Recession: Advertising experts canvass consolidation, shared economy
Advertising and brand strategy experts have canvassed for consolidation exercise in the industry to pool resources of advertising agencies as witnessed a few years go in the banking sector as the panacea to dwindling business in the industry in Nigeria due to the Recession.
They spoke at the 44th Annual General Meeting/Congress of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) themed: “Fresh Thinking” held in Lagos on Friday.
Core advertising businesses in Nigeria are going through hard times in recent years as a result of creative disruptions driven by the internet and shrinking budgets fueled by a hard-biting Recession which started over a year and half ago, raising concerns among players that the industry may die off.
According to the lead Speaker at the congress, Bayo Adekambi, Chief Transformation Officer, MTN Nigeria, creative disruptions in the advertising world has worsened the fortune of advertising practitioners as the internet provides brand owners opportunities to bypass creative agencies and open-source for great advertising ideas from young talents online at the shortest possible time at lower rates.
“The world has moved on to open source and participatory creativity where users help to create advertising ideas. Super and great (creative) ideas are emerging from young guys. The power has left the creative agencies and gone on to the crowd. Consumers trust advertising that are user or crowd-generated,” said Adekambi, citing the instances of online creative networks like Zoopa, Mofilm and Eyeka which pool creative talents and ideas. He advocated shared economy, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding if the Nigerian advertising industry were to beat the odds.
“At some point in the industry, there was fragmentation. Now, we need to re-bundle, share resources, share values,” submitted Kelechi Nwosu, MD,TWBA, corroborating Adekambi.
The President of AAAN, Kayode Oluwasona, harped on the need for collaborations. ” Advertising will not die. How we do it is; whether digital or analog is what will change. We need to be in it together, appreciate our problems and work how to come out of our challenges.”
Steve Babaeko, MD of X3M Ideas, noted that the Consolidation might be the answer as more advertising agencies are chasing fewer businesses. “The clients we are following are closing shops while more advertising shops are opening. Consolidation might be the saving grace.”
Funmi Onabolu, MD of Bates Cosse, believed the trouble with the advertising industry in Nigeria lies with the business model. “Stop putting premium on affiliations. Our industry is in deep trouble because we don’t know how to change our business model. The quicker we rethink these models, the better for us.”
The Registrar, APCON, Alhaji Garba Bello Kankarofi while commending AAAN for remaining vibrant despite the economic hardship, gave the assurance that the vacant APCON Chairmanship issue would soon be resolved in the interest of advertising practice in Nigeria.
The well-attended event which was chaired by the Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, had in attendance, the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwumi Ambode represented by the Commissioner for Information, Steve Ayorinde, MDs of advertising agencies, journalists and Advertising/Marketing students from select tertiary institutions.
