Influence of Covid-19 on Advertising Practice in South East, Nigeria

This study investigated how Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic influenced advertising practice in South East, Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design and focus group discussion. A sample size of 287 was drawn from the entire population using the Taro Yamani formula. The study was anchored on the economic recovery theory and AIDA advertising model. Data were collected using structural questionnaire and focus group discussion, and were analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Findings show that COVID-19 negatively affected advertising practice in South-East Nigeria. It further recommends that advertising