By Azeez DIsu
The emergence of the Advertising Industry Standard of Practice (AISOP) has set a new dawn in Nigeria’s advertising industry. This step would forever be remembered in the country’s IMC history, that the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), a government regulatory agency, led a movement to transform the advertising industry, to put the country on the global map.
The new AISOP is expected to create a standard operating system that will galvanize advertising practice and the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) landscape as a whole.
It is obvious that having a standard operating system is vital for any country’s advertising industry. This helps the industry operate within global best practices. Countries like South Africa and Kenya already have it in place and it has further positioned them as tespected destinations of quality advertising practice.
Remarkably, Nigeria’s population is projected to reach 263 million in 2030 and 401 million in 2050 according to United Nation. Little wonder that it has been the centre of attention of global brands who are entering the market en masse.
To save the advertising industry, stakeholders have often called for self-regulation like it is done in some other countries already enjoying the dividend of its implementation.
The drum rolls, literary as stakeholders applaud APCON leadership led by Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo for breaking the jinx and taking the industry forward, involving all stakeholders to decide the future of the advertising industry and by extension contribute to the growth of the economy.
Advertising- Now Not Business As Usual
The Advertising Industry Standard of Practice (AISOP) defines advertisement as “ A notice, announcement, exposure, publication, broadcast, statement, announcorial, informercial, hype, display, town cry, show, event, logo, payoff, trademark etc to promote, advocate, solicit, showcase, endorse, vote, support, etc a product, service, cause, idea, person, organization, etc with the intention to influence, sway, actuate, impress, arouse, patronize, entice, attract etc people by an identified sponsor irrespective of media, medium, platform, etc.”
The above definition of Advertisement by AISOP is all-encompassing and speaks volumes of the power of advertising.
With AISOP, advertising has been given yet another attention and a deliberate move by APCON to help further grow the industry and the economy.
Looking at revenue generation to the economy, according to Statista, Nigeria is one of the largest advertising markets in Africa: in 2017 Nigerian ad revenue reached 425 million U.S. dollars. The only two countries that generated more ad revenues that year were South Africa and Morocco – 2.7 billion U.S. dollars and 820 million respectively. However, markets such as Algeria, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Tunisia all ranked below Nigeria’s results.
Before AISOP, issues around the standard of practice within the industry have been on the front burner and have remained unresolved. This has led to court cases, issues around Engagement teams, pitch fee, payment terms, debt issues, and others issues that rocked the advertising ecosystem.
APCON maintains a strong focus on its vision of promoting responsible and ethical advertising practice, acts as the conscience of society in matters of commercial communications, and as a watchdog for consumers. It also manages the needs and interests of stakeholders in Nigeria’s advertising industry.
APCON aligns with the sectorial associations in regulating the conduct of their member organizations to ensure a socially responsible practice. By insisting on pre-exposure clearance of all advertisements, APCON strives to check all forms of abuses such as misleading statements, spurious testimonials, visual and verbal exaggerations, misleading offers, suggestions, or pictures offensive to the public decency, etc.
APCON worked with the Committee on Standard of Practice chaired by Mr. Funmi Onabolu, a former member of the APCON Governing Council who also worked with all the sectoral groups including the Heads of Advertising Sectoral Groups (HASG) to make the AISOP a reality.
The HASG members comprise of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Experiential Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (EXMAN), Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) and Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON).
Answering a question, that may arise from some quarter on why the industry needs a standard of practice, Communications Authority of Kenya, a market that already has a standard of practice answers on its website:
“Codes of Practice are normally considered when: Government regulations are unlikely to occur or are inappropriate for the specific section of the market, Overarching legislation exists and the objective is to assist in ensuring compliance through the development of controls to improve industry standards”
Also, there is widespread acknowledgment that there is need for, and commitment to, the development of controls to improve industry standards and the objective is to provide customer-focused benefits beyond the minimum standards.
Explaining, the Role of Codes of Practice, it states that Code of Practice as is a form of industry self-regulation (encourages industry self-regulation), Advances/improves consumers’ confidence in Industry and organizations that subscribe to the Code of Practice and Promote good business practices.
We also have the sectoral groups which come together to form the HASG-Heads of Advertising Sectoral Groups.
