The Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) has announced its 48th Annual General Meeting/Congress and Induction/Awards Ceremony slated to hold at the Golden Tulip Hotel, Ibadan, Oyo State on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th July, 2021. This was disclosed during a press briefing held at the AAAN Secretariat in Ikeja on Thursday, 8th July, 2021. Present at the briefing was AAAN President, Mr. Steve Babaeko; Temitope Jemirigbe; Events Chairman, Mr. Doyin Adewunmi; Vice Chairman of events committee, Mr. Taiwo Agboola; Director, AAAN, Mrs. Kemi Fabusoro amongst others. The theme of the event is “Doom, Gloom, Boom! Where do we sit?” The 2-day event will feature the induction ceremony for new members into the Advertising Association and Awards for people who have contributed to the advertising industry.
According to the Chairman, Events planning, Mr Doyin Adewunmi, four eminent people that have been selected in various categories will be presented with awards at the AGM. The awards categories are: The Lifetime Achievement Award; Service to the Association Award; and the Trail Blazers Award. And no fewer than 14 new members will be inducted into the folds of the advertising sector group. Commenting on the theme and choice of speakers for the 48th AGM/Congress, Mr Doyin Adewunmi explained that the decision of the association to choose the theme stems from the drive to tap knowledge from across the industries.
His words: “The things happening around have affected the business of advertising. We don’t want to sit down, stuck in our own sphere; we want to tap knowledge from elsewhere. We want to hear from different people, and then, relate it to our own business. Businesses are groaning and lots of agencies are seeking out ways to keep their heads above water. It has been terrible for the industry so to say, and the only way we can keep ourselves together and keep the business running is by coming together, talking about it, and looking at where we will go and the directions to follow.”
The Annual General Meeting/Congress will be attended by prominent dignitaries, including the Executive Governor of Oyo State, Mr. Seyi Makinde, and the Honorable Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. The governor is expected to declare open the AGM, and the minister will be the Special Guest of Honor. The President of the Association, Mr Steve Babaeko stated that the Association’s AGM is a platform to actively engage in intellectual and critical discourse on the challenges facing the business and practice of advertising in Nigeria and advocate unconventional solutions in rebuilding and rebranding the industry.
The seasoned speakers slated for the event are: Mr. Abubakar Suleiman (MD, Sterling Bank Plc); Mitchell Elegbe (MD/CEO, Interswitch) and Mr. Iyinoluwa Aboyeji (Founder, Future Africa). The panelists include: Mrs. Cherry Eromosele, Group Chief Marketing & Corporate Communications Officer, Interswitch; Mrs. Bukola Akingbade, CEO, Image and Time; Mr. Lanre Adisa, CEO, Noah’s Ark; Mr. Tunde Dosekun, Managing Director, DDB Lagos; Miss Nnenna Onyewuchi, Co-Founder/Director of Strategy, Yellow Brick Road; and Mr. Dipo Adesida, Chief Operating Officer of Verdant Zeal Group.
Minister hails group over planned national unity campaign
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has commended the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) over its planned national unity campaign. He described the campaign as a ‘very patriotic move’ on the part of the association. The AAAN at its meeting in Lagos announced that it will launch the campaign on 1 Oct. 2021. “What has really impressed me most today is your readiness to partner with the Federal Government to actually run a campaign on national unity. I think this is a very patriotic move, we commend it and we are very eager to partner with you. We must resist the temptation of some very selfish elite, who are giving the impression that Nigerians will not want to stay as a nation,” the minister said.
Alhaji Mohammed said Nigerians should not allow anarchists and unpatriotic people to drive a wedge between them in order to disorganize the country for selfish reasons. He acknowledged that there are some challenges confronting the country, especially in the areas of security and the economy, but noted that the government is working hard to fix these challenges in order to have a prosperous nation. He expressed delight that corporate organizations like the AAAN are realizing the fact that without a peaceful and united Nigeria, they will not be able to successfully carry out their businesses. He said he would leave no stone unturned in ensuring that advertising takes its pride of place, stressing the need to triple the advertising revenue in Nigeria through the introduction of the audience measurement system and the reform of the National Broadcasting Commission.
