‘Nigerian Marketing Industry Prone to Budget Decline without Collaboration’

Raheem Akingbolu
A former President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Mr. Kelechi Nwosu has predicted a more declining future for the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) industry, if the practitioners fail to yield to the wise counsel of experts on the need for agencies to collaborate amidst striking global advertising fortune.

Speaking at a forum organised by journalists in Lagos, titled: ‘Partnerships: The future of Building Vibrant IMC Ecosystem,” he charged stakeholders to collaborate at different levels in order to grow the burgeoning Nigerian advertising market.

He reiterated that the IMC space has become more complex and therefore requires collaboration and partnerships for economic productivity.

According to him, the Nigerian advertising market has been characterised by stiff competition and low productivity. He stressed that low oil price, economic recessions in 2016 and 2020, Covid-19 only made the situation worse. Nwosu noted that the Nigerian market is largely under-performing and shallow considering its huge population.

Citing comparison between the Nigerian and U.S markets, he stated that while Nigeria’s 2020 annual advert expenditure stood at $243 million compared to the US figure of $243 billion, its GDP of N 152.32 trillion ($400 billion) was a paltry sum relative to the US $20.3 trillion for the same period at 205 million and 332 million population respectively.
Contextualising the issue, Nwosu stressed that the economic realities and indices present an ugly picture for the Nigerian advertising market.

He said: “We are a prevalent poor country. It is estimated that 82 per cent of our population live below the poverty line. Despite the slight GDP growth we have recently recorded, poverty will continue to rise if it’s not accompanied by population growth.

“However, our huge market and our population remains a big attraction. This is why there has been a lot of interest from the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India and China) to come to our market to do business”.

Making a case for collaboration as a tool to grow the industry, the TBWA boss stressed that the complex nature of Integrated Marketing Communications makes it imperative.
According to him, “Advertising has evolved into IMC. The IMC has become a lot more complex. No one knows it all. You always need to rely on partners to work it out. Advertising is built as a collaborative industry.

“Great creative works usually come out when agencies collaborate with clients. Besides, we are dealing with a very shallow market and it requires that we collaborate if we want to grow the market.”

Responding to claims that trust has been a major albatross of mergers & collaboration in the IMC, Nwosu noted that such fears could be dealt with if partnerships are legally consummated.

“People will naturally have fears towards such business relationships but they can be dealt with if the terms of the partnerships are well documented and agreed by parties involved. Collaboration is key is if we must grow the industry.
“For instance on the MTN project, TBWA works in collaboration with PR, Experiential and media agencies. While some of these agencies are from the Omnicon group, we also compete against each other in other areas.”

On how the media could collaborate with partners and agencies in the IMC, he stressed that journalists could partner with agencies through research and knowledge.

“A lot is happening in the industry and the media can lead the conversation in challenging cultural ideas behind our creative work. There is a lot of cultural attack from abroad in terms of the content we consume on our platforms and we are still at a point where we even adapt ads from foreign lands. We are telling stories but our stories are not being told. A lot of our ads do not reflect our culture and I think an association can lead conversations in such areas
“Again, it’s all about collaboration and I believe the media can do better by taking advantage of many opportunities and partnering with other bodies. Besides, you also need to play well in the digital space to function properly in the knowledge economy.

“Ultimately, you need to own your own space and maximally use such digital platforms like to make a difference,” he added.