ARCON law will save N120 billion capital flight yearly, says Johnson

Chief Executive Officer of Lilvera Group, Mr. Buchi Johnson, has said the new law setting up Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has prevented a capital flight to the tune of N120 billion.

Johnson, who spoke to the media recently, said, “the law provides that, with effect from January 1, 2023, advertisers must use a cumulative 75 per cent of local content in all ads and marketing directed at the Nigerian market. This is exciting because the country has been losing about ₦120 billion yearly due to capital flight in the sector where ads targeted at Nigerians were produced externally creating jobs in other economies but not in the targeted economy, Nigeria.”

Johnson said this law is expected to create over 500,000 jobs yearly. So, this will lead to more multinational brands using Nigerian talents, agencies and producers in commercials targeted at the Nigerian market. 

“I see exciting times ahead with the post-pandemic growth continuing as well as the new law requiring businesses to produce at least 75 per cent of their marketing content locally. My advice to players in this space would be to position for growth, build capacity to deliver excellent services across the board, and maintain a high standard of quality in team management, service delivery, and customer relationship management,” he said.

Speaking on Lilvera’s moves to make a giant stride in the industry, Johnson revealed that the agency has designed an effective tool to aid its execution and implementation of clients’ briefs: The tool is tagged 5Rs, which simply represents responsiveness, relevance, receptivity, recognition and relationship. 

Johnson said: “Our focus is to continue to deliver on the 5Rs that drive Integrated Marketing Communications such as Responsiveness: ensuring rapid and high-quality response to clients’ needs, Relevance: keeping our client communications highly targeted and relevant and receptivity: maintaining open communication lines with clients.”

He added, “recognition is about prioritizing brand building and distinction to keep Lilvera the preferred brand for integrated marketing communication in the Nigerian market for multinational and local businesses and relationship: we are nothing without the key relationships we have with our team, vendors, and clients so this is a vital area of focus for us in 2023 and beyond.”

HIGHLIGHTING some landmark accomplishments of the agency, he said perfection eludes humankind, “yet we strive for it and will accept nothing less than the perfection that is within our reach at Lilvera. Our achievements in the last year are testament to the hard work and creativity of our team, the trust of our clients, and, of course, God’s grace and favour. We acknowledge Him as our helper and source for everything, even the inspiration that we receive to deliver a great experience to clients.”

He stated, “one area where we definitely need to keep growing is customer relationship management. We have built great client relationships in the past years of our business that we must continue to deepen, and we look forward to building new relationships that we will nurture, grow and blossom. Our clients are at the heart of our business so we will continue to focus on this area to ensure the very best experience for them as they continue to choose us for their integrated marketing communication projects.”

The integrated marketing communications industry, particularly, the agencies take pride in the awards they have won or the recognition given to them during the course of doing business for their clients. Johnson believes that Lilvera deserves every bit of the accolade showered on it and its minders. 

According to him, “it does feel great to be recognised by notable organisations both locally and internationally. Some of the awards we received in 2022 are the Most Client Focused Marketing Agency of the Year – Africa by Global Business Awards; the Industry Influencer Award for Experiential Marketing at the Industry Summit Awards 3.0 and the African Prize for Leadership Excellence under the Experiential Marketing Personality Leadership Prize Category.

“Our team of highly trained professionals understand this too. So, we showcase our intelligence, professionalism, and confidence in how we handle businesses from the first meeting, earning your trust. As you know, trust is the new gold. Then, beyond that first meeting, our strong commitment to building value for our clients ensures that we maintain a high standard of excellence and professionalism in every aspect of the services we render.”

Predicting 2023 for the industry, CEO of Lilvera revealed that there will be post-pandemic growth and the new ARCON law will help retain at least 75 per cent talents in the industry.