Experts and stakeholders in the marketing communications industry have rated the past year as a not particularly boisterous for the advertising sector, concerning areas of financial growth. Besides being an election year with its inherent challenges, operators say the influence of foreign agencies’ scramble for indigenous jobs, all made it a rough ride. How did the advertising sector fair in 2019?

JANE CHIJIOKE writes.

 

For operators in the marketing communications sector, the outgone year was not particularly a brilliant one for the business. While there are no audited reports of the advertising spend under the year in question, an evaluation of business activities in the industry is believed to have recorded little or no growth. This development, some say, was mainly due to the year being an election year in the country.

“It was a very difficult year for the advertising sector. We saw shocking business activities going on. Most major participants in business and enterprise could not do much because of the election. So technically for the industry, we only had six months calendar as we had to wait for swearing in on May 29.

So technically, economic activities kicked off in June and that greatly affected the advertising industry,” explained the Vice Chairman, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Steve Babaeko. For this and other reasons, Babaeko submitted that “2019 did not fare well for the industry especially in the area of financial growth.”

Babaeko, who is also the Chief Executive Officer, X3M Ideas, a marketing communications firm with bias for advertising and creative arts, the year’s unimpressive performance was further compounded as most of the usual spending that happened within the political circle didn’t go mostly to registered ad agencies, because a lot of backdoor deals, foreign public relation companies, and others got bigger chunk of deals done than the local industry.

“Each time we have some of these activities happening, it hurts the local industry.  Aside economic downturn, this exclusion of the local industry at such periods is not healthy for the sector.  I really love the policy on border closure. I think the government should do an equivalent of that in the advertising sector.

 There should a standing policy to ward off foreign interference.  These are people who do not even know the nuances of our culture and tradition and they are being paid to come and do strategy for campaigns. To be honest, it doesn’t make sense.

Now we are losing money, losing scarce foreign exchange to foreign countries while we have an industry here that employs labour and we are starving them,” he lamented.

He explained that the industry which interacts with big players within the special sectors of the macro economy- from the farmers, manufacturing to fast moving consumers goods and even distributors, is not given due recognition in the economic policies of the country.

“So the first way to check where the wind of economy is blowing is from the advertising space because we know who is reducing or increasing spends. We can also use that to accumulate data to know what happened last year and what is likely to happen this year.

It becomes imperative for government to bring in personalities from the advertising space into government economic planning.  2019 was a bad year for the sector and we are hoping to have a much better year this time so that we can begin to see clearer indications of what the numbers actually are,” he said.

Owing to the economic downturn in the country, and  the closure of the border which resulted to rising cost of food stuffs, he said the consumer confidence index for the year was also low as consumers tend to save more and spend less.

He noted that why there has been more knocks for  the Federal Government on the border closure, was because the government did not apply an effective communication strategy to relate with its citizenry, hence, the  much allusions of  government insensitivity on  consumers plight  which have trailed the closure.

Another area which ended on a bad note for the industry was the absence of a governing board for the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria ( APCON).  For almost four years, APCON which is under the purview of the Ministry of Information, has been without a governing board.

Over the years, stakeholders have continued to raise concerns over the sensitivity of the  role the apex regulatory agency plays in overseeing  the industry, which without a  board  could have adverse effect on the sector.

For instance, since March 2015 when Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi served out his term spanning four years and seven months, efforts to reconstitute a governing board has always been met with controversies.

Read Also: Youths trained in digital marketing

 

At different occasions, stakeholders had kicked against appointment of politicians and non-professionals by the President to chair APCON.  This, they argued, contravened the Advertising Law of Act 55, 1988 (as amended).

In furtherance of their clamour for a befitting council, last year, APCON held its maiden conference in Abuja where among other issues, stakeholders called on the Federal Government to set up a governing council for the regulatory agency to exercise its statutory roles. Babaeko worries that despite effort made, again, the year ended without having a council.

“We have been fighting. The fact that we have not been carrying placards disturbing the whole country does not mean that we have not been reaching out to the government. At least under the leadership of the current President of AAAN, Kelechi Odigbo, we have done alot.

We have met with the Vice President; we have sent letters and reached out to the Minister of Information. But yet, nothing has been done.  The government needs to do something because you cannot leave a whole advertising sector grounded for three to four years without a council.

It makes no sense. There is a government act that sets up APCON and to see that it is government itself that is flouting the act is difficult for one to comprehend,” he said.

Babaeko, however, assured that efforts would be intensified this year and prayed that their demands would be addressed. “I am using this medium to reach out to the government to look into this issue because the future of the industry depends on it.

