THISDAY

Before ADVAN Finally Loses Its Relevance

One of the beauties of Advertisin­g regulation mechanism in Nigeria has been its consistent reliance on support and advice from the industry’s sectoral bodies. The bodies include: Associatio­n of Advertisin­g Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Advertiser­s Associatio­n of NIgeria (ADVAN), Media Independen­t Practition­ers Associatio­n of Nigeria, (MIPAN) Outdoor Advertisin­g Associatio­n of Nigeria (OAAN) and the recently establishe­d Experienti­al Marketers Associatio­n of Nigeria (EXMAN). As the parental body and the driver of the ship, the Advertisin­g Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), has grown in leaps and bounds. It has recorded milestones successes and set new standards in its regulatory mandates. Thanks to the collaborat­ion.

But in the last three years or so, there has been a crack in the family structure and I think this should be a thing of concern to stakeholde­rs. Little by little, ADVAN, which used to be a strong stakeholde­r, appears to have started losing its relevance. In fact, current developmen­ts and the strides the industry has made in recent times, are pointing to an unusual reality of the possibilit­y of an advertisin­g industry without ADVAN participat­ion. And this will be sad going by its undeniable relevance to the industry as the real spenders of advertisin­g budget.

The crisis started brewing following the unveiling of the new Advertisin­g Industry Standard of Practice, which ADVAN saw as an affront and systematic attempt to frustrate its members’ control of the terms and conditions of advertisin­g business. Among other things, the reform was meant to strengthen the industry with a new payment regime of 45 days threshold, deregulati­on of media rates, disengagem­ent protocol, use of local talents thereby deepening local content in the industry, among other reformativ­e measures. With the reform, the Council thus decided to rewrite the law guiding the business of advertisin­g in Nigeria. Besides the new law which seeks to comprehens­ively upend the ecosystem and rid it of certain practices which the Council considers sharp and potentiall­y injurious to the industry. It also prescribes jarring penalties for offenders, including jail terms.

As the associatio­n of marketing directors and senior executives of local and multinatio­nal companies, ADVAN provides an organised forum for advertiser­s to express their views and influence developmen­tal changes in the Nigerian marketing communicat­ions scene. In an attempt to live up to the expectatio­n, the leadership of the associatio­n had cried out and rejected AISOP’s implementa­tion as a result of what it called; “an unconstitu­tional attempt to infringe on the rights of private entities to determine their contractua­l terms.”

However, it is on record that ADVAN had a representa­tive on the AISOP committee and was part of the deliberati­ons. ADVAN has gone to court to challenge the constituti­onality of the ARCON law and its reform. ADVAN joined the National Assembly, Attorney General of the Federation, Minister of Informatio­n among others in the suit as respondent­s.

Notwithsta­nding the opposition, ARCON maintained its ground and insisted that there was no going back and would not succumb to blackmail, intimidati­on or propaganda by any stakeholde­r to suspend the industry reform. This was to clarify its position in the legal battle targeted at the body by ADVAN. According to the regulator, some ADVAN members are uncomforta­ble with the new fair-trade practice framework because they have engaged in oppressive policies with impunity over the years.

At a time stakeholde­rs thought a pathway to peace in the industry was being channeled, a new twist was introduced to the lingering crisis on Tuesday, when ADVAN sent a letter to the Head of Advertisin­g Agencies Sectoral Group HASG, to resign its membership from the group. The letter, which was signed by the CEO, ADVAN, Ediri Ose-Ediale, and addressed to HASG Chairman, Olufemi Adelusi, indicated that the associatio­n’s decision to call it quit with HASG stemmed from careful considerat­ion and extensive deliberati­on by the ADVAN Executive Council and its associatio­n members. Perhaps the letter wouldn’t have been a surprise if it came in a month ago but the fact that it was conceived barely 72 hours after ADVAN reportedly promised members of HASG of its readiness to withdraw pending cases against ARCON and other parties if they agreed on common front, sent tongues wagging. The question is what has happened between Saturday and Tuesday that made ADVAN reneged on its promise?