The HASG is the highest self-regulatory organisation in the industry. The relationship between APCON and HASG is more of a supervisory role. If there are issues that are not resolved by the self-regulatory bodies, these are brought before APCON which then intervenes by bringing the law to bear to this effect.
Issues in the IMC Industry
It is important to state that issues of pitch fee, debt recovery, payment terms, rules of engagement, audience measurement, and others are some of the challenges confronting the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) industry.
Sectoral groups Like AAAN and EXMAN have been calling on brand owners to pay when their members are invited for a pitch because they spend a lot of resources in research and ideas which go into the presentation made to the client. For example, EXMAN stated that organisations inviting their members for pitches should prepare to pay N500, 000 as a rejection fee to the agencies not picked.
Audience measurement is also a major issue affecting the industry. It is strongly affects the activities of OAAN and Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN).
In another vein, the rising profile of media debt owed by multinational advertisers which have overstayed agreed working grace period of 90 days and 180 days in some quarters, has led to acute liquidity crisis in the industry. This has also created some operational challenges. The hardest hit is the electronic and the print media, and OOH advertising.
On Media Debts, Dr. Fadolapo explained, “Fortunately for me again, I have sat on different advertising industry debt resolution committees in the past. The last one was the one that was set up by Mr. Chris Doghudje during his tenure as Chairman. We called the committee ASCOMDI. The issue of debt has been a major challenge in this industry. While I am not holding brief for advertisers and agencies, I believe that all players are culpable as far as this issue is concerned.
“Many advertisers have taken agencies for granted. There are situations where agencies have also taken the media for granted. There are instances where the media has taken agencies and advertisers for granted. Now, what do we do? Before now, there are three mediums of this business: we have the print media, outdoor and the electronic/broadcast media. The print media, newspaper houses have been able to resolve the bulk of their problems as many are now doing prepayment.
“Now, for the Outdoor business, there is a major problem as far as this issue is concerned. We are talking with OAAN as part of the Industry Standard of Practice and business framework that will improve the Out-of-Home advertising practice.
“Now, for the broadcast media, we are in talks with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation and we are at the verge of signing an MoU. The aim of the MoU is zero tolerance for debts, meaning that, you cannot owe NTA and move your products to Channels or owe Radio Nigeria and move your product to Radio Kwara. We want a situation where everyone can see that there is sanity in the industry. A situation where the advertisers, agencies, and media can sit down to do proper reconciliation and all players will respect the terms of trade and engagement. Within the next few months, we will come up with an industry business framework that will guide relationship as relates to payment policies and industry debts.”
Recall last year in a move to ensure standardization of its operations, OAAN in association with the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) entered into a partnership arrangement intending to develop a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to guide the business of Out-of-Home advertising practice in Nigeria.
According to OAAN, the objective behind the operating procedure is targeted at developing and maintaining a suitable standard for outdoor advertising practice in Nigeria and also to establish a definite protocol for controlling the practice of outdoor advertising to achieve a desired standard of practice.
Self-Regulation and Other markets
“In Nigeria, we still act sometimes as if we are confused. The business leg of the advertising profession has been left largely under-developed. So the Committee on Standard of Practice was established to look at our industry and what we can learn from what is done to bring it to standard in other climes” Fadulapo told guests at AAAN AGM held recently.
According to Fadulapo responsible advertising or Advertising self-regulation does not replace statutory legislation but complements an existing framework of law to provide robust and proportionate consumer protection with advantages for consumers, businesses and governments.
In the few cases where this is needed, provisions for a legal backstop ensure that companies can be taken to court if in continued breach of a self-regulatory code. Effective self-regulation offers consumers a double layer of protection.
On top of the legal backstop, advertising self-regulation includes stringent sanctions for advertisers in breach of codes. These comprise ‘naming and shaming’ (publication of decisions), the withdrawal of the advertisement, obligatory copy advice for future campaigns, and withdrawal of trading privileges.
In South Africa for example, as a form of self-regulation, it has the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa. According to the Advertising Standards Authority Of South Africa (ASA) on its website, The Code of Advertising Practice is the guiding document of the ASA (THE ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY OF SOUTH AFRICA). The Code is based upon the International Code of Advertising Practice, prepared by the International Chamber of Commerce. This is internationally accepted as the basis for domestic systems of self-regulation. It forms the foundation of this Code in which the basic principles laid down in the International Code are related to the particular circumstances of advertising in South Africa. The Code is drawn up by the ASA with the participation of representatives of the marketing communications industry and as amended from time to time to meet the changing needs both of the industry and of our society.
