The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) has sworn in advertising and marketing communication veteran, Omowunmi Owodunni as its Chairperson for the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP).
Omowunmi was sworn in alongside some other professionals from different sectoral groups in the Integrated Marketing Communication industry as members of the committee.
The swearing in ceremony which took place at Sheraton Hotel Towers, Ikeja, Lagos, had in attendance the committee members who took their oath of office and other stakeholders.
APCON has a number of statutory and ad hoc committees through which it discharges its responsibilities and ASP is one of them. The committee is basically responsible for considering and giving approval to advertisements prior to exposure.
The ASP panel is constituted by representatives of: Advertising Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Association of Advertising Agencies in Nigeria (AAAN), Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON), Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), Consumer Protection Council (CPC), National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Federal Ministry of Health.
Omowunmi bring to bear more than two decades of marketing communications experience, at mostly management and senior management levels, having evolved from an advertising creative specialist to a marketing communication strategist, planner and executor. She has worked on global and local brands of repute and has been part of their market growth and success.
The move by APCON is in line with one of the aspirations of Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo as APCON registrar, to raise the standard of advertising regulation in the country.
Recall at the IMC Industry Grand Reception organised to honour him recently, while commenting on the state of regulation in the country, he said, “Nigeria is the only country in Africa that practices double regulatory system as at today; we have the government regulatory system and self regulatory system. In other market, it is purely self regulation. The sectoral group comes together they outline best business practices, they sign MoU and it becomes a law, but in Nigeria we always find it difficult to conclude that process.”
Therefore, he said that he is working on how to bring the sectoral group to work together, in the interest of having an industry all can be proud of.
