality of people around you. In doing that you need to create for them a career path. The more you do that you will be sure of the future,” he said.
Adisa also alluded to the need for regulation as was done in the banking sector. However, he stressed that it was best to self-regulate.
Thankfully, a number of the younger agencies seem to be learning vital lessons from the failures of their older colleagues. Noah’s Ark recently announced a restructuring, appointing for the first time a Chief Operating Officer whose duty is to run administrative aspect of the business, freeing Adisa and other creative to focus driving growth. Likewise, Babaeko has said he plans to retire early from his agencies and give the reign of leadership to the younger generation.
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