This Code is supplemented by individual codes, which are determined by the various member organisations or negotiated with governmental institutions. These individual codes are reflected in the Appendices to the Code. All such codes conform to the general principles laid down by this Code and differ only in detail where the individual needs are to be met.
In 2008 ASA ruled that a television advertisement by GloMobile featuring Jeff Dunham’s character Achmed the Dead Terrorist was offensive to Muslims and ordered GloMobile to withdraw the advertisement.
Similarly, in Kenya, its standard of practice is called the Advertising Standards Body of Kenya or “ASBK” which is an independent body set up by the marketing and advertising industry, charged with the responsibility of regulating the advertising industry in Kenya.
APCON : Breaking The Jinx
‘I Want To Leave APCON Equated With The Status Of CBN To The Banking Industry’
The above quote was made by Dr. Fadolapo, when he had a chat with Brand Communicator a few days after he resumed as the head of the regulatory advertising body. He has not failed on this promise judging from the successes and milestones he has recorded within a short period in office.
Since he assumed office, he has been working on how to bring the sectoral groups to work together, in the interest of having an industry all can be proud of, and within a short time in office, he has been able to actualize it.
On self-regulation and standard practice, he said “In other markets, it is purely self-regulation. The sectoral groups come together, outline best business practices, sign an MoU and it becomes a law, but in Nigeria we always find it difficult to conclude such processes.
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The Registrar has been making efforts to reposition the council, he revealed that when he assumed office in the first interview he had with Brand Communicator.
In his words, “The problem has always been about APCON’s positioning in the past. For example, we are the government agency that licenses advertising agencies. We are the regulatory body for advertising business in this market. How have we been able to engage government parastatals, agencies, and ministries to encourage them to use APCON licensed organizations? Immediately after I assumed office, one of the things we have done is that we have engaged all relevant government agencies. For example, I met with the DG OF NBC, DG OF NPC, DG of Public Service Reforms. We pitched to them that they cannot be doing reforms without having the right communication professionals onboard. Fortunately, this has yielded impressive result as the DGs has promised to collaborate with us.
“This means that, if they are doing public sector branding/public sector business, they are going to patronise APCON licensed advertising agencies. It may also interest you to know that there is a procedure through which government businesses are given out. There is an agency that is empowered to issue out government projects, and that is the Bureau for Public Procurement. We have reached out to them and any moment from now, we will be able to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with them. They will soon give APCON recognition the way they recognize the NBA, ICAN and other professional institutes and associations. What this implies is that if you are not an APCON licensed business, government business will not be given to you.”
AISOP Industry Presentation
Excitingly, after years of persistent calls for a regulatory framework that stakeholders can collectively key into, the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) unveiled the new Advertising Industry Standard of Practice (AISOP) that would guide and regulate the business of advertising in Nigeria.
The Registrar/Chief Executive of APCON, Dr Olalekan Fadolapo during the Public Presentation of AISOP held on Wednesday, October 6, 2021 at Sheraton Hotel Ikeja Lagos disclosed that AISOP will provide minimum standard in terms of commercial activities of agencies, advertisers, media houses, advertising services providers and stakeholders, in matters relating to the business of advertising and related areas of marketing communications in Nigeria.
In his words, Fadolapo said AISOP is “A business framework that seeks to improve mutual respect, eradicate unfair advantage, unethical competition, and unequitable policies between relevant stakeholders in the advertising and marketing communications industry in Nigeria.”
He added that it specifically provides a regulatory framework of critical areas of concern to stakeholders, the areas include: engagement policy, payment terms and method, media rates and commission, remuneration model, disengagement protocol, returns on advertising investment and measurements, dispute resolution and other related business protocols.
According to the regulator, AISOP takes immediate effect from 6th of October, 2021 and shall become enforceable by APCON in the bid to ensure standardized operations, in line with global best practices.