He was hopeful that the 2020 Appropriation Bill signed last month would have positive effect on the sector.

But all appears not to be bleak for the year. The Registrar of APCON, Mrs  Ijedi Iyoha, said hollistically, the industry did well considering the fact that  2019 was an election year.

She said the industry like most sectors moved at a slow pace except in the area of political  advertising which was expected, adding that the industry gradually picked up after the election.

She remarked that another  take-out of the year was the maiden advertising conference. Iyoha  explained that stakeholders have been meeting in their various sector levels to determine how best to improve the advertising industry and the profession in Nigeria but the conference provided the platform for these various sectors to come together for the first time in more than two decades with the view of charting sustainable course for the future of the industry.

”The conference was a success and we are very hopeful that the outcome of the deliberations will make the desired impact.

“The low point in the year  has always been the continued recalcitrant behaviours of illegal advertising practitioners to yield to lawful provisions made for the regulation of advertising business in Nigeria. Also,  absence of a governing council for APCON in 2019 is another low point” she added.

 

By Rarzack Olaegbe

 

TO improve technology through affordable innovative products, a mobile telephone and gadgets manufacturing firm, AfriFone Limited, has introduced its locally-made smartphone, Cygnus X into the market.

Speaking at the launch of the product, its Chief Operating Officer Mr Rajan Nahal, said the phone  has a water drop notch design to meet consumers needs.

He noted that the rate of use of phones in the country has made it as a viable market for the brand to grow and create more job opportunities.

Read Also: Tecno Camon 12 Series

 

“Our intention is to grow our brands and as we expand create both direct and indirect employment. Customer satisfaction remains our key focus while maintaining upgraded technology, quality and after sale service across the nation through our service centres,” he said.

Nahal explained that the aim of the company is to align with the made-in-Nigeria initiative of the government and generate employment opportunities for youths.

By Rarzack Olaegbe

 

A 2018 French dramatic comedy film directed by Fred Cavaye, Nothing to hide is adapted from the 2016 Italian film Perfect Strangers by Paolo Genovese. It is the story of a group of old friends and their partners who are meeting for a dinner party hosted by Marie and Vincent. A rare lunar eclipse is also expected to occur on the same evening.

At the dinner table, after hearing of Ben’s questionably humorous story of a woman who found out about her husband’s extramarital affairs upon his death at the hospital after looking through the messages on his unlocked mobile phone, the group then starts to discuss their phone lock settings and share information on their phones with their partners.

To spice up the dinner, Marie then suggests a game where everyone surrenders their phones to the centre of the table and any messages, emails, or calls received on anyone’s phone would have to be shared with everyone else. As the game progresses, more secrets begin to unravel, putting doubts on their friendships and marriages.

Likewise, as the Federal Government is about to embrace the Open Data Initiative, which provides a platform for a single, comprehensive view of data, won’t the adoption of open data begins to ravel more secrets and build distrust between the federal government and the citizens? Would it be beneficial to both parties? Before an answer suffices, first, what is open data? Open data is information that anyone can access, use and share. Open data is used when made available in a common, machine-readable format.

For instance, if adopted by a corporate organisation, it brings together and enriches data from all of the organisation’s lines of business and across all its systems to deliver real-time intelligence back into the applications and services.

If adopted by a married couple, it means the man will share every form of information, good or bad, with his wife. It does not mean the man would not password his smartphone. Invariably, it means the man would give his wife the same access he has to his wife and vice versa. She would answer his phone calls. He would answer her phone calls.

Reading each other’s text messages, WhatsApp chats and twitter messages will not be a forbidden act between the couple. Such an act will become a second nature, as the couple will readily and willingly share information, and the lives of the couple will become as open like a book.

There will be nothing to hide.  If adopted by a government, open data brings transparency and democratic control. It encourages participation. It raises self-empowerment. It breeds openness. It exposes the government to scrutiny. There will be nothing to hide.

Read Also: Pantami, populism and telecom sector

 

The above offering is in order since the minister of communication and digital economy, Isa Pantami announced recently that the federal government is taking steps to “fully embrace” open data initiative.

According to Pantami, the initiative would enable the government to compete and attract global recognition in the world of information communication technology.

Speaking at the Nigerian Open Data Conference held in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, he stated that for Nigeria to play a key role in the ongoing data revolution Nigeria needs to embrace open data initiative and “improve data literacy of its citizenry.”

