BY OLUWAGBENGA BANKOLE
Barely few months after the beginning
of the 2015 election campaign which has
continued to witness a surge in the level of patronage from political
gladiators, the advertising industry is yet to bask in the euphoria of the advertising spend
spree.
There is no wrong in saying
that political parties has been spending millions of naira as the 2015 election
campaigns train transverse across the length and breadth of the country with
radio jingles, billboards, television ads, posters, banners and outdoor
messages to woo millions of voters.
The expectation of people and
stakeholders in the industry before the electioneering campaign started was
high in terms of adverts they will receive from political parties, but it is
not the case presently.
BRAND INFO gathered that unlike
those days when SDP and NRC used to give their advertisement to Rosabel and
Insight Communication, this day 75 per cent of the job done is being given to
hustlers, sycophants and party members. There is no well-defined structure in
place that manages the advertising of these people.To some out-door advertising agencies that are getting few adverts, it is a sweet experience, but to others, it is indeed a bitter experience and a season not to remember. That is why professionals are praying that the elections should just come and go, because it is at a cost to them, since clients are not even ready to do anything until after the elections. So rather than be a blessing to the industry, it is the other way round.
Though the immediate past president of the Advertising Agencies Association of Nigeria (AAAN) and Chief Executive of 141 Worldwide, Mrs. Bunmi Oke, would see recent electoral campaigns in the nation’s political space as a positive development for the industry since it bore eloquent testimony to the fact that the industry was gradually being recognised by politicians, as capable of effectively selling them to the public. She, however, believed this has not really translated into huge commercial gains for neither the industry nor its practitioners, since most of the materials are being deployed outside the industry.
In an
exclusive interview with BRAND INFO, the incumbent President,
Advertising Agencies Association of Nigeria (AAAN) Mr. Kelechi Nwosu said that Advertising and Media houses will gain
more advertising revenue in theory during this period, adding that unlike the
media houses, a lot of the adverts prepared and placed have not been done by
the members of the professional advertising association hence the gain in likely
to me minimal.
Nwosu said that; “The
industry therefore will not gain as much from the postponement because the
originating briefs were given to political brokers. Our stance is that we
must continue to work on persuading the Message sources, the politicians and
their communication agencies to maintain decorum in their language
and messaging whilst we urge APCON and other relevant authorities to keep
a keen eye in regulating the messages.’’
Political advertisements have been predicted to be a major
revenue earner for the industry, this year. And interestingly, few weeks into
the year, stakeholders believe the N26.6 billion first quarter ad spend
recorded in 2013 is about being equaled and dusted.
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