By Okechukwu Ikonne.
The frontiers of the Nigerian advertising industry got a boost last weekend with the announcement of a strategic partnership between a Nigerian agency, Media Fuse and a London based agency, Dentsu Aegis network. According to the promoters of this partnership the essence is to create within advertising industry, a niche based organization with sharper focus on digital performance and increased technology.
The affiliation which was unveiled in Lagos, according to the stakeholders promised to take the Nigerian advertising industry to a new level in terms of digital communication and advertising.
Stakeholders present at the unveiling include, Andres Andrade, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Aegis Network, Iberia and Sub-Saharan Africa; Dawn Rowlands Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Aegis Network Africa; Emeka Okeke, Group Chief Executive Officer Media Fuse Dentsu Aegis Network Nigeria, Bevis Hoets COO Dentsu Aegis Network Sub-Saharan Africa, and other top executives and senior divisional leaders in the group in Nigeria.
In his statement, the Group CEO, Emeka Okeke gave a vivid illustration of the history and activities of Media Fuse. He explained that the company launched its business operation 18 months ago as an indigenous national media agency, with a national operating license from APCON.
Okeke also revealed that with the determination to be different in the industry, Media Fuse within 4 weeks of operation, in a keenly contested media pitch, broke its first campaign with the launch of Swedish on-line classified ads service called transtable.com
He further stated that “It has been a rapid journey and we have succeeded in both local and international pitches and having seen our style and standards, Dentsu Aegis came knocking on our doors for partnership that is what we have today as Media fuse-Dentsi-Aegis network.
‘We are humble about what we are doing in the market, we are not saying we will be number one but we have been lucky that in the last 17 months, we have earned the trust of a lot of multinationals like trestible.com, Procter and gamble West Africa, Master Card, Old mutual, Adidas and Philips’ he said.
He added that Nigeria will benefit a lot from the partnership through skill transfer, technology and training of manpower in the industry for tomorrow managers which has started already, that will outlive its founders.
Commenting on the partnership, Andres Andrade Chief Executive Officer, Dentsu Aegis Network, Iberia and Sub-Saharan Africa, said, ‘We strongly believe in Africa and want to be part of it and we believe this is the right time to come in through Nigeria, looking at the growth rate and market size, it is very massive and ours is to contribute to the development of the economy as part of the Foreign Direct Investment”.
Dentsu Aegis Network is made up of several global network brands – carat, Dentsu, Dentsu Media, iprospect, Isobar, Mcgarry bowen, posterscope and vizuem, all supported by specialists/multi-market brands including Amnet, Amplifi, Data2Decision, Mitchell Communications (PR), PSLive and 360i. The Network is headquartered in London and operates in 110 countries with over 23,000 dedicated specialists.
previous post
