Brandcom - Linking the future

Samsung Electronics has overtaken rivals to rank first in Africa’s smartphone market in 2026, recording the highest revenue and unit sales across the continent despite a broader industry slowdown. New industry data from market research firm TechInsights shows that Samsung led African smartphone revenue in the first quarter of 2026 before clinching the top spot in both revenue and shipment volume in the second quarter. While overall smartphone sales across Africa fell by 16.6 percent year-on-year in the second…

Nigeria’s broadcast digitisation will only have succeeded when a broadcaster can show the audience it reaches, verify the advertising it delivers and use credible evidence to attract investment, the Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Dr. Charles Ebuebu, told a breakout panel at the ongoing 2026 National Advertising Conference. Speaking on the session “From Reach to Results: How Broadcast Digitalisation Would Unlock the Next Frontier of Nigeria’s Advertising Market,” Ebuebu argued…

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has told the Nigerian advertising industry that its future depends less on how fast it adopts artificial intelligence than on whether it deploys it responsibly, warning that misleading claims, deceptive endorsements and manipulated content can damage brands and weaken public confidence. Delivering his address yesterday at the opening ceremony of the 6th National Advertising Conference, Idris, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the…

Adebayo Owosina, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Hook Creative Agency, has told delegates at the 2026 National Advertising Conference that generative AI has raised the floor of creative production without raising the ceiling, and that the industry must learn to divide labour between what machines can do and what only people can. Speaking at a breakout session at the ongoing National Advertising Conference titled “Beyond the Prompt: Balancing Generative AI Efficiency with Authentic Human Stories” on…

Advertising industry veterans, Lolu Akinwunmi, Group Managing Director of Prima Garnet Africa, and Idorenyen Enang, Managing Director of Corporate Shepherds, have said that despite the sweeping changes brought by artificial intelligence and technological disruption, the fundamentals of marketing communications remain unchanged. Speaking today at the 2026 National Advertising Conference (NAC) in Abuja, the pair delivered a session titled “Some Things Will Never Change – Enduring Principles,” arguing that consumer…

The agency sector must urgently reinvent its business model or risk being bypassed by clients who are increasingly equipped to do the work themselves, a panel of industry leaders warned at the ongoing 2026 National Advertising Conference (NAC) in Abuja. Speaking on the theme "Is the agency sector ready for the next frontier?", the panel comprising Emeka Okeke, Group Managing Director of MediaFuse Dentsu; Lanre Ashaolu, Managing Director of Four Pulley Ltd; and Oluwaseyi Layade, COO of Leo Burnett Lagos delivered the…

Executive leaders, brand architects, and marketing communications experts, among them, ace professional and Brand Communicator's publisher, Joshua Ajayi, recently converged at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, for the second edition of The Industry Impact Summit and Top 50 Men of Impact 2.0. Held in alignment with International Men’s Day, the summit served as a premier platform to explore leadership, mentorship, and the broader responsibility of men as societal and corporate builders. In his opening…

The Director-General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo has called on advertising professionals and practitioners to embrace the technological revolution sweeping through marketing communications, but do not surrender the craft to it. He made this call while delivering his welcome address on the second day of the 2026 National Advertising Conference at the Abuja Continental Hotel in Abuja with a direct charge to the industry, "Technology must remain a tool in the hands of…