Onome Amuge
Nigeria’s marketing and communications industry is preparing for a significant reset as senior executives, academics and data specialists gather in Lagos for the sixth edition of the annual Top Trends thought leadership forum, an event that has become a bellwether for shifts in market intelligence and consumer engagement.
Scheduled for January 29, 2026, the conference is being convened by mediaReach OMD in partnership with Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, GeoPoll and the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria. Organisers say the focus this year has sharpened as businesses face intensifying pressure to move beyond reactive trend-watching towards more deliberate, insight-led disruption.
Held under the theme “Top Trends 2026: Insight-Driven Decisions to Disrupt the Marketing Industry in 2026”, the event is positioned as a response to mounting uncertainty in Nigeria’s operating environment, where volatility in consumer demand, rapid digital adoption and advances in data analytics are forcing brands to rethink long-standing approaches. Rather than offering a catalogue of emerging trends, the forum aims to provide a framework for resilience and growth grounded in local, human-centric data.
Stephen Onaivi, managing director of mediaReach OMD, said the next phase of growth in the marketing industry would be shaped by companies able to apply authentic, locally grounded insights to legacy systems. “The next era of growth will belong only to those who leverage authentic, local insights to genuinely disrupt legacy systems,” he said, describing the conference as a call to action for industry leaders.
The programme will feature panel discussions and presentations led by senior practitioners and researchers with deep exposure to Nigeria’s marketing ecosystem, spanning consumer behaviour, media planning and market analytics. Organisers say the emphasis will be on translating data into practical decision-making tools, rather than abstract theory.
Beyond boardroom strategy, this year’s edition is also extending its reach to talent development. In a move that reflects growing concern about skills pipelines in Nigeria’s marketing sector, the organisers are launching the inaugural Next Generation Marketing Contest. The initiative is designed to identify emerging talent and provide early-career support through a combination of financial and institutional backing.
The contest winner will receive a N500,000 cash prize, an internship placement with a leading organisation, and the opportunity to participate in a leadership development programme at Lagos Business School, part of Pan-Atlantic University. The package is intended to bridge the gap between academic training and industry practice, at a time when employers are increasingly seeking data-literate and agile professionals.
Partner institutions have framed the event as part of a broader effort to strengthen decision-making capacity across African businesses. Uchenna Uzo, professor of marketing at Lagos Business School, said organisations needed to adopt more rigorous, data-backed frameworks to remain competitive. “The future of African business lies in the strategic application of knowledge, and we are proud to invest in this talent,” he said.
GeoPoll, a data analytics company specialising in consumer insights across emerging markets, plans to focus on the behavioural drivers underpinning disruption. Ricardo Lopes, the company’s regional director, said brands would need to better understand shifts linked to artificial intelligence, quality expectations and sustainability in order to translate raw data into sustainable growth strategies.
The National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria, which represents the country’s professional marketers, has emphasised the event’s dual focus on insight and succession planning. Its president, Bolajoko Ajayi, said the conference would examine market trends critical to meaningful customer engagement, while the Next Generation contest would help build a pipeline of future industry leaders.
For mediaReach OMD, Top Trends 2026 is being positioned not simply as an annual conference, but as part of a longer-term effort to redefine how Nigerian businesses approach disruption. As economic pressures and technological change accelerate, the organisers argue that insight, rather than instinct, will increasingly determine which brands succeed in a more competitive marketplace.
