AAAN IS BEST POSITIONED TO PROVIDE STRATEGIC DIRECTION FOR THE DESIGN AND PROMOTION OF A BRAND NIGERIA THAT WOULD INSPIRE NATIONAL PRIDE

– IKECHI ODIGBO, AAAN PRESIDENT

Ikechi Odigbo, Group Managing Director of DDB and Vice Chairman of the Casers Group became the President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) at the 45th annual general meeting/congress held in Abeokuta, Ogun State in July 2018. BRANDPOWER caught up with him in one of the hilly resorts in the ancient city to share his vision and blueprint on how he intends to navigate the advertising industry and by extension the Nigerian economy out of the tumultuous and challenging times of the moment.

Congratulations on your election as President of AAAN. What is your vision and what are your goals for the association and industry during your presidency and what is your road-map towards realising them?.

Thanks a lot for the opportunity to chat. I am convinced that despite the myriad challenges we have to contend with as a profession, if we adopt a more inventive approach to the affairs of the Association we should be in a better position to deliver greater value to our members, protect and advance collective interests, and provide thought leadership on the larger issues that impact business and the economy in general.

We have clear objectives and agenda in mind to promote the PERFORMANCE, PROFESSIONALISM AND PRESTIGE of our Association. For us to achieve our lofty goals we must work assiduously to put the financial performance of the Association on an upward track. We are currently streamlining ways to create new revenue streams for the Association.

Typically, advertising thrives in a buoyant economy but the economy also thrives when brand value is effectively communicated to the target public. What role(s) do you think the advertising industry which you now lead should be playing in the larger Nigerian economy to create a win-win scenario for all stakeholders.

The past couple of years have been tough on our industry and the economy in general. However, it is an opportunity to reassess the way we do business, and begin to identify how we can be more strategically relevant with the changing times. The times compel us to apply more innovation to our offerings and also to be more proactive in our client engagements – spotting and addressing the clients needs proactively, instead of waiting for the brief.

We therefore need to enhance our strategic contribution to our clients’ business by infusing more creativity to their business thinking and more business thinking to our creativity. This is especially so, given the proliferation of creative hot shoppes, digital boutiques and clients’ inhouse ad departments.

Ad agencies also need to spread the net wider to discover inventive ways of aggregating their services to the SME and MSME segments who make up over 90% of the business community.

The advertising industry which is regulated by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria has been without a board for over 3 years. How has this impacted the well-being of the industry and practitioners?

The abnormal situation where the ad industry has had to operate without a constituted Board for APCON for over 3 years has no doubt impacted negatively on its regulatory and oversight functions. Despite the commendable efforts of Ag. Registrar Mrs Iyoha and its management team to push ahead with the implementation of the first phase of the advertising reforms, the obvious sentiment is that a seating Board would have helped ensure full activation of the Code to boost the growth and development of the industry.

Despite the looming election season nationwide, the AAAN EXCO is putting together a strong lobby team to engage relevant Government Stakeholders to accelerate the proper constitution of the APCON Board.

From the late 1990s, a lot of fragmentation took place in Nigeria’s advertising industry with media departments of what was then known as full-service agencies transforming into media-independent agencies. Today, we also have experiential-marketing agencies, activation agencies, digital agencies etc. Traditional advertising agencies are now generally regarded as just creative agencies or at best strategy and creative consultants. Has this fragmentation been good for the industry, the Clients and the consumers?

Increasing specialization within the marketing sphere has led to spiraling fragmentation of the industry. At first glance this may be viewed as a positive consequence of a maturing market with obvious value additions to Clients. However, you cannot help but deduce that fragmentation has drastically lowered entry barriers within the marketing communication gamut; creating an all comers’ affair, enabling unqualified and/or uncertified operators conduct business with little or no regulatory oversight.

For the Client what initially seemed a broader army of partners to advance marketing goals is fast becoming an unwieldy cacophony of vendors with contending approaches and interests that ultimately undermine the coherent projection of their brands. Instead of decoupling and fragmenting Client’s are now realizing it is more cost effective, nimble and smarter to adopt an integrated approach.

A case in point is the ongoing OMNICOM/MTN partnership. Following a global review of its marketing requirements, MTN Group conducted an Integrated Agency network Pitch in 2016 which saw OMNICOM emerge as the preferred mega Agency Partner.

