Mr. Osamede Uwubanmwen is the commercial director at Biogenerics and the newly elected President of Advertiser Association of Nigeria (ADVAN). He spoke to our correspondent, ABIGAIL GOLD on a wide range of issues on Advertising Industry Standard of Practice (AISOP), ADVAN house, marketing practitioners and others. Excerpts….
Where do you meet Advan as the new president?
Advan, to me, is a good house. I met Advan as a good house, and one of the things that people should know about Advan is that it is a collective house. Advan is so well structured that it has different forums, groups etc. I will tell you when there is a critical issue to be discussed. Advan takes a seat to hear the forums. These are the Head of Functions, Head of Brands and different organizations. The executive of Advan, in most cases, is to chart the way for us, to guide us for two years. I have been part of many groups, capacity building, stakeholders’ engagement groups etc. I am very much involved in Advan like other people. Advan is for every person so I am part of Advan and I am still part of Advan. To me Advan is in good hands, it’s just for us to try and take Advan to a new height in two years. That is what I see every Exco job is, so you will never meet Advan in disarray.
When you talk about taking Advan to new heights, what is the state of health now?
The state of health is very good because financially it is good. The state of health is good because the last Exco was able to do a lot of democratic considerations. You can’t make a decision without Exco’s support. The state of health is not only internal based on what to do if they can bring funds to move us to the next level. If they were able to do 3 to 5 events in the next level it is good, because I won’t say I like everything they have done. My style is what I try to understand if it is working or correct. As a group we decide on analyzing what they have done, whatever they have done we will continue to do it and we will inject new ideas into it by changing venues, styles and so on. To me, the state of health is good even if we engage the media stakeholders; they still recognize Advan as the pillar of the industry.
What is the state of that project?
Advan is a continuous process. Advan uses its facilities to train a lot of stuff. It brings revenues and it ensures a lot of continuity. We will definitely take it to the next level.
Shortly after your election, a very popular brand magazine came up with a story that multinationals CMOs have shunned your excos. What is your take?
I don’t dwell on the issue that borders on hearsay. I dwell on the issue that is a fact. We have the Advan executive’s names, they are multinational brand stars. CMOs are the chief marketing officers, it means the most senior person on the brand marketing. So, some people will call it head of marketing while some people will call it marketing director or commercial director. Therefore, there is a nomenclature issue. As of today, the CMOs group of Advan still exists; Advan takes decisions in conjunction with CMOs. I am part of the CMOs and I am the president at Advan. We are still there and we deliberate on all issues. We have a common front, when you check Advan executive you will see that head of brands are there.
What is your take on APCON AISOP, what is your position as the president?
Advan had submitted its position statement. We also have a reservation on certain aspects of the AISOP; we never turn our back on it. We have reservations on certain items that we feel are not good. We say that we are good to have this conservation with others. And if we are allowed to sit down, we are trying to make sure it is well executed. On the execution, we think of how it works for the people to have an industry that is perfect than to have an industry to bring a policy and the policy throws the industry into trouble. We need funds, seamless, for the smooth running of the industry. And because we are part of the industry we live everyday of our lives as a brand. We are analyzing government policies, government resolution, government reforms; we know how the things come down to resolution.
Advan has to be regulated because of the way we stand for the economy, for the country, we are not regulating the lives of MTN and Coca-Cola. Advan is not afraid of APCON because we are regulated by different marketing, so we are part of the legal band. We play in many sectors.
What are the items Advan doesn’t align with in the document?
The entire document is large, so we just have to look at the necessary ones. Advan does not object to the entire document. AISOP is a document whose time has come but we need to sit down and dialogue on some items because we would not appreciate a piece of document that tears down the industry rather than builds it. Advan position is the same. Let’s dialogue.
So, what are the expectations of your members as you may be returning to the discussion table?
As you have stated we belong to various industries, the payment circle is an internal process when you receive payment. Payment circle is not an external conversation; it’s most times the same with the industry. The payment circle is also determined by various industries based on what time to make their product cash. Product to cash is very essential in the payment circle.
Advan cannot support you in putting a contract term. Advan only advises regulators to know because we know and we need you to know that this law is good but the implementation has various problems because the implementation issue will be based on these heads. We have a lot of immigration either from Advan side or from agency side. What Advan can do with these issues is that we can do the needful. I am sure all Advan members are responsible for doing it.
Media also suffers from some of these things, what is your advice?
How Advan will come in is not really clear to me but I will tell the media to ensure that they are in touch with the marketing people of the brand side. The media should ensure they have a good proposal, which agencies will pay them and find a way of having necessary information because information is power.
We are part of the Heads of Advertising Sectoral Groups (HASG) where we build our normal position paper. We also make sure to put our effort as much as we can into the conservation. While we are doing audience measurement, other people outside the country are doing global cross audience measurement. Advan will be at par with the body because we need such bodies because data is necessary and anything that makes us to be more effective and understand how we are doing and make sure it goes well. The other issue around is the bodies that are trying to come up, everything that deals with data is welcome by every Advan member. It is data we use to specify our brands, data is never enough for marketing people. Anything that needs to be done about data we are aligned with. Advan needs more data as soon as possible, the more the data the less to spend. Advan will always support data and we are always welcome for data.
Advan is structured according to the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), we are trying to make sure our structure aligns with the best practices not only here and globally. We are aligned to the structure that will work best for us.
We notice that past leaders of Advan rarely participate in the Association events unlike other sectoral bodies. Why is this so?
I have been part of Advan for years, I have also served Advan in different capacities and I will remain as part of Advan member as long as I am the president. Advan setup is different from other sectoral groups. While others are mainly made up of owners, Advan setup is that of employees therefore, when a past president finished his tenure he or she may have moved to another organisation and occupy a different function. However, we have past presidents who are still very much active in our events. The insinuation may not be correct.
Who is an Advan member?
Advan members are corporate brands in Nigeria. Advan has the privilege to speak to the past president for advice and speak for the members. Advan members are corporate organizations.
How do you get to this position pertaining to your career?
How I got here is not about my career it is because I am keyed into Advan. I am passionate about Advan. I have been part of Advan Exco, I am having Advan as another capacity. I have just one vote and every Exco member has a single vote. I am a round table person and a team player. I got here not because of where I have worked or because of my career. I got here because I am passionate about Advan. Last year, Advan gave me an award, ‘Industry Builder’ because I have been part of the industry for a long time. Being here is different from my career. I have worked in Guinness and now in my present job. In terms of career I have moved to different companies.
