Rufai Ladipo, a former President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), is not totally happy with the state of things in the advertising industry. Particularly, the grave silence of what used to be known as Heads of Advertising Sectorial Groups; a body which used to be actively known for its contributions to the development of the advertising industry, before it slowly went into oblivion.
Lamenting about the absence of the
body, the advertising guru, while speaking to another magazine in Lagos, called
for immediate actions that would resuscitate the machinery of the now moribund
Heads of Advertising Sectorial Groups (HASG) to become a formidable force in
championing the cause of the advertising industry in Nigeria.
Ladipo, who is Managing Director/CEO of
Agile Communications Limited and an Icon of note in the industry, said, “
frontline IMC company operators in various sectorial groups needed to forge a
common front using tool of the HASG in addressing the various challenges
presently bedeviling the industry.”
According to him, the three traditional
arms of the advertising industry namely AAAN, OAAN and MIPAN presently do not
seem to have a rallying point as industry gatekeepers, a situation, he
said had opened the doors for “political jobbers” to infiltrate the
industry.
Ladipo, noted that the Advertising
Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) was founded constitutionally through
an act of parliament to regulate the industry but regrettably the rank of the
industry had been largely infiltrated by politicians resulting in the watering
down of the council of APCON.
“Today the centre can no longer hold.
The collective interest tying us together is either weakened or totally gone
leaving a window of opportunity for politicians to water down APCON, infiltrate
its council and fill it up with political jobbers.
“There is no Council and the industry
is being “regulated” by civil servants under the civil service code. Yes, AAAN
is fighting vigorously to change the situation, but other sectorial groups must
have the same zeal for this struggle to make a dent,” he said.
He stated further that over a period of
four decades, the AAAN had championed the cause of the advertising business in
Nigeria but noted that despite the fact that leadership of the association had
changed hand over time, the industry, on a broader scale, may not have met
expectations in certain areas such that could benefit the entire industry.
In his words: “Of all the sectoral
groups that constitute the industry, AAAN had played a leading role that
appears to be eroding. We need to step up the game. We must sustain the
interest of the current and future generation if we are to stand the test of
time.”
On what must be done differently to
further advance course of the industry, the agency boss suggested that
stakeholders must come to a round table and re-examine such controversial
industry issues as among other things, determination of pitch fees,
and attainment greater relevance in government and the public sector as
stakeholders in the Nigerian project.
Source:
Marketing Edge
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