Whither Commuter Advertising in Nigeria?

Commuter advertising is the ‘in thing’ in outdoor advertising globally. On trains, buses, cabs, bus parks, train stations etc, the adverts are conspicuously displayed for all commuters to see. But the Nigerian outdoor industry is yet to witness a boom in this area of advertising. Onyinye Obiweluozor takes a look at the situation.

Outdoor advertising has, over the years, metamorphosed with greater sophistication and diversification beyond the usual. All around the globe, one can hardly find conventional billboards as everything outdoors have gone digital. This sophistication has also found its way into the Nigerian outdoor industry. With one-faced, two-faced and three-faced unipoles, the electronic billboards, backlit billboards and others in use, it can be said that the Nigerian outdoor industry has “arrived”.
These improvements notwithstanding, the industry seems to neglect a sector of the business which can yield great revenue for them -Commuter Advertising. It is obvious this form of advertising is not being effectively utilised in Nigeria.
In more developed societies, commuter advertising is a very lucrative platform of advertising both to practitioners and advertisers. Brands and products advertised on this platform have been noticed to get higher visibility because they travel to places where billboards cannot get to; meet with people every time the medium is on the road; and provide more exposure for the brand, event, product, promo, and whatever else that is advertised on the platform.
In view of these benefits, many questions arise: “Why is this platform of advertising not effectively utilised in Nigeria? Why do many cabs in Lagos still have their advertising panels vacant? Why do some intra-city buses move around without adverts?

The problem
Looking at many commuter vehicles, the reasons they are not being effectively utilised for advertising seem obvious. Several outdoor practitioners are of the opinion that commuter advertising is not thriving in Nigeria because of the poor management of commuter transportation systems, carelessness and nonchalance of the drivers, lack of statistics to measure consumer traffic, poor vehicle maintenance culture and overall cost of advertising on the vehicles, among others.

Poor Management
The management of most transport companies is poor and the state of their buses and cabs are repulsive. The vehicles are often rickety, worn out and dirty.
Speaking to M2, Mr. Tunde Adedoyin, Managing Director of Mediaviews Ltd, says that the disorganised nature of transport companies, bus/cab owners and their drivers have degraded the sector.
“The reason these vehicles are not patronised in Nigeria is the way the transport system is organised. In the UK, London Transport adverts are always on the diverse platforms: bus stops, underground stations, buses etc. The buses are well kept, washed every night, all possible repairs done and the adverts on them are well maintained. Clients want to identify with clean adverts. In Nigeria, things are upside down. Most of these vehicles are very unkempt, dirty and battered; even the adverts are not cleaned for people to see. How can an advertiser place his adverts on them when the vehicles are never maintained and the ads are very dirty? The drivers are unkempt. If the drivers are dirty, what do you expect of the buses they are driving?” he asks.
Mr. Obi Nnaobi, CEO, Lookout Communications Ltd, concurs that the nonchalance of the operators of the vehicles has narrowed the usability of this sector of outdoor advertising. “The transport system is not organised. Operators of these buses do not have an organised department that can harness the sector. It is this department that will ensure the maintenance of the buses and the adverts on them. The managers of these buses and cabs are not organised enough to understand how lucrative commuter advertising is; so they add no value to it. But in most countries, commuter advertising is everything,” he says.

Lack of statistics
Many transport companies and vehicle owners do not have definite statistics that can be presented to advertisers tracking the reach of the vehicles, average distance travelled, passenger traffic and alternative offerings in the event of accidents.
Speaking on this, Mr. Adedoyin also notes that “Advertisers want to get real value for their money. If these statistics are not concrete and made available, it will amount to a short-change.”
According to Mr. Nnaobi, “Clients need figures to ascertain if a project is worth embarking on. And these figures, the management of vehicle and transport companies cannot provide. There should be incontrovertible information on the routes they ply, number of hours on the road, number of buses on the road and possible alternatives in case of accidents. Figures must be provided. Advertisers want to have good value for their money. There are no research efforts to back up figures that people will see.” In view of these, it is obvious that these figures cannot be provided without proper management and check on vehicles.
The profile of one American outdoor company reads: “Provides advertising on commuter transit vehicles that distribute our client’s message through multi-media opportunities in the van’s interior while allowing product or service branding on the exterior. These vehicles reach an audience of 1 million passengers each month who spend on average 52 minutes commuting each day.  Our vehicles carry up to 40 passengers and are licensed by the New York State Department of Transportation and the Taxi and Limousine Commission.”
As things stand now, it will be hard to get a Nigeria transport company that can come up with figures like this.

High Cost
Some practitioners claim that it is expensive to advertise on the vehicles and many of the costs are not proportional to the services rendered.
Mr. Alferd Akokhia, CEO, Wetherheads Outdoor Ltd, says, “To advertise on BRT (Bus Rapid Transport) is so expensive. The operators of these vehicles forget that advertising on the vehicles is not their primary channel of making money; it is only a sub-channel of income for them. But the amount they charge is as outrageous as N5 million per annum. And at the end of the day, the adverts are not maintained; the buses are un-kept and never washed during the rainy season.”
Another practitioner who prefers anonymity lends credence to Mr. Akokhia. “It is expensive to advertise on cab advert panels. Despite the fact that the panels are not big enough for people to see easily, the amount charged is not commensurate to the effectiveness of the adverts. The owners of these cabs should understand that such adverts are just neighbourhood ads and fix their rates with that in mind.”
Every brand desires to increase its visibility, and commuter advertising offers a ready platform for achieving this. In other to maximize the opportunities inherent on this platform, the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and relevant government organs should partner to better co-ordinate activities within the sector and attract advertisers. This will guarantee increased returns for all the parties involved.