Modion Communications becomes first Nigerian PR Agency to win a Platinum SABRE Award
Modion Communications, Nigeria’s fast-growing boutique Public Relations and Marketing Communication Agency recently emerged as the first Nigerian PR Agency to win the highly coveted Platinum SABRE Awards for Africa’s ‘Best in Show’, PR campaign in 2020. Following this continental win, Modion Communications has qualified for the global SABRE Award, slated for October 2021. The Agency had earlier clinched a Diamond SABRE for its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) focused campaign for Lumos Nigeria (an international renewable brand), tagged ‘Touching Lives Through A Determined School Child – Dele Fathia’, which got it nominated for the ‘Best In Show’ top five finalists.
The Modion Communications’ social impact campaign beat four other finalists including Shoprite Group Corporate Image — The Shoprite Group Communications Team; KaziMtaani — State Department for Housing and Urban Development with Oxygène Marketing Communications; Rebuilding Stakeholders’ Trust in Kenya Airways — Kenya Airways with Edelman Africa; and Project Fabric Campaign against the ban of second-hand clothes — Mitumba Association of Kenya with Hill+Knowlton Strategies Kenya. The campaign began with the story of Dele Fathia, a Nigerian schoolgirl who was using the illumination from one of her town’s ATM facility to study at night due to the lack of electricity in her family home. Working with Lumos, Nigeria’s leading solar and renewable energy provider, Modion Communications worked to install the company’s power system in Dele’s home within 48 hours, ensuring Dele does her schoolwork in the comfort of her home.
Commenting on the continental win, the Chief Executive Officer, Modion Communications, Odion Aleobua, said the it revitalized the zest of his young team to dominate the African public relations space. “This win strengthens the desire of the young team at the Agency to pursue the quest of dominating the Africa’s public relations space. In our six years of operations, we have touched bigger brands that set us in the right direction to achieve this continental aspiration,” Aleobua said.
Emeka Okeke raises concern over data growth in Nigeria
The Group Managing Director/CEO of MEDIAFUSE Dentsu International, Emeka Okeke, has said that data is still a challenge in Nigeria. He averred that there is no single source for people-based marketing data in the sense that platforms that aggregate robust personal data either don’t exist, and where they exist, they are only scratching the surface of masses of data in the market, and constrained by privacy laws that do not allow their use them for marketing. The MEDIAFUSE Dentsu boss maintained that data is still in the hands of big media tech companies like Google, Facebook etc. We are still working with proxy data to determine trends as sample numbers represent segments. Compare this to people-based marketing data that targets individuals and follow their behavior across the various touch points using both their digital and offline footprint given the growing convergence nature of communication ecosystem.
According to him, “we have data, yet we don’t have data. Robust data requires a lot of investment. With the potential death of cookie data, investment in platforms and private data networks becomes imperative for marketers. Cookies have been the backbone of the open internet. But, with the clock fast ticking on third-party, we need to plan for disruption tomorrow by rethinking data strategies today”. Mr. Okeke added: “Measurability is still an issue. What data are we using today in the market? For instance, media independent agencies use of AMPS (All Media Products Survey), Radio and Linear TV diaries for planning purpose (RAMS and TAMS).
WFA unveils platforms to improve brands productivity
The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has launched three new forums that aimed to assist global and regional marketers to distribute peer-to-peer learning on relevant issues such as: marketing capabilities, agency management and in-housing. The federation announced that the forum will be chaired by senior marketers from ABInBev, Reckitt and Unilever. “The Agency Management Forum will be headed up by Tammy Hourigan, Global Agency Relations Director at Unilever; The In-house Forum will be led by , Global VP Experiential & In House Agency (draftLine) at AB InBev, Tracy Stallard, while the Marketing Capability Forum will be chaired by Becky Verano, Global Director of Marketing Operations and Capabilities at Reckitt,” the WFA stated. Providing more detail, Chief Executive Officer of WFA, Stephan Loerke said, “We are delighted to expand our range of specialist groups addressing major challenges that many regional and global companies can struggle with. In bringing our best-in-class peer-to-peer learning environments to these increasingly critical areas, we hope to equip our members with the knowledge they need to tackle their individual challenges.” Also speaking, Global Director of Marketing Operations and Capabilities at Reckitt, Becky Verano, added, “Recent tumultuous events have highlighted areas where brands need greater skills, notably, around purpose and D&I, as well as the digital ecosystem, particularly, ecommerce. The Marketing Capability Forum will look to share knowledge around how you drive the data driven marketing agenda and enable a marketing culture for embracing diversity and inclusion as well as measuring the performance of engaging capability building programs.”
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