‘Why outdoor agencies need to merge’

Chairman of Troika Group, Mr. Biodun Shobanjo, has said that the proliferation of outdoor agencies in the face of dwindling patronage would lead to the closure of some agencies and job losses, except there is concerted effort by agencies to merge. He stressed that there was need for mergers and acquisition of outdoor agencies as was done in the banking industry in order to survive the economic hardship in the country.

According to him, “When you have an economy that is no longer vibrant, one of the first casualties is the integrated marketing communications sector, which is why operators have to innovate or die. There is no reason to have so many outdoor agencies chocking the industry when they could converge to be stronger and more efficient”.

Shobanjo made this assertion while delivering a paper titled ‘The Indices of a Vibrant Economy: Outdoor Advertising as a Catalyst’ at the 10th annual Poster Awards of the Outdoor Advertising Agencies of Nigerian (OAAN) in Lagos. He noted that France has just five out of home agencies likewise many other civilised countries.

He, however, maintained the adverse effect of regulation as a bane of the industry, noting that no global outdoor organisation would want to practice in Nigeria because regulations would kill them.

In his speech, President of OAAN, Mr. Tunde Adedoyin, said it was time for stakeholders to come together in order to understand the industry, stressing that his members were paying 50 per cent of their revenue as rate cost.

As he put it, “Primary among the issues that have seriously challenged our practice is the emerging unfriendly environment to profitably engage in outdoor advertising practice occasioned by suffocating regulations, very high financial demands by way of outrageous and unjustifiable permit fees”.

However, the award night saw many agencies cart away prizes for their efforts. The biggest award of the night, the Grand Poster Award was won by Insight Communications for Pepsi Longthroat creative. Verdant Zeal Communication Limited won the Best Creative in the Automobile category with its Peugeot 508 entry, while in the financial services category, TBWA Concept entry Stanbic IBTC Bank creative was adjudged the best.

Also, dairy foods category was won by STB McCann for McVities biscuits while the non-alcoholic category was won by Insight Communications for its Pepsi Longthroat creative. Information, Communication and Technology category was carted away by SBI Media for Konga creative. In the electronics and electrical category, Insight Communications smiled home with the award for its Tecno creative.

The public service award went to Noahs Ark for Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) creative, while the Aviation category was won by GR8 Measures 2 for its Emirate Airline creative and STB McCann won in the telecoms category with its Airtel creative.