He knows that data in the 21st-century data is the single most important driver of innovation, competitiveness and growth. As such, Nigeria needs to become an integral part of the data revolution. Embracing the open data revolution will bring the country at par with other developed nations that are using data to solve myriads of problems.

The minister knows that data can be used to solve a problem or create opportunities for the people. He also knows that the open data initiative involves uploading non-sensitive government information on the internet.

The information may include agricultural prices, vehicle registration, and tax matter in “machine-readable, reusable and accessible formats for economic growth, advancement, transparency and accountability in the delivery of services”.

To succeed, the government needs a steady and reliable internet connectivity and friendly website. Knowing this, Pantami said government’s web pages must interface with a central data.gov.ng portal.

Aside, the federal government needs to adhere to the open data standard, which describes how some sets of data should be made publicly available. It defines data concerning a particular subject, for example, building permits (BLDS).

So, Pantami assures that there will be a continuous digitilisation and uploading of high priority data sets in accordance with the format. This helps the government to meet the supply side and in turn prompt the citizen to dialogue with the data.

Nevertheless, if properly done, open data initiative can become the raw materials the citizens need to engage the government and help to improve the public services such as public planning, provide feedback to government ministries on service delivery quality, innovation and economic value.

However it goes, open data will also expose some of government’s secrets. This would turn the government into an open book, read by all. By extension, the government will be subjected to different scrutiny and will have nothing to hide.

Telling stories is the new paradigm shift in contemporary brand building. Brands use this method to communicate their value offerings to their targeted audience and elicit responses from them. JANE CHIJIOKE writes.

 

Attention in today’s digitally driven society has become a scarce commodity.   Experts say the attention span of a human being has reduced to eight seconds. With this minute attention span, consumers are bombarded with multiple marketing messages  daily, making it tougher for brands to communicate their products to their target audience.

More so, with accessibility to information, the digital space has continued to offer convenience and instant gratification, thus, the human touch has become more difficult and coveted.

Operating in such business environment, brands need to do more to connect with their audience in a much deeper level. One of such ways is employing the art of storytelling.

Telling stories is an ancient mode of communication. It is a narrative about an experience, event or series of events, aimed at passing a message to the intended audience.  It arguably improves listening skills and makes the message more memorable. When stories are told, they engage with the cortex of the brain which is responsible for language and emotions.

People love to hear stories. Stories are the reason people would want to stay glued to a particular movie, soap opera and even listen to gist among their peers. This art has been adjudged to be effective in engaging consumers.

Practitioners in Integrated Marketing Communication are gradually adopting this art of telling stories in their creative contents.  They are of the view that to increase potential customer conversions, making emotional connections would captivate both consumers and prospective ones.

According to Global Brand Network founder, Esoshe Igbonoba, a compelling brand story can shape the way a brand is viewed, triggers consumers loyalty, increases sales and boost the visibility of a brand. She noted that is a communication tool that can be leveraged to communicate a brand identity, purpose and essence as well as have the potential to improve consumers’ ability to recall any information embedded in the marketing content.

Igbonoba remarked that brand storytelling became a global phenomenon in marketing in early 2012, when there was a widespread acceptance about the role of storytelling in content marketing for brands.

“In fact, it was largely termed, ‘the Year of Storytelling’. In early 2011, the number of marketers listing storytelling as a skill was little. But by 2014, storytelling became a key part of their profile  of almost a quarter of a million marketers, seven per cent of all marketers worldwide. This data shows how high marketers ranked storytelling skill. Though it is not a new strategy, there’s so much emphasis on it because of its effectiveness,” she said.

With its benefits, it is still not well- utilised in the country’s marketing communications. Experts argued that that creating an emotional brand attachment has remained a key issue for brands.

According to Digital Strategy and Planning Manager, Insight Publicis, Kayode Adeola, the  challenge for brand marketers is to find a way to be human, relevant and profitable to  consumers. He noted that brands spend time talking about their products, how they are better, cheaper, faster or bigger.  “All that is good, but you need to tell human stories to have meaning in the lives of the target consumers,” he said.

He said in an environment where consumers are bombarded with various marketing messages, consumers would only remember a message that means something deeper than facts, noise or another salesy message. He explained that while consumers are busy tuning out marketing messages, they are making deeper connection with brands that can communicate with their emotions.

“There was a time when logic was powerful, you only need to say and show your product  is better or cheaper and consumers will come running through you doors. But now,  you need to go deeper into how your products makes them better.

Read Also: Brand building as marketing tool

 

It is beyond having good quality to offer, you need to know how well to communicate that quality to your consumers. Brands that have leveraged storytelling use human stories to connect with their consumers need states and life goals and get their products to play a role in it,” he added.

