A Fellow of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), he started his career as a sub-editor/judicial correspondent with The Guardian. He then forayed into advertising with Promoserve and Prima Garnet where he spent 15 years. He once chaired the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) AGM Committee. He is on the faculty of Financial Institutions Training Centre. Mr. Tunji Olugbodi is now the Managing Director/Chief Executive, Verdant Zeal Marketing and Communications Limited. In this interview with ORUKPE NELSON, he spoke on the business, challenges and prospects in advertising.

How did the marketing communication industry perform in the previous year?

I think we performed very well. When I say very well, I mean within the limitations that exist within our environment. If you look at it from the scope of activity by clients and the resourcefulness of organisations to meet the needs of the clients, I think we did not do badly at all.

There is the perception that clients are shrinking their advertising and promotions budget. How much has this affected players in this industry?

It is not a belief, it is a reality. Again, that is their reaction to the inclement economic environment. What most clients do is to reduce their advertising and promotions budget and that has been on in the last couple of years. What is responsible for this are government policies that are not consistent and continuous as well as happenstances within the economy that do not show discipline of focus, either by the government, or sometimes by the organised private sector in terms of what I identify as their priority areas. So, it has been shrinking and affecting advertising and marketing communications industry in a very negative way. Again, what that tends to push people to do is to look at alternatives and to look for ways by which the budget can be stretched and see how they can effectively impact on the client and his brands within the little budget that is available.

How did Verdant Zeal start?

Verdant Zeal is a God-given vision. It started as a result of my interest in fulfillment. I had wide experience in advertising before we set up Verdant Zeal in 2007. I played significant roles in organisations I worked with before setting up Verdant Zeal. We did an appraisal of entire landscapes of the industry and we felt that in terms of values, there were a few things that we might want to correct. With that on ground, we were able to get dynamic stakeholders on board, helping us in whatever we have been able to do over the years.

What are the values and philosophies of your organisation?

We believe in delivering service with excellence in consideration of professionalism. As a professional, you can become an authority in the area of your core competence. We want to be a full-blooded Nigerian agency with global outlook. That means that whatever ideas we are bringing on board must have bearing on the person, who is our target audience. I always advocate that whatever we are doing must be original and have bearing on our roots. Most of the times, we try to cover the Westerners, but we need to understand that advertising mirrors the society. Despite the fact that we still copy them in some areas, they cannot determine our identity. Our identity, beliefs and ways of life are totally different. Even the way we name ourselves is different.

Can you tell us some of your blue-chip accounts?

We have a different understanding to this question; we don’t talk about our accounts and clients on the pages of newspapers. We want our clients to appreciate us by virtue of what we do for them.

What is your view on the emergence of in-house advertising agencies in some multi-national companies?

I think it is a self -serving and selfish phase that will come and go. What do I mean by this? Every organisation cannot decide to be doing everything that professionals are expected to do. There are reasons why people in manufacturing are in manufacturing and there are reasons why people in production are in production. My question is this. If you are able to set up an in-house advertising agency, are you going to set up a legal practice? Are you going to set up an accounting practice? That is why I called it self-serving, because some people are profiting from it. No matter what they claim, they can never do it the way professionals would. The funny thing is that they don’t hold themselves responsible for how things should be done. What they are doing is to undermine the duties of the agency. The fact is that any agency that is doing that will continue to be on the same spot. My advice is to give the jobs to the professionals, who are guided by the ethics of the profession for excellent delivery of service. I think it is better for people to face their areas of core competence. They may be thinking that they are saving money, but this cannot be a long-term goal, but a short term benefit.

Do you really think APCON is active, have they hammered any agency for being high handed?

I think they have. I think what APCON has done is to adopt the carrot and stick approach. Number one, sensitizing everybody as to what the ideal practice and conduct should be. Number two, when people err and it can be proved, they are sanctioned appropriately. I think they have been up and doing in that respect.

What is your projection for the industry?

For the industry, a great deal of flux. There is what I call a clear incursion of foreign organisations to the industry. They come with different values, standards, benchmarks and thresholds.  Number two, we will have more people operating from their briefcases than from the comfort of the four walls of brick and mortar offices and as long as you cannot contextualize where they are located for you to be able to reach them, it poses a challenge for the practice. Three, the advertising budget that we are even talking about will reduce even more because many organisations are confronted with huge challenges which impede meeting their responsibilities. Four, many parts of the practice are suffering; we have the dearth of copywriters, art directors affecting the practice.

What are the immediate plans of Verdant Zeal?

Our plan is predicated on one main thing and that is to enhance our value driven proposition to our clients. That in itself is going to be catapulted on the platform of a greater focus on client servicing. If you understand the client within the circumstances at which they operate, what you need to do to assist them achieve their objectives in terms of threshold, you offer the kind of value they cannot get elsewhere. That will put you in a good stead. Fundamentally, that is what we are all about to our clients and prospects.

Verdant Zeal as an agency has become popular; it did not come as a surprise, what was your strength then and what is your strength now?

Our strength then was passion. We understood what the market needed. We knew that three things will set us apart; how quickly we are able to respond, how strategic our response is able to carry our client or prospect in the medium or long-term, and how cost effective that will be. Now the goal has shifted a little bit, it is understanding the dynamics of the market so that solutions we bring go beyond the three levels I mentioned earlier. Passion still remains a very strong currency because without passion for the job, profession or business, you will see every challenge as an impediment rather than a motivation and opportunity to do well or better. Apart from passion, it is also people; we appreciate the fact that people make the business. Our business as it were is predicated on the quality of people that you have, so we put a great deal on treating people well and ensuring that we have the right people with the skills to match emerging opportunities. Third, but not the least, is profitability; looking at process and procedures to ensure that the job is achieved with an eye on the bottom line for the client as well as the agency.

What has been your major challenge as a CEO?

I think the major challenge is identifying the right resource material in terms of human capital and being able to sustain them in an environment that is predominantly predatory.

With the success your company is enjoying now, would you say you regret going into business late?

A lot of people keep asking me this question. The fact of the matter is that whatever we are today is by the grace of God. I understand God so much that if I had started earlier, we may not have succeeded. I have no regrets at all, particularly when one looks back and recollects things that God has used one to achieve, there is no regret at all. Verdant Zeal came on the scene at the appointed time and I am very grateful.

What are the challenges facing running advertising agencies in Nigeria?

It is the same challenge facing any businessman or entrepreneur in the country. We have the challenge of infrastructure, power supply, security, over taxation. There is also a challenge of human resource.

What activities do you engage in at your leisure time?

I read. I am into biographies, I watch movies and play a little golf.