Author: Daily Bells Newspaper

The Managing Director of the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA), Prince Adedamola Adekunjo Docemo has disclosed that the Out of Home advertising got little or no allocation as companies were badly hit by COVID-19 pandemic and as such, advertisers cut down on budgets drastically. 

The Managing Director made this known recently in Lagos during an interactive session with Brand Journalists where he disclosed: “Because people were not moving around so we had a lot of vacant boards but gradually, things are beginning to pick up and normalize again. People have resumed their businesses physically and the roads have become busy again which automatically means OOH advertising is getting more patronage than what was obtainable when the economy was newly hit by the pandemic.

Speaking on the level of compliance in terms of registration and permit fee payment from clients during the pandemic, he pointed out that, “the compliance was commendable and appreciated the practitioners.

According to him, “we are very considerate and empathetic people in LASAA. We understand what is happening globally, hence, we display same understanding to our clients when approached, but to our amazement, they have been very cooperating in terms of registering their structures and making payment for permit fees. The response to compliance is even more than the previous years because, last year, LASAA was rated the 4th outstanding revenue generating Agency in Lagos which is a testament to the fact that our clients are cooperating regardless of the resultant effects of the pandemic.”

On what the agency is doing for Clients to ensure ease of doing business, he stated, myself and my team members are seriously in tune with best practices obtainable in other contemporary organisations which includes ease of doing business.

“Our application processing time is short, such that when a client registers, within a very short time, we issue approval. Now, we have even gone online so as to have less paper work. Clients can now download our application form for any of our products from our website, view rates therein and even pay online without needing to come to our office.”

“Instead of having to come from far and near, we have functional communication channels such as telephone lines, email and social media handles where they can ask questions remotely and be promptly responded to.

To enable our very numerous clients to afford our rates, we recently reviewed them downwardly and also had vacant board policy wherein practitioners are allowed to pay conveniently in three installments where their structures are empty and without advertisement.” He added.

While comparing radio, television, and online advertising with outdoor, he stated that, outdoor still has advantages because it not everybody that watches the television and listens to the radio but they easily see adverts displaying on billboards while in traffic, while driving and they can easily be seen in streets wherever they are displaying.

Continuing, he pointed out that, “the number of people who see them is more than those who have access to online advertisement. Moreover, the traffic of those who listen to radio and television is low compared to those who see and read advertised products on billboards.

With much vacant boards across Lagos, he said the encouragement the agency is giving to practitioners is that, “we have also had downward rate reviews.

First, there was a 35 percent decrease in the rates for LED advertising structures then there was 30 percent reduction done on other third-party structures. We have also waived three months of permit fees for practitioners to cushion the effect of the Covid 19 pandemic.”

“The Agency had a vacant board discount policy in the past which is under review  for a win-win benefit for the Agency and practitioners. So, we believe all these will serve as motivations for outdoor practitioners to do more in meeting their statutory obligations.

He further stated that, “LASAA is much open to the public. We are in 25 local government offices across the State wherein our well trained staff members operate professionally by attending to Clients and ensuring that no business opens without registration.”