By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Stakeholders in the advertising industry, including practitioners, agencies, advertisers and others, are in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, for the 51st Annual General Meeting (AGM)/Congress of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN).
The event started on Thursday and will end on Saturday, July 2024, with the induction of new members, dissolution of the executive committee, and election of new executives to lead the group for the next two years.
The election will take place during a morning business session to be followed later in the day with a Gala/Award Night designed to recognise deserving industry figures.
Yesterday, the Governor of Ogun State, Mr Dapo Abiodun, flagged off the programme, while the president of AAAN, Mr Steve Babaeko, led the executive committee team on a courtesy visit to the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo Aremu 111; and the Osile of Oke-Ona, Oba Adedapo Tejuosho.
Earlier today, the organisation hosted a panel of discussion involving experts from different economic sectors.
The chairman of the Events Planning Committee, Mr Doyin Adewumi, noted that the association has a tradition of using multi-disciplinary and multi-industry expertise to improve advertising practice, the reason it has, again, invited experts from other fields to the event.
“The AAAN is a body that is receptive to knowledge from other professions. This is why we have invited accomplished professionals from other fields to lend their knowledge to what we do. We believe that this approach will provide new thinking that advertising professionals can use,” he stated.
This session had the Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Mr Obi Asika; the founder of Zuri35 Media, Mr Femi Odugbemi; the founder of WHAT Media, Ms Chichi Nwoko; the Director of Google West Africa, Mr Olumide Balogun; and the Lagos State Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Mr Olatunbosun Alake.
Shedding light on what to expect from the AGM/Congress, Mr Babaeko said, “The 51st AGM/Congress presents advertising professionals the opportunity to assess the impact of what we do and how we can add more value, which informed this year’s theme, Breaking the Mold-Creativity and National Development.
“The impact of advertising on the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is considerable. The fact of it was recently reiterated by study carried out by PwC, which was commissioned by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) and funded by industry associations.
“The report of the study, presented to the public in Lagos last month, puts the value of the advertising industry at N605.2 billion.”