APCON, BSP Explore Marketing Communication Trends in Nigeria

The rapid changes in technology have revolutionized the way that global citizens receive, interpret and react to information. With the proliferation of the Internet at the turn of the twenty-first century, and the rapid evolution of devices that allow quick and easy access to its millions of portals, consumers are finding new ways to interact with companies and with products.

Succinctly put, today consumers spend more time on mobiles phones, tablets and laptops. “The Internet has become more and more a part of the communications community in the past seven to eight years, more dramatically in the last three or four,” remarks Richard Gillespie, president of Gillespie Advertising in Princeton, NJ, USA.

As a result of this development, a transformation of marketing is underway. In response to this switch, which demands that brands connect with customers through all these devices in real time, creating campaigns that work across social media; display advertising and e-commerce, stakeholders including advertisers, content publishers, media owners, agencies, regulators and other stakeholders are required to make informed decisions to address these challenges whilst taking full advantage of the opportunities.Instead of merely concerning itself with providing products that meet the needs and wants of consumers, experts opine that marketing role must shift from the traditional to developing and managing customer relationships.

“The delivery of the message has been made easier. Rather than sending out junk mail and trying to gain a 1% to 2% response rate, the more I know about the person I’m communicating with, the more valuable I can make that information. Rather than my invading your space with generic messages, I can send you communications that have value to you. The power has moved from the deliverer of the message to its recipient.” Gillespie added.

Albeit, while in some organizations across the world, where related processes have been adopted, it has been difficult finding creative marketers to drive this process, others, in a bid to adjust to the trend, have had a critical challenge understanding how to rebuild and reboot their approach to accommodate, nurture and create a synergy between traditional narrative creatives and the new.

According to David Benady, a UK media; technology and communications editor: “The modern-day marketing department needs to combine the creative side of the discipline – using powerful narratives to tap into people’s wishes and aspirations – with the technical side of data, digital engineering and analytics. The two areas do not always sit easily together. Getting creative marketers to work alongside technical staff can be a huge challenge.”

It is in light with this that APCON, in partnership with BSP Media International, A London-based consulting firm specializing in providing market and industry information and services in the emerging markets of the world is organizing a 2-day international Summit on Advertising in Nigeria to explore the relationship between current and future media platforms and how industry professionals can successfully seek to leverage these.

A high-level industry Summit, the event, which takes place between July 7 and 8, 2016 in Lagos, will explore new business models, strategies, technologies, and solutions for the advertising industry with a focus on the future and its digital ecosystem.