He added that the Stakeholders Committee that drew up the framework was chaired by Funmi Onabolu, a former member of the APCON Governing Council. The committee also had a representative from the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Broadcasters Organisation of Nigeria (BON), Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), and Experiential Marketing Association of Nigeria (EXMAN).
Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo explained that the execution of the guideline will put the country on a global map as one of the best destinations where advertising and marketing communications practices are done professionally.
“It is expected that with the implementation of this guideline, Nigeria will be placed among the most progressive advertising and marketing communications industry across the globe.”
He, therefore, urged stakeholders to support the initiative and abide by the standard of practice in the interest of growing the industry, creating jobs, and growing the economy.
“Stakeholders and industry players are implored to support this guideline and to ensure the success of this effort. We trust that the faithful application of the Advertising Industry Reform in Nigeria will not only grow the business of advertising and marketing communications but will also create well over 100,000 jobs directly and indirectly in the next 12 months.”
“We are not oblivious of the fact that the AISOP may generate different degrees of sentiments but we are confident that the guideline serves to protect the best interest of the Nigerian advertising and marketing communications industry in particular and that of the general public.
“APCON is committed to constantly improving the practice and business of advertising in Nigeria and shall always welcome productive ideas that will enable the council to deliver the best conducive business environment in Nigeria in line with her mandate.”
Funmi Onabolu on his part said that although they have always been advertising regulations, they have never been a single codified rule of engagement among practitioners, so AISOP serves as that instrument of self-regulation. The main reason is to avoid unfair practices. He explained further that AISOP is in line with global best practices and has input from various industry associations and other stakeholders. With this document, he believes everyone in the industry is protected.
“We do believe that with the kind of spirit that went into coming up with the guideline we should be able to as an industry and move forward and safe all stakeholders the headache and the challenges they are facing.”
The event had in attendance the Heads of Advertising Sectoral Groups (HASG) members from ADVAN, AAAN, MIPAN, OAAN to EXMAN including other stakeholders from the advertising industry.
Key Highlights Of AISOP
In line with the Federal Government’s reformative plans aimed at accelerating the pace of economic recovery post-pandemic era, enhance gainful employment, overhaul the Institutional and regulatory framework for the Nigerian Advertising Industry, the Hon. Minister of Information and Culture Alh. Lai Mohammed has approved the implementation of the Advertising Industry Standards of Practice (AISOP).
The AISOP provides a minimum standardized commercial term for agencies, advertisers, media houses, advertising services providers and stakeholders, in matters relating to the business of advertising and marketing communications in Nigeria.
AISOP is a business framework that seeks to improve mutual respect, eradicate unfair advantage, unethical competition, and inequitable policies between relevant stakeholders In the advertising and marketing communications industry in Nigeria.
Other Major Highlights
a. Parties involved in advertising and marketing communications must establish a contract. AIL contracts shall be in writing and duly signed by the parties.
b. Parties to advertising contract shall ensure that confidential or proprietary information belonging to the other party is not
disclosed to a third party unless consent covering the disclosure is first obtained in writing from the other party. Parties may sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement to protect confidential or proprietary Information.
c. AIL parties shall abide by Laws governing copyright protection in Nigeria.
d. An Advertiser may invite one or more advertisement agencies to pitch for any or all its advertising and, or marketing communications services provided that the agency invited for such pitch shall be entitled to a pitch fee as stipulated in AISOP.
e. No term or condition by a party or all parties in an agreement shall constitute a waiver for the pitch fee.
I. Payment for advertising services shall be made within 30 days; On no account shall payment be later than (45) days from receipt of Invoice.
g. Where an invoice is received and payment is not made within 45 days, interest shall accrue on the sum at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria’s approved interest rate.
h. AIL payments shall specify the particular invoice being paid. Payment on account must be discouraged to avoid reconciliation challenges.
I. Agency Remuneration shall be made according to industry guidelines stated in AISOP.
j. Media rates may be increased at any time provided that at Least 30 days’ notice is given before implementation.
k. Disengagement of advertisement agency is done under the terms and conditions stipulated in the contract of engagement, and in line with the provisions of AISOP on disengagement protocol
I. Media monitoring, audit bureau of circulation, and audience measurement covering: Broadcast, Out-of-Home, Print, and Digital shall comply with respective relevant policies set out by APCON and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.
