AAAN 52nd AGM: Industry Leaders Weigh In On Salaries, Agency Remuneration, Call For Better Negotiation, Reforms
The long-running debate on agency remuneration and professional salary structures in the creative advertising industry was at the centre of discourse at the ongoing 52nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), holding in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Though seemingly unplanned, Dr. Tayo Oyedeji, Group CEO of Insight Redefini and Chairman of the Conference Planning Committee had broken the table with comments on the issue, with other stakeholders, including Mr. Steve Babaeko, President of the International Advertising Association (IAA) Nigeria Chapter and CEO of X3M Ideas Group weighing in on the matter.
To provide a bit of a perspective on this, during the 2024 edition of the National Advertising Conference (NAC) organized by ARCON in Abuja, Otunba Seni Adetu, Group CEO of Primus West Africa, the umbrella group behind such agencies as Algorithm Media and Ogilvy Nigeria, had, at a session discussing collaboration, co-creation and partnerships captured one of the root causes of what is steadily becoming a crisis when he opined that the Nigerian market has too many agencies chasing the same cheese, invoking Spencer Johnson’s popular metaphor from his “Who Moved My Cheese?” book. He had advocated for increased collaboration and co-creation among agencies as a way to better structure the market, drive value, and reduce the unhealthy pricing race to the bottom.
But Otunba’s analysis is definitely less about scarcity and more about saturation. Our advertising sector, by sheer number of registered and unregistered agencies, is arguably one of the most fragmented in sub-Saharan Africa. And where there is fragmentation, there is often under-pricing. With more agencies competing for the same briefs, often from a fast-shrinking pool of multinationals and blue-chip Nigerian brands, a systemic underbidding race is triggered, one where pricing is no longer a reflection of value, but a desperate survival strategy. Of course, basic secondary school economics on supply and demand is set in motion.
Speaking with Brand Communicator in an exclusive sideline interview during a tea break at the 52nd AAAN AGM, Dr. Oyedeji lamented the dismal state of remuneration for advertising professionals in Nigeria, particularly in comparison with other African markets. He revealed that Nigerian agencies earn far less, even when working for the same multinational clients, than their counterparts in countries like Malawi and Uganda. “We are one of the poorest paid countries in the world as far as advertising is concerned,” he said. “Even when we work for the same multinationals, we are still the poorest paid countries in the whole world. I know a client that pays an agency in Malawi more than they pay in Nigeria. And in Uganda, three times what they pay here.”
The good Dr. further attributed this to a combination of currency depreciation, market oversaturation, and desperation among agencies and professionals. “It’s a competitive market, there are many agencies and we are also struggling as a country in terms of employment. So people are like ‘a loaf in hand is better than none.’ When we keep making decisions like that, what happens is that it becomes a price war and nobody wins in a price war,” he said. “The clients are not going to win and the agencies as well. It will just keep going lower and lower.”
He stressed the need for agencies to increase their rates in order to properly reward their talent. “People must be better paid. They create value and must be paid for the value that they create. My view is that, as much as possible, we must find ways to charge more, so we can pay more to our people,” he said.
In a separate chat with journalists on the sidelines of the AGM, Mr. Steve Babaeko echoed similar sentiments, but emphasized that the onus lies heavily on agencies to elevate their operational and value delivery standards if they hope to command better fees and reward their people more sustainably. He pushed back against the perception that clients are solely to blame for underpayment. “There’s a theory when it comes to business or contract or the act of negotiations: you don’t get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate,” he said. “There’s no client that opens shop with a promise saying, ‘I’m going to pay you lots of money.’ No. They pay you what you are able to negotiate.”
He stressed that the professionalism, talent depth, and problem-solving capability of an agency are key leverage points in pricing negotiations. “How you negotiate the better package depends on the professionalism of your outfit, the competent hands you have, and their ability to solve complicated problems that these clients are willing to pay for,” Babaeko said. “So let’s not push all of the blame on the client, but also look inward and see how we can make our operations better so that we can also have better remuneration.”
Indeed, Nigeria remains Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, with over 220 million people and a GDP of more than $450 billion. However, its marketing communications industry still lags behind smaller economies in terms of pricing power, wage benchmarks, and structural coherence. By contrast, countries like Kenya, South Africa, and even smaller markets like Uganda and Malawi have managed to command higher retainers from global clients due to stronger industry standards, more unified agency fronts, and bolder negotiations.
The challenge for Nigerian agencies, as the comments from Oyedeji and Babaeko make clear, is to reposition themselves not just as service providers but as strategic value partners in a global advertising ecosystem. Doing so will require agencies to break away from the low-price, high-volume trap; to invest in professional development; and to raise their creative and operational standards to global levels.