The Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) has risen in strong criticism of the Federal government over what it termed government’s fire brigade approach in the creative process of Nigeria’s 60th Independence diamond anniversary logo.
The Association in its first official reaction to the anniversary logo recently launched by President Mohammadu Buhari observed that the government initiative that a giant country in Africa like Nigeria should celebrate a land mark diamond anniversary and have a logo to commemorate and give fillip to the country’s image is quite commendable, but rather faulted the hasty approach adopted in the process of the logo creation.
AAAN’s President, Mr Steve Babaeko who spoke recently in a media interview noted that the government’s action depicted the country’s usual fire brigade approach which is part of the whole national tragedy where there is no long term planning for anything in the country, adding that the nation’s managers must have to start learning to do things in the right way.
In addition, Babaeko specifically criticized the government for failing to approach the AAAN which he described as the rallying point for creative industry in Nigeria to provide the needed direction before embarking on such a huge project as the making of a landmark national anniversary logo.
The association boss further explained that Nigeria at 60 is a landmark year of self rule and the country needed to mark it and draw a line in the sand, but added however that the process through which they went about getting the logo out was fundamentally flaud.
According to him, “If you really want to do something this huge, I think, it only makes sense to approach the appropriate quarters, I mean the association which serves as a rallying point for the industry. In this case, the AAAN should be the go-to body to put the proper structures in place”
He added “The logic is simple, if you want to get a haircut, go to a barber, if you want to do surgery, go to a surgeon, if you want to win a case in the supreme court, go to a Senior Advocate of Nigeria”
“I don’t think the ministry in charge of this project thought it through that let’s call an association like AAAN. If You want to deliver a baby and you want to safe your neck, go to a midwife, that is what they do”
Continuing, he said, “This is how self worth evolves. To start, this country deserves something really good, its landmark year of self rule and we need to mark it and draw a line in the sand, that is a good thought by the honorable minister that should be commended, but the process through which they went about getting the logo out, is what I fundamentally have a problem with”
According to the AAAN President, it is about planning; you have to pre-plan some of these things.”We didn’t just wake up one day and realized we are going to be 60. Five years ago we knew we are going to be 60 this year. If we know we want to get this thing done, and done well, we needed to contact the right agencies and start preparing so that the output can be topnotch.
Commenting on allegations of plagiarism making the rounds about the anniversary logo co-created by a consortium of three agencies,- Chain Reactions, TBWA Africa and Temple Management Company, the AAAN boss dismissed the rumors insisting that the government had failed by not allowing adequate time frame for the logo work to sail through.
He explained “In fairness to the guys who created the logo, the time frame for the job was too short”
“What you don’t know is, no great creativity will come out within a short time. The timing was too stringent. They announced today that they want to do a logo and a week later the logo is out”. What do we expect?, he queries.
He added, “such exercise should be thoroughly planned and very well thought though. “It requires a lot of proper planning, advance planning for us to get a meaningful and very creative designs for the country to be proud of, he concluded.
