Stakeholders under the aegis of Heads of Advertising Sectoral Groups (HASG), an umbrella body for all professionals in the Nigerian Integrated Marketing Communications sector, and the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) have pledged their support by endorsing the full implementation of the new Advertising Industry Standards of Practice (AISOP) guidelines.
The pledge is in demonstration of their support, solidarity and total agreement of the AISOP instituted on the 6th of October, 2021, by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).
The group made the pledge during a meeting held between APCON and the HASG recently in Lagos. Speaking on this development, Emmanuel Ajufo, President of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), while highlighting the event at the meeting, said the import of the meeting was for APCON to brief HASGs on the progress made since the public presentation of AISOP.
His words: “The meeting was conveyed between APCON and HASG to brief us on the progress made since the public presentation of AISOP, and to find out if we are still on the same page. With all the sectoral heads present, pledging their total support to the industry reform.”
The OAAN president noted that the actualization of an industry reform framework by Dr. Lekan Fadolapo was a dream come true for his association, which he said has been clamouring for the guidelines for a long time now. “OAAN is happy that AISOP has come to life, because we have been pioneering this for a very long time. It is going to benefit the industry ultimately and also impact positively on our businesses.”
According to him, the endorsement was conveyed and communicated by Femi Adelusi, Chairman of HASG and President, Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), on behalf of the five sectoral bodies. The group, through its chairman, stated that the guidelines will not affect contracts signed before the effective implementation date, but explained that new contracts between agencies (advertising, media, experiential and outdoor), media houses and advertisers will be based on the new guidelines.
Concerning pitch fee implementation, the group stated that, “The new guidelines retain the advertisers’ freedom to start the agency selection process with a large number of agencies and gives the advertiser the liberty to carry this out in stages.”
The association further explained that, “Payment of the pitch fee will apply from the final strategy stage of the selection process and shall be limited to a few agencies depending on the advertisers’ capacity to pay.”
Speaking on behalf of HASG, Mr. Adelusi said: “The main rationale for this is to protect the agencies, which invest significant resources into pitches and many times have complained that the ideas and strategies are used by many clients without reward.”
Recall that APCON Registrar, Dr. Fadolapo, during the public presentation of AISOP, noted that the new guidelines also recommend that media establishments should engage stakeholders before any rate increase, taking into account that advertisers and agencies have numerous options of media channels. In the event of a post-engagement rate increase, the guidelines recommend the communication of a 30-day notice to clients/advertisers before implementation.
During the unveiling of the initiative by the registrar, it was mentioned that the new guidelines equally recommend that payment to media establishments, agencies, content producers, third party suppliers and service providers in the marketing communications industry should not exceed 45 days after campaign and must be on presentation of valid invoices to advertisers/agencies.
