Marketing Communications as Economic Enabler

The answers to the question about the lingering challenge of value disorientation and image crisis in Nigeria have been provided by experts in the marketing communications industry who converged in Abuja for the 2023 National Advertising Conference and tasked the federal government and its agency to explore communication as a tool for national transformation. Raheem Akingbolu reports

As a professional body, the players in the marketing communications industry have over the years used logical proposition to tell federal government and other stakeholders in the Nigeria project to look inward and identify the lacuna in their communication strategies. They have argued in many fora that the problem of Nigeria is not entirely about not having a good policy but lack of poor communication strategy to attract global attention as well as getting the buy-in of members of the public.

The 2023 edition of the National Advertising Conference, held recently in Abuja, provided yet another opportunity for the nation’s creative community to further push the narrative. For the participants, the conference, which was put together by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) and other sectoral bodies, was also an eye opener on both global and local trends in the industry.

The tone of what to expect was set on the arrival day at the Fireside Chat night held at the open terrace of John Wood Hotel By Bolton in the Wuse area of FCT, where veterans and industry leaders like Lolu Akinwunmi  and Seni Adetu told the truth the way it was about advertising practice in Nigeria and the practitioners. Both Akinwumi and Adetu admitted that the industry is troubled within and without. They both agreed that there’re self-inflicting challenges and those created by the system. The speakers and contributors also agreed and they were unanimous in their rating of the current pilot of the industry -the Director General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, that he has done perfectly well to reform and reposition the industry.

Perhaps deliberately, the organisers successfully used day two to tell the world that Nigeria’s ad community has advanced and groomed a new generation of practitioners who can stand any market.

The Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, who represented the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, to declare the conference open, also proved within five minutes that he knew the industry and understood their workings. He raised the bar of the conversation at the opening ceremony by declaring that the Federal Government needed marketing communications practitioners to redefine the country’s corporate entity. Issa-Onilu didn’t pretend as he pointed out that the role of stakeholders in the marketing communications ecosystem in enabling national transformation cannot be overemphasized. He told the creative community that they are needed to help bridge the divide between the government and the citizenry.

He said he was delighted that this year’s theme focused on the role of marketing communications as an enabler of national transformation. The former newspaper Editor told participants that it was a direct acknowledgement of the power and responsibility of marketing communications practitioners to facilitate the transformation that Nigeria requires and deserves.

Onilu charged practitioners on the need to use their immense influence to enlighten Nigerians on some of the  reforms and policies of the federal government.

“I ask that you as communications professionals rally around to help us convey that information without sensationalism or distortion,” he stated.

Though the three-day event was another opportunity for Fadolapo to tell Nigerians what the industry is capable of doing to reset the country, he achieved more in the area of building the confidence of the practitioners that they have transited their years in the wilderness. 

Fadolapo disclosed that research has shown that marketing communication as an economic activity is strategic to the growth and development of Nigeria’s economy. Thus, he confirmed the position of many experts that communication is the driver of a healthy and thriving society. 

Indeed, the theme for this year’s edition could not have been more apt! For practitioners in the nation’s integrated marketing communication space, advertising and marketing communications are quite influential in shaping hearts and minds.

But how well has this influence been leveraged by stakeholders and practitioners in achieving national integration, cohesion and transformation?

Interestingly, the general consensus was that practitioners must know their onions,  be aware of this power, and  own it, before they can conveniently deploy it.

Speaking at the Fireside Chat, the Group CEO, Prima Garnet Africa, Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi said practitioners must be professional, ready to stand their grounds anytime, to be able to make the necessary impact.

 Going down memory lane, the Prima Garnet Africa boss recounted how his agency had insisted on being paid a pitch fee, by a frontline financial institution in the country, a demand many of the nation’s agencies are still scared stiff to make, for fear of being dropped from the process.

According to him, while the first generation bank initially turned the agency’s request down, it later agreed to pay when it was obvious to it that it wouldn’t be able to go ahead with the process without the agency’s participation.

He added that the agency was able to temporarily walk out of the pitch process because its management team knew their onions, and they were not ready to compromise industry standards.

