AAAN, Henley Business School Announce 2nd AdCademy Masterclass

The Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), in partnership with globally renowned Henley Business School (HBS), has announced the dates for its second AdCademy Masterclass.

The three-day programme, the AAAN announced yesterday at a virtual press conference, will hold from 26-29 August.

The AdCademy Masterclass Series is part of AAAN’s efforts at expanding the industry’s talent pool and is open to current and aspiring advertising professionals as well communications professionals in both public and private sectors.

Speaking at the press conference, AAAN President, Mr. Steve Babaeko, explained that the purpose of the AdCademy, which held the first masterclass in March, is to expand the pipeline of fresh talents for the industry and retrain current professionals.

HBS, according to the Babaeko, will support the masterclass with its robust business curriculum to ensure that participants learn as much about the business side of their craft as they will about the creative side.

“We are partnering with Henley Business School, one of the best business schools in the world, to fuse its tradition of excellence with Nigerian excellence to help us take the curriculum beyond just our class room teaching. “We also looked at the gap within our industry and discovered that while people know about communication and creativity, they need to learn about the rudiments of the business. That vision works well with Henley Business School,” said Babaeko.

AdCademy Director of Academics, Adeyinka Adewale, expressed similar sentiments. 

“The emphasis is not just on building professionals, who understand their craft, but also professionals who understand the business of their craft.

“This three-day immersive programme sits on a tripod, with the first being an overview of how the market works; the second focused on leadership competencies and the third on effective work and practice management,” explained.

He noted that the programme condenses action, reflective and experiential learning into one package.

Olusankami Atolagbe, AdCademy’s acting Director, said the masterclass will run between 9am and 5pm daily.

Supporting the Henley Business School team, Atolagbe disclosed, is a high-calibre team of Nigerian facilitators from diverse backgrounds.

They include data expert, Bayo Adekambi; Professor Emevwo Biakolo of Pan-Atlantic University, Ayuli Jemide, Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) section on Business Law; and John Ugbe, Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria.

Others are Chioma Afe, Group Head, Retail Marketing and Analytics, Access Bank Plc; Austin Ufomba · Chief Executive Officer of Tytron Group; and Leke Alder of Alder Consulting.