The Advertising Industry Standard of Practice takes effect from the 6th day of October, 2021and shall so become enforceable by APCON. Copies of the AISOP can be obtained from APCON offices nationwide.
Scope of AISOP and Importance to Brands and IMC
The AISOP establishes a dispute resolution mechanism to achieve amicable settlement of disputes arising from transactions conducted within the agreement entered into by parties, and under the AISOP rules.
The AJSOP proposes a mutual and binding undertaking that shall improve mutual respect and eradicate unfair advantage unethical competition and inequitable policies between relevant stakeholders in the advertising and marketing communications industry.
According to APCON, “The AISOP shall be binding on all advertisers, advertisement agencies, advertising services providers, media houses, and agent or organization to agent or organization that engage in advertising and/ or marketing communications business is exposed to, or directed at the Nigerian market.”
The scope of AISOP include: Business terms of engagement, Pitching for business/engagement protocol, payment terms, payment method, method rates/discounts/commissions, Advertisement agency remuneration model, and protocol for disengagement.
Others are return on advertising investment/measurement, Resolving business disagreements, and Alternative dispute resolution.
Business Terms of Engagement
In the document, in the section on Business terms of engagement, there is the emphasis on the need for proper documentation of the agreement of the parties involved.
It states that “Parties involved in an advertisement, advertising and marketing communications must establish a contract. All contracts shall be in writing and duly signed by the parties.”
He stated further that “A party to a contract shall ensure that confidential or proprietary information belonging to the other party is not disclosed to a third party unless consent covering the disclosure is first obtained in writing from the other party. Parties may sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement to protect confidential or proprietary information.”
Also, “All parties shall cooperate and abide by laws governing copyright protection in Nigeria.”
“Upon cancellation of a project, the party canceling shall pay the other party all direct fees and cost for services performed before the cancellation. The canceling party shall reimburse the other party all future non-cancelable obligations to third parties made known during the subsistence of the contract. Subject to the agreement of the parties, any fund held by the other parties which are unearned at the date of cancellation shall be returned to the canceling party.
Pitching For Business/Engagement Protocol
The section addresses the long clamour from various sectoral groups like EXMAN and AAAN on pitch fee from clients judging that they spend a lot of money on research and developing the creative content that is finally presented to the client.
Categorically, “An advertiser may invite one or more agencies to pitch for any or all of its advertising and, or marketing communications services provided that agency invited for such pitch shall be entitled to a pitch fee as stipulated in AISOP.”
It adds that “Subject to periodic review by APCON, the minimum recommended pitch fee is listed below: Creative and, or strategy presentation-one million Naira, Media Strategy-one million Naira, Experiential/Activation strategy-one million Naira.”
Also, it states that in the number c, d and e that “It should be noted that Credential Presentation is free. No term or condition by a party or all parties is an agreement shall constitute a waiver for pitch fee.
“No part of a document in a pitch may be used or reproduced by the other party by any means nor modified, decompiled, disassembled, published or distributed, in whole or in part or translated to any electronic medium or other means without the written consent of the presenting agency.
Payment Terms And Payment Method
Payment terms are some of the most discussed issues by stakeholders because of the diversity of policies, as some clients pay their vendors 90 days where others pay 180 days.
However, according to AISOP, “Every payment is encouraged to be made within 30 days; however, on no account shall payment be later than (45) days from receipt of invoice (including reconciliation) end to end (media owner-agency-advertisers-agency-media owner/other contracted third party).
“Where parties agree to payment terms for a period less than 45 days, the parties shall remain committed to those terms.
“Where prepayment is required and agreed upon in a contract, such payment may be made in advance.
“Where an invoice is received and payment is not made within 45 days, interest shall accrue on the sum at the prevailing Centra; Bank of Nigeria’s interest rate.”
Also, on the issue of payment method, it was outlined and stated that where payment is received from the advertiser by an agency, payments due from agency to media house and/or advertising and, marketing communications service providers shall be made within 4 working days.
Media Rates /Discounts/ Commissions
On this issue, AISOP states that “Media rates may be increased at any time provided that at least 30 days’ notice is given before implementation.
“No party shall unilaterally dictate or impose discount commission on another party except as may be mutually by the parties.