For the President of the National Institute of Marketing (NIMN), Idorenyen Enang, there is the need for practitioners, especially marketers, to cultivate the ‘farmer’s mentality of cultivating before harvesting, to enable them to grow.

Enang, while discussing the topic ‘Growing talents for the IMC Industry’ argued that talents can only be grown when the individuals, in question, are willing to be mentored.

He charged the younger ones, aspiring to be marketing professionals, to avail themselves of the opportunities provided by the institute to develop themselves and grow their careers.

Other speakers at the conference, especially leaders of the various sectoral bodies like the President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Steve Babaeko and the President of Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria Femi Adelusi leveraged the platform to play up the industry dynamics and new trends.

Babaeko, who is the Chief Executive Officer of X3M Ideas and Chairman of  the Brand Nigeria Committee, stated that the idea of the committee, comprising of the best strategists in the country, was to change the ugly narratives about the Nigeria Brand, and promote her positives to enable it attract the much-needed investments.

“Gone are the days we’ll leave the narratives in the hands of strangers,” he stated.

He explained that the task, which was done pro-bono by members of the committee, represents the industry’s own contribution to the nation’s socio-economic growth.

The Chairman, Organising Committee of the National Advertising Conference, Mr. Tunji Adeyinka explained that one of the aims of the Conference was to deal with the issues of  determining the size of the marketing communications industry, understand the contribution of the sector to GDP and frame the discussion around the multiplier effect of every naira spent on the marcoms sector.

Earlier, in his welcome address, the Director General of ARCON, Dr. Lekan Fadolapo, had explained that this year’s edition of the conference, the third in the series, was designed to take a detailed look at Advertising as an economic enabler.

This, he noted, was to bring forth suggestions and recommendations that will impact the industry positively and the Nigerian economy at large.

Fadolapo also used the opportunity to assure practitioners that the reforms being embarked upon by the Council are meant to sanitize the industry, enhance its standards, and reposition it for growth.

He however warned of the Council’s readiness to drag any erring practitioner, or professional body, to the recently-constituted Advertising Tribunal to answer for whatever misdeed they must have committed.

Meanwhile, the conference was also used by the DG to explain why the ARCON was restructured with new identity and nomenclature. Fadolapo said the decision to change the name of the apex regulatory body in the advertising sector from Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) to ARCON, was informed by the need to address some lacuna created by the former Act setting up APCON.

Fadolapo, who gave the explanation at the Town Hall meeting held with practitioners, as part of the conference, stated that the process of replacing the former Act with the new one, also gave birth to a new name, and  provided the agency more teeth  to dispense its statutory duties effectively. 

While charging practitioners on the need to be good ambassadors of the practice, the ARCON boss explained that the decision to also set up the Advertising Offences Tribunal stemmed from the need to avert undue delay usually experienced at the regular courts, and ensure cases relating to advertising offences are quickly dispensed with.

“If you take somebody to court, they can even be on preliminary objections for two years, on a matter as small as payment of advertising debt, bordering on the survival of an agency. If we have to challenge two or three agencies for poaching accounts illegally, you can imagine what that will be. So, we need to bring in an Advertising Offences Tribunal that must resolve the issue within 90 days,” he stated.

As part of the ongoing efforts, aimed at repositioning the sector, ARCON, he added, would, as from January, 2023, embark on a national audit of advertising agencies, by categories and specialisation in Nigeria.

To achieve this move, Fadolapo stated that ARCON will be writing to all the sectoral groups, about the plans, and let them know that it would no longer be business as usual.

He assured stakeholders in the sector of the agency’s commitment to bridging the existing gap between the town and the gown, by looking at areas where the two can collaborate.

“Last year we started the advertising colloquium, expected to interrogate advertising as the body of knowledge, as a practice, and as a business. We want to ensure that we bridge the gap between the town and gown. We are moving into the academic world to see how we can bridge that gap between the town and the gown,” he stated.

He also assured practitioners that the reforms, embarked upon by the agency, in the last few years, were designed to sanitise the industry, and not victimize any individual, or group within the advertising ecosystem.

Fadolapo added that such reforms were needed to enable the industry to be in tune with best global practice and standard.