The Advertising Association of Ghana, AAG, says the industry has also taken a hit in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Although some areas of the industry has experienced great results, the Association says other areas have been hit hard.
As part of efforts to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus in the country, the Advertising Association of Ghana says several prominent events and conferences have been cancelled or postponed to protect the public.
“This season of COVID-19 has seen certain areas of advertising experiencing great results while some corners of the industry has been hammered. Agencies with high technological space, have moved their mandates to clients online, while the others struggle within the space of virtual advancement.”
In a statement issued by the Association, it said “In view of this, several prominent events and conferences are being cancelled or postponed in an effort to protect the health of their employees and as a precaution on suggested travel restrictions, also existing contracts with businesses for the management of their advertising budgets for the 2020 fiscal year may be terminated or renegotiated for the simple reason that, production has gone down thereby impacting negatively on revenue as consumption and/patronage have gone down.”
“This obviously demands that advertising agencies re-look at the sources of cash inflows and revenue for their 2020 budgets because as health and safety concerns loom around large gathering, many businesses are abandoning live and in person upfront presentation in exchange for visual presentation,” the statement added.
It further notes that, should the pandemic persist, that could impact the advertising agencies revenue and profit.
“Huge drops will be seen in the revenue of advertising agencies because the big and multinational companies which engage the services of these agencies are mostly affected by the Covid-19. As a result, those companies will cut down on mainstream and traditional advertising, and rather resort to having an in-house advertising team, mainly as part of the marketing communication department,” it said.
Also, staff retrenchment will hit advertising agencies as they lose accounts and contracts, and the work load is minimized.
“They will be forced to maintain a lean staff,” it noted.
Click here for the full statement:
The outbreak of the novel Coronavirus in the country necessitated a three-week partial lock-down. As a result, various sectors of the country’s economy have been immensely impacted.
Though the lock-down has been lifted, many individuals and businesses are still struggling as other restrictions have slowed down activities.
As at 6th May, 2020, Ghana’s COVID-19 cases stood at 2719 with 294 recoveries and 18 deaths.