Stakeholders seek collaboration between advert practitioners, academia

Stakeholders in the marketing communications industry have called for more collaborations between the academia and practitioners in an effort to bridge the knowledge gap and sustain the industry for the next generations of practitioners.

According to them, the decision was necessary following the revelation of the huge gap between what is taught in schools and what exists on the field. They said this at the maiden Advertising Industry Colloquium (AIC) organised by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), in Lagos recently.

The gathering which had in attendance professionals from the academia and top industry practitioners provided a meeting point for all players within the sector to interact and chart a way forward for the good of the advertising profession.

Delivering the keynote paper, Idorenyen Enang, The Chief Executive Officer, Corporate Shepherds Ltd and President of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) who spoke on the theme: “Changing Trends in Advertising Education and Practice in the Era of Globalization: The Nigerian Perspective”, underlined the need for stakeholders, especially curriculum developers to prioritize the fundamental knowledge of marketing to concretise the foundation that other capabilities could be built on to ensure lasting growth and develop the industry.

In his presentation on the sub-theme: Contemporary Media Campaign planning and Execution in the era of digitisation, Dozie Okafor, MD, CEO, PHD Nigeria and Vice President of MIPAN said, there is a new shift from the old ways and there is the need for all to key into the changes. He noted that for example, Influencer marketing is getting a lot bigger than radio OAPs that used to be the trend back in the day, “so investments are shifting into the digital space. But, even how we use those influencers should be better educated by data.”

“Firstly, we need to train a new crop of media professionals, to better arm them, away from what is taught in school, and there are different platforms to achieve that.

“Once you have that foundation you are armed with the principles of how the new digital is working and you need to play with the rules and localize it. You are able to get the training and bring it up to speed,” he said.

Kelechi Nwosu, Managing Director, TBWA/Concept believes that the colloquium was a good avenue to share knowledge among stakeholders in the industry

“Knowledge is important, refreshing what we know and learning new things is equally important. This is one of the ways. This platform establishes that opportunity for us to hear and see how to grow things. If you hear ID Enang’s speech which is amazing in terms of the depth of it he says the foundation needs to be correct, which is marketing and a lot of people need to correct that.

“I think that we need to show and provide direction for the new trend. There must be continuous learning from the academics and practitioners,” he added.

Echoing similar sentiments, Tolulope Medebem, COO/Lead Consultant, Aster Integrated Marketing Ltd, what the colloquium platform did was a start.

“There is a lot of unbundling that we need to do, it’s a whole lot and not something we can just do in a day. But, the first step has been taken leading to different interactions as witnessed here today. In some places we are doing it, but it has to be done collectively and I think a whole lot of information has been exposed here and you can see the young ones soaking all in. I believe it’s something that will work for all of us,” she noted.

On his part, Steve Babaeko, AAAN President and Chief Executive of X3M Ideals said: “Big shout out to the ARCON DG, for putting it together because honestly, there is a big gap between the academia and the industry and that gap God knows that we need to bridge it, if we don’t it’s not doing the academia any good and doing us even more damage as an industry.

“We just need to do more, because already some of us are doing something, personally, I have about 17 years with the University of Ibadan. I organise creative workshops, send books, pay tuition fees for some students within the space and all. Even some of the products of our creative workshops are now creative directors in some agencies, we just need to expand that by handling it in a much more industry way,” he averred.

While declaring the event open, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed represented by Mr. Sunday Baba, Director of Communication and Media, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture said “The convergence of the academia and core business practitioners will profitably motivate an industry like the advertising and marketing communications, especially the young generation whose talents and skills are at the early stage mixing what were taught in preparation for practice and the actual practice holds. The challenges could be audacious and the potential enormous.”

He added that advertising contributes to economic growth, so its role in academics cannot be ignored. “Advertising has come a very long way in contributing to and advancing the growth of Nigeria’s economy massively. The role of advertising in academics and the day-to-day business activities cannot be neglected or underestimated by any economy that genuinely seeks to develop and sustain the development of her economic progress,” he pointed.

ARCON Director-General, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo explained that the colloquium was organised to boost stronger synergy and promote effectual congruence between academia and practitioners in the advertising and marketing communications industry.

He pointed out that, if we understand the fact that there is a need for us to sit down, we can now look at a roadmap on the way forward and how we want to project it.