The general down turn in the national economy has taken its toll on
the outdoor ad vertising sub-sector as advertisers have declined to
renew billboard contracts for the year 2016 over apparent lull in
business activities.
Not only that, the advertisers who have drastically reduced their annual
advertising expenditure on the out-of-home advertising have been hugely
indebted to billboards vendors, many of whom have been groaning under
multiple taxation by various regulatory agencies.
These developments have caused great discomfort for the agencies who
are worried about the consequence of such refusal on their yearly
advertising billings. More so, when the misunderstanding with the Lagos
State Advertising and Signage Agency, LASAA is yet to be resolved
leading to several millions of naira in revenue.
Recalled that LASAA has stuck to its gun and refused to renew the
billboard licenses of a number of outdoor agencies in Lagos since 2015
over some disputed outstanding debts with OAAN members. The agencies are
said to be heavily indebted to the regulatory body, even though Outdoor
Advertising Practitioners Association Nigerian (OAAN) have argued to
the contrary and blamed the said indebtedness on LASAA’s former boss
George Noah.
Unfortunately while OAAN members are still trying to resolve their
disputes with LASAA, with a view to getting full access to their
billboards, some of which have been shut down for months, they now face
another challenge with clients who appear seemingly unkeen in renewal of
the billboard contracts.
BRAND INFO that some of the major
multinational companies have slashed billions off their billboard
marketing spend for the year. One of them is Airtel Nigeria which was
said to have out rightly cancelled more than 80 percent of its
billboards in a major marketing review.
The same goes for Guinness Nigeria which is said to have cancelled a
large chunk of its billboard contract s. “This is March and clients are
yet to approve their budgets for the year. Normally the budget ought to
have been approved by now. Some of them are even cutting down on their
outdoor marketing spend as a result of the economic downturn,” one of
the practitioners told BRAND INFO.
The source also confirmed that many of the outdoor agencies are now
in distress and cannot meet up with daily obligations. This unpalatable
development is forcing the agencies to explore more aggressively,
outdoor markets outside of Lagos State where the rules are more relaxed
and opportunities abound.
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