AAAN Presidency: Declaration of Intent/Manifesto

Dear Friend/Colleague

I had about two weeks ago sent a letter to you, intimating you of my decision to run for the presidency of the AAAN, and seeking your support. I had attached to the letter a copy of the lecture I gave at the AAAN’s 30th anniversary. Both documents were expected to sensitise you on my preparation for this assignment and give a perspective of what I think should engage the association during my presidency. I want to believe you studied both documents and are well acquainted with them.

Moving ahead, it is time to come down to specifics. What will be the agenda for the AAAN during the term of my presidency? I have in this document itemised what I consider the key issues that should engage our attention, and presented them as my manifesto. A lot of work has gone into putting this together (and work is still in progress), and I hope you will study the proposal and revert with your comments, so that together we can advance the cause of the association and the profession.

Dear colleague, I am aware that during this period you will receive and have probably received many manifestoes from our other colleagues aspiring to various positions within the polity of our association. May I remind you that the best manifestoes still need responsible and committed people to implement them. May I also humbly add that the choice you make at this congress most certainly will have a far reaching impact on our association, agencies and the profession. You consequently must soberly consider the strengths and commitment of all candidates for all positions.

The AAAN offices should not be allowed to become epaulets on the shoulders of people, who by acts of commission or omission will not show serious commitment to the ideals of our association and profession. Let me urge that in this respect you insist on critically scrutinising the past records of service of all contestants, both to the association and the industry, and how they have demonstrated commitment and maturity, especially at critical moments. Let us ask questions; let us call for records of service; let us probe; let us use this one opportunity we have before the elections to assure ourselves that the AAAN is putting forward our best people, who we can vouch for, and who we can be sure will best represent our interests.

I feel proud to again remind you of my commitment to the AAAN in the last 20 years, during which I served with steadfastness in many committees and also represented the AAAN on the APCON Council. In all these situations, I concluded my terms with honour. I pledge myself and service to you and promise to run an administration that will respond and be responsive, and one that will expect its performance to be measured by acceptable criteria.

In the days ahead, I will be sending additional update to you on plans I am making towards ensuring we all get a presidency we deserve. Together, I am persuaded we can do great things for our profession.

Finally, let me leave with you to contemplate and meditate upon, the inspiring words of Vaclav Havel, the Czech writer, dramatist, the last President of Czechoslovakia, and the first President of the Czech Republic:

“Genuine politics, even politics worthy of the name, the only politics I am willing to devote myself to is simply a matter of serving those around us: serving the community and serving those who will come after us. Its deepest roots are moral because it is a responsibility expressed through action, to and for the whole.”

I cannot be committed to anything less noble. Yours sincerely, ‘Lolu Akinwunmi, FRPA The Association of Advertising agencies of Nigeria has largely fulfilled the dreams of our founding fathers for a forum where practitioners can professionally co-habit with a common purpose and under a formal structure. They were driven by a hunger and passion for the successful practice of the profession, with minimum hindrance. Over the years, consequent groups of practitioners have built on this foundational platform and have made the association a success that it is today, and the official voice for advertising practice.

In spite of these successes, our association has continued to face and learn to grapple with challenges none of the founding fathers could have envisaged, such that today in very important areas, the AAAN faces dire needs. I had joined others in saying this before, and with a grave sense of responsibility repeat it that if we don’t device effective means of tackling some of these challenges, the very existence of the association, and to a large extent our profession stands a serious risk of being threatened.

I had in my first message to you enumerated some of these challenges and how they affect us. I have also spent time and other resources in working with many people in looking at likely solutions to them. As I prepare to compete for the presidency of the association, I have developed all these into both my declaration of intent and manifesto.

My manifesto therefore sets down the views and opinions that a majority of our members have expressed on key issues that affect our association and consequently the profession, and the ways that I, working with your Executive Committee and other members of the AAAN plan to manage these issues if I am elected as the president, and as I also represent the interests of the association wherever the need arises.

Clearly no manifesto can address all the issues, and it very unlikely that any president’s tenure will or can resolve them all. I have therefore crystallised the issues into the following, hoping that as we continue to interact, we will discuss and develop strategies for whatever else comes up.

