In the last 10 years, the Nigerian advertising industry has witnessed disruptions with digital advertising continually occupying bigger space. Global predictions indicate that digital advertising is on the increase and in Nigeria, it has 8% share of total Ad spend from about 5 percent three years ago.
Today, the media landscape and the game has changed as advertisers that used to see, for instance, mobile advertising as a complementary consideration are now considering it first in their budget because of impact, emotive connection and reach, says Jude Odia, CEO of Media Perspectives, a media buying agency.
Odia told members of Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, OAAN, recently in Abeokuta at their 34th annual conference that if spend is increasing on digital, which is happening now, it is not because clients are bringing additional money from their pocket, they are rather taking money from other media platforms.
With deep understanding of media landscape, Odia reminded the Outdoor practitioners that with changing landscape “the way we play it about 20 years ago, cannot be the same today”.
Looking at the various challenges confronting the Outdoor industry, such as media debt, vacant billboards and over-regulation, he said it is not that outdoor is shrinking. “Globally outdoor is growing but the industry in Nigeria needs innovation to grow. In Nigeria the problem is that Outdoor has not fused itself into the new eco-system; therefore it is losing relevance and connectivity and value. Let’s get back into the eco-system and be relevant and command, and be active on the table”
With digital transformation changing the game and business, he said Outdoor and by extension other traditional media platforms can only become relevant through innovation informed by research, partnerships, data, M&As, strong association to constructively engage with regulators and increase the barrier into entering the Outdoor industry.
As advertisers are discovering new cost effective ways of achieving their objective, the media expert advised Outdoor practitioners to ride on the digital trend or face extinction. “It is important we recognise these trends because they shape our business”, as digital can be integrated into billboards and these boards can do much more to add value. He said the critical thing in fighting a battle is know thyself, know thy enemy and know the weapon available to you.
He challenged the industry to move its mind from problem frame of mind to solution frame of mind. “Some of the problems we had in the past we still have not found solution to them. We can stop the blame game and think how we can change the tide completely. If we continue this way more debts will pile up. We can stop future debt from coming rather than labouring on debt owed years back”, he said.
Also speaking at the forum, the immediate past President of the OAAN, Babatunde Adedoyin listed his administration’s achievement to include downward review by 30% of advert fee on static and 35% on LED boards in Lagos, 20% percent payment on vacant boards policy against 100% and curtailing frictions with Lagos State among others.
Daniel Obi
