Participants at the maiden Advertising Industry Colloquium, organised by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, (ARCON), has called for more synergy between the academia and the Advertising industry in order to improve advertising education in the country.
According to them, it is important to deepen the pipeline between town and gown to have quality talents in the industry.
The event with the theme: ‘Changing Trends in Advertising Education and Practice in the Era of Globalisation: The Nigerian Perspective, was held in Lagos on Thursday and had in attendance industry players, academia and students from different tertiary institutions across the nation.
In his welcome address, the Director- General of ARCON, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo said the colloquium was primarily organised to boost stronger synergy and promote effectual congruence between the academia and the practitioners in the advertising and marketing communications industry.
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According to him, there are always additional ideas and trends and to share in an ever dynamic industry like the advertising industry, hence the need for the programme.
Dr. Fadolapo also added that as a regulator, it is the Council’s duty to ensure that best practices are observed in the general course of advertising business engagements.
“While we appreciate the contributions of the academia to the body of knowledge, the sharpening of the skills set that makes up the body are also interrogated from time to time to meet or exceed societal demands in line with best practices.”
He added that sequel to this, ARCON sees a need to breach the gap between the Town and Gown. “The interactive opportunity we believe will enable students and young graduates understand the routine business concepts and factual practical challenges experienced in the industry.”
“It also affords the opportunity for selected institutions to participate in a pitch competition judged by experts in the industry whose experience counts and who have mentored and groomed international standard executives in the advertising and marketing communications businesses.”
In his address, the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, represented by the Director, Public Orientation, Mr. Sani Baba said the convergence of the academia and core business practitioners will profitably motivate an industry like the advertising and marketing communications, especially the young generation whose talents and skills are at the early stage mixing what were taught in preparation for practice and the actual practice holds.
He added that the challenges could be audacious and the potentials enormous. “Advertising has come a very long way in contributing and advancing the growth of Nigeria’s economy massively.
“The role of advertising in academics and in the day-to-day business activities cannot be neglected or underestimated by any economy that genuinely seeks to develop and sustain development.
“I am delighted to see the progress the Council has been making to ensure that the advertising and marketing industry in Nigeria is ethically and professionally practised as it should be. The industry has recently witnessed series of reforms and other developmental strides aimed to keep it consistent with the dynamic demands of the sector,” he stated.
The Keynote Speaker, Dr. Idorenyen Enang, Chief Executive Officer, Corporate Shepherd Limited was of the opinion that there is the need to do the right thing looking at the changing trends in advertising education.
Dr. Enang who is also the President, National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) also stated that there is the need to do more in terms of cooperation and collaborations so that student of Advertising and Marketing Communication will have a good foundation which will help them to excel in the profession.
He however said the foundation could only work if it is drawn from the competency framework.
“We can even have a joint competency framework so that wherever we are in the country, this will guide us and as long as we are talking of the profession of marketing or advertising the foundation must be marketing and the skills they must acquire at different levels,” he added.
Urging the academia and the professionals in the country to move forward on how to improve the industry, Dr Enang stated that the idea of maintenance must stop rather they must focus on the right things to help the profession and the students grow.
He also listed challenges facing advertising education to include inadequate rapport or non-existing rapport between the industry and the academics, inability of the academics to relate theory to practicals as seen in the industry and insufficient number of qualified and well-motivated lecturers and academics to teach advertising in tertiary institutions.
Also lack of appropriate research by the academia.
He further explained that aside these challenges technology and dis-information is a big threat to the ecosystem.
“It is important we look at the dis-information channels and the impact on our ecosystem and see how we can safeguard because that can actually be the monster that can affect the proposed framework before we realise it,” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of the event, Professor Nosa Owens-Ibie, Vice-Chancellor, Caleb University, Imota, Lagos said the challenge as at today is to the educational system and it is imperative for educators to really upgrade and he ahead of or at least conversant with content; technology; process and practice.
“Yes there are professionals who are having footprints in the academy, taking time out to give back, there are academics who crossed over from the field, there are clarion calls for lecturers to spend their sabbatical year in industry and do internship but the question is the town really closer to the gown and vice-versa?”
He therefore called for more consolidation of the Advertising degree curriculum which will help the students while learning and after graduation.
The chairman, Advertising Industry Colloquium and Journal Committee, Prof. Rotimi Olatunji in his remarks said the significance of the colloquium is to bring about a successful fusion of marketing communication scholarship and professionalism in the overall interest of the country.
“More importantly, this occasion affords us the opportunity to bring together students in the field of marketing communication drawn from different tertiary institutions in Nigeria to interface with professionals in the industry and to learn at the feet of grandmasters, icons and shapers of the marketing communication industry and scholarship.”
He said this is because Marketing Communication scholarship and profession are both shaped by globalisation and the nation’s macro-economic, political, socio-cultural and media ecologies.
To this, Prof. Olatunji stated further that marketing communication curricula often remain a step behind industry practice because of the breath-taking disruptions brought about by changing media technologies.
“But without an organised body of knowledge, skills and values that academic curricula offer, marketing communication will remain in the realm of craftsmanship rather than assuming a full professional status, hence the calls for town and gown relationships,” he explained.
The Creative Pitch Competition held at the event, Students of University of Ilorin, Kwara State emerged winner of the competition and they were rewarded with a cash prize of N1m.
Lagos State University, Ojo came second with Babcock University, illishan Remo, Ogun State emerging third and they were rewarded with a cash prize of N750, 000 and N500, 000 respectively.
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