The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, in partnership with sectoral bodies in the marketing communications ecosystem in Nigeria has unveiled plans for the 2024 edition of the annual National Advertising Conference.

With the theme Navigating the Shifts: Technology, Culture and New Business Models, the conference is scheduled for November 13 – 15, 2024 at the Continental Hotel, (formerly Sheraton Hotel) Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.

Speaking at the unveiling of the conference, the chairman of the Organizing Committee, Mr. Tunji Adeyinka, frpa, said the National Advertising Conference has become a permanent feature on the marketing communications industry calendar, noting that the annual event is a convocation of members of the marketing communications profession across different levels.

According to him, the year 2024 has brought a lot of shifts into the economy and marketing communication ecosystem and advertisers face multiple challenges partly from high costs of doing business on the production side and lower consumer spending due to increase in prices in the face of low wages.

“According to the consulting company, PWC, Nigeria’s GDP grew by 2.98% in Q1 2024 compared to 2.31% in Q1 2023. Inflation increased from 22.41% in May 2023 to 33.95% in May 2024. The PWC Study on the contribution of the Advertising industry and the multiplier effect put the size of the industry at N605.2b in 2023 and projected a growth to N893b by 2028. With the devaluation of the naira, the industry needs to begin to look at new growth strategies in the context of the current situation.”

The aforementioned reasons, Adeyinka explained, informed the choice of the theme of the Conference.

While unveiling the plans, Adeyinka, a fellow of the profession and immediate past president of the Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN), said Dr. John Momoh, the Chairman of the Channels Media Group will kick off the conference at the Fireside Chat on the 13th of November while the plenary sessions on the 14th will have speakers like Dr. Tayo Aduloju the CEO of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group speaking about the economy, and Mr. Seni Adetu, the GCEO of First Primus West Africa speaking about Industry Consolidation.

“We also have a CMO Forum with Adebola Williams (Promasidor), Morolake Emokpaire (Mondelez) and Kemi Longe (PZ), interviewed by Eyitayo Olayemi, the host of the podcast, Diary of a CMO.

“Other plenaries on the 14th would look at the Myths and Realities of Generative AI and other topics like Marketing Trends, Technology, Youth Culture in other key sessions. In total, we are having eight plenary sessions with interactive sessions. On final day, we are having twelve different breakout sessions holding on three parallel stages, making a total of 21 sessions.

“The Gala Dinner will take place in the last day of the conference in the evening starting by 7 pm, at the same venue, the Abuja Continental Hotel.”

The former EXMAN boss further explained that someone would be speaking on the business of publishing. “We will be bringing someone to speak on media business, which is the business of publishing professional publications that service our industry, which is very critical. We will be looking at new business models operated by global magazines all over the world,” he said.

He asserted that the National Advertising Conference this year would be perhaps the most ambitious in scope and reach and there are sessions for practitioners from different sectors and regions across Nigeria, explaining that the event offers topical discussions, networking opportunities and of course an opportunity for professionals to garner professional credit points.

Adeyinka thanked sectoral groups and media partners who had supported the conference year after year. He explained that the structure of the organizing committee is such that each sectoral group had representation in each sub-committee of the Organizing Committee.

Earlier on, the director general of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, ARCON, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, in his welcome remarks, reiterated the importance of the Conference as one of the several initiatives targeted at enhancing the credibility and relevance of the marketing communication ecosystem in the society.

He urged full participation of stakeholders as the event is a very unique opportunity for topical discussions, upscaling learning curves, thought leadership, networking and exposure to best practices.

All sectoral heads present commended ARCON for spearheading the National Advertising Conference initiative and pledged support from their members.