AAAN honours industry leading lights at 48th AGM

The Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) at its 48th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Congress have honoured four luminaries of the advertising industry.

The quartet of Chief Ayo Owoborode of PAL Advertising, Messrs Kelechi Nwosu of TBWA, and former AAAN President, Henry Akpede, who is also the Country Manager and Chief Creative Officer of Oglivy Africa and Co-founder, Yellow Brick Road, Nnenna Onyewuchi received awards.
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Owoborode and Nwosu bagged Lifetime Achievement and Special Recognition Awards respectively, while Akpede and Onyewuchi received the Trailblazer Award.

The AGM/Congress, which had as theme, Doom, Gloom, Doom! Where Do We Sit, examined the practice and business of advertising, especially with COVID-19 ripping through finances and the evolution of the consumer.

President of the association, Mr. Steve Babaeko, noted that advertising agencies would be well-positioned to, despite the slide in the business occasioned by the contracting economy, take advantage of the boom that lies ahead if they collaborate.
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The Chief Executive Officer, Interswitch, Michel Elegbe, who presented a paper that assessed advertising from the outsider’s perspective, said business is being taken from agencies because of the ease with which consultants in other fields go into the industry. He advised agencies to focus more on technology as a way of clawing back the advantage lost.

Also speaking, the Managing Director of Sterling Bank, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, observed that agencies are losing their hegemony because of the skill gap in technology and the tendency of their clients to poach talents in their employ. He advised them to rethink their operations as a means to taking advantage of the potential boom.

In his presentation, Founder, Futures Africa, Mr. Iyiola Aboyeji, urged a rethink of advertising practice and advised that agencies should collaborate more. He also advised that agencies that want to play in the financial technology sector need to develop familiarity with the area to understand the needs of clients in the sector as well as specialise.

The 48th AGM/Congress was the first since the new leadership of the association came into office.
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