The Advertising Association of Ghana(AAG) has officially unveiled the 18th edition of its Gong Gong Festival of Creativity & Awards,an award ceremony that celebrates innovation, storytelling, and excellence in advertising.
The launch soirée which took place on Friday,April 24,2006 at the conference room of Eni, brought together key voices shaping the advertising and creative industry. This year’s edition of the awards ceremony will be held under the theme “The Creative Convergence: Al and Human Craft in Advertising” and will explore the powerful intersection where human imagination meets artificial intelligence.
Speaking at the launch, the President of the Advertising Association of Ghana who also serves as the CEO of Dentsu Ghana, Andrew Ackah urged members of the association and the general public to not just criticize but rather criticize and be willing to be part of the solution.
“ And there are those who actually criticise and they show up, and they want to help,and they want to make sure that things work.But we need to grow, we need to be bigger,and this calls for all of us to be on board.So you can criticise, but please show up to work. You can share your opinion, you can disagree, but please be part of us.This is our space, this is our industry. And if you don’t pour into it, who else would?So please, it requires all of us to come on board, putting our bet, putting our energy.“he stated
Also speaking at the event, Former World President and Chairman of the International Advertising Association (IAA), Joel Nettey gave an overview of the global advertising industry highlighting that the global ad spend is projected to surpass one trillion in the coming years.
“Let me begin with an honest assessment of where we find ourselves today. Globally, the advertising industry is undergoing its most significant structural transformation since the advent of digital media. According to the Densu Global Ad Spend Forecast 2025, and I promise you the president didn’t ask me to say that, total global ad spend is projected to surpass one trillion in the coming years, driven largely by digital channels, programmatic buying, and personalised content delivery.” He stated
Joel Nettey also urged African technologists and advertisers to make use of AI tools to develop solutions that solves African problems.
“It’s the development of AI tools that understand and reflect our languages, our cultures and our contexts. The current generation of large AI models is predominantly trained on Western English language data. There is a significant space for African technologists and advertisers to develop AI applications that speak to African consumers in our own languages, our own idioms and our cultural frameworks.I call members of the Advertising Association of Ghana today, our technology partners and our regional counterparts to invest in this space. The agency or technology company that builds a genuinely African native AI advertising platform will have a significant first mover advantage in one of the world’s fastest growing consumer markets” he added
The 18th edition of the Gong Gong Festival of Creativity & Awards which will take place on July 25th at the Labadi beach hotel with the advertising week celebrations also scheduled for July 13 to July 24. The 2026 edition will feature the delivery of 24 awards categorized under 7 different categories.
About The Author