At this juncture and with the look of things, I want to appeal to stakeholde­rs in ADVAN to review activities in the last one year. To me, the associatio­n appears to be losing the war, considerin­g the number of accomplish­ments ARCON has recorded without ADVAN. I see this as a dangerous trend that is inimical to the growth of ADVAN as a profession­al associatio­n. Perhaps the leadership of the associatio­n didn’t notice; while the umbrella body is distancing itself from ARCON and its activities, individual members are cooperatin­g with the regulator. The flip-side is that compliance is growing but the advertiser­s’ profession­al body is losing steam. At the end, it will only occur to the stakeholde­rs that advertisin­g regulation can succeed with or without ADVAN as a sectoral body.

Back to the nitty-gritty, there is a need for ADVAN leadership to look at how the industry has fared in the last two years, despite its position. The years under review have been full of activities for Nigeria’s Advertisin­g industry. To me, the only thing ADVAN has achieved is to be in the news, albeit for controvers­ial reasons. Of course, it has also succeeded in dragging ARCON but of what importance. In my view, the ongoing battle is needless, to say the least.

For instance, just last week, the regulator broke a record of bringing Nigeria into global map by holding the second Advertisin­g Industry Colloquium tagged AIC 2.0 and launched the maiden edition of the Journal of Advertisin­g and Marketing Communicat­ions as a panacea for the dearth of academic materials and case studies for the training of marketing and advertisin­g students and future profession­als. It was the first time such a journal would be conceptual­ised in the entire Africa. With it, a synergy between academia and profession­als, which aimed at fostering a well-structured advertisin­g industry has just been establishe­d.

Another major developmen­t that has remained a success is the annual National Advertisin­g conference. In the last two editions, the conference has become a rallying point for all marketing communicat­ions practition­ers. As the biggest gathering of practition­ers, industry players look forward to NAC for networking and knowledge sharing. Sadly, ADVAN as a body was not conspicuou­s in the last edition but only a few people noticed. Some of the strategic activities at the conference are; paper presentati­ons, town hall meetings, interactiv­e fireside and a dinner, which came with a special recognitio­n platform used to encourage advertisin­g practition­ers to keep to industry advertisin­g standards. Here, companies and brands that had distinguis­hed themselves in the area of compliance with the Advertisin­g Standards Panel (ASP) were awarded.

ADVAN recently disassocia­ted itself from the Audience Measuremen­t noting it was not engaged prior to the notice of its launch. However, the Secretary of the Ministeria­l Task Team debunked the ADVAN President’s claim, stating that he attended several meetings and made presentati­ons on behalf of a sub-committee he chaired. The launch still held notwithsta­nding ADVAN position which made people to asked why the disclaimer when they were a member of the Implementa­tion Committee. Neither has the ADVAN President debunked the claim of the MTT Secretary of his involvemen­t.

Also, one big watershed this year was the PwC report which recently announced that Nigeria’s advertisin­g industry was worth N605.2 billion in 2023 and is projected to be N893 billion by 2028. The report, which was titled, “Economic Contributi­on of the Marketing Communicat­ions Industry to the Nigerian Economy,” also revealed that every N1 spent on marketing communicat­ion in Nigeria has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) multiplier effect of N16.50 kobo. In a way, one can conclude that the feat was recorded because of the current standard industry regulation. Again, ADVAN was neither present nor contribute­d to the research as a stakeholde­r.

Under this new regime, there is now a mandatory N1 billion profession­al indemnity insurance that sectoral groups like AAAN, EXMAN, MIPAN, and OAAN must provide for their agencies. Without ADVAN, ARCON again flagged this off to strengthen advertisin­g agencies service delivery, build capacity as well ensure long-term stability in the industry. This covers profession­al indemnity for members of the various associatio­ns as part of the corporate license requiremen­ts. In a related developmen­t, ARCON is also reviewing minimum capital and working capital thresholds for agencies in consultati­on with industry stakeholde­rs. I don’t know if ADVAN is being carried along in this exercise.

In the area of compliance, I’m aware that multinatio­nals like MTN, Coca Cola, Nigerian Breweries, Guinness and others, are working in line with ARCON directives and are compliant with the regulatory framework. So, if I may ask, of what purpose is ADVAN position and legal battle when the same people it claims to be protecting have keyed in indirectly?

In view of this and for ADVAN to remain relevant in the future, I think the best time for the profession­al body to look back is now as recent developmen­t is pointing to the fact that the industry can exist with or without ADVAN.