‘We want advertising spend to have bigger social impact’

THE new President of Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Mr. David Okeme has said that one of his priorities is to ensure that advertising spend in the country has a bigger social impact. He spoke in Lagos last week at a reception put together in his honour by friends and maintained that besides sustaining the transformation strides his predecessor started, impacting on society and return on investment would be key.

“If you look at the total investment in the economy from the advertising industry, it is well over N200 billion. So, we are a key stakeholder and as a key stakeholder, what we intend to do is to see how to leverage that to have a bigger social impact in Nigeria. We would use it to support government policies and grow our business aside ensuring the right return on investment. And lastly, how does ADVAN help in the area of capacity building? These are in addition to getting a decent accommodation for the association.”

He was optimistic he would leave behind a stronger ADVAN that is recognised as an association of core professionals playing significant roles in the economy in terms of advocacy for members, proactively driving the right level of returns for members’ investment, and mobilising the consumers behind the brands of member companies because it is when the brands are consumed that the growth will come.

He noted, “My plan is to really form a strong coalition of members to be able to drive the right policies and engagement such that we would be able to see the right level of growth. The best result I have seen by mid-year is seven per cent growth and if you look at mid-year inflation of about 8.5 per cent plus, then you will say in real terms we are not really getting the right level of return on investment. I understand the challenges that many of our members are going through; we would try and bring all those together and then find ways to resolve this”.

Former president Mr. Kola Oyeyemi said he was grateful to God to have completed his terms, especially since all the agenda his executive set were fully achieved except one, adding, “We set out to redefine the value proposition of what ADVAN represents as an organisation, as we wanted the industry and the country to respect ADVAN, know what we stand for and our agenda. Looking back, I think we have done well. A lot of stakeholders that never talked to us now interact with us”.