The chairman of the Organizing Committee saddled with the task of planning the marketing communication ecosystem’s annual gathering, the National Advertising Conference, Mr. Tunji Adeyinka, frpa, has hinted on activities being put in place for the 2025 edition of the event.

In a chat with ADNEWS, Mr. Adeyinka, 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.

With the theme Marketing Communication: Transforming Businesses and Creating Growth in Challenging Times, the conference is scheduled for November 12 – 14, 2025 at the Abuja Continental Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.

According to him, these are challenging times for Nigerian economy and businesses, marketing communication ecosystem inclusive. “It is the same way that it is affecting different organizations within the ecosystem – whether you are brand owners, advertisers, whether you are agencies – below the lime or above the line – or media companies or owners of media; these challenges are affecting all of us.”

Adeyinka, a fellow of the profession and immediate past president of the Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN) pointed out that there is a record of movement and traction in a positive direction from an economic point of view but it has not yet trickled down to the average consumer. And that is having a lot of impact on brands and how to spend or where to spend. It is having an impact on media; it’s having an impact on agencies; it’s having an impact on everyone. So, we want to look at that from a multifarious perspective and how that is affecting everybody.”

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

The organizing committee boss said the conference will kick off on November 12, 2025 with a Fireside Chat.

“The Fireside Chat this year is bringing the old and the new generations together, young professionals as well as older professionals representing different sectors to speak to us on the topic; A different Generation, A Different Industry.

He revealed that as at time of the chat, those who have confirmed to participate in the Fireside Chat are Dr. Bolajoko Bayo-Ajayi, president of NIMN, Mariam Aguda, a young practitioner who works at Aster Communications, and Mr. Bello Yusuf, a veteran who has worked both on the client and agency sides.

The second day, November 13, the chairman said, will begin with a brief opening ceremony which will be followed with plenary sessions, then panel discissions after every session. The first plenary will be on the economy and the keynote speaker is Mr. Olusegun Zacchaeus who is a partner at PriceWaterhouse Cooper, in charge of Strategy. He is going to be speaking to Economic Outlook: Is There Any Sign of Growth? Mr. Zacchaeus will also be a member of the panel that follows immediately, together with Dr. Tayo Oyedeji, the group CEO of Publicis.

The next plenary would look at how the economy is affecting advertisers and their businesses. Here, the keynote is going to be given by Ms Cherry Eremosele, Head of Marketing at Interswitch Group, who would be joined at the panel session by Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, the chief marketing officer at MTN Nigeria.

According to Mr. Adeyinka, the third plenary will focus on the agency side of the ecosystem and to speak to it is someone from outside Nigeria. “We have intentionally gone to South Africa to bring in Mr. Jack Burger. Jack Burger is the co-founder and CEO of Up & Up South Africa. Up & Up South Africa used to be called Abel Saatchi. Abel Saatchi was set up by South Africans and they had Saatchi as their partner but the business model made it grow so much that a year ago they decided to buy out Saatchi because they wanted the business to be fully African business. Mr. Burger is going to talk about how they were able to scale and develop a pan African business. The panel that follows will have Mr. Burger and Mr. Lanre Adisa, the president of AAAN.”

Other plenaries on the 13th would look at Developing the Young Generation of Marketing Communication Practitioners; Destination Branding: Dirty December and other case Studies; and Brand Loyalty with data from the Nigerian market. While the organizers are yet to get speakers and panelists for the plenaries, Mr. Kayode Omosode and Victor Ojekhia will have case studies and be talking about brand destinations. He explained that each panel session will have three persons and the names of other panelist are yet to be confirmed.

Activities for the day will end with an interesting Talent Debate. “We will be looking at Gen Z practitioners versus Millennial practitioners: the good, the bad and the ugly. In this case we will have a moderator and two people representing the different generations,” the chairman said.

The last day of the event will have four breakout rooms and one will be dedicated to the academic. “We have some topics along the line – theories and emerging models – and then we have different topics for the other breakout rooms. We will have about two different masterclasses - one masterclass on destination branding and one on artificial intelligence and the new tax reforms – how that is going to affect the business,” he said.

He further hinted that breakout rooms for the day will start by 9am and end by 12noon; followed by a Town Hall. “The Town Hall will have ARCON on one side and the industry on the other side. That will take about two hours. After that we then break and come back for the Gala Dinner in the evening starting by 7 pm, at the same venue, the Abuja Continental Hotel.”

The former EXMAN boss 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, which is already gaining traction, offers topical discussions, networking opportunities and an opportunity for professionals to garner professional credit points.

“We have a lot of people who have expressed their desire to attend this year’s conference and as such we are having registration fee for early bird between now and end of August for N200,000. Subsequently, from 1st of September to 31st October, the fee will be moved to 250,000 and from 1st of November to conference date, attendees will pay 300,000.”

On why he believes the 2025 Conference would be different from others, the senior practitioner said: “There is a certain discussion we have had in the last two years and that is about business consolidation. ILast year, Mr. Seni Adetu spoke to it. This year, we are bringing case studies from South Africa and from Nigeria. When we have too many players in our industry, we have a big challenge with commoditization and it affects the quality of service. So there has to be consolidation. And when there is consolidation, you have better quality of services, you also have a better reach. That’s one part.

“The second part is this year we are recognizing the generational shift, which is very critical. In the past years, our Fireside Chats have always been veterans. Previous ones had John Momoh, Seni Adetu, Lolu Akinwunmi, Ify Onukwuba, and others. The industry is getting very young and as it is getting younger, we are having an infusion of technology. We are also having challenges with management of staff. These days some people are doing virtual and physical. And younger practitioners are more amenable to that. They say we can work from home and still be effective while the older guys are saying it doesn’t work like that. You may be effective but there is something about physical. When you join a place, you need culture and culture comes when you see each other. That is why we want to bring in lot of those younger people by having them in the room to speak and also having them to interact with the industry.

On if there a possibility of the venue moving from Abuja to other cities in the nearest future, he enumerated the challenges of moving it away from Abuja for now, though he felt it would be possible in the future. “If you have this kind of programme in Lagos, you will have some people that would come there but would not be attending. They will register. They will probably come on Day 1, but would be answering calls and be distracted. That would affect their participation.

“Also, because we have the Advertising Industry Colloquium in Lagos, it is better to have the Conference somewhere else. The question now is that what about the other places? The first thing is this is just the fourth edition. It is better to let the Conference gain solid foundation by way of the model. If we start moving around, we are going to have a problem.

“Number three is logistics wise, we want a place that is one flight route for the majority and Abuja provides that for now.

He, however, is of the belief that it is not going to be like this for ever. Other conferences, the NIMN conference, the NIPR, the AAAN were held in one location for a number of years before they started moving.

Asked what impact the 2024 edition has had on the advertising practice and businesses, hear him: “We will not want it to be only talk shop. We will always want to have something that is practical. Two years ago we had the Brand Nigeria project and GDP Multiplier. For the last year event, we have teams working on regulation and the impact of the African Free Trade. These are the two big issues that we took out of last year and work is going on those topics as we speak.

On why the Brand Nigeria project, presented at the 2023 edition of the conference, has not been visible, Adeyinka, who also chaired that conference explained that the National Orientation Agency already has campaigns running and we don’t want to duplicate efforts. “We are working quietly and eventually we are going to synergize with the efforts of the NOA. We have had series of discussions and those discussions point to the fact that we recognize what NOA is doing and when they get to a certain stage, we can come in and consolidate efforts.”

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.