In Nigeria, DDB Lagos works with other OMNICOM agencies such as TBWA (creative services), YELLOW BRICK ROAD (creative services), PHD (media), and PLAYHOUSE (digital) under SPV Communications to service the integrated marketing communication requirements of MTN Nigeria. SPV Communications is a special purpose vehicle established to co-ordinate the services of OMNICOM agencies to MTN Nigeria. So far, the OMNICOM arrangement has been successful in providing a coherent projection for the MTN brand in Nigeria.

How does your presidency plan to tackle the rumoured incursion into your business by management consultants?

The incursion of the behemoth global management consulting firms into the marketing communication space is a logical progression of their ambition to totally control the business value chain. Leveraging on their understanding of clients’ business and dominant influence over their corporate strategies, systems design and operational management. The leading consultancies are extending their remit by establishing advertising departments or buying up existing marketing communications agencies.

The Advertising Code provides very clear guidelines and frameworks for the conduct of advertising practice by properly certified, individual and corporate members of AAAN and APCON. Once the Board of APCON is reconstituted part of its priority objectives should be to review and where necessary strengthen the provisions of the Advertising Code to ensure the practice is properly protected and the evolving trends do not impact negatively upon the development of the industry.

Subjectively, I am of the opinion that the consulting threat should speed up the much-desired evolution of our Ad Agencies into creative business solutions providers with a more indepth understanding of the clients’ universe. At the end of the day I see our industry emerging stronger and better if ad agencies react strategically to the challenge rather than adopting a reactive protectionist stance.

Investigations show that a lot of Clients including, banks, MDAs and blue-chip companies give their juicy image management and communication accounts to serving business editors and reporters of major news channels, denying members of your association and other duly established and licensed companies veritable sources of income. What is your take on this and how do you plan to address this ugly development?

Unfortunately, this has become the familiar pattern and largely for reasons we would not want to venture into. Trends like these can only be reversed within a more robust business governance environment. And it will require the handshake and collaboration of regulatory bodies across the various sectors to achieve the necessary housekeeping and policing. The new AAAN leadership is committed to reaching out to other regulatory bodies and sectorial groups to put the necessary framework in place to deter unprofessional and unethical practices by all parties.

However, we advise ad agencies to work to shore up confidence and begin to direct more business traffic to their favour by engaging Clients more intuitively. The value we proffer must be more sweeping and impactful to achieve leverage at the highest levels of decision making. In otherwords we are truly in bed with the client when we are effectively engaging and viewed as indispensable partners at the C-suite and Board levels of the client’s hierarchy.

Yours is a specialized industry where special training is required by even mass communication graduates to be able to function effectively. Several AAAN Presidents before you had promised to deliver the AAAN Advertising Academy but fell short. Thus, the industry still faces a dearth of skilled workforce both at the Clients’ and Agencies’ ends. Will the Ikechi Odigbo Presidency finally break the jinx and deliver? What plans are afoot?

As anyone present must have gleaned from the recent AGM of the Association in Abeokuta, a great curriculum and a sound foundation for the take-off of the Advertising Academy has been put in place and no effort will be spared to ensure the much awaited operational launch of the Advertising Academy during the tenure of the new EXCO. We are approaching the establishment of the Academy a bit differently. We view the Academy as an entrepreneurial challenge and not an intellectual one. With a pragmatic focus, we are confident of breaking the jinx.

How will you assess the programmes of the present federal government to stimulate growth of local manufacturing and promote ease of doing business? Can you see any progress? What more should be done and what should be stopped?

Under the guidance of the minister for industry, trade and investment – Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, the federal government has put in place the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), a key pillar of the country’s industrial policy. The plan is designed to engage key challenges in the manufacturing industry such as limited access to credit and financial services, poor infrastructure and unreliable power supply that forces businesses to rely on generators, thus increasing their input costs and reducing their overall competitiveness and profitability.

The plan is designed to create strategic advantages for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which are the bulk of the manufacturing sector. However, we cannot say that these plans are currently working. A closer look into the power sector shows Nigeria is still at 6,803 Megawatts, which is clearly too low for a country that seeks self-sufficiency. Credit and financial management instruments are also not available to many businesses, if they are; the interest rates are not favorable for local businesses.

The government needs to work closely with industry professionals to come up with better solutions that are directed to the actual businesses that need it. Examples of these kinds of initiatives will be: allowing states to generate power reduce lending rates to the productive sector in Nigeria, specifically MSMEs.

