By Princewill Ekwujuru

The Group Chairman of STB-McCann, Sir Steve Omojafor has said that advertising agencies must re-invent to fit into the new world order in order tio excell.  He made the assertion in a lecture titled, “Nigerian  Advertising: ‘Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow”, delivered at the inaugural lecture to mark the 60th anniversary of Rufai Ladipo, a former president of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, AAAN.

The    lecture series,     which will hold annually will explore issues in marketing communications to the enlightenment of the industry, government and other related sectors in the  economy, was supported by BrandIQ, a marketing communications magazine.

Omojafor, who was the Lead Speaker traced the history of advertising from the conventional period  through the era of integrated communications to the current digital  era, explained that with the country’s exposure to sophisticated digital technology, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and many other platforms have become the new advertising “media”.

In this view, he advised agencies that want to excel, to re-invent themselves and possibly change their business models to fit into the “New Generation World of today,” while sticking to the time-cherished rules of the game.

He however praised the new partnership between Insight Communications and Publicis Groupe as one of the things that can lead to a glorious future for advertising in Nigeria. Also speaking, Steve Babaeko, CEO/Chief Creativity Officer, X3M Ideas, revealed that artificial intelligence will be the next level of development in the world of advertising.

“In a world where a robot has already been named   Chief  Creativity Officer of a leading global agency, “Nigerian agencies must change their module of operation if they want to keep pace with the rest of the world” Babaeko stated.

Buttressing this point, Dr. Ken Onyeali Ikpe, Managing Director/CEO, All Seasons Media pointed out that practitioners should master the fact that disruption by technology will continue in advertising and indeed all other genres of marketing communications.

Speaking on the relevance of regulation in moulding a great future for advertising,  Alhaji Garba Bello Kankarofi, Registrar/CEO of APCON, explained that this awareness had come years ago when the disagreement between Newspaper proprietors and Ad practitioners revealed that self regulation was clearly inadequate. He advised all students and new entrants into  the profession to deepen their knowledge in advertising regulations if they want to excel in the profession

Another discussant, Chizor Malize, Managing Partner Brandzone Consulting LLC harped on the importance of creating differentiation as a tool to ensure success for future players in the industry. She stated that digital communication is evolving and Nigerian agencies that can develop indigenous models will definitely stand out and excel.