There’s no balance in Nigeria’s advertising ecosystem yet – Idu Raphael
By Felicia Nwosu
Idu Raphel, the Chief Executive Officer of Poke Ltd, has said that the contribution of Nigeria’s advertising industry to the nation’s gross domestic product is not yet a reflection of its image as the biggest economy in the Sub-Saharan Africa. He also decried a lack of balance between Nigeria’s advertising ecosystem and that of other African countries.
The Poke helmsman stated this during a one-on-one interview with MARKETING EDGE, Nigeria’s leading marketing and advertising magazine. While assessing the Nigerian market and the GDP of the country, Raphael noted that South African adverting industry reflects greatly in its GDP when compared with Nigeria.
According to him, the advertising industry contributes about two billion dollars to South Africa’s economy, while that of Africa’s leading economy, Nigeria, sits at less than five hundred million dollars. A proof he said indicates that Nigeria’s advertising sub-sector still requires a lot of work to be improved upon.
The business leader commended Nigeria’s SMEs for contributing about 47% to the nation’s economy and the resilience in raising immense funds to execute their businesses. The brand builder explained that huge opportunities abound in Nigeria’s SMEs, of which the macro of it, he revealed, lies in the tech space. He, therefore, suggested that for it to be richly harnessed there is need for advertising to assist in the SMEs business by understanding the needs of those in that sector.
The creative strategist also called for more penetration of the internet for easy accessibility, adding that 42% of the population already has access, but demanded for more penetration and accessibility to increase the population of users.
His words: “What SMEs need today for their businesses to thrive is available internet for their customers, and that is a huge driver of the economy. Access to the internet will propel a lot of businesses in Nigeria which will in turn lead to huge investments in advertising, maybe not on traditional advertising. Globally, a lot of companies are moving their project spending on digital and social space. The gains will definitely outweigh the sacrifice.”
The young entrepreneur added that businesses have adapted perfectly to the new wave that emerged with the pandemic, noting that there is nothing as new normal any longer. “Ways of working have changed. It propels people to become more creative than before.”
Assessing the creative industry in Nigeria, he pointed out that there are two sides to every coin, adding that the industry has its good and bad sides.
“There is the good and the bad sides of the industry. Right now, we are relatively a new jerk industry. What is happening is that a lot of products are large in themselves but on the brand score, they score very low in Nigeria.
“The Truth be told, what takes a product from being a product to becoming a brand is storytelling, and thankfully a lot of thinkers before us have already identified that the reason we love these brands is because of the story they have told us. They have moved from the functional to the emotional.”
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