2023: Year of Mixed Grill in Advertising Industry
Despite a few down sides recorded by the marketing communications industry in 2023, the year still recorded appreciative results for quite a number of agencies and brands, writes Raheem Akingbolu
In the wake of 2023, Nigeria’s business environment was swathed by fear of the unknown. The fear was partly as a result of theuncertainties that usually surround every electoral cycle but largely due to the global economic uncertainty. But despite the seeming odds, savvy players in Nigeria’s marketing communications landscape were confident that the modest 2.5 per cent GDP growth projection for the New Year would bring about a decent fiscal year for the industry.
On the global landscape, a few top priorities were projected to aid the realisation of 2023 goals for growth in the industry. They include; investing in new tools/technologies, business development, partnerships, client retention, as well as outsourcing and hiring. Again, at the last National Advertising Conference held in Abuja at the twilight of 2022, stakeholders agreed that survival of the agencies in 2023 was dependent on how they innovate and harness opportunities in technological evolution to deliver on clients’ expectations.
Looking back in the last 12 months, it’s difficult to rate the development in the industry based on the listed global forecast because local nuances dictated marketing activities. It was also difficult to ascertain how deeply Russia’s war on Ukraine impacted the local industry contrary to the belief that its negative impact would come full circle. But the industry recorded growth in the way and manner consulting firms revved-up their digital practices and gave direct competition to traditional agencies. Another significant growth was recorded in digital media because of the increased interest in TikTok ads and short-form video content.
However, as far as political advertising was concerned, 2023 was a bad year for marketing communications practitioners. Firstly, the long-awaited election period came and went but it followed the trend of the previous years. Though political advertising spent in the year under review was in the range of billions, only a fragment passed through registered agencies as political parties and politicians preferred to operate and channel materials through friends and political cronies, who knew next to nothing about advertising. As a result of this, it was difficult to get accurate data to support the argument about the volume of political campaign contribution to industry growth in 2023. In fact, immediately after the elections were over, independent marketing communication (IMC) practitioners lamented low political advertising spend.
Industry Reform
However, the feat that could not be achieved through political campaigns in 2023 was recorded through the industry reforms embarked upon by the leadership of Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON).
Nigerians, especially those who were schooled in the art of marketing and communications, heaved a sigh of relief two years ago that Nigeria’s creative community had finally gotten off the hook of modern imperialism when ARCON embarked on a move towards sanitisation and enforcement of global best practice in the nation’s advertising industry.
In 2023, the first level of the reform which is centered around engagement, awareness creation and operational modalities were put in place. With the approach of the regulatory council to some unprofessional conducts by some agencies and brands in the year under review, nobody was left in doubt that the newly formulated Advertising Industry Standard of Practice (AISOP) was meant to redefine the industry. For instance, not less than five agencies and brands were marked out for sanction in the year for exposing adverts without obtaining approval from the council.
Also for the first time, the new AISOP created a standard operating system that galvanized advertising practice and the integrated marketing communications (IMC) landscape as a whole. Having a standard operating system is considered vital for Nigeria to enable the industry to operate within global best practices. In Africa, countries like South Africa and Kenya already have it in place and it has further positioned them as respected destinations of quality advertising practice.
Remarkably, Nigeria’s population is projected to reach 263 million in 2030 and 401 million in 2050 according to the United Nation. Little wonder that it has been the centre of attention of global brands that are entering the market en masse, hence the need for standardisation.
AISOP defines advertisement as, “A notice, announcement, exposure, publication, broadcast, statement, announcorial, infomercial, hype, display, town cry, show, event, logo, payoff, trademark etc to promote, advocate, solicit, showcase, endorse, vote, support, etc a product, service, cause, idea, person, organization, etc with the intention to influence, sway, actuate, impress, arouse, patronize, entice, attract etc people by an identified sponsor irrespective of media, medium, platform, etc.”
The above definition of advertisement by AISOP is all-encompassing and speaks volumes of the power of advertising.
With AISOP, advertising has been given yet another attention and a deliberate move by APCON to help further grow the industry and the economy.
Global Recognition
For the first time, Nigeria had 70 year-record breaking in the global advertising rating as the country’s multinational agency, X3M Ideas became the first Nigerian agency to win the coveted Cannes Lions Awards. It came at the global creativity awards’ 70 years history and the Nigeria’s agency 10th year anniversary
News of the agency’s impressive Cannes Lions nomination filtered in on Monday 19th June. It was indeed exhilarating for the sub-region to get a nomination at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
In its 70 years history, West African agencies hardly get any mention at the glamorous and highly competitive Cannes Lions awards, which industry players rightly refer to as the “World Cup” of Advertising.
Few months later, in what looked like a confirmation of the global feat, the same creative firm, alonside Noah’s Ark Communications Limited, Insight Publicis, and Leo Burnett also won big at the 2023 edition of the Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival (LAIF) Awards.
The award ceremony, which was held recently at The Hall, Victoria Island, Lagos, saw the Steve Babaeko-led X3M Marketing Ideas Limited lead the medal haul with 15 Gold, 20 Silver, and 7 Bronze, which eventually resulted in the agency being named the 2023 Agency of the Year.
Noah’s Ark Communications Limited came second on the medals table, carting home 12 Gold, 16 Silver, and 7 Bronze, while Insight Publicis and Leo Burnett emerged third and fourth, respectively. Insight Publicis won 9 Gold, 16 Silver, and 15 Bronze, while Leo Burnett won 1 Grand Pix, 9 Gold, 4 Silver, and 4 Bronze.
Ad blocking And Wasted Spend
Ad-blocking is a perennial issue for the marketing industry. Just when the number of people who employ ad blocking tools appears to reach equilibrium, changes in the digital advertising ecosystem cause it to rear its head once again.
In 2023 the biggest change was undoubtedly Google’s move to prevent adblocking on YouTube. In June, the world’s largest digital video platform trialled messaging a small proportion of adblock users, urging them to either disable the tools or sign up for the ad-free YouTube Premium.
That effort was then expanded to a larger number of users in early November, showing the extent to which the advertising revenue-dependent service is concerned about the adoption of adblocking technology. Next year Google is set to adopt the Manifest V3 standard, which will further limit the ability of ad blockers – in theory.
Those moves have potentially misfired. In addition to the reputational damage done to the service by irate users sharing stories of new unskippable ad formats and larger ad loads, its changes also potentially violate privacy laws the European Union – a charge YouTube denies.
The woes of digital advertising in 2023 did not end with ad blocking. Despite widespread awareness of wasted ad spend, a number of studies over the course of the year have demonstrated the extent to which it remains an issue. A study from CreativeX, for example, found that brands are expected to waste over £57.7 billion ($73billion) in spend on “digitally suboptimal” or otherwise unsafe digital platforms in Q4 2023.
Researchers at Juniper Research similarly found that 22 per cent of all online ad spend is set to be lost due to ad fraud in 2023. It also found that the figure is even higher on mobile, representing about 30 per cent of spend.
Whether it is platforms not receiving ad spend as a result of ad blocking, or the ongoing issue of ad fraud and wastage, 2023 proved that wasted digital spend is simply the cost of doing business online for many marketers. CS
Advertising vices
As crackdowns go, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has made a pretty bold effort to clamp down on rule-breaking gambling and vaping brands this year.
This isn’t anything new. Guidelines have been in place for years to limit the targeting of under-18s. Last year the ASA took a hard line on betting brands using popular sports figures who appeal to children in their advertising and marketing. But 2023 has been the year the vices crackdown intensified. It’s not just gambling facing new limits, but vaping has come under fire from the ASA, the government and even BAT (British American Tobacco) of all organisations urging changes to how vaping brands market themselves.
In November, BAT – the UK’s largest smoking and vaping manufacturer, launched a campaign pleading for more regulation. “We believe that underage users should never vape, so we want confectionery, dessert and soft drink flavours to be banned and the introduction of a new regime for how and where vapes are sold.
“The government’s consultation on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which would stop children who turn 14 in 2023 from ever legally buying cigarettes in England, concluded yesterday (December 6) as the proposal takes another step to become law,” it said.
