Last year, Lekan Fadolapo, the uncommon regulator in charge of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), executed with great dexterity his statutory mandate to regulate advertising practice in line with provisions of the new ARCON Act.
Key Steps In 2023
The setting up of two committees on Brand Nigeria and GDP Multiplier is expected to go a long way in determining the shape of the industry in 2024. The Brand Nigeria Committee is designed to change the common erroneous narratives about the country, and promote the huge potential it has for prospective investors, the GDP Multiplier Committee is meant to determine the real contribution of the sector to the national GDP. Despite being very huge in potential, the obvious lack of due recognition and support from the government has remained a big concern to practitioners. The outcomes of all these, as well as the intention of the agency to embark on a national audit of advertisement agencies, by categories and specialisation, industry watchers argue, will have a strong impact on the industry in the New Year. It is interesting to note that the Nigerian Institute Of Public Relations (NIPR) and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) have flagged off projects on managing Brand Nigeria. A strong indication that Nigeria’s image challenges will be front-burner issues in 2024. Fadolapo himself had promised that the New Year would not be business as usual for practitioners as his agency would be totally out to enforce the law. He equally advised practitioners to stick to the rules of the game, rather than face prosecution as the Advertising Offences Tribunal will be very active in shaping the industry in 2024 since ARCON has signified its intention to wield the big stick.
The Online Challenge
Another factor, with huge potential of shaping the advertising space in 2024 is the regulation of online advertising. Despite intermittent efforts including legal action against a big player like Facebook, Online advertising has remained largely unregulated, giving room to all sorts of unwholesome online content disguised as advertisements While Fadolapo insists that the agency’s role is not to regulate online activities, he promised to carry out its statutory mandate of regulating all types of online advertisements without exemption. This will most likely lead to some disagreement with some online content creators.
Will The Tug-Of- War Continue?
ARCON’s helmsman will clearly be one of those individuals who will shape the practice of advertising in 2024. Will The Tugs-Of-War End This Year? Will all players in the advertising space be ready to line up behind Fadolapo’s ARCON? Most unlikely. The ‘war’ between ARCON and one of the sectoral groups in the industry, the Advertisers’ Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) is likely to escalate this year. While ADVAN is holding tight to the position of allowing ‘he who pays the piper’ to dictate the tune, ARCON is insisting any individual or group, having anything to do with the advertising in the country must submit themselves to the rule guiding the practice. And the custodian of these regulations is ARCON. Last year, ADVAN challenged the regulatory body over its introduction of the Advertising Industry Standard of Practice (AISOP), But ARCON seems unruffled as the agency is set to go full blast in carrying out its mandate in 2024. With both sides entrenched in their positions, the conflict might be heading for a crescendo in 2024.
Vetting Fee Imbroglio
Just this month, we saw some fireworks around the issue of vetting fees. in a January 23rd Punch Newspaper story with the headline “Advertisers protest ARCON’s N3m advert vetting fee,” the President of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria, Mr Osamede Uwubanmwen condemned strongly the increase in advertising vetting fee to N3 million.
Reacting to this, the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), released a statement stressing that “The publication is false, malicious and a misrepresentation of the vetting fee process.” The statement, signed by Head of Corporate Affairs Winifred Akpan, reiterated that the actual vetting fee remains N35,000.
The Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) in a counter-statement declared that they are standing by its president, Mr. Osamede Uwubanmwen, in the ongoing dispute with the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) over alleged misinformation about new vetting fees. It seems the battle line has been drawn and more conflict touchpoints are expected this year.
Total Reforms In 2024
Speaking at the National Advertising Conference, held last December in Abuja, ARCON Registrar, Lekan Fadolapo assured practitioners that the industry will be redefined in 2024. He emphasized that there was no going back on reforms. “Though we have started enjoying some of the benefits of the reform, it will be total from next year,” Fadolapo stated.
While charging practitioners to prepare well to support the FG’s drive to recover the economy, Fadolapo disclosed that research has shown that marketing communication as an economic activity is strategic to the growth and development of Nigeria’s economy. Fadolapo further confirmed in Thisday Newspaper that 2024 would witness a new order for players in the Marketing Communications industry. His words: “Practitioners are waiting for the full implementation of the industry reform this year. It will be a new order to reset the practice and the business. You will agree with me that the Bola Tinubu-led administration is doing a lot to position the economy. The industry reform will surely aid the drive because it would lead to agency growth and standardisation of creative works, thereby impacting the economy positively,”. With strict enforcement of regulation, capital flight would be minimized in the marketing communications industry in 2024. Production of advertising, advertisement, and marketing communication materials outside the country would reduce remarkably from the N120 billion lost as there must be 75 percent of cumulative local content in advertising, advertisements, and marketing communication materials from the Nigerian market.