Shobanjo Canvasses Mergers and Acquisition in Outdoor Advertising

Stories by Raheem Akingbolu

Guest speaker at the OAAN Poster Awards and Chairman of Troika Group, Mr. Biodun Shobanjo has asked players in the outdoor advertising industry to seek mergers and acquisition as was done in the banking industry in order to survive the economic hardship in the country.

Shobanjo said the proliferation of outdoor agencies in the face of dwindling patronage will led to the closure of some agencies and loss of job except there is a concerted effort by agencies to merge. “When you have an economy that is no longer vibrant, one of the first casualties is the integrated marketing communications sector which is why operators have to innovate or die.

There is no reason to have so many outdoor agencies chocking the industry when they could converge to be stronger and more efficient. “

Shobanjo stated this while delivering a paper titled The Indices of a Vibrant Economy: Outdoor Advertising as a Catalyst at the 10th annual Poster Awards of the Outdoor Advertising Agencies of Nigerian (OAAN) in Lagos recently.

The doyen of marketing communication in Nigeria said that France has just five out of home agencies likewise many other civilised countries. Shobanjo said over regulation is also killing the industry noting that no global outdoor organisation would want to practice in Nigeria because the regulations would kill them.
President of OAAN, Mr. Tunde Adedoyin agreed with Shobanjo in his speech at the event. According to him, “What we are saying is it is time for us in this sector to come together, regulators and operators, in order to understand the industry. Presently OAAN members are paying 50 per cent of their revenue as rate cost.”

He further said: “Primary among the issues that have seriously challenged our practice is the emerging unfriendly environment to profitably engage in outdoor advertising practice in Nigeria, occasioned by the almost suffocating regulations, very high financial demands by way of outrageous and unjustifiable permit fees. Policies of the signage and advertising agencies and their likes that has now mushroomed across the country both at the states and federal levels leading clients to either cut down drastically on their budget or out rightly abandon us for other media platforms such as digital media.”

On his part, the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said government will create the enabling environment for the practice of outdoor advertising. The minister was represented by the Registrar, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Alhaji Garba Bello Kankarofi.

The award night saw many agencies cart away prizes for their efforts. Lintas Communication won an award for Star Lite Up the Night creative. Verdant Zeal Communication Limited had the best creative with Peugeot 508 for the automobile accessories category.

Financial services category saw TBWA Concept win for its Stanbic IBTC Bank creative. Dairy foods category was won by STB McCann for McVities biscuits while house and cosmetics category was won by Posterscope for Oral B creative.

The non-alcoholic category was won by Insight Communications for its Pepsi Longthroat creative. Information, communication and technology category was carted away by SBI Media for Konga creative. The electronics and electrical category was won by Insight Communications for Tecno creative.

The entertainment category was claimed by Oh Communications for bet9ja creative while the public service award went to Noahs Ark for BBOG creative. Aviation/Oil and Gas was won by GR8 Measures 2 for Emirate Airline creative and STB McCann won in the telecoms category with its Airtel creative.

The biggest award of the night, the Grand Poster Award was won by Insight Communications for Pepsi Longthroat creative. There were individual awards and many guests won juicy prizes at the unarguably best OAAN Poster Award ever.