Overall Government should develop more collaborative touchpoints with the leadership of the private sector that would improve.

Are AAAN Agencies better off if they have affiliation to foreign Agencies? Your Agency was originally known as Casers, today you are known as DDB Lagos. What has your experience been like? Good, bad or ugly?

About 5 years ago you could be sure without counting that the top 10 ad agencies in the country all had some form of foreign affiliation or the other. Today the picture is a bit different. Some Nigerian agencies have come out worse off as a result of such relationships. Others have thrived with the right network partner and right terms. So, I consider foreign affiliations as quite similar to all other relationships. It could be exploitative or mutually beneficial depending on the parties involved.

When Casers got affilitated to DDB Worldwide in 2000, we had been having some loose relationship with another agency network that offered us an opportunity to work on a leading confectionary brand. However when DDB came to court us we could not refuse because way back then DDB had a fully functioning virtual university called Catalyst which we felt would be a useful vehicle for upskilling our team in the best global practices; and to top it all DDB at the time was by miles the most creative agency network in the world having emerged tops at Cannes five years consecutively. So, one of the mandates we got from DDB was to grow to become a top 3 creative agency in Nigeria. Today we have very much accomplished this. So, you could say our relationship with DDB has been based on a positive focus and the relationship has thrived through healthy and authentic relationship between our team and the MEA management team. It takes understanding, commitment, and sacrifice by both parties to work.

What needs to be done to create the Brand Nigeria of our dreams?

Brand Nigeria is a concept that already exists in the mind of many Nigerians both at home and abroad. The concept of brand Nigeria affects all aspects of the social, economic and political landscape, most especially – business. Our national brand has effects on foreign direct investment potential and our positioning as a financial hub. Presently brand Nigeria is perceived poorly both home and abroad. To create a brand Nigeria of our dreams, the country needs to focus on strategic touch points: Image building, Iconic Nigerian stories, Nigeria with a middleclass population of over 40 million almost the total population of South Africa should be repositioned as the most attractive investment landscape in Africa.

Clearly Nigeria’s image as a country is very poor, for us to achieve a strong brand Nigeria story; we need to work on Nigeria’s international and domestic image, by creating a Nigerian identity. Iconic Nigerian Stories, Nigerian stories are crucial to our identity and can play a strong role in building a strong national identity and contributing to brand Nigeria – this is already being done by Nollywood filmmakers.

Nigeria is endowed in natural beauty yet untapped, focusing on National tourism will indirectly attract investment and contribute to brand Nigeria. The customer journey of the tourist from the experience at the airport, to transportation to the hotel and to tourism landmarks has to be properly curated to guarantee safety, convenience, ease and exploratory drama. Clearly there is the need to strategically build our tourism and lifestyle ecosystem by paying more attention to infrastructure development as well as a deliberate education program to bolster our hospitality sector to deliver quality service with cultural pride.

More often than not Government and MDAs have found it more convenient to engage media practitioners for public awareness and brand building campaigns. Meanwhile Ad Agencies are better equipped to provide strategic support to Government. Think of all the iconic Ads that have become part of our national narrative, Omo, Thermocool, Firstbank, Glo, MTN and many more… Ad agencies have over the years helped build the most successful brands in Nigeria by winning the hearts of Nigerian families with memorable and effective campaigns.     The AAAN is best positioned to provide strategic direction for the design and promotion of a Brand Nigeria that would inspire National Pride among internal publics and attract investor and tourist traffic to Africas most populous and culturally diverse Nation.

Who is the essential Ikechi Odigbo (please give us a brief bio and professional background). How does he work? How does he play?

Ikechi began his advertising career almost 30 years ago as a Copywriter. He has had a versatile career path criss-crossing creative and account management at executive levels.

His current mandate is to drive agencies growth across West and Central Africa in his present role as the Group Managing Director of DDB and Vice Chairman of the Casers Group.

Apart from his recent election as President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN); Ikechi serves as Chairman of the board of the SPV OMNICOM consortium for MTN Nigeria; and was the immediate past Chairman of the Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival (LAIF Awards).

An avid lover of football, comedy and travelling, my passion points include helping to vision and nurture Kingdom and youth development initiatives.

I am happily married to Tolu and blessed with three lovely children.

Thank you.