As part of activities to climax the Advertising Week Celebrations, the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG) has organized fun games in a move to maintain a healthy lifestyle among its members.
The sports festival which took place at the Association International School premises in Accra was an opportunity for member agencies to exercise and unwind while networking with other industry players in a congenial atmosphere.
Speaking at the one-day tournament, the Executive Director of the Association, Francis Dadzie explained that the year under review has been challenging for most members due to the infiltration of some unscrupulous agencies into the sector.
This notwithstanding, Mr. Dadzie says gatherings such as the sports festival offered a perfect ambiance for relaxation, reflection and strategizing for the years ahead.
“Our job as advertisers is very stressful. It is therefore important that we come together once in a while to exercise and socialize. This is also an opportunity to network and strategize for the future while burning away some calories in the body,” he said happily.
In all, six teams representing Media Reach OMD, MMRS, DDP Outdoor, Innova DDB, Value Advertising as well as Below the Line Africa (BTL) competed for laurels in games of football, volleyball, Tag of War, Table Tennis, Scrabble among others.
In the end, DDP Advertising emerged the overall winner, lifting three of out of the six trophies available on the day.
The Great Argon Group subsidiary won the ‘Tag of War’ contest, before going on to defeat Innova DDB and BTL Africa in the men’s football and volleyball finals respectively to the admiration of their rivals.
BTL Africa won the Women’s penalty shoot-out and the Men’s table tennis competitions while Value Advertising picked the trophy for the non-competitive categories.
According to Mr. Dadzie the association is looking forward to broadening next year’s event by extending invitation to some media houses.
Minister designate for Information, KojoOppong-Nkrumah has made a firm commitment to liaise with the Ministry of Trade which is currently sponsoring the Advertising Bill, to ensure it goes through the necessary processes for passage into law.
Speaking at the 12th Gong Gong Awards in Accra under the theme, ‘Technology, Brand Purpose and the Empowered Consumer’,KojoOppong-Nkrumah said, “It is our expectation that the bill, once passed, will outline the best practices in the advertising space and bind all individuals and organizations to apply the best standards.It is also our hope that the law will possibly address some of the challenges faced by the advertising community.”
The Minister designate for Information also urged the local industry to take advantage of the opportunities available through early adoption of new technologies to ensure its growth and sustainability.
Addressing his colleagues and guests, President of the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG), Torgbor Mensah said the AAG is working towards the establishment of an advertising school to train professionals and promote global standards.
AAG TO EXPAND SCOPE OF GONG GONG AWARDS
Hecongratulated all agencies that submitted entries for producing advertising works worthy of consideration for the prestigious Gong Gong Awards.
The AAG president announced that from 2019, the advertising industry’s flagship awards, Gong Gong Awards will be expanded in scope to reflect the changing industry landscape. Headded that the industry has grown beyond just creative companies, hence the need to embrace the change and expand the awards.
“The Executive Council has agreed that from next year, the Gong Gong Awards will be segmented under five main areas of the advertising business. This is to ensure that most of our members are not left out when we reward excellence in the industry”
He explained further that Creative, Media, Outdoor, Digital and Below the Line Marketing (BTL) will be the main segments under which entries will be nominated for future Gong Gong Awards.
A total of fifty awards were given out to agencies for works in various categories, produced between January and December, 2017.
Three agencies received Platinum Awards for entries in the Telecommunications category under various channels. They are Now Available Africa for Digital, Scanad Ghana for Social Media and Innova DDB Ghana for Television.
Gold Award recipients include Insel Communications, Exp Ghana, Publicis West Africa, Innova DDB Ghana and Mullen Lowe Accra.
Snr. Vice President of the International Advertising Association, Joel Nettey says the Advertising industry offers great opportunities for career success and a solution to graduate unemployment in the country and has advised students of tertiary institutions to look beyond traditional sectors for job opportunities.
He was speaking on the platform of the Advertising Association of Ghana’s public engagement programme, AAG Connects at the UPSA Auditorium in Accra on Tuesday.
Joel Nettey told the student that passion for excellence, hard work and a learning attitude are keys to success within the industry. “There is no substitute for putting yourself through the basics. Success will not come in a day. You need to look out for available opportunities and bring your ‘A’ game to the table“, he advised the students.
The programme which is part of activities to mark this year’s advertising week celebration, introduced the AAG’s academic membership and career opportunities within the Advertising industry to participants from selected tertiary institutions in the country.
Students and academic staff of UPSA, University of Ghana Business School and Radford University College had the opportunity to learn more about the advertising industry from a panel of industry leaders that included Chief Executive Officers such as Russel Eni of Insel Communications, Andrew Ackah of Dentsu Aegis Network Ghana, Gabriel Nti Appiah of BTL Africa, AkuaOwusu-Nartey of Ogilvy Africa Group and Abdul Aziz Amankwah of EXP Ghana.
Abdul Aziz Amankwah of Exp Ghana advised the students to avail themselves to various apprenticeship programmes within the industry.
The Chairperson of the AAG’s Education and Talent Development Committee, AkuaOwusu-Nartey encouraged paricipants to be entrepreneurial.
She advised the students to focus more on creatively using their knowledge to provide solutions to problems.