Issues and Proposed Strategies for their Management

Membership

What can we do to enhance membership for current members and make it attractive for those who are not too keen to join? Proposed Solutions

This is a very fundamental issue. I will within a few months of my presidency organise a meeting of our members, represented by each agency’s senior people and moderated by experienced and senior practitioners, who can better handle issues of this nature, where everyone will have adequate time and opportunity to openly and freely discuss issues as they affect their interests. We need to dialogue. We need to consider the fundamentals; we need to review the way we have co-existed in the last few years and fashion out improved ways of managing the relationship, with minimum casualty. I believe that from this gathering, we should be able to identify the key challenges and agree on how to resolve them.

There are clearly fundamental issues which we have over the years either ignored or haven’t quite tackled. The truth is they will not go away; we need to discuss them. Smaller agencies for example have a grudge against the association, and are of the opinion that perhaps the bigger agencies are benefiting more.

There is also the issue of twin membership which was introduced many years ago by the Dele Adetiba-led Membership Committee. I am glad to say that the issue will be put forward as one of the resolutions at the AGM, so that moving forward, we can now have a single tier membership.

I also intend for us to hold extensive discussions with serious local associations, and understand their management of similar issues. I believe that within these efforts we will identify manageable issues and work on resolving them. Whatever we learn from these exercises will be developed to restructure the association.

I will ensure that within the first 6 months of my presidency, I visit over 50% of our members’ offices and have direct dialogue with their management so that we can be in a better position to understand the issues that the association needs to act upon. We need to enhance the current membership by going on a massive membership drive, and persuading the non AAAN agencies that it better serves their interests and the profession when they are within.

We will also put in place more social/community activities at various levels to enhance interaction within agencies. The inter-agencies games will be resuscitated and branded to attract serious sponsorships.

Industry Debt

How can we better manage the issue of industry debt and ensure that moving ahead, AAAN members are no longer targeted as the culprits? Proposed Solution

While it is not untrue that some agencies may have acted inappropriately in this matter, it is clear that all parties involved have a major role to play to better manage this issue.

My position is that media owners and agencies must take a more businesslike approach to this issue. I will urge that all parties involved begin to enforce the trading terms, just as it is done in civilised places. If unfortunately over the years, clients don’t pay agencies on time and agencies do the same to contractors, then the rules have to change. If clients prepay and agencies in turn discharge this obligation towards media and production houses, I believe it will do two things. One, it will reduce the whole issue of debt substantially. Two, it will help improve agencies’ cash flow position. If this becomes the industry standard, agencies can therefore legitimately enforce prepayment for campaigns and clients will be expected to oblige.

Personally, I see it as mere politicking when the media houses use the benefit of their media houses to single out agencies and heap all the blames on us. The same people will quietly come back and agree to run additional campaigns without being paid or pre paid.

On our part, we will need to sensitise our members on this and how to better manage it, moving ahead. I will expect the appropriate Committee of the association to champion this effort. Where media houses don’t think an agency is credit worthy, then no credit should be extended to such an agency. Agencies should also begin to insist on prepayment either in whole or in part. The issue to seriously consider is how best to manage this business without falling into this debt pit. It has been advocated again and again that media houses should classify their agency clients into groups of those who pay and those who owe, and deal with them on this basis.

All parties, including clients should agree that campaigns are either going to be part or fully prepaid, and these terms of engagement should be strictly adhered to. In my opinion, we will never get to the end of this for as long as media houses scramble for ads from agencies, agencies collect monies and don’t pay, and clients owe indefinitely. The collective will of our members is also required to ensure that clients comply with the pre-payment clause.

