Like politicians, the long planned academy of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), has become recurring bait in the agenda of subsisting presidents. Every new administration promises to get this on stream but at the end, it just doesn’t take off fully.
Twenty two years after the advertising body approved the establishment of advertising academy aimed to produce top rated professionals for the advertising industry; the academy is yet to become operational and the subsisting presidents have always made it their agenda with all the seriousness.
Ikechi Odigbo, the new president of the association was not left out in this trend of promises to ensure the academy takes off. When he took over the mantle of leadership of the body recently, Ikechi said following the “huge investments that have been made to ensure take off of the Advertising Academy, the new leadership will ensure that the academy becomes operational during its tenure”
Ikechi’s statement is not totally different from those before him. Rufai Ladipo who served for one term in 2011 had in that year said that the business plan of the academy had been completed, discussed and agreed by the Advertising Academy’s Board.
“We have also engaged a consultant to facilitate the commencement of the academy. The registration has been completed and we are awaiting the Academy’s certificate and other relevant documents from the Corporate Affairs Commission”.
After Ladipo tenure, then entered Bunmi Oke, the former ED of 141Worldwide who fought hard in the industry dominated by men. When Kelechi Nwosu, the CEO of TBWA stepped in as president, he equally promised that all the loose ends have been tightened as he picked March 2016 to launch the long awaited academy. He made frantic efforts to ensure this but it never materialized perhaps due to various circumstances and lack of proper structures.
In May 2016, Kayode Oluwasona, the erstwhile Managing Partner/CEO of Harmonee Concepts Limited replaced Nwosu as president at the association’s 43rd Annual General Meeting held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Kayode concentrated more on bringing the Association closer to internal and external stakeholders and strengthening its positioning among sectoral bodies in the industry. He also attempted to re-energise and bring fresh thinking and innovations in the industry.
Notably, Kayode ran the first ever training programme on the platform of the academy and inaugurated the Academy Board, headed by the Vice Chairman of Troyka Holdings Limited, Jimi Awosika. He commenced a comprehensive review of the Academy’s structure and operational strategy in order to address identified lapses, which were threatening its functioning and sustainability. But it is still a surprise that all these are still being done 22 years after the conception of the academy.
The new President of association, Ikechi Odigbo, who is the CEO of DDB Lagos, has equally made the academy his cardinal objective promising to ensure take off of the Advertising Academy during his tenure.
He equally said that professional training programmes will be reviewed to further align with requirements for APCON certification and bridge gaps in the quality of content and delivery.
In addition, Odigbo said the body will initiate and pursue collaborative relationship with relevant educational institutions such as O2 Academy, universities and reputable organisations like Miami Ad School, Google as well as Facebook to ensure greater subscription to the training programmes of the association and deliver up-to-the-moment, beyond advertising trainings.
The academy was an effort by the over 80-member association, to provide and equip individuals in the advertising profession on creative delivery, and meeting communication needs of clients, especially in the ever evolving environment. What this means is to give hope to clients who are thirsty for more high quality creative work .
It is also designed to be a “first class advertising education and leadership development institute- a one stop center for skills acquisition and a citadel of learning that will guarantee academic and professional excellence, through continuous sharing of knowledge and ensuring integrity in the conduct of business while building strong leaders and a steady pool of first class advertising professionals.”
According to the association, the idea to set up such institution is also, perhaps to train those who want to create a career path for themselves in advertising, for skills acquisition, and also an avenue to organise leadership training for professionals in the marketing communication industry but the promises upon promises by subsisting presidents on the academy have not come to fruition.
The full functioning of the academy has dragged but the industry is now watching to see whether Ikechi Odigbo administration will be different to fulfill the industry aspiration.
Daniel Obi
