LASAA MD urges collaborations, big investments in OOH advertising industry

 

 

CPMFORT EKELEME, BUSINESS EDITOR

 

Managing Director of Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency (LASAA), Prince Adedamola Docemo has called on practitioners in the advertising industry to embrace collaborations and consider big investments for outdoor in a bid to play big in the strategic outdoor advertising environment that the agency is envisioning.

 

The Managing Director disclosed this Thursday while addressing participants at the on-going advertising stakeholders conference and exhibition holding in Lagos.

 

He said the strategy was also in line with the smart city agenda of the Governor, Mr.Babajide Sanwo-Olu, adding that they are committed to innovative and interactive advertising formats, noting that under the environment, LED structures are not just going to be videos on the street but also engage citizens.

 

He the new outdoor advertising structure have smart functions and capabilities, such that they provide traffic/travel information to commuters, give weather forecast add value to aesthetics and show time of the day, interact with commuters for the benefit of Lagoscians and visitors alike.

 

Docemo said these structures are all obtainable in other countries and the Agency is ready to approve more innovative iconic structures with enabled connectivity which support intelligence and security, remarking that will be much beneficial to the state towards the realization of a smart city Lagos and more importantly, optimizing revenue generation for the state.

 

He said, “the agency will continue to work its fingers to the bone to achieve more for the government, ensuring continuous removal of illegal advertising structures capable of defacing the aesthetics of our environment and work more effectively on the smooth path of our mandate in fulfillment of our Vision to be the above and many more efforts inform our direction for the new roadmap.”

 

He said, “Our new roadmap is such that we are driving efficiency and stimulating investment and capital for the industry and the sector to grow. We are using investment to stimulate sectorial growth; developing new routes for outdoor advertising and engaging better long term investment for outdoor advertising infrastructure that investors will be willing to put their money for a long term.

 

“We are not looking for a mass market; we are also expecting collaborations among practitioners to build big outdoor businesses that can compete effectively with the new opportunities that are available in Lagos,” Docemo said.

He said LASAA is re-planning its revenue strategies by looking at and optimising  the various streams and this is the reason why we are considering  certain corridors for wholesome ownership for  better generation of revenue.

 

He said, “When this happens, players raise their capital through diverse forms and we are able to consolidate all the revenues accrued from the corridor, even from the infrastructure in it and make lump sum revenue to LASAA. This way, it reduces the energy channeled towards chasing revenue from micro players owners and will focus on big players and investors who can pay our fees effortlessly.”

 

He said with this strategy, the agency we will be able to collect quicker revenues accruable payment rather than collecting in bits and exerting much energy in different directions with little or no results. This is going to be a win-win situation for us and for the outdoor advertising industry.

 

He said LASAA, don’t only speak about providing enabling environment for businesses to thrive and flourish, we also walk the talk because it is in its best interest to ensure that the industry it regulates experience the needed growth and urged all players to reciprocate its good gestures with better practices to foster harmony between it (LASAA) and players in the industry.

 

The Managing Director also noted while the Covid virus was affecting the way businesses was being conducted; they had already commenced implementation of various strategies to improve its business processes, to make them easier and seamless for our clients.

 

He said the agency has deployed new technology to its advantage and ease the process of clients doing business with it, in tune with the new virtual reality and global practices for a regulator of its status.

 

“Internally, we have successfully implemented our Enterprise Management Systems which are enterprise-scale application software packages that addresses the different software needs in LASAA. This is to assist online application processes for our clients.

 

“Our offices are getting inter-connected to ease walk-in customers to apply for permits from our branch offices, interfacing with the head office remotely without delays. Applicants can now apply online from the comfort of their homes and offices for signage and all other kinds of display permits without necessarily coming to our office.

 

“In terms of our operational functions from our head office, we are scaling up our efforts to enable us to carry out our monitoring and compliance exercise from the comfort of our office through automated and activated systems. This is our effort to key into the smart city agenda of Mr. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration,” Docemo explained.

 

He said all these have informed the direction of its roadmap for a new Out-of-Home regulation order where it is connected to its clients virtually and they are also connected to it effortlessly, adding that what they are trying to do is not only to improve it’s monitoring and compliance exercise, but to also optimize its revenue and standards.

 

He said the new normal is a virtual world where officers do not need to physically visit the site  to identify what the issues are because they have records, they are warehousing data to drive this innovation.

 

Docemo also said LASAA was increasing engagement with its clients across its communication platforms to reduce clients’ traffic in its offices across Lagos with total adherence to COVID-19 protocols and therefore they now have more active communication channels such as telephone lines, email and social media handles where they can ask questions remotely and be promptly responded to.

 

He they have procured more computer-aided devices and have successfully installed agency wide wireless access points for its members of staff so as to make their jobs easier in a more conducive office environment provided for them.

 

“Our software to MS SQL server has been integrated in the Agency that now allows our Account Department to quickly and easily create and track invoices, track cash flow, accept payments, record transactions, automate admin and capture expenses,” Docemo said.