Head of Marketing Department of UPSA, Dr. Andrews Akolaa expressed appreciation to the AAG for creating an opportunity for students to engage with industry leaders. He called for more of such programmes to bridge the gap between industry and academia.
AAG Connects is the association’s flagship public outreach programme that offers networking opportunities for individuals and organisations interested in the Advertising industry.
Immediate past president of the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG), Joel Nettey made history on Tuesday as he was elected Senior Vice President of the International Advertising Association (IAA), the first African to hold such a position.
Until his election at a meeting in Bucharest, Joel was the Vice President for External Communications for the IAA.
This ground-breaking feat also means Joel Nettey will automatically assume the role of Chairman and World President of the global advertising body, once new president, India’s Srinivasan Swamy’s tenure expires in two years.
Srinivasan Swamy takes over from Romania’s Felix Tataru to lead a team of 25 Executive Committee members from various countries including Ghana, USA, Malaysia, Netherlands, UAE, Poland, Australia, UK, Italy, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Austria, Kuwait, Iran, India and Nepal.
The International Advertising Association is an 80-year old institution and considered the most prestigious advertising body of its kind in the world. The IAA is acknowledged as the world’s most influential network of marketing and communication leaders, aimed at representing the common interests of all the disciplines across the full spectrum of marketing communications – from advertisers to media companies to agencies to direct marketing firms, as well as individual practitioners. Its activities involve professional development of marketing communication practitioners, protecting freedom of commercial speech, advertising self-regulation, protecting consumer interest, training and education.
AAG past President and CEO of Mullen Lowe Accra is a recipient of the 2018 International Advertising Association’s (IAA) Inspire Champion Award, presented during the IAA Global Conference, Creativity4Better in Bucharest, Romania on Tuesday.
Announcing the Award, IAA Vice President and Chairman of the Inspire Award, Heather Leembruggen said the IAA Inspire Champion Award honors notable leaders for their lifetime achievements, vision, committed services to IAA, as well as their contributions to advancing the IAA and communications in the global marketing communications industry.
Norkor Duah who is the IAA’s Vice President for Africa Development is among five others from across the world honoured with the IAA Inspire Champion Award during the conference.
She is credited with bringing the world of advertising to Ghana twice for very successful Africa Rising Conferences in 2015 and 2018, and also nurturing and inaugurating the Nigeria Chapter of IAA.
Presenting the Award, Chairman and global President of the IAA, Felix Tataru said, “Norkor Duah has contributed her leadership, vision and professional expertise and inspired the marketing communications community locally, regionally and globally in the true spirit of the IAA as the global compass of marketing communications. We are proud to recognize her accomplishments, commitment and services contributed to our industry.”
Norkor Duah described the award as a great honour and motivation to contribute more to the successes of IAA and the global advertising industry.
Chairman of The Great Argon Group, Torgbor Mensah has been elected president of the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG) for the next two years at the 27th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association in Accra.
Togbor Mensah takes over the Presidency from Chief Executive Officer of Innova DDB Ghana, Joel Nettey who has served two terms in that capacity.
Also elected are Chief Executive Officer of Saki Publicity, Mansa Amoa-Awuah as Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Media Lynx, Mr. Kofi Anyinam Boateng as Treasurer. They will together with ten elected Executive Council members, steer the affairs of AAG for two years, starting from September 2018 when they will be sworn into office.
Accepting his new responsibility, Togbor Mensah thanked members of the AAG for the confidence reposed in him to lead. He gave assurance that the incoming Executive Council will work together to ensure the Ghana advertising industry thrives.
Presenting his annual report, outgoing President, Joel Nettey mentioned some of the successes his team has chalked over the past year, such as securing the Business Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund to support the AAG’s advocacy for passage of the Advertising Bill, introduction of new Professional Development programmes and hosting for the second time, a very successful IAA Global Leadership Conference for Africa.
He disclosed that Ghana is likely to host the International Advertising Association Leadership Conference for a third time next year, after which hosting will be rotated among IAA member countries on the continent.
Joel Nettey said there is the need for the association to grow beyond its corporate membership base and announced plans to open up AAG membership by introducing new categories including Young Professional, Academic and Student memberships.
He expressed worry that the creation of new assemblies especially within the Greater Accra region has resulted in indiscriminate installations of billboards, in breach of the agreed guidelines with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly.
“Boundary issues coupled with the lack of proper demarcation of the newly created assemblies have resulted in emergence of unauthorized structures within the jurisdiction of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly. Individuals within the various assemblies have taken advantage of this gap and are allowing people to mount boards indiscriminately. This is contrary to the LI 2180 and negates all efforts by the association and other stakeholders to bring a level of sanity and professionalism within the out of home advertising space.”
He urged the district assemblies and other stakeholders to collaborate with the AAG to ensure the country’s advertising industry meets global standards.
Joel Nettey announced the introduction of an Advertising Week to provide a platform for stakeholders to network, dialogue and set the agenda for the industry. Activities planned for the celebration of Advertising Week include Industry Dialogue, Exhibition, Sports Festival and the AAG’s flagship annual awards, Gong Gong Awards.
He called on corporate institutions and individuals to support the celebration of the upcoming Advertising Week with sponsorship.
Joel Nettey also appealed to members to support the efforts of the incoming Executive Council and also urged them to actively participate in all programmes of the AAG.
Eight new members including two individuals were admitted to the association.
