By Ntia Usukuma
Just as the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) is poised to flag-off their 49th Annual General Meeting/Congress this evening at the Jubilee Chalet and Resorts, Epe, Lagos State, the Associations President, Steve Babaeko has taken a flashback at his two-year tenure and he feels his tenure as President has made revitalising impacts on Nigeria’s advertising terrains.
Babaeko spoke from the side-lines exclusively to Brand Communicator last Tuesday at Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja at an Industry interactive session during the visit of Loeries Chief Executive Officer, Preetesh Sewraj to Nigeria.
In Babaeko’s words, “One of the major things I see as our biggest achievement for this past two years is that there’s a new sense of optimism in the industry, so everywhere I speak to people, they will say your tenure has brought us a new revitalization of the industry and that’s very important to us.
“Like I tell people you can take a whole world away from a human life, but don’t take the hope. What we need is just the hope to say that we can create a better industry and I think we are beginning to have that done”.
The AAAN President also spoke about some concrete achievements of the past two years. “Beyond these great effects, we can look at the tangible ones. They include what we did with the recognition of some sectorial bodies, what we did by getting the academy off the ground, and what we did by involving more women in key positions, and many others. So there are a whole lot of other items we can begin to point to as the things we have achieved.
Asked to identify, key challenges of his tenure, Babaeko said “The COVID issues definitely came with other triplets of challenges- COVID restricted the supply chain, the distribution chain, and subsequently deep reductions in the budget.
“We also have an infrastructural challenge in the industry and in the country seeing the power collapse several times in the past couple of years. The high cost of diesel and so many other things. We now come to the issue of insecurity in the country, so these are the tough issues that we faced and the confrontation is on-going as well.”
Asked if he is moving for a second tenure, the AAAN President said, “The power does not rest on me, the power rest with the people, with the industry; we will go to the congress to show the people our report just the way I am showing it to you now. And then we see what will emerge after that.
The AGM/Congress which is themed “The New Order, Technology as a Game Changer?” will end on Saturday, July 23.
To emphasize the importance of the AGM, the Association has invited Mr. Olu Akanmu (President/Co-Ceo, Opay Nigeria), Mr. David Okeme (Executive Director, System Specs), Mr. Niyi Yusuf (Managing Partner, Verraki Africa), Mr. Adetayo Bamiduro (CEO/Co-founder Max.Ng) as speakers. The panelists include, Mrs. Ose Osundeko, Chief Operating Officer, Digitas Nigeria, Mr. Kelechi Nwosu, MD, TBWA, Mr. Norden Thurston, Marketing Director Seven up, Mr. Jay Chukwuemeka, Partner, Imaginarium.
The Hon. Min. for Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu are among the prominent dignitaries that will grace the event. The Governor is expected to declare open the AGM.