Behold the Advertising Amazon, Bunmi Oke, Managing Director, 141-Worldwide and new President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN). Elected last Saturday in the Ancient & Modern city of Ibadan at the 39th AGM/Congress of the Association, Mrs. Oke becomes the AAAN 17th President and actually the and 2nd female in the annals of the AAAN. In this exclusive interview with Brandcrunch.com.ng. the AAAN President says it’s not about gender or smiles but competence and passion. Excerpts.
Congratulations madam, for emerging the President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), what are your plans for the association?
Thank you very much. As indicated in my letter to the association, I would like to continue the programmes already put in place by the last executive. We believe in continuity and do not forget, I was the Vice President during the tenure that just ended. Therefore, it is only wise to consolidate on the many programmes already running. We will also support all reforms in the industry. In the like manner, we would consolidate our businesses to make sure that we are more profitable, revitalized and earn the respect of clients and other professionals. So those are some of the key objectives for now.
In the event brochure, we noticed that the number of agencies has drastically reduced. What are you going to do about this?
Well, I think the best thing is to sit down with the new exco and map out strategies to combat this development. There are a lot of reforms coming up and it’s no longer about induction, it’s about quality of the agencies we bring on board. I can assure you that in a few months time, a lot more people will know about the industry and the importance of being a member of AAAN. Of course, we will like to bring to fore, values for being a member. This is one of our principal tasks. We will further refresh and enhance the AAAN brand to ensure there are a lot of benefits and professional recognition. I know what it has done for us as an industry not to talk of the individual agencies. It is our duty to let the clients and prospective clients alike understand it benefits them to work with professionals- I mean AAAN member agencies.
As a woman, you are leading a crop of men; accomplished men for that matter, what are those things that you think worked for you?
Yes, it is making sure that men despite the fact that you may think they don’t know what women are doing, they are watching and it tells you clearly, if men have voted confidently to bring one in unopposed and they have accepted my offer without any opposition, it tells clearly it is not about gender but performance. I think that is what any profession should stand for. Your gender will only make you distinct and I’m sure many years ahead, more women will come out for things like this. It encourages more women aspire to serve at whatever cadre. It will do you a lot of good and as a professional you will be respected by colleagues and clients. I think that is the grace of God that I am enjoying today.
Currently, it’s like we don’t have enough women in the industry or is it that they are not ascending the ladder fast enough. Do you have a programme to tackle this?
Oh yes. Last year we started a committee called “Women in Advertising” under the last President. I was the chairperson of that committee and I have learnt from a lot of women organisations which I belong to also that women have to be encouraged. I also have a former boss, Mrs. Bola Thomas, she happened to be the first female President of AAAN. I worked under her tutelage and by some divine providence, I find myself occupying the same position today. I am sure there is an emerging trend of more women in higher positions in the future by the grace of God. I think it is all about people realizing gender is irrelevant in a profession; it’s about your competence, interest and passion.
You seem so strong on the issue of continuity, why that is okay, let me ask what about your own progranmmes?
What we are doing is try to focus on the things that are already on ground at least, so that we can to hit the ground running. Of course, we have a new board, we are going to sit down together to constitute our plan and agree on the way forward. But at least one thing is clear, some programmes are already running so definitely we can always continue because they are laudable and that is why you see part of our plan is continuity. It is in the interest of the profession- not anybody’s individual interest. I am sure if you go by my track record even as a professional, I like to speak with actions than making stories.
Being a woman-president, do you see your gender as an advantage or otherwise in this exalted position?
It could be either ways. Let me start with the advantage. As a woman, you have to be more conspicuous because you get to be noticed, you get more attention. But it’s what you now do with those open doors and I think that is where the advantage comes in. People will look at you to ascertain there must be something you know before you got to the position. It is for you to be prepared to use that platform to explain your case to make people know why are you speaking on behalf of so many people in the profession especially where you have so many men. I think it is really an advantage.
The only disadvantage it could be is if you now dress in nice clothes, always smile and do nothing. It is dangerous. But the point is, if you are not going to be a dumb blond, one is here because my colleagues in the industry believe that you have competence, you have knowledge, experience and you have drive. People respect you as a person once you are competent. That is one thing I have learnt all these years having worked with the ranks and now gotten to this prestigious position of the president of AAAN.
As a woman of many parts – the home, the company and the association among others contending for your time and attention, how are you going to cope?
For sure, I have a very supportive husband. In fact he encourages me a lot. He knows my drive, he knows my interest, he knows my passion and he knows I enjoy what I do. I really have a spouse that encourages me to be the best I can. In that wise, 50% of the challenge is resolved! That is why the whole of this weekend he “donated” me to AAAN. My children are older now so I think this is an inspiration to them, their peers and family. You find out that I have so many young people who are now attracted to advertising. Usually, they exclaim – “Oh you are in a profession like this”. It means you are actually an ambassador for your profession. So I think it really shows that when you enjoy what you are doing you can reach the zenith of your career. And then off course I have a great team, let us not forget that anything you achieve is about good team work. In the office I wouldn’t do what I am doing today if we don’t have a great team. We have a great team and we will keep on refreshing our team. Even your home is like a team when you have a supporting family and children. Try and get the best people in your team, don’t be intimidated. Yes, there may be challenges but I always say challenges make champions so I would rather be with those who will challenge us so we can be champions!
How about your board?
Nobody can take a leadership role in a professional association without the support of his/her board. Even from the time I was appointed into lesser positions, I knew I needed the support of the board and they have always given me the needed support. In this particular case, they have given me their blessing and added value to me being somebody from a relatively young agency to lead the association; it’s a plus for everybody on the board.
What are the landmarks set for yourself for instance at the expiration of your first year in office?
That will come. They will certainly come and I will be addressing briefing sessions on this. Like I said, the first we want to do is consolidate on what we have. There are some things that are clear, I mean from the AGM – we have to be able to restore that camaraderie spirit, restore confidence in the members, build credibility for the industry. We are going to empower a lot more both men and women practitioners through training and retraining. It is sometimes expected that just because you have a woman at the helm of affairs, something serious is expected, I am sure that is why you are asking many questions. This is going to ginger a lot of people in the profession to say “I can attain the zenith of my career, my profession”.
We will do a lot more in networking in terms of training; I think people have to learn how some of these things come about especially the young ones. Another thing is that once you have built confidence; practitioners will find the reason to belong and pay their dues. I think so many things call for revitalizing the profession so I think that is one of the first things to attend to. Why are we revitalizing, you may want to ask? We want to quickly get to a point where other professionals will respect us. When they want to do any advertising, I want them to be thinking of AAAN registered agencies, this is important. I have had the opportunities of working with a lot of professionals and I realize that many of them don’t even know what we do until we get the opportunity to addressing them. Only then, they understand what we do and in fact they tell value our services. It therefore implies that the more we market our services even among professional bodies the better we will be. It is a young profession, we will get to a point they will know that we really add value.{jcomments on}
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