NEWS
APCON inducts 63 new Fellows, revises code of advertising practice
The Advertising Practitioners Council Of Nigeria (APCON), on Wednesday, inducted 63 new fellows in Lagos.
Speaking at the event, the APCON Registrar, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, maintained the council is committed to providing conducive business and professional grounds to make sure that the practice and business of advertising in Nigeria is conducted in an ethical
manner without compromising best practices.
He said: “It is also my pleasure to heartily congratulate the advertising practitioners that would today be inducted into the fellowship cadre of the advertising profession having satisfactorily met the required criteria stipulated by law and consequently attaining the highest and distinguished class in the profession.
“This is a delightful moment for APCON and the advertising industry
particularly being that the last fellows’ induction was held over 10 years ago. In the course of my two-and-a-half decades in this industry, I have known each of the inductees personally and I have worked with virtually every one of them in different capacities, therefore, I can attest that none of the fellows
inducted today lacked the professional aptitude to be designated as such.”
Speaking further, Fadolapo, noted that the regulations of the council have been reformed.
“To further this idea, we have
introduce some reforms to complement the prevailing regulations, proclamations, and other subsidiary instruments established and adopted as
legal frameworks for the industry.
“Recently, the Advertising Industry Standard of Practice (AISOP) was
established to provide a minimum standard for business engagement in the industry to improve mutual respect, eradicate unfair advantage,
unethical competition and inequitable engagement terms between
stakeholders in the Advertising and Marketing Communication sector of the
economy. The highlights of the AISOP are: Media Rates Deregulation: No sector of the Industry should be allowed
cap or determine what media houses should charge as media advert
rates. However, media houses must give at least 30 days’ notice before
implementation of a new media rate. It is also provided that advertisers
and agencies must accord Nigeria media houses the same mutual
the respect they accord foreign media operating in Nigeria and all
stakeholders will have to align with best practices.
” Credit Policy: In line with best practices, payment for media and other
advertisement services would be done within 45 days. Any payment after
45 days will attract interest at the prevailing CBN interest rate. Advertisers
and agencies would have to honour advertising and marketing
communications invoices promptly and parties to a business transaction
must be transparent in their dealings.
“Agency Engagement Process: Pitch procedure has become professionalized as parties in pitch process must respect Nigeria’s copyright law. Pitch fees would now be paid to agencies that participated in a pitch process in line with best practices while profile presentations, agency visits, meet-and-greets are made free. However, Strategy and/or Creative Presentation attracts pitch fees if the agency participates in a
pitch.
“Agency Disengagement Policy: Where advertisers decide to disengage an
agency, an incoming agency, the outgoing agency and the advertiser must reconcile all financial obligations which have arisen during the existence
of the business relationship. The outgoing agency must hand over the
assets and liabilities of the account to the new agency to enable interested parties to track financial obligations and responsibilities
“Contract: All contracts of advertisement, advertising, and marketing
communications mandatorily expected to be in writing and duly signed
by parties involved in the contract.
f. Implementation Date: The AISOP became effective from October 6th, 2021 with all existing contracts, MPO, LPO, and other POs already ongoing was
permitted to serve out their engagement terms while any other
engagement after the effective date of commencement of the
AISOP must align with the AISOP.”
According to him, APCON has also revised the Code of Advertising Practice, Sales Promotion, and other Rights/Restrictions on Practice.
In his goodwill message, Sir Steve Omojafor, congratulates newly inducted fellows of APCON.
“I congratulate and welcome the newly inaugurated fellows into the eminent fold of the highest category of membership recognised by APCON’s enabling Act.
” On behalf of APCON, doyens, and fellows of the advertising profession and advertising community, I welcome you to the fellowship cadre of the profession. I wish you the very best in all your endeavours,” he said.
