“Now, more than ever, is the time to start focusing on digital advertising in our industry, and start preparing for the next decade and the opportunities and challenges it will bring,” he said.  Mr Nettey said the itinerant and ubiquitous nature of consumers required advertisers to continue to not only think about creative ideas to capture their attention but equally or maybe even more importantly creative ways of reaching the targets.

The Gong Gong awards is the flagship industry event for the advertising and rewards innovation and creativity. This year’s edition was on the theme: “Impact of Digital Advertising on Global Markets”  Dr Kwame Akuffo Anoff-Ntow, the Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, who spoke on the theme, said advertising had become more scientific as clients were now more demanding to know how many audiences had been exposed to their products.

“Clients want to know how many eyeballs are watching a product. They want empirical evidence from media managers to support their claims that X or Y amount of viewers and listeners are exposed to their products. Media managers are now caught in an unending frenzy of matching audiences to products through targeted programming and careful scheduling,” he said.

Dr Anoff-Ntow said advertisers expected far more than mere exposure as they want assurances that their products were exposed to the right audiences.  He said the theme “Impact of Digital Advertising on the Global Market” recognised the threats and opportunities associated with leveraging online technologies and also drew attention to the intersections between technology, expertise and the global market.

Dr Anoff-Ntow said while digital advertising provided boundless technological opportunities for the advertiser, the real and enduring challenge remains the message. In this direction, he said, leveraging online resources for advertising has become a very specialised art that requires both diligence and knowledge. “It requires intimate insight into the demographics and behavioural patterns of your intended audience, as well as mastering how to effectively craft content which is engaging,” he said.

Ogilvy and Mather emerged the Overall Best Advertising Agency for the year 2016 after picking two of the four Platinum Awards at the 10th Gong-Gong awards.Insel communications also won the overall best in the television category, with Innova DDB Ghana winning the overall best in the print category.