Aig-Imoukhuede: Value creation, not creative campaigns, will define advertising’s future

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Read History Go to My Account Log Out Enhanced by Google News Aig-Imoukhuede: Value creation, not creative campaigns, will define advertising’s future …Says marketing must earn its place as investment Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Chairman of Access Holdings Plc, has told Nigeria’s advertising community

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Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Chairman of Access Holdings Plc, has told Nigeria’s advertising community that the industry is changing fast and players who don’t realise it will lose out.

Speaking in a fireside chat conversation at the beginning of the 2026 National Advertising Conference in Abuja on Wednesday, an annual event graced by captains of industry, operators, students, observers and media with the theme: Repositioning the marketing communication industry for the next frontier”, Aig-Imoukuede made it clear to the advertisers that what is crucial to clients is value creation.

According to the investor, going forward, the issue will not be about great campaigns anymore because with AI, the ability to create great campaigns is now common, as some do it on their phones.

“The most valuable agency is not the one that asks for the largest budget; it is the one that genuinely adds value to the client,” he emphasised. The core focus of advertising practitioners today must be on deeply understanding client mindsets and human behaviour, he said.

Aig-Imoukuede, who is also chairman of Coronation, said, “In the advertising industry it is who creates value, who captures value, and who gets left behind”, advising advertisers to invest and adopt technology to create value for clients.

Advising on the acquisition of new skills and technology, the banker, who referred to the Dangote IPO as an example, cited a technology that can push financial services products to audiences to buy those products in a wide way. He believes that any agency that identifies and offers such technology and skills in the Nigerian market will attract clients. He said categorically that marketing must earn its place as an investment.

Shifting attention of advertisers to SMEs businesses and ideas, Aig-Imoukuede believes that Nigeria’s small businesses that need marketing to scale could be transformed if the right marketing solutions are offered to them.

Speaking on the theme, he noted that the concept of a “frontier” is the place where the map ends. He said it is rational to be nervous when approaching them. He argues that the next frontier for advertisers is not geographical but overcoming technology disruptions and, according to him, “there will be those who chart the frontiers, those who follow, and those who will be left behind,” he told the audience.

He said if you view a frontier as where the current map ends, it simply means you must be ready to redraw the map yourself.”

Addressing the long-held view of the possibility of consolidation in the advertising industry, Aig-Imoukuede said: “I don’t necessarily think that consolidation should be the concern of your industry, to be honest. I think that you should be looking for growth that provides economic value”.

“The focus of your industry has to be the mindset and the skill set of the solution provider in advertising. And how do you look at your clients and use these same tools that are disrupting the world to make your client give value to the market in a much better way?”

​He further projected an exponential surge in market demand driven by personal branding and self-promotional platforms: “The demand for advertising is going to increase exponentially as individuals begin to advertise themselves. Self-advertising will be a major global trend. The question for agencies is: how do you strategically position your business to capture a massive share of this expanding market?”

​Drawing a comparison to emerging continental developments, Aig-Imoukhuede pointed to trends across Africa where forward-thinking agencies are leveraging digital tools to expand their footprint. “In South Africa, industry leaders have already agreed to cover and scale across the African advertising space by deploying AI,” he noted. “If Nigerian practitioners can master and deploy these emerging technologies within their craft, you will not only transform your agencies, you will transform Nigeria.”

Earlier, Lekan Fadolapo, Director General of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, ARCON said in choosing the theme, the industry is looking beyond the advertising industry to build businesses that must grow.

Lanre Adisa, President of AAAN who is also Chairman of HASG, said it is good for the industry to come together to learn and chart ways forward as “what we do in the industry is to help connect people’s ambition to their future.”

Steve Babaeko, Vice President of IAA, said advertising is the business of ideas that move people, and this is a season where ideas matter more than ever.

He agreed that technology is changing how advertisers work, and audiences are sharper and less patient, and budgets are watched closely, yet through all these challenges Nigerian creativity keeps rising because ‘we have the stories, the language and the rhythm that the world cannot copy.”