“Any discount or commission not mutually agreed upon by parties at point of contract shall not be demanded at the point payment.” advertiser
Advertisement Agency Remuneration Model
According to the guideline, the commission for Creative Agencies is 20% volume, media Agencies is 10% Volume and Experiential Agencies is 20% Volume while the fees should be as agreed.
Furthermore, it states that “Where an agreed to a combination of fee commission, the rate of the commission may be mutually agreed by the parties.”
Others
Other guidelines are on the protocol for disengagement which states that “Where it is established that the disengaged agency owes a media house or any third party, the disengaged agency will ensure it obtains clearance from the media house to whom it is indebted within seven (7) days of notification by the disengaging party.”
On Certification, it declared that “For all purposes of engaging the advertising and marketing communications services in Nigeria, only APCON licensed organizations shall be recognized as providing advertisement, advertising and, or marketing communications services under AISOP.”
Another is Return on advertising investment/measurement, it explained that “All sectors must adhere to monitoring and measurement tools as set out by APCON, and this should be reviewed as technology advances.”
Also, “Media monitoring disputes to be resolved within 30 days after execution.”
In another vein, issues of resolving business disagreements are also critical, the guideline explained that “An aggrieved party should report to the sector in she operates which will ensure resolution within 30 days of the receipt of a complaint.
“If the matter is unresolved by the sector after 30days it should be reported to HASG which will ensure that the matter is resolved within another 30days.
“If the matter remains unresolved at HASG level after the 30days it should be presented to APCON.”
Meanwhile, on Alternative Dispute resolution, it states that “In the event of failure to reach an amicable settlement within 30 days of the date of the letter of notification, such dispute may be submitted to Arbitration before the Advertising Arbitration Panel.
“The Arbitration Panel shall be responsible for effecting prompt settlement of any dispute arising between parties.”
The Future
The APCON Registrar disclosed that “Going forward we will ensure we encourage improved local content in advertising materials to the extent that agencies must respect their contract with the voiceover artists, with the models and the local production houses.”
He, therefore, explained that if there are issues, they can be directed to APCON to help resolve them. He pointed that recently some issues were brought to the council and it was resolved immediately.
“Everybody involve in this value chain has a role to play and what we are trying to do is to develop a framework that we make the industry a better one and that would make all the parties involved in this value chain be responsible and that is what we will keep doing,” he said.
Femi Adelusi, HASG Chairman, commended the Registrar for all the works that he has taken on within a short time.
“First I will like to commend the Registrar of APCON, Dr. Fadolapo for the work that he has taken on in this short time, it is very progressive for the industry and we will continue to provide all the support that is required. Let me also commend the works and all the sacrifice that has been made by the committee that sat down for several weeks or months to review advertising standard of practice, particularly appreciate the work of the chairman, Mr. Funmi Onabolu, and his team.
“Let me also reinforce the fact that all our sectoral bodies were ably represented including all the sectors under HASG were fully represented in the committee.”
He explained further that every sectorial group agreed on what would be in the best interest of all. He added that the standard of practice is the benchmark that is supposed to guide the industry.
He pointed that the new guideline will accelerate growth and development. “We are positioning the advertising industry in a way that we attract businesses and will encourage the industry to grow to the rightful place.”
He added that “From a regulatory standpoint, I think it is safe to say that, APCON has done the right thing in leading this change but I think as practitioners also we need to abide by this. Yes, we compete but when we compete we must be guided by the standard, don’t trade off payment terms or guidelines that are already laid down.
Similarly, Steve Babaeko, President of AAAN, congratulated the registrar of APCON for a great job, “These are not just new problems that are generational problems that have roll over up to now, he is tackling them one after the other and we are very supportive of his effort and will always work with APCON.”
Conclusively, Dr. Fadolapo said “We need each and every one of us, we need the media, we need everybody that this Advertising community for us to succeed. We should understand one fact that the .primary principle of this AISOP is in the best interest of this industry.
“ If we check it very well it is just for us to have a well-regulated industry. So, I want to appeal to everyone of us to ensure we support AISOP and ensure that it is successful.”
He urged all the sectoral groups and their heads to start policing the enforcement of the guideline from their end and fully support it in the interest of growing the industry.
He added that “Self-regulation is more successful than government regulation, so if all sectorial group buys into this and they ensure compliance from their end, it would be a lot easier for us.”