APCON Reform: All eyes on new chairman

Ad practitioners are watching to see if the 2012 Advertising Reform of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) would be followed through. This is as Udeme Ufot, the CEO of SO&U, takes over the leadership of APCON without a clear position on the controversial reform.

Some practitioners hold tenaciously to the provisions of the reform, especially as they see it as a shield against being overrun by portfolio foreign investors who may acquire or set up agencies to handle various companies. Others who may be regarded as egalitarian practitioners believe that certain provisions in the reform present anti-competitive practice, which is not capable of bringing out the best in Nigerian practitioners. Practitioners are however akimbo on what will be the position of the new council, especially as the new chairman has not made specific comments on the reform.

Ufot told BusinessDay recently that his immediate task will be to engage with the stakeholders to chart a course for the industry.

“I come from the advertising agency part of the business, and APCON council comprises the advertising industry, media buying, print media, broadcasting and advertisers, and what I will do first and foremost is to engage with them to find out what the issues are. It will be consulting first to form understanding as to what to do,” he said.

As all eyes are on him, Ufot, who however believes in competitive market, said with the experience of the council members, APCON will continue to regulate and encourage competitiveness within the industry.

In what looks like his near position to the reform, which puts hurdles on the practice of advertising business by foreigners, Ufot said at his swearing-in that the council will commit to the growth and prosperity of the industry, saying “government cannot have at its disposal some of the finest marketing communicators within the registered membership of APCON, yet choose to appoint foreign consultants or quacks to handle its communications.

“If government fails to commit to the growth of advertising industry in Nigeria, we would then be diminishing the capacity of our own market, while boosting the capacity of others.”

In a seemingly defense of the reform, initiated under his tenure as immediate past chairman of APCON, Lolu Akinwunmi said “with gazetting of the 5th Code and the setting up of the main machineries for the implementation of the Licensing Regime, APCON has a major role to play in ensuring that there is faithful adherence to what the law says.”

He said while handing-over last week in Lagos that the new council was not in place to stop foreign players or discourage them, but “on the other hand, the purpose is to ensure that adequate and proper regulations are in place to ensure that this sector operates professionally.”

Under the reform, APCON categorised ownership and shareholding structure of agencies into national and foreign agencies, saying “any shareholding of 74.9 percent and up to 100 percent by Nigerians qualifies an agency as a national agency, while 25.1 percent and above (up to 100%) by foreigners qualify an agency as a foreign agency. Foreign agency shall practice advertising business targeted at a market outside the shores of Nigeria.”

To ensure that the agencies, irrespective of their category, have clean bill of health, APCON required the agencies to produce bankers’ credit guarantee in the sum of N200 million for a national agency and N500 million for a foreign agency. In addition, national and foreign agencies are to produce Agency Insurance to the tune of N200 million for a national agency and N500 million for foreign agency from a Nigerian insurance company acceptable to APCON.

Advertising sectoral groups have shown support for the reform as the presidents of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) and Outdoor Agencies Association of Nigeria (OAAN), Kelechi Nwosu and Charles Chijide, respectively, have endorsed the reform.

In a separate discussion recently, Nwosu said AAAN will “lobby people to let them know about the reforms and they should abide by them. We have to talk to our people to believe in the reforms as we can’t wait for APCON to push it for us.”

But George Thorpe, chairman of MediaReach OMD, had said the advertising reform was anti-competitive. The advertising expert, who was sharing his views on “Exploring the myths of the advertising and marketing services industry in Nigeria” in Lagos recently, believed that the reform’s harm at the long run out numbers its short-term benefits.

“I believe that the clause that places a level of restriction on the practice of advertising and marketing by foreigners in Nigeria is not well defined,” he said.

Reminding practitioners any where in the world on the importance of competition, Thorpe explained that competition was very important and “it promotes and helps to grow sectors.”

Daniel Obi