If you elect me as your president, I will ensure that the HASG (Heads of Advertising Sectoral Groups) is revived and used as a forum for the management of this debt issue. I will propose that one of our past presidents or any senior member who will be able to devote enough time to this exercise be involved in the new arrangement. While we know that there will always be debts for as long as we trade together, our objective is to stop the AAAN being used as the whipping boy and ensure that all parties act responsibly in this matter. Relationship with APCON

The AAAN (then AAPN) single handedly set up APCON. It is an irony that a few years after, we are not too sure anymore if APCON isn’t working against our interests. I have had the opportunity of serving on the APCON Council and will be going back soon. I also served on the Advertising Standards Practice committee within APCON. Clearly there is a lot of jostling from other sectoral bodies for equal representation on APCON with AAAN. This has further strained the relationship between us and these sectoral bodies. What should be the AAAN position? Proposed Solution

Quite clearly a few things went wrong. AAAN should henceforth ensure that our best people represent us on the APCON Council. We also need to ensure that our members on the APCON Council and the AAAN Exco are in constant touch, so that we speak with one voice and represent the association’s position and interest on all issues.

In this respect, I am pleased that the current members going into the next council are seasoned and experienced practitioners. I will ensure as the president that the Exco and these council members have a forum for regular interaction. Moving forward, AAAN must ensure that our best people go forward to represent us, so we can take advantage of their experience and commitment; they should command enough respect to ensure that APCON is not hijacked for mischievous purposes. I promise to work on this.

We will also need to continue work on defining the current position of APCON, viz a viz government supervision. If the government has withdrawn subvention, do we still have any obligation to report to the Hon Minister for example? Are there legal and judicial issues to be considered? What steps do we need to take to be ahead of this?

Inevitably, we need to step up our lobbying efforts. I will propose to the Exco that we set up a specific committee to manage this liaison, and ensure that our interests are adequately protected.

APCON cannot function effectively without AAAN membership and financial contributions. I am aware that we account for about 70% of membership and a similar number for financial contributions. Surely these must attract some privileges. I will ensure that never again is the AAAN subordinated to the mischievous whims of other groups within the body. Capitalisation/Members Financial Situation

The AAAN has suffered perennially from the lack of adequate funding. It has taken the ingenious contributions of Exco members from year to year to ensure that we remain liquid. I am aware that right now, we owe a bank and are hardly in any position to finance any serious project. We go back again and again to our clients for sponsorships, and are not able to maintain a proper secretariat. What are some of the things we can do to make us more financially buoyant?

Proposed Solutions

The current president took it upon himself to resolve this issue. Being a member of the current Exco, I am aware of plans to effectively reflate our finances. I have faith in the plans; we have discussed them at our Exco meetings and I happily align behind them. Part of the plan will see the AAAN commercializing aspects of our AGM, not in the usual way of approaching clients for money, but offering irresistible programmes they and other members of the public will pay for. The president will speak further on this.

Having said this, is the current annual membership fee of N100, 000 an issue in itself? Available records show that many members have not paid the 2007 dues, and are even in arrears for one, two or more years. Sadly, many times we are unable to meet routine secretariat obligations like staff salaries because these monies are not paid on time. Why are members either not paying or not paying on time? Is the amount to much as one or two agencies have suggested, or needs to be increased as some others have advocated? We are all in agreement that we cannot run our association if I we do not meet our financial obligations.

My proposal is to engage the services of a financial consultant, who I have briefed, for this exercise. The firm will review our financial position and from their experience in matters of this nature, be in a position to advise us on what steps to take. As part of my personal contribution to this exercise, I will undertake the payment of the consultants’ fees.

Advertising agencies are inevitably businesses and so must respond to the same influences that affect most other (service) businesses. I am of the opinion that a couple of steps can be taken to make our members more financially buoyant:

One, we must reappraise our business structures and strategies. Clearly the days of the monolithic agencies engaged in just “advertising” are gone. Our business has become seriously fragmented with each unit readjusting to reduced margins and sometimes higher costs. So if we are not careful, we may not have much to show in spite of the best billings. Foreign agency groups arrived at this conclusion years ago and set up smaller subsidiaries from their large groups to convert hitherto non productive services and cost centres to profit centres. These were branded as separate specialised agencies. Some of our colleagues are already doing this successfully. More of us should do it. I will ensure that under my presidency, we further educate our members on steps to take in this direction, enhancing the capabilities of the Best Business Practices & Ethics committee which I currently chair.

