BY CHARLES KUMOLU

FOLLOWING the identification of  some challenges which have hindered the out-of home advertising in Nigeria from achieving its full potentials, stakeholders in the industry took their destinies into their hands by gathering recently to redirect the future of the sector.

The gathering was  a three-day event with the theme: Signage and Outdoor Conference and Exhibition Africa, which held in Lagos and attracted participants from Europe, Asia, America and Africa.

A brainchild of the Lagos State Signage Agency ,LASAA, the forum primarily focused on how best to create an enabling environment that would help players in the sector grow their businesses and keep abreast with new innovations from across the globe.

Raising the curtains on the event which was the biggest outdoor advertising conference so far in Nigeria, the chief host and Managing Director of LASAA, Mr. George Kayode Noah, said the need to take the industry in Nigeria to the next level, informed the convening of the conference.

He was optimistic that the outcome of the deliberations would set the pace for a new vista in outdoor advertising.

‘’The objective is to provide a veritable platform for the growth and development of signage and outdoor advertising in Lagos State, Nigeria and Africa. And also to create an enabling environment that will help all players in our sector to grow their business and to keep abreast with new innovations from across the globe.

Visitors and participants are expected to discover the latest developments in equipment, software, signage and outdoor materials, systems, fittings and fixtures. So the exhibition is expected to take Nigeria’s outdoor industry to new heights,” he said.

On the state of the industry, he acknowledged that the sector has witnessed huge transformation in the last decade. According to him, Out Of Home advertising accounts for over N50 billion turnover while Lagos State with population of 22 million accounts for 60 percent of Nigeria’s total advertising market.

Backing his position with statistics, Noah said while outdoor media buying agencies generate about N8.6 billion, fabricators rake in N1.5 billion, installers N382 billion and large format printers N8.27 billion.

Continuing, he noted that outdoor specialist agencies generate N21.9 billion, outdoor protection services N370 million,   adverts N1.25 billion, while other areas account for N8 billion.

Noah identified the huge employment opportunities in the sector which presently employs over 100,000 people in Lagos.

Regardless of this, he disclosed that the industry is being frustrated by the absence of empirical data. This, he said, has remained a source of worry to him.

As part of the innovations being put together by the agency, Noah disclosed that
some parts of the state are being carved out as zones where posters could be pasted all year round.
He noted that even the posters have been unstructured, adding that this has impeded its growth making advertisers to cut down on advertisement spending as outdoor agencies have no data on eyeball traffic hitting the advertisements.

In his presentation on the Challenges and Prospects of out of the Home Advertisement in Africa, the Chairman of the Outdoor Advertising Agencies of Nigeria ,OAAN, Mr Charles   Chijide said the challenges exist in relative measures and are common to all members of the association in the continent.

He said the platform which started in Nigeria in 1956, has evolved over the decades to digita. Corporate members of OAAN has moved from two when it began to 158.

“‘Our efforts at proffering solutions to outdoor challenges, is for the over-all economic development of all, not just the outdoor advertising organisations. Whatever adversely affects the industry, affects all, as it has the equally negative impact on very many other sectors of the economy by reason of multiplier effect.   A decline in the industry’s fortune impacts on employment rate, reduces the number of taxable adults, causes a sharp drop in the literacy level (unemployed parents not being able to support children/ward in school), stiffens trade and commerce as consumer awareness and enlightenment towards purchases and brand engagement drops, and the rate of social unrest and crime is likely to rise. All of these are likely fall-outs of the collapse of Out-of-Home advertising sector,” he added.

The Director of Commerce in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Akeem Adeniji, who represented the Commissioner, Mrs Olusola Oworu said outdoor practitioners must key into the Lagos State Development Plan, LSDP, which has a four part: Economic Development; Infrastructural Development, Social and security Development and Sustainable environment.

Oworu who spoke on Africa: Nigeria as your target market , challenged all operators having issues with the state government to make use of the right channel of making the government aware of the gray areas they wanted addressed. She said the Babatunde Fashola administration last year began the Lagos Corporate Assembly, an assembly of all business operators in the state, where issues hindering their profitability in business could be addressed.

Governor Fashola had earlier challenged the operators to think out of the box in repositioning the sector and make out of the home advertisement sector a vibrant platform.

Represented by the Commissioner for the Environment Mr. Tunji Bello, Fashola  said issues such as the lack of empirical data to support media buying into the platform and even power could be mutually resolved if operators decided to look inward and reapply themselves to resolving the peculiar challenges to their businesses.

“When there is no data to support advertisement buying, the buyer is at sea and loss of market share to other viable options becomes the alternative,” he noted.

Noting that a sector that has a N50 billion turnover yearly is a major stakeholder in any economy, he charged operators to repackage their offerings to ensure that they have necessary linkages with the government to ensure the best for the sector.

Mr. Jimi Awosika, Managing Director of Insight Communications, one of the foremost advertising agencies in the country, challenged operators to deepen their offerings and become more creative in the display of outdoor advertisements.

Awosika, who likened a poor outdoor advertisement to an actor with a minor role (waka pass) in the thespian world said in a world of “democratised noise,” only an advert with a telling presence, creatively conceived and delivered would be remembered in the crowd.

He called for more synergy between the advertisers, the advertising agencies and the outdoor practitioners in such a way that the messages meant to be communicated had desired impact in the market.

A participant, Mr. Jerry Coasters of Out of Home Africa in a on Nigeria: the good, the bad and the challenges of out of the home,   said Nigeria despite the challenges impeding businesses, is a story that is yet untold.

“Nigeria is an amazing country of major contradictions. The country’s capacity at conflict resolution is unimaginable and incomparable with none else in the world. If Nigeria must move on, its story must be rewritten by Nigerians. You have so much to teach the world and I daresay the world is waiting for stories of economic miracles from Nigeria,” he submitted.

Commending LASAA for hosting the event, an exhibitor from Holland, Mrs O Amal said, ‘’our experience this year is very positive. It is a good development and we had a lot of very good and interested visitors. It will help our business.’’

In his goodwill message, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy Mr Lateef Ibirogba challenged operators to rededicate themselves to professionalism. He stated that the government’s desire to regulate the industry is borne out of the desire to ensure that marketing communication messages are better packaged and uniquely presented.’’