The annual National Advertising Conference, now in its fourth edition, is fast taking a life of its own.
Organised by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), NAC is seen by stakeholders as a channel that provides those that matter in the industry the opportunity to put heads together on common industry issues.
Interestingly, right from the maiden edition held on November 25 to 27, 2019 in Abuja, the Conference has continued to live up to the convener’s aim of fostering business growth in the marketing and advertising space and cultivating mutually-beneficial relationships among stakeholders.
Unlike events of its type, where issues are raised and only remembered at the next edition, NAC has continued to throw up crucial matters that stakeholders ‘chew’ till the next edition of the event.
For instance, the Brand Nigeria Project, and the industry’s contribution to the nation’s GDP project are examples of issues the industry had thrown up in the past and followed up to the letter.
Interestingly, the Chairman, Organizing Committee, NAC, Mr. Tunji Adeyinka has assured the 2024 edition, slated for November, this year, in Abuja, is not going to be different.
According to him, a rich array of accomplished professionals, have been put together to make the conference memorable. The include: the Chairman, Channels Media Group, Dr. John Momoh, expected to flag-off the event with a fireside chat on the 13th of November; the CEO of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), Dr. Tayo Aduloju; and the GCEO of First Primus West Africa, Mr. Senior Adetu; among others featuring as resource persons at the three-day event.
Adeyinka disclosed that eight plenary sessions, focusing on different issues ranging from AI, to Marketing Trends, Technology and Youth Culture will be discussed at the conference.
But how desirable or imperative is this annual event to the industry growth, and what are its impacts on the nation’s economy. Some stakeholders have asked.
Year 2024 has brought a lot of shifts into the nation’s economy and the IMC industry was echoed by Adeyinka.
Figures reeled out by relevant agencies regarding Nigeria’s economic growth, and how far, and well, the marketing communications sector, had grown in the last few quarters, should be of interest and concerns to well-meaning Nigerians and practitioners in the IMC space.
For instance, according to PWC, Nigeria’s GDP grew by 2.98% in Q1 2024, compared to 2.31% in Q1 2023. Inflation increased from 22.41% in May 2023; to 33.95% in May 2024, with food, utilities and transportation, identified as the drivers of such inflation.
The development, therefore, are not without its tolls on the industry. Adeyinka believed advertisers are facing multiple challenges partly from high costs of doing business on the production side, and lower consumer spending, due to increase in prices in the face of low wages.
“The PWC Study on the contribution of the Advertising industry and the multiplier effect put the size of the industry at N605.2b in 2023 and projected a growth to N893b by 2028. With the devaluation of the naira,” he stated.
The conference, therefore, is one of the industry’s ways of ensuring such growth projection come into fruition.
The conference theme, “Navigating The Shifts: Technology, Culture and New Business Model” is designed to a cursory look at the present state of the industry, he added.
“We want to look at the industry in terms of Nigerian economy, and in terms of the different headwinds affecting it. And you know, again, we quoted the industry numbers, for 2023 from the PwC report. But, the challenge is that if you look at the size of the industry, that N605.2b size simply means it is not growing, due to the devaluation of the naira. Besides, the industry can not grow if the real sector is not growing,” he stated.
One of the intentions of this year’s conference, therefore is to speak to issues in the real and public sectors, and see how the marketing communications industry can have an impact and effect on the real economy.
Adeyinka is however hopeful that the purpose of the conference will be achieved. One of the premises where such hope is hinged, is the fact that attendees will be coming from every state of the federation, and different sectors of the economy.
In welcome address, the Director General ARCON, Dr. Lekan Fadolapo, assured of the council’s commitment to always collaborate with stakeholders to enable it pull off another successful event
“We are involving all stakeholders in the industry because it’s an industry event. We are collaborating. We are all putting our hands on the deck to ensure the success of this year’s event, and the different activities scheduled to hold at the event are clear signals that we are going to make a success out of the 2024 edition of the event.
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