David Okeme, a former Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) President and Executive Director, SystemSpecs has outlined some ways advertising agencies and practitioners including other businesses operating in other sectors can respond to disruption and changing realities.
He disclosed this at the last Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) Annual General Meeting (AGM) held recently in Epe, Lagos, when he made a presentation on the topic “Technology disruption & Advertising Agency Business”.
He emphasised that if any business fails to evolve it will go into extinction. He then advised that for agencies to survive, they must take these four steps with some urgency- Shift in business model, reshape into a whole new business, sustain business & restore operations, and restructure the company or industry.
He added that advertising agencies should re-imagine agency business by leveraging digital transformation, strengthening sector competitiveness through consolidation and innovation, and reshaping agencies with a focus on catalysing growth.
Also, he tasked them to re-imagine people by embarking on skills assessment, self (creative, business finance, technology, etc), empowering team members with the required skills.
He urged advertising agencies and practitioners to leverage technology and data to thrive in a competitive and changing marketing world. He explained that SaaS models; Cloud infrastructure; Big Data; Platforms; Publishers – A huge Talent pool; and Enablers: Broadband, Smartphones are some of the technologies and data disruptions they can leverage on.
Okeme also said technology, data, and mega cultural shifts will play a critical role for the growth of any business today. He urged advertising practitioners to therefore understand the increasing shift from “advertising” to “engagement”.
He explained further that Metaverse and others will change the advertising landscape and urged practitioners to be prepared. In his words, “Because… the 4th Paradigm is here, with even bigger Implications for advertising”