Just a few days ago, the advertising industry lost one of its most illustrious sons. Chief Olu Falomo passed away at age 87, leaving behind a legacy that spans six decades in Nigerian advertising. Like the elephant in the famous traditional Yoruba hunting poem (ijala) popularized by Adeboye Babalola…majestic, wise, impossible to replace, Chief Michael Olumuyiwa Falomo walked traversed the advertising industry like a colossus with a grace and authority that commanded respect without demanding it.
His footprints are almost everywhere including the regulatory frameworks that govern advertising practice, in the multinational boardrooms where he represented Nigerian interests, and in the hearts of innumerable professionals he mentored along the way.
The Accidental Adman
Born on August 13, 1938 in Ilesa, Osun State, young Falomo harboured no childhood dreams of becoming an advertising icon. After attending St. John’s Anglican School in Iloro and Government College, Ibadan, his ambitions lay in the technical realm where he wanted to be a radio engineer, a cutting-edge profession in newly independent Nigeria. He joined the radio broadcasting corporation and later moved to Western Nigeria Television (WNTV), the pioneering station established by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1959.
But destiny had other plans. Six months into his role at WNTV, when the station decided to establish a commercial radio service, Falomo was transferred to the Commercial Services department as a Production Unit Officer. This seemingly mundane administrative decision would alter the trajectory of his life and by extension, the trajectory of Nigerian advertising. It was, as industry observers would later note, a fortuitous accident that launched one of advertising’s most distinguished careers.
In 1963, Falomo formally entered the private advertising sector, joining West Africa Publicity Limited (later Lintas Limited) as a trainee Client Service Executive. Armed with his City and Guilds training in telecommunications engineering, he brought a systematic, analytical approach to the creative business of advertising. His rise through the ranks was steady and impressive. Starting as trainee, he rose to become a Client Service Director at Lintas, then to Executive Director at the prestigious Ogilvy, and later onto Benson and Mather Nigeria Limited.
By 1986, the entrepreneurial spirit could no longer be contained. Falomo established Forum Advertising Nigeria Limited, where he served as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer until his retirement. Under his leadership, Forum Advertising became a respected name in Nigeria’s competitive advertising ecosystem, proving that indigenous agencies could compete with multinational networks on creativity, strategy, and client service.
The APCON Years
If Falomo’s commercial success established his credentials, his tenure as Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) cemented his legacy as a nation-builder. In December 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him Chairman of APCON (now ARCON), a position he held for four years. This presidential appointment was showed the esteem in which Falomo was held not just within advertising circles, but in national governance.
His APCON chairmanship appointment came at the time Nigeria’s advertising industry was maturing, but it needed stronger institutional frameworks, clearer ethical standards, and broader stakeholder inclusion. Falomo brought to the role his characteristic blend of vision, pragmatism, and collaborative leadership.
Falomo was No. 2 on the APCON practitioner list and succeeded the pioneering Sir I.S. Moemeke as chairman, inheriting the responsibility of professionalizing an industry still finding its feet in the post-military democratic dispensation. His tenure focused on strengthening APCON’s regulatory capacity, enhancing professional standards, and expanding the council’s reach.
One of his most important contributions, as noted by Dr. Emokpae, was integrating Media Independent Practitioners into APCON’s regulatory framework. This forward-thinking move recognized media planning and buying as integral components of the marketing communications value chain, not mere adjuncts to creative advertising. It was typical Falomo…inclusive, strategic, and ahead of his time.
His leadership extended beyond national borders. From 1990 to 1994, he served on the World Board of Directors of the International Advertising Association, representing Nigeria and Africa in global conversations about the industry’s future. It required diplomatic finesse to articulate African perspectives in international forums dominated by Western voices, but Falomo possessed both the gravitas and the expertise to do so effectively.
The Reckitt Benckiser Chairmanship
Parallel to his advertising industry leadership, Chief Falomo distinguished himself in corporate governance. He served as Chairman of Reckitt Benckiser Nigeria, the local subsidiary of the British multinational consumer goods giant known for iconic brands like Dettol, Harpic, Mortein, Durex, and Strepsils.
The Reckitt Benckiser chairmanship was no ceremonial role. The company operates in Nigeria’s highly competitive fast-moving consumer goods sector, managing a portfolio of health, hygiene, and home care products that touch millions of Nigerian lives daily. Under Falomo’s board leadership, Reckitt Benckiser Nigeria maintained its position as a trusted household name while navigating Nigeria’s complex regulatory environment, foreign exchange challenges, and shifting consumer dynamics.
His dual mastery of advertising creativity and corporate governance made him uniquely valuable. He understood brands not just as marketing constructs but as business assets requiring strategic stewardship. At Reckitt Benckiser, he brought his decades of advertising insight to bear on questions of brand positioning, market penetration, and stakeholder management.
Beyond Reckitt Benckiser, Falomo served as Principal Consultant at Olu Falomo & Associates and held advisory positions including membership on the Advisory Board of Vis Mundi, an investment company focused on FMCG and consumer healthcare across Africa.
The Humanitarian Falomo
What truly distinguished Chief Falomo from mere captains of industry was his deep, sustained commitment to humanitarian causes. Since 1987, he dedicated himself to the Nigerian Society for the Blind, serving at various times as Officer, Chairman of Council, and Trustee. For a man whose professional life centered on visual communication, his passion for serving the visually impaired revealed a profound empathy.
He also served on the boards of the Nigerian Society for the Welfare of Retired and Elderly Persons (NISWERP) and the Bloom Cancer Care and Support Centre, and was patron of the Aanu Olu Pre-school Unit for Physically Challenged Children.
His church, the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos, benefited immensely from his service. He spent ten years on the Standing Committee and chaired multiple committees including the Feast of Dedication Committee, the Membership Committee, and the Think-Tank Committee. The Lagos Diocesan Guild of Stewards honoured him for exemplary service, recognition that meant as much to him as any industry award, perhaps more.
The Ijesa Connection
Despite his cosmopolitan success, Chief Falomo never forgot his roots. He held several chieftaincy titles including Otun Baroyin of Oke-Ona Egba, Lomoofe of Ilare-Ijesa, and Lofosan of Ifosan Quarters in Ilesa. He chaired the Annual Iwude Ijesa Planning Committee for over five years Vis-mundi, demonstrating that Lagos success never diminished his commitment to Ijesa heritage and development.
Speaking at a press conference in 2018, Falomo described the Iwude Ijesa festival under his chairmanship as a convergence of culture and tradition, pomp and pageantry, excellence and beauty The Guardian. He noted that the festival had evolved from its historical roots as Iwude Ogun to become a modern celebration that brought together Ijesa people from across six local government areas and beyond.
He was also an active member of several elite social clubs including the Lagos Island Club, where he served as Chairman. In 2010, when the club faced internal turmoil during a contentious half-yearly general meeting, it took Chief Falomo’s intervention to restore semblance of peace and decorum. Even in social settings, he was the statesman, the voice of reason, the bridge-builder.
Those who worked with Chief Falomo speak not just of his professional accomplishments but of his character. Dr. Emokpae described him as displaying excellence, integrity, and selfless service, calling him one of the finest gentlemen of all time. Industry colleague Sir Steve Omojafor acknowledged him among the pioneering mentors who shaped generations of advertising leaders.
He was a devoted family man, married to the late Mrs. Hilda Titilola Falomo (nee Bajulaiye), a lawyer and insurance executive who predeceased him. Together they built a family blessed with children and grandchildren who now carry forward his legacy.
Colleagues remember his humility despite towering achievements, his accessibility despite high status, his willingness to mentor despite demanding schedules. In an industry sometimes characterized by ego and showmanship, Falomo’s quiet dignity stood out.
The Final Curtain
The elephant has fallen. But elephants, even in death, leave landmarks. The paths Chief Olu Falomo carved through Nigerian advertising from WNTV’s Commercial Services department to APCON’s chairmanship, from Forum Advertising’s corner office to Reckitt Benckiser’s boardroom, remain for others to walk, widen, and extend.
Indeed, the advertising industry has lost a colossus. Nigerian society has lost a servant-leader. The Ijesa community has lost a devoted son. But the standards he upheld, the frameworks he built, the professionals he mentored, the causes he championed ensures that Chief Olu Falomo’s influence will reverberate for generations yet unborn.
As we salute the elephant in his final journey, the truest tribute we can offer is to uphold the values he embodied…excellence without arrogance, success without selfishness, achievement without forgetting where we came from, and leadership as service rather than privilege.
Akinkanju, rest well. Your work is done. The industry you helped build will carry on.