Tech disruption: Agencies may face bleak future, if… —Akinwunmi, former ARCON chairman

Former Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), now Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi, has warned that advertising agencies might hit a dead end if they failed to quickly adapt to the technology-induced disruptions taking place in the nation’s marketing communication space.

Akinwunmi, while speaking on the State of Advertising in Nigeria, with the C-Suite Team, a Television Show, with a focus on marketing communications, identified Technology Disruption,  Consumer Skepticism and Privacy Concerns, as three major threats presently facing the practice.

The Group CEO, Prima Garnet Africa Nigeria, noted that, while technology has continued  to disrupt the way advertising  business is being presently conducted, there are also concerns around the increasing loss of  consumer trust in advertising, and the safety of their details.

Akinwunmi, however described as ‘not uncommon’ the disruptions the industry is presently  experiencing; insisting  it is a cycle for all industries, for all professions, and which advertising is not immune to.

“There are many reasons for the disruption. Number one is digital transformation. When I joined the industry, technology role was very limited. In fact, there was virtually no technology beyond shooting commercials within the agency. We didn’t even use computers at all.

“But now, we are talking of digital disruption. It’s a major issue. Agencies either  have to learn to  adopt it,  and adapt it, otherwise the agency has no future, because the partner that we are working with outside of the agencies, all of them have gone digital.

“The second threat is consumer skepticism. Consumers are beginning not to trust advertising because it’s paid for. They don’t know. Is it true or is it because it’s sponsored?,” he stated.

On privacy concerns, the former ARCON  boss noted that this has become a huge threat, since data connection has laid consumers bare, and stripped them of their privacies.

“You’ve got so much information out there because of data connection. You go into a bank, and you register, and open an account. They collect so much information about you. They are not using it. They are sending it to second and third parties. Suddenly you begin to receive a lot of emails and things from sources that you don’t even know. This is because they have sold your identity, your details to them. It’s a multi-billion Naira business. It’s very huge,” he added.

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