TOGETHER, LETS TAKE THE AAAN HIGHER

Dear Friend I write to acquaint you with my decision to offer myself as a candidate for the position of the next President of AAAN during the coming Annual General Meeting in June, and also to seek your agency’s, and personal support in this quest.

I took this decision after months of sober reflection on the industry, wide consultation within and outside of the association, and the personal commitment this will entail. I am pleased to inform you that having considered these and more, I am persuaded that at this point in time, I can join hands with you and other members of the association, and serve in the position of President.

Offering myself to serve as the President is a continuation of my services to the AAAN in the last twenty five years. During the period, I have served regularly as a resource person at many of our training programmes.I have delivered series of papers including the 30th Anniversary Lecture in Ijebu Ode in 2003.

· I have also either served as member or chaired the following committees (Disciplinary, Membership, Business & Ethics, AGM etc), and at the moment serve on the AAAN’s Executive Board as an Ex-Officio member.

· From 2000 to 2003 I represented the AAAN on the APCON Council, and will soon return, following the receipt of your mandate.

I have also been a beneficiary of numerous opportunities during the period. Consider the following:

· I have been in continuous advertising practice since the first of September 1982 when I joined Lintas, giving me a nonstop 25 years experience

· I have had the good fortune of working with some of the country’s finest marketing communication practitioners on all sides of the discipline.

· I have with the grace of God had the privilege of birthing an agency and developing this into a growing communication group.

· I have also received some modest recognition: I am a Fellow of APCON, a Fellow of the Nigeria Marketing Association, and in 2006 became the first recipient of the APCON Fellows’ Advertising Award in the Advertising Agency Category.

· I sit on the board of Ogilvy Africa, and in 2005 became the first African to be nominated for the SMP 10, Ogilvy’s most senior and prestigious management development programme. I completed the programme with honours.

· I represent the advertising sector on the Presidential Committee on Police Welfare.

The AAAN has an impressive pedigree and has been blessed with a crop of good and committed leadership over the years. We have through our direct and indirect efforts sustained brands, and helped the consumer exercise a choice. Significantly, we pioneered the efforts that gave birth to APCON, and have generally been the engine that’s driving the marketing communication industry.

In spite of these successes, the association and indeed the profession today face numerous challenges, many that we didn’t even anticipate a mere five years ago. While portions of globalisation may have been to our benefit, we have also had to manage direct challenges which are attributable to the same globalisation. The traditional agency we all knew fifteen years ago has become a fragmentation of creative, media, strategy and experiential services providers, directly competing with many of our members.

Distinguished colleague, it is indeed a very difficult period for our profession and the association. Never have we faced such a barrage of seemingly insurmountable challenges.

You will recall that I presented the keynote lecture at the AAAN’s 30th anniversary in Ijebu Ode in 2003. Working on the lecture at that time afforded me a unique opportunity to thoroughly study the association, its history, successes, contributions, shortcomings and the challenges facing us, and proffering some possible solutions. In preparing for this presidential campaign, I commissioned an exercise which was programmed to pinpoint some of the very serious issues facing us as a body. The findings confirmed that most of the issues in the lecture paper are still the issues to deal with; indeed some of the situations I warned our members about are now living with us.

Some of the issues are: 1. Members’ serious financial situation 2. Industry debt issue 3. Members’ inability/reluctance to meet financial obligations 4. Declining quality of practice (in some respect) 5. Loss of esprit de corp between member agencies 6. Fierce competition and challenges from foreign agencies, consultancies, hot shops, media independents, quacks etc 7. Weak relationship/influence with government

In addition to these, the traditionally symbiotic relationship with some of our colleagues within other arms of the communication industry appears to have broken down, such that we regularly attract unbelievable levels of hostilities.

If you vote me in as the next President of the AAAN, I will be working with your Exco and other members of our association in tackling these issues. I will be going into the presidency with clear objectives and agenda in mind. I enclose a copy of the lecture for your study.

Considering this plethora of challenges, it is possible to conclude that this probably isn’t the best time to vie for the position of the AAAN President. However, I am convinced that these challenges also offer us a great opportunity to reappraise our position and even reinvent some of the workings of the association. And I believe that together, we can do it.

Over the next few weeks I intend to engage every practitioner in an interactive dialogue, and for this have set up a blog site where I will expound in greater detail my dream for the association, and how I believe together we can make it come to pass. The site gives you and everyone else an opportunity to appraise my opinions and respond with comments, questions, suggestions and even disagreements, and also make contributions. The blog site is:

loluakinwunmi.blogspot.com

I have also set up an email address for the sole purpose of managing every communication for this campaign. The address is lolu4aaanpresident@yahoo.com. In addition to these, I can be reached on 08022906994, 08055506994 and 08032148961.

In this segment of our association’s history, we need leadership that is truly committed, professional, passionate, and which must have an uncompromising commitment to conducting all our businesses with the utmost integrity and probity, adhering to the highest standards of ethics and just conduct. We need leadership that truly understands the needs and requirements of our members. We need leadership that has demonstrated provable commitment to the issues of the association. We need leadership that is responsible and dependable. We need leadership that has earned the respect and trust of members. I believe I possess all these qualities and more.

Distinguished colleague and fellow practitioner, I believe these last twenty five years have prepared me for this task and assignment. But I cannot do it without you. I therefore depend on your support and every form of encouragement.

Together we can do greater things for AAAN and the profession.

God bless you.

‘Lolu Akinwunmi, FRPA, FNIMN Chief Executive Officer Prima Garnet Ogilvy Group April, 2007