Two, we all must seriously consider the issue of recapitalisation. As I write this, Prima Garnet’s board has just given approval for a recapitalisation exercise which will in a few months significantly increase our capital base. We must realise that soon, we will not be in a position to bid for certain businesses if the prospects find out that we are undercapitalised. We also need to consider this so that we all can manage agencies with more money at our disposal. The AAAN cannot enforce this, but I will as your president, ensure that we all have up to date financial advice on why we need to do it and how we can go about it without harming the structures of our organisations. We will all have the opportunity to listen to experts who understand our type of business, who will advise us on what steps to take.

One of our most respected fellows and a past president of the association, Sir Steve has been canvassing on mergers for as long as many of us can remember. Is it time for example for some of us to consider this, so that we can have stronger agencies? I am personally aware of two agency heads who have discussed this with me on a few occasions. Again, while the AAAN cannot enforce this, we will encourage our members to have access to professional advice which can help them take the decisions if we so choose.

I will also encourage our members to seriously look at the area of diversification. There are too many services within our agencies that we give to clients gratis. The rule all over the civilised world is to separate these services and create companies out of them, appropriately branding them; then we can charge effectively for their services. My presidency will ensure that relevant conferences, seminars and programmes are organised to further enlighten our people and make as much information as possible available to us all. I will ensure that we work with qualified people in the financial services industry who will advise our people and show us safe options for the implementation of this idea. If at the end of the day any of us chooses not to go along with it, it will not be because we didn’t have access to knowledge which should help us take the decisions.

Dear colleague, in all of these, my focus is that all willing agencies transform from just creative houses to stronger businesses, able to withstand the pressures that will inevitably follow the changing face of the business. Response (Especially) to External Competition

A country like Nigeria will naturally attract foreign multinational agencies, and many of them are here now, but mainly in affiliate relationships with our members. I am aware that some are beginning to look at setting up wholly because the investment environment now suits them. Many of them are vastly experienced and very capable. This is one of the results of globalisation. Even hitherto financial services firms are globally offering branding services. The line is being blurred. How do we continue to protect our members such that we do not suddenly become overwhelmed?

Proposed Solution

I had in my 30th anniversary lecture (which I earlier forwarded to you) warned on this, and cited the Kenyan example as reference. Unhappily the time is upon us. I am aware that at least two multinational agencies have set up own shops. More will come. We cannot stop them because the new investment laws and climate encourage them.

My presidency will work very closely with APCON to ensure that while we do not stop them we will not allow Nigeria to become a dumping ground for unfit foreign practitioners who simply want to ride on the advantage of their colours or the fact that they are simply from a foreign country. Just like foreign doctors and lawyers are expected to go through some local certification exercise, APCON should also ensure this for foreign practitioners; if Nigerians have to go through this, then foreigners must as well.

In addition, my presidency will encourage our members to also be more sensitive to all developments and take advantage of them. We will ensure this by regular updates. To this end, we will ensure that a regularly updated web site is available to all members, and ensure that we all take advantage of up to date communication services. Human Resource Issues

One of the biggest industry challenges is the issue of good people. In many critical areas, the industry is recycling a few good people. Plus, wealthier companies from the telecom, banking and oil sectors now habitually raid our people because they can afford to pay more. The greatest asset in any service industry are the people; if we continue to suffer depletion as we are doing, then we stand a great risk of extinction. What can we do?

Proposed Solution

I am aware that the Advertising Academy Project committee is working very hard on our proposed academy. Part of the strategy for this is to put in place a system which will continually produce fresh replacements for our human resources in a continuous flow, such as we have in for example, South Africa through their AAA school. I have been to the AAA school, and participated in one of their curriculum activities.

As the association’s president, I will ensure that we enhance this effort by encouraging many local sponsors of disciplines within the academy. We will also put in place a cooperation agreement with credible institutions in and out of Nigeria with well mapped communications curriculum. I will also ensure that we tap into our contacts through our foreign partners so they can provide the support we need.

Distinguished colleague, it is quite clear from this declaration of intent/manifesto that we have a lot to do as an association. The next couple of years will make a big difference in the association and our profession. The AAAN has served our purpose to this time, but clearly needs to be re-tooled to handle the challenges of the future. I believe I am prepared to work with you and other members in achieving this goal.

I continue to count on your valuable support. ‘Lolu Akinwunmi, FRPA