As preparations for the fast-approaching 2023 General Elections gather momentum, key stakeholders in the OOH industry are set to dissect key issues around regulation, ethics and responsible exposure at OOH Academy’s sixth Boardroom Webinar series.
The special webinar billed for the 24th of June, 2021, will feature a robust discussion on the theme, “OOH Advertising & Electioneering: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly” by the Registrar and Chief Executive of the Advertisers Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo; President, Outdoor Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (OAAN), Mr. Emmanuel Ajufo and Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency (LASAA), Adedamola Docemo. The session will be moderated by Emmanuel Aderan, Business Lead, Acuity.
Speaking on the webinar, Project Coordinator of the OOH Academy and Convener of the OOH Workshop, Kingsley Onwukaeme explained that the conversation around electioneering for stakeholders in the OOH ecosystem couldn’t have come at a better time as the General Elections approaches.
He said, “Just like festive seasons, football seasons, etc, election seasons on their own have a way of disrupting the operations of many sectors, media and advertising inclusive. Media consumption patterns and genre preferences witness significant changes. It has often been observed that the industry experiences some form of disruption in the year preceding an election cycle at any level.
“A new type of clientele emerges; individual politicians, political parties, political support groups, well-wishers, government parastatals, etc. These new crops of clients are in most cases unaware of standards and basic regulations that guide this space. Their only focus is to get their “designs/communications” out there on the streets.
“To the board owners, many believe it’s boom period as demand for OOH inventory increases. Rate cards get bloated to match the increasing demands. To some however, it is agony as bad debts most likely are bound to grow for political campaigns that are not prepaid. Most board owners change the rules of engagement to protect themselves, pushing for clients to pay before service.
“To the regulators like LASAA, its increased workload. Posters deface monuments while infringement on ad vetting peaks significantly. Hateful advertising comes to the front. It’s even more complicating that politicians have plausible deniability as most of their advertisements are deployed by faceless support groups.
It is in the face of the foregoing that The Boardroom 106 is bringing the leadership of top regulators in this industry-APCON and LASAA as well as board owners under the aegis of OAAN to discuss what is expected of all stakeholders from advertisers, to political parties, to board owners among others even as 2023 draws near,” he concluded.
Participation in the Webinar is free and Industry stakeholders can join through the following Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82449606377?pwd=YnE4TWtSaEl0azdOdFdNdyttYkVJZz09
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
