Yemisi Izuora
JCDecaux S.A. the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide, has entered the Nigerian market in partnership with Grace Lake Partners (GLP), an indigenous investment and advisory firm based in Lagos, Nigeria, with a philosophy of creating shared value.
JCDecaux will operate in the outdoor advertising industry in Nigeria through an exclusive partnership and licensee agreement between JCDecaux and Horizon Outdoor Advertising Limited, a wholly Nigerian owned subsidiary of GLP (Horizon is Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria “APCON” certified and a member of the prestigious Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria “OAAN”).
The partnership (“JCDecaux Grace Lake”) has commenced work installing four city-wide public service programmes, all at no cost to the citizens of Lagos. The programmes cover the installation, operation and maintenance of a Traffic Information System (“LATIS”): a network of 94 sq.m. digital traffic arches designed by Marc Aurèle providing real-time traffic information to commuters at strategic driving decision points across Lagos – currently installed at Oworonshoki and Fadeyi, a self-cleaning automatic public toilets programme, designed by Patrick Jouin, located at the city’s busiest bus stations and free to use for Lagosians – currently installed at Oworonshoki and Ogudu Berger Bus Stops and a network of 92 sq.m. billboards for the stations under construction of the upcoming Lagos cable car system (LCCT), which will link the key hubs of the economic capital (Lagos Island, Mainland and Victoria Island).
This partnership gives JCDecaux a foothold in Nigeria, the largest economy of the continent, with GDP of over €332 billion in 2017 and the most highly populated country in Africa, with 190 million people (a population which will double in the next 30 years). The partnership will also help maximise the economic potential of Lagos, Africa’s biggest city, the economic capital of the country. With nearly 21 million people, it is market with huge potential for advertisers and media agencies.
The arrival of JCDecaux in the highly fragmented outdoor advertising market of Nigeria will increase the market’s value (estimated at €115 million), offering brands an unprecedented digital communications platform to grow their audience.
Considered as one of the most gridlocked cities in the world, Lagos is planning to install urban infrastructure that will provide a high-quality public service and accelerate its transformation into a smart city pioneer on the African continent.
With the LATIS project, the new JCDecaux Grace Lake partnership delivers a solution that gives drivers real-time information on traffic, through digital traffic arches at key junctions across the city and via a mobile app designed and built by Nigerians. This traffic information system, a first for the Group, has been specially designed to meet Lagos’s needs and help ease traffic flow in the city by suggesting alternative routes and estimating times of arrival.
JCDecaux Grace Lake is also contributing to the modernisation of public transport and improvement of passenger services by installing a network of solar-powered bus shelters and automatic public toilets in the main bus terminals. These facilities will help meet environmental and social commitments by: encouraging mobility, easing road traffic, developing solar power, promoting hygiene on the public highway, creating sustainable skilled jobs and encouraging the training of a local workforce.
These programmes demonstrate the strength of JCDecaux’s economic model, which can deploy public utility urban infrastructures financed completely by selected, high-quality advertising anywhere in the world.
Jean-Sébastien Decaux, CEO, Southern Europe, Belgium and Luxembourg, Africa and Israel, said: “In line with our unique model of organic development, we are delighted to be entering the Nigerian market and particularly Lagos, a thriving city in many respects. We will put our capacity for innovation, particularly digital, at the service of one of the most dynamic cities in sub-Saharan Africa. We have developed a unique service to bring Lagos the best of our expertise in street furniture and an unprecedented traffic information system, a first for Africa and for JCDecaux.”