Advertising practitioners across various sectoral affiliations in Nigeria have given some recommendations on innovative ways to grow the country’s advertising industry in line with global best practices.

The stakeholders made the resolutions and recommendations at the end of 2023 National Advertising Conference held in Abuja. The theme of the 3-day conference was “Marketing Communications as an Enabler for National Transformation”.

The communique of the event was made available to Brand Times and signed by Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, Director-General, ARCON and Tunji Adeyinka, Chairman, Organizing Committee. The practitioners and stakeholders adopted the below as solutions that would move the industry forward:

1. The current economic reality in Nigeria and imperatives of a reform

The conference urged for the strengthening of Financial Governance, Enhance the tax system by eliminating multiplicity of informal taxes, harmonizing tax administration, and leveraging technology and big data. Prioritize spending on basic for
addressing multidimensional poverty, and reclassify budgeting based on human capital development, infrastructure and overheads.

2. The economic impact of advertising in the Nigerian economy: the multiplier factor

With benefit of the insight from examination of the GDP report across sectors, the conference resolved to foster increased collaboration and synergy among professionals leveraging the diverse value contributed across sectors with the objective of achieving a national goal of $2 trillion by 2030.

3. Brand Nigeria: Changing the narrative

The conference agreed on the need and therefore resolved to initiate a nationwide storytelling campaign that would encourage ordinary Nigerians to share their personal stories that reflect the positive aspects of the Nigerian identity and to utilize various platforms to create a groundswell of authentic narratives.

4. Understanding the AFCTA and the implications for the IMC industry

The conference highlighted the need to develop a streamlined process for advertisers to obtain approvals that are valid across multiple AfCFTA member countries as well as collaborate with other African countries to share best practices and insights on effective advertising regulation, fostering a community of learning and cooperation.

5. Out Of Home Advertising: Scaling up to global competitiveness

The conference agreed on the need for an acceptable Out of Home audience measurement metrics and increased use of data to explain the past, understand the present and predict the future.

6. Local Content and Cultural Sensitiveness

The conference emphasized the need for cultural sensitivity in content creation and deployment as well as greater infusion of Nigerianess in marketing communication content.

7. Unlocking the market for SMES

The conference resolved to implement a comprehensive marketing communication plan for SMEs by prioritizing strategic customer relationship, building over short-term sales leads, aligning activities with sales conversion, and leveraging collaborations with relevant experts to address industry-specific challenges.

8. The new university curriculum and its implications for the IMC industry

The conference resolved to collaborate with academic institutions and industry experts to develop and implement a revised curriculum for the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) industry. It further resolved to facilitate and strengthen partnerships between the IMC industry and academic institutions.