Advertisers strategise to achieve N605bn industry growth

By Merit Ibe

The Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) has identified key steps necessary to be taken to achieve further growth of Nigeria’s N605.2 billion advertising industry.

Among the key steps are inauguration of a council for the industry, government engagement of professionals in the industry for execution of jobs and adoption of technology and embracing rapid changes by the industry operators.

The Nigerian advertising  industry is valued at N605.2 billion in 2023 which represents total expenditure on marketing communications in Nigeria and the industry is expected to grow to almost N900 billion in 2028, contributing about 1.08 percent to GDP under the right conditions.

President of the association, Lanre Adisa,  who addressed advertisers and other stakeholders at AAAN yearly meeting in Ibadan  on  “Charting Bold Paths Forward,” a theme which he described as  not just a title but a rallying call, a challenge, and a declaration,  said the industry can  only move forward when the government gives the operators  the attention they deserve, “starting with the inauguration of an ARCON Council”.

He regretted that the industry has operated for  over ten years without a Council. ‘We have transitioned from APCON to ARCON, one administration to another. Yet, we don’t have a Council’, he lamented.

Lanre who is the Founder/Chief Creative Officer of  Noah’s Ark, an award winning agency also said “the industry  can only move forward when the government engages professional bodies like ours on matters of marketing communications and brand building.

“In the spirit of the current administration’s Nigeria First policy, we are urging the Federal Government to make it a policy that only ARCON-certified agencies should bid for all government/MDAs marketing communication services. Not only will this help present government activities in a more professional manner, it will also help these agencies thrive better and be of greater value to the government through their statutory obligations”, he said.

While encouraging operators in the industry to play their part in ensuring that they engender a healthy and vibrant ecosystem that will ensure the industry moves forward, Lanre challenged them to embrace the rapid changes confronting the industry.

He said technology is not the enemy. Fear is. “We must be bold—bold enough to embrace new technologies, to re-skill, to experiment and to own our seat at the table in a rapidly shifting advertising ecosystem. We must move from being followers of global trends to becoming shapers of global narratives, drawing from the richness of our culture, creativity and commerce”.

In his view at the meeting during a firechat, Olalekan Fadolapo, Director General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), argued for professional self-regulation as a sustainable pathway to reforming the  advertising ecosystem.

Fadolapo, who was commended by Lanre Adisa  for championing reforms, pointed out that some regulatory challenges would not exist if practitioners committed to ethical advertising and internal control.

At the meeting graced by players such as Udeme Ufot, Group CEO of SO & U; Tunji Olugbodi, Group CEO  of Verdant Zeal; Steve Babaeko of X3M Ideas; Kelechi Nwosu CEO of TBWA/Concepts,  eight agencies were inducted.

The newly inducted agencies are: Grandeur Limited, Octoplus Marketing Limited, Hephzibah Experiential Limited, Adept Creation Enterprise Limited, Take-Out Media, Flow Universal Solutions Limited, Blue Sky Media Promotion and Whyfinite Martech Limited.