Raheem Akingbolu writes that many combining factors, including the late passage of the 2018 budget slowed down activities in the marketing communication sector
January 2018 ushered in hope for marketing communication practitioners in Nigeria. With Nigeria exiting the economic recession that almost crippled their businesses in the previous years, players in various fields of marketing communication had predicted a boom in the New Year.
But six months after, the hope is still rising without a clear picture of what the rest of the year would look like.
Though there is stability in the business environment, the fact that economic activities have slowed down have impacted on the marketing industry.
Another major challenge the industry is yet to overcome is lack of leadership and operational board at the apex regulatory body of the industry –the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).
However, in terms of industry structure and development, there has been tremendous growth in the last six months. For instance, the advertising community has attracted global recognition with the inauguration of the Nigerian Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA), while other sectoral bodies, like NIPR, PRCAN and EXMAN have also instituted various programmes to promote capacity development.
Looking at the last six months, the President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Mr. Kayode Oluwasona, disagreed that things have been rough for practitioners.
According to him, with the recent passage of the budget, activities will soon kick off smoothly in the industry.
“There is hope rising and at the end of the day, everybody is looking forward for the boom. If there is anything that gladdens my heart, it is the fact that our members have readjusted their business models very well to fit into the economic reality of the country.
“In the last six months, there have been businesses, there have been planning and there have been realignments. As we approach the second half of the year, I’m not in doubt that things would improve very well,â€
But for the Publisher of Marketing Edge, a wholly Marketing Communication publication, Mr. John Ajayi, it is not yet uhuru for the industry.
He told THISDAY during the week that the hope of marketing practitioners that this year would be better has remained hanging. While blaming the late passage of the budget by the National Assembly for the lull in the economy, he called on practitioners to quickly braze up to attract available opportunities in the months ahead.
“It is sad, but the reality is that the high expectation in January has become high frustration because things have not moved the way they should be for practitioners.
“First, the delay in signing the budget into law at the critical period, when it would have been used to invigorate the economy through the real sector cost the marketing industry a lot. “Things have been tough in the last six months because there is no money in circulation, consumers purchasing power have reduced while the manufacturing sector, whose activities would have had cumulative impact on the marketing communication has been in comatose,â€
Impact of the World Cup
Beyond growing sales, many brands, especially those with global clouts are leveraging the ongoing World Cup to further strengthen the equity of their brands.
In the last few weeks, a lot of activities by many manufacturers of goods and service providers have been geared toward the global competition to boost their brands visibility in the market. Of course, this has also boosted activities in the marketing communication industry as they are relied upon for conceptualisation of promotional ideas and campaigns.
As a global partner of FIFA since 1978, Coca Cola is not left out this year. To identify with the Super Eagles of Nigeria and its Nigerian consumers, the global soft drink brand domesticates some of its global campaigns and engages local marketing communications practitioners for activations.
In fact, to promote the ideals and strength of the Super Eagles, both Coca Cola and Pepsi launched ad campaigns ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
So far, the campaign for the national team to win the 2018 FIFA World Cup has received quite an overwhelming support from global and indigenous brands as well as the Nigerian government.
At least, six big brands supported the Nigerian football national team with over N6 billion in its campaign to come out top at the 2018 global football event.
Out of these brands are two major beverage manufactures- Coca-Cola Nigeria and Nigerian Breweries plc – funding the Super Eagles campaign with over N2 billion.
Other brands that identify with the team and end up boosting activities in the marketing industry are; Hero, Trophy, Multichoice and Amstel Malta.
Outdoor sector
In the out-of-home sub sector of the industry, the last six months have been rough. According to industry source, more agencies have downsized as a result of their businesses that nosedived in the last six months.
To say the last 10 years have been difficult for outdoor practitioners is like stating the obvious. Aside facing challenges of multiple taxation and unfriendly rates, the fear of likely takeover of their businesses by foreign firms has remained a recurring decimal.
In Lagos, where they have the largest chunk of their businesses, the challenges have been tougher than other places, especially since 2006 when the state government decided to create a parallel regulatory agency -the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA), to rival the federal government’s owned Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON). Despite efforts by stakeholders to mend the wall between the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) and LASAA, the relationship is still a cat and mouse one.
In 2017 when many thought the war was over, the decision of the state government to allocate major sites in the commercial city to a French Company – JCDecaux Group became another cause for concern among practitioners.
Speaking on the performance of the sub-sector in the last six months, OAAN General Secretary, Femi Ogala, didn’t mince words in stating emphatically that the last one and half years have remained the worst for out-of-home practitioners. Ogala didn’t only blame Lagos State and her agency –LASAA for double standard; he also condemned the agency for introducing unfriendly payment pattern to frustrate local practitioners.
“For outdoor practitioners, 2017 is a bad year and nothing have changed in the last six months, no thanks to LASAA and the Lagos State government that boosted the activities of a foreign firm -JCDecaux Group, at the expense of the local operators.
“As I speak, major streets in Lagos like Ikorodu road, third Mainland Bridge, Oshodi, Ojota and others have been ceded to the foreign company.
“Our members are particularly sad because some areas where the state had initially marked untouchable are now being controlled by the company.
“Besides, the rates being given to us are not friendly, even after the recent reduction. For God’s sake, where do you get money to pay when the campaigns are no more running. It is when our works add values to clients’ businesses that we will be paid and get money to pay government,’’ he said.
CPC perspective
For the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), the last six months have witnessed many activities, especially in the area of stakeholders’ engagement and enforcement. Among other achievements, the council has used the last six months to meet and encourage good and service providers to make consumer Protection a core and not ancillary of their businesses. The council expects business owners and manufacturers to play prominent role in resolving complaints and consumer education.
In the area of enforcement, the council has consistently clamped down on unruly organisations that promote fake products. The latest being the caught of eight persons and confiscation of over 1000 re-bagged substandard rice worth millions of naira in Akwa Ibom state.
In the overall assessment of the various sectoral bodies, it is obvious that the general performance has been below average. But with the assurance from many quarters that the signing into law of the 2018 budget and the opportunities 2019 general election could offer, it is believed that the rest of the would impact marketing practitioners positively.
