Marketing is key to achievement of targeted $1 trillion economy – Lanre Adisa tells govt

…NAC ends with participants gaining value insight, network

President Bola Tinubu’s administration has been told that the ambitious plans to realise the targeted $1 trillion economy for Nigeria in the next decade will be better achieved with marketing strategies.

The government plans include attracting investment from international community and Diasporans, unlocking potentials in various sectors and diversification.

But Lanre Adisa, Chairman of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, AAAN said these plans need marketing efforts by experts to reposition Nigeria as global economic hub to attract the needed investment.

Speaking at the National Advertising Conference, NAC that ended last weekend in Abuja hosted by Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, ARCON, Lanre called on the government to collaborate with marketing experts for the realization of key projects including the $1 trillion economy plans.

“Nigeria is speaking about the $1 trillion economy and other plans. Those things cannot happen without proper marketing. And nobody knows Nigeria better than the people around this space”, he said.

Lanre who is CEO of Noah’s Ark agency and chairman of Heads of advertising sectoral group, HASG emphasized that advertising industry is very important in the scheme of things.

Speaking with BusinessDay, Yinka Adebayo, Group Executive Director, West & Central Africa at mediaReach underscored Lanre’s statement. He said “the significance and importance of marketing is even clear to the blind as nobody will keep quiet to be heard, we need to showcase your potentials”

He explained that marketing is about positioning. Positioning is what you do in people’s mind. He said many other nations have more problems than Nigeria but how they communicate it depends on strategies. He said Nigerians need to take ownership of their narrative.

According to him marketing will help to position Nigeria to attract the needed investment, and it is important that government takes marketing seriously.

Declaring the conference open, Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation assured that his ministry will continue to partner with ARCON and all industry stakeholders to ensure that the advertising and communication ecosystem thrives in a regulated but enabling environment.

The minister said this year’s theme — “Marketing Communication: Transforming Business and Creating Growth in Challenging Times” — is both timely and strategic as “we live in an era where businesses must innovate not only to survive but to thrive amid economic headwinds, technological disruption, and shifting consumer behavior”.

He said marketing communication is at the centre of this transformation. “It remains the bridge between creativity and commerce, between ideas and impact, and between perception and reality. As a tool of persuasion and nation-building, communication has never been more powerful — or more needed — than it is today”, he said.