Bayo Adio, an engineer by training, joined the services of Optimum Exposures, a frontline outdoor advertising agency and member of Troyka Holdings in September 1995, from where he rose through the ranks to become the Managing Director/Chief Executive recently. In this interview with IBRAHIM APEKHADE YUSUF, he speaks on the company’s investment in digital media, pros and cons of digital marketing and his management style.
Your company set up an iconic billboard along the Adeniji Adele axis. Why did you choose that strategic location?
The iconic billboard on Adeniji Adele is not just an iconic billboard but at an iconic location. Prior to what you have there now, we had a billboard there that was the biggest billboard in Africa. In the last few months, it was upgraded to a digital billboard, so it is an iconic billboard in an iconic location. It’s actually a location that is at the descent of the 3rd mainland bridge.
So what is the unique selling point of this billboard?
It is unique because it is a digital billboard with a platform that is very interactive, engaging and flexible and efficient. It provides a lot of social platform; you can tweet on it, have interactive messages and you can also display public information to the audience. You also have the current time and temperature on it. It’s the biggest free-standing billboard in sub-Saharan Africa. We partnered with a leading supplier of digital billboard in the world; Daktronics. Daktronics has 30 percent of LED market in the world; it is the leading manufacturer of LED in the world.
Besides, this product is equipped with what we call an Intelligent Device Management System that ensures that from a remote location, we can put in each of these adverts the time bound that is needed in that platform. What I am saying to you, in essence, is that as many brands that are on the platform, we ensure that they have equal amount of exposure on the platform. So, there is equity and that is ensured. This is what we stand for. The core values of this company are integrity, innovation and quality service. And that we ensure that we provide to our clients.
What really informed the installment of this board and what do prospective brands stand to achieve by signing onto it?
In out-of-home, we are pioneers in the business; we pioneered the biggest billboard, the flexi material, the unfold spectacular, from the single to the double and triple face. So what actually motivated that billboard was that what is the next level to take the business? So we looked at that location and said we wanted to digitalise this billboard. It is the biggest in sub-Sahara today; so it’s something that is really raising the bar of out-of-home in the region.
In some countries, firms are dragged to the court for erecting distractive structures in form of billboards. Don’t you think the iconic billboard might be open to such?
Thank you for that question. We affiliate with agencies outside this country; like the outdoor Advertising Association of America. Studies were conducted but the fifth study found out those digital billboards do not cause road accidents. I can give you a reference. A recent story on state and local roads shows that it’s not a cause for road accidents. There is an ambience that the digital billboard gives to the environment. This is one of those things we are also working on. I am also a chairman of a committee in OAAN saddled with the responsibility of formulating a practice manual for out-of-home ads in Nigeria. Let me say to you that there is always a good and a bad side of everything. I have said to my team and other practitioners of out-of- home that there are things you need to do to ensure that the environment is not impacted negatively on this platform, and this is what we need in this country. And I believe that we must practice in a way that it enhances the environment and when we do that, the benefit will be to the practitioners, advertisers and the environment as a whole.
The industry has been in turbulence in the last few years due to stringent policies from regulators. Many agencies have closed shop, can you share your experience regarding the regulations and regulators?
The regulator of outdoor adverts in Lagos is LASSA. I can say to us that the advent of LASSA has brought sanity into out-of-home practice. Be that as it may, it has also affected a lot of practitioners due to the removal of billboards in Lagos. We also suffered from it but the truth is that it brought sanity and we can practice with the confidence that you are doing it professionally. Before LASSA came in, you can wake up on a morning and see a billboard blocking your billboard. That cannot happen now. I think that the good side of LASSA has brought in strict regulation and it has been replicated in all the states of the federation. Then coming into regulation is the issue of fees and taxes from the regulatory agencies. The taxes are still high and we are engaging them to ensure that they are reduced. And I must also say that LASSA has been very approachable and are also practitioners. There was a signage conference organised recently and we were part of it. That shows that they are approachable. The issue of regulation is good for the business but the issue of taxes and rates is what we are negotiating on and they are open to it.
You mentioned earlier that the digital marketing structure is still emerging in Nigeria. As an insider, can you tell us the level of business we can harness from this sector going forward?
You know that the media fact reported that in 2012, digital out-of-home was about 18billion that was lower than 2011 which was about 28billion. You can see that the 18billion is huge but I am saying to us that it would increase. The way to also explain that decrease in 2012 is what is the scenario playing out in our airports. In the airports, the advertising concession there was reviewed and there was no practice in the airport during that period, that I am sure lowered the spending. But in the next few months, who knows what will happen in the airports? So I am sure that with the advent of the digital out-of-home which is more flexible, time sensitive and targeted towards consumers, more spending is going to come in. When we brought in that our iconic billboard, it was not the first in that industry, but a lot of brands want to play on it. You can see that brands we have on it; Mastercard, Nigerian Breweries, Glo and MTN, they are all big brands. And more of that is still going to come. We are opening up the opportunities as we have done in the past. Lagos is a mega city and mega signs are coming in, of which this iconic billboard shows that this can be done here.
As the Managing Director/Chief Executive, you lead a team of experts. So would you let us in on what your management style is?
Our emphasis is on results. We set our targets and we ensure we meet up with the targets. With the crop of experts we have, we know what we want to do; we go into the depth of it and ensure that whatever we are putting out there will stand the test of time. So we are professionals who deal with details and also relate with all the stakeholders in ensuring that when these products are there, there is no fear of attack from regulatory agencies, the environment and even the consumers. So we ensure that our consumers, advertisers and the environment are all satisfied. We are driven by results, have penchant for innovation and innovation drives us.
Do you micromanage or you allow your team to hit the ground up and running?
When you say micromanage, we have professionals here in all fields and when you see our products out there, it is a complement of professionals. We have project managers, accountants, engineers, information technologists and other services within the company. And if there are additional resources needed to complete a project, we go outside to source those. So we engage the best in order to achieve the best.
Still talking about management, can you let us into how you motivate your staff? Do you make use of the stick and carrot approach?
I can say that the staff of this company are the envy of competitors because when I go into meetings of associations and I see old staff of Optimum Exposure in other companies, I know that it’s a way to say that this company has affected all the practice. As regards motivation, our staff are highly motivated. We motivate them by ensuring that we train them internally and externally. You know that there is no university of out-of-home anywhere that I know of, but we train our staff because we know what knowledge is required. And when we see that the knowledge available is not up to par, we bridge the gap and send them for training. And there are also other motivational things apart from training such as salary increase, performance; we have key performance indices which are reviewed yearly.
Talking about challenges, what has been the toughest decision you have made so far as the Chief Executive?
When you are bringing in an innovative product that you have seen outside the shores of the country and you have that challenge of ensuring that the industry here can actually ascribe to it. It has been a hard sell to sell a product that the industry has not seen, but really, it should not be so.
