Politics, telecoms and banking are expected to dominate advertising spending in 2014, surpassing the figures for last year.
Bunmi Oke
Over N20 billion is projected to be spent on political campaign alone. The banking sector plans to spend on new structures and rebranding.
Power distribution companies are expected to increase advertising in the energy sector while fast moving consumer goods and small and medium enterprise sectors should equally play major role.
The optimistic message was delivered by Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) President, Bunmi Oke, who spokeat the first 2104 AAAN media briefing in Lagos.
He said the Nigerian economy is one of the most developed in Africa and has the second largest stock exchange.
The economy is projected to grow at over 7 per cent, coming mainly from electricity, agriculture, tourism, and ICT.
The role of advertising agencies goes beyond offering marketing communication services, she stressed, for “it extends to fully engendered proper understanding of government policies and revealing to the public ways by which they can participate, benefit and contribute to the growth of the economy.”
AAAN Publicity Secretary, Celey Okogun, reiterated thelink between advertising and economic growth, saying there is also a positive correlation between the rates of investment in advertising and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in major markets.
The biggest advertising spenders are also the leading foreign direct investment (FDI) companies in Nigeria, he added.
Okogun, also Chief Executive Officer of Novel Potta Y&R N, an advertising agency,addressed some issues in the industry, including advertising and the economy, as well as contribution by the AAAN.
He said last year, telecommunications, banks and others in the private sector spent N125 billion in advertisements across major media, such as television, radio, outdoor and press.
Television took N6.6120 billion, outdoor advertisement (N23.750 billion), press (N23.500 billion) and radio (N22.500 billion).
There were no figures for online advertising, and government based advertisements were not captured in the figures.
“The business outlook for 2014,” Okogun added, “portends some potential for practitioners and agencies. It is believed that advertisers will also increase spending and operate within the framework of the law, ethics and best business practices.”
A report published by Mediafacts last year showed that above-the-line advertising spendingdropped by 10.6 per cent to N91.846 billion in 2012, against N102.755 billion in 2011.
Investment in outdoor advertising reduced by 43.9 per cent and in press by 41.7 per cent. But television advertisement rose 7.2 per cent and radio 20.1 per cent.
Of the N91.846 billion media spending in 2012, television got N49.399 billion, radio (N15.782 billion), outdoor (N17.692 billion) and press (N8.974 billion).
Last year, advertising agencies employed 2,178 staff, broken down as fresh graduates (783), junior level from other sectors (536), senior level from other sectors (358), junior level from the integrated marketing communication industry (121) and senior level from the integrated marketing communication industry (380).
