Advertising Academy Finally Gets a Name

Yetunde Ogundipe-

The Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) has finally decided on a name for its advertising academy. The academy will now be known as The Nigerian Academy of Advertising.
 The academy which has long been formally approved for establishment since 1995 by the then AAPN, headed by Mr. Biodun Shobanjo, is finally scheduled to kick off in October 2010.
 According to Mr. Lekan Fadolapo, the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), the academy is expected to address the immediate need of the advertising agency in terms of human resource. “The industry keeps on circulating and recycling the old hands. We want to address this by providing a centre for skills acquisition and training for new and existing advertising professionals,” he says.
According to AAAN, the academy which will be a unicampus institution, will collaborate with some leading world marketing communications institutes including AAAN School of Advertising (South Africa), Lagos Business School (LBS) and International Advertising Association  (IAA), and will award certificates, diplomas, and post graduate diplomas in Marketing and Marketing Communications.
 AAAN appointed the Chairman of Troyka Holdings, Mr. Biodun Shobanjo, as the Pioneer Chairman of the Advertising Academy’s Board of Directors. Other board members include, George Thorpe, Chairman IMS Group; Jimi Awosika, MD Insight; Funmi Onabolu, AAAN President; Chris Doghudje, APCON Chairman; and Reuben Abati, Chairman Editorial Board of Guardian Newspapers.