The Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) in association with Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) has entered into partnership arrangement with the aim to develop a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to guide the business of Out-of-Home advertising practice in Nigeria.
According to OAAN, the objective behind the operating procedure is targeted at developing and maintaining a suitable standard for outdoor advertising practice in Nigeria and also to establish a definite protocol for controlling the practice of outdoor advertising with a view to achieving a desired standard of practice.
The formal presentation of the draft document on the new SOP held at the prestigious Lagos Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Lagos brought in attendance a convergence of various industry stakeholders cutting across the Integrated Marketing Communications sphere, including representatives of the various sectoral organisations making up the industry.
The sectoral group representations at the event include member companies of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), member agencies of the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) and media companies among others.
Speaking during the formal presentation of the draft document, the Acting Registrar of APCON, Mrs. Ijedi Iyoha commended the initiative of the OAAN body for putting together the draft document which she said would go a long way to redefine the terms of business engagement between operators in the Out-of-Home sector and other business stakeholders of the industry, especially the advertisers.
Iyoha, represented at the occasion by Joe-Eugene Onuorah, Head of Monitoring Department at APCON, observed that the long evolution of Out-of-Home advertising in Nigeria had witnessed tremendous improvement in the structure of the platform as well as in the dynamics and processes of its value delivery.
She noted further that the emergence of digital technology had greatly expanded the value delivery of the OOH advertising media, bringing it in closer competition with the broadcast and, to some extent, the social media platforms.
She said: “Out-of-Home advertising is a very crucial, perhaps indispensable, arm of the advertising industry. It used to be considered a support medium in the execution of marketing communications campaigns. Today, however, we have seen successful marketing communication campaigns in which the Out-of-Home platforms are either the major plank or the sole plank of the campaign.”
Earlier in his presentation, Chairman of the SOP committee, Ade Akinde, noted that the presentation event marked a watershed in the annals of the Out-of- Home advertising sectors in Nigeria, adding that the industry had made significant contributions to growth of Nigeria’s GDP and also accounted for the employment of several thousands of Nigerians.
Further highlight of objective of the new operational procedure include, providing a forum for dispute resolution among OAAN members, cooperating with other industry sectoral bodies and associations in furtherance of mutual interests as well as promoting responsible and ethical advertising practice, conscious of the wellbeing and sensibilities of consumers and other members of the society in all matters of commercial communication.
Emmanuel Ajufo, president of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) said the association understands the importance of the standard operating procedure in out-of-home advertising business.
He said, ‘’The standard operating procedure becomes necessary in order to standardise how the business is being run and to adopt global best practices in the business.’’
He lamented that, “Quackery, lack of internal cohesion and others were killing the industry while some of these challenges may take a longer time to resolve, we believe that we can at least start from the ones we can reasonably do something about.’’
