Marketing Matters
with Neta Nwosu
08023051444 • [email protected]
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. Mr. Shobanjo said the proliferation of outdoor agencies in the face of dwindling patronage would lead to the closure of some agencies and loss of jobs 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 said 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 last Thursday.
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, agrees 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.”
The president 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.”
The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said government would 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.
UAC meets families on air waves
Progressive Parents always seek for innovative and yet inexpensive ways to entertain their families, choosing particularly activities that afford the entire household the opportunity to spend quality time together, having fun and bonding.
Inspired by the saying “Families that play together, stay together”, these discerning folks even take time out of their busy schedules to build a close-knit unit. One of the ways they achieve this is by watching family oriented programmes like TV game shows together.
Nevertheless, the desire to run a compact family, have fun and engender togetherness is not the only reason parents seek to have their children and wards participate in such activities.
According to experts, members of the family, especially kids have the tendency under such loving environment to develop a great sense of stability, learning lessons that border on good sportsmanship as well.
Such exercises also allow for better communication between family members and guarantee superior performances in school, as children who spend time communicating with their parents tend to get better grades. In addition, children and wards are able to develop certain skills, subconsciously, which they eventually find useful both in class and while handling real life issues.
Ruby Gray, a freelance writer at Canvas8, added that “Watching a game show like “Deal or No Deal” will not only let your child brush up on their math skills, but will also let then think about how to figure the odds involved. As they pick a suitcase they will need to decide whether a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush or if there is a good time to take a gamble. They may learn the pros and cons of risky behavior and how big of a risk they are willing to take.
Perhaps, the most important benefits watching family related reality show holds for relatives is the fact that kids from such homes are to a large degree less likely to exhibit behavioral problems, since kids with parents who spend quality family time together typically have fewer problem behaviors.
Dana L. Haynie, a Professor of Sociology from the Ohio State University opines that “Youths who communicate, do activities (including watching family related game shows) and have close relationships with their parents are less likely to engage in violence.”
To bring Nigerian families, across the country and beyond to the brink of realising this dream and at no cost, Nigeria’s largest indigenous conglomerate, UACN PLC has unveiled its proprietary TV family game show, “UAC Unscripted”.
The show, a 30-minute reality family game project, according to its promoters is a comedy fused programme designed to engage, educate, celebrate and reward its teeming consumers that have kept faith with them for ages.
With its primary target audience being Nigerian families, irrespective of their social class, religion or educational background, the weekly show marks yet another milestone in UAC’s continued effort at connecting with the different publics and target audiences of the various strategic business units of its great company.
Disclosing this at the unveiling, which took place at the HS Media Group facility in Lagos last Friday, the Executive Director, Corporate Services, UACN Plc., Mr. Joe Dada, said: “The programme is sure to raise the bar of TV reality show in Nigeria and further deepen our engagement with our publics.”
Indicating why “UAC Unscripted” adopted a comedy platform to achieve its purpose, Mr. Dada stated that following the conglomerate’s re-engineering exercise, which took place in 2008, they were able to identify, as part of their communication process, comedy as a veritable platform to reach out to its customers.
“Comedy as a major vehicle for delivering joy and family relaxation and which has run through all our previous programmes will definitely not be lacking in “UAC Unscripted.
“On UAC Unscripted, laughter is not in short supply, comedy us not in short supply, neither is team work nor cooperation all of which engender bonding in the family and therefore in the society at large,” Mr. Dada assured.
In his welcome address, the Chairman/CEO HS Media Group, Mr. Taye Ige declared that “UAC Unscripted” is a “Platform that is set to play big and set the tone as the revolution called digitalization hits broadcasting in only a couple of months; a platform set to help us, industry people, to update our education and fill knowledge gaps arising from switch over from analogue to digital broadcasting.”
Mr. Ige, who intimated that the HS Media Group is a culmination of 20 years sojourning in the business of sports marketing and production and in the periphery of integrated marketing communications, disclosed that a-list comedian, Okey Mac Anthony “Bakassi”, will anchor this show.
“UAC Unscripted”, which, in keeping with its name will see participants, mostly celebrity couples take part in various competitive activities not following a prepared script, would air on Africa’s largest network, NTA network, every Monday between 8:30 and 9:00 pm.