Igbonoba hinted that brands need to learn how to tell their stories and how to work with creatives to bring their stories to life. She noted that there are some Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) that have great products and good stories to tell, but are losing out because they don’t have the technical know-how to leverage storytelling as a marketing strategy for their business.

Recently, the founding Chairman of Marketing Space, George Thorpe advised brands and IMC practitioners to prirotise telling their stories for their growth projections.

Speaking at a forum organised by Marketing Edge Magazine, which had its theme  “Storytelling as a new paradigm shift in contemporary brand building: convergence of creativity and technology”, he underscored the importance of the art, stating that it should be  deployed in a more consumer-centric manner.

“Stories should make the consumer the hero. He should see himself in the story,” he said.

Corroborating him, the Chief Executive Officer, Oracle Experience, Felix King, explained that for brands to stay ahead, in a seemingly unfavourably economy, they must tell genuine stories in such as way that the narratives resonate with their consumers and prospective ones to have  a long lasting effect on them.

For Dotun Babatunde, a digital marketing practitioner, storytelling has become more imperative for brand building. Increasingly, he said, reaching the consumer is becoming more difficult and telling stories provide the avenue for brands to communicate their values, with the aim to evoke an emotional response.

He advised that stories should be authentic, consistent, have understanding of the consumers and be able to elucidate response from the audience.

By  Olatunde Odebiyi

 

Chief Executive Officer Glittering Health Beauty, Kazeem Yayah, has launched his brand of make-up products called ‘Brow Daddy Yakky’.

The product includes powder, foundation, eye shadow, bronzer and eye primer, among others.

Speaking at the launch of the make-up line at his “Glittering Health Beauty” office in Ikeja, Lagos State, Yayah said the gesture was borne out of the need to contribute his quota and do more in the beauty industry in Nigeria.

“We also have skincare products which I have been producing for about eight years now. All my products are more of organic and herbal

Read lso: Recare launches bath, skin care products.

 

I use more of the Indian and Nigerian herbs, because the natural way of beautifying the skin is the best way to go,” Yayah said.

He urged government to put regulations such as registration, certification and schools established to train people in place to promote the organic aspect of the beauty industry and also help to uphold professionalism in the sector.

Yayah advised Nigerians to go for the right training on skin care in organic products, adding that they should embrace the natural way to beauty in a slow steady manner.

 

By Jane Chijioke

 

The President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Ikechi Odibo, has declared that advertising practice needs to undergo a sea change to cope with the demands of post-digital age.

Odibo, who made the declaration in a paper presented at the National Advertising Conference, organised by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) in conjunction with other sectoral bodies, in Abuja, recently, noted that practitioners must acquire new business mindsets and approaches crucial to the business in a rapidly evolving business landscape.

He further revealed that the evolution has been marked by the emergence of e-commerce, with television advertising transferred to digital platforms such as Youtube, Instagram advertising taking the place of print advertising and with celebrity endorsements mutating into influencer marketing.

This process, he said, is still treated by practitioners as requiring just a few changes when wholesale changes are required.

“We congratulate ourselves a lot for adapting things that have been done before, making minimal changes and feeling like we understand the modern world.

However, we cannot force-fit old templates to new expectations, new objectives and expect to be regarded as relevant, strategic and indispensable by the clients,” he said.

He made it known that in a fast-changing business environment, clients seek up-to-the-moment partners, who are ahead in terms of proffering understanding, thought leadership and fresh solutions to their marketing problems.

This, he said, makes it important to accurately understand and embrace digital reality and for practitioners to continuously broaden their perspectives and take creative responsibility without waiting for marching orders from clients.

The AAAN President further advised practitioners to embrace new tools, which are multi-functional and not limited by geography.

Read Also: Expert urges youths to take advantage of digital economy

“In the digital age, devices do a lot of things well and also work together across physical geographies thanks to telecommunications and the internet. Consumers now move seamlessly between devices, with data providing borderless interconnectedness and continuity.

We can seamlessly engage our favourite apps, social platforms and skits across various devices, anywhere and anytime,” he observed.

On account of these, he stated, the lines are blurring, as devices are becoming more similar and convenient, with newspapers being read on miniaturised devices such as phones.

“Brands are also able share and have communion with real people not an archetype over passion points and trending issues. Our target audiences, market segments have transformed into real individuals, real people with a strong voice and creative verve to contribute online.

The primary takeout from this shift is that our advertising has to also shift from selling monologues to storytelling to triggering real conversations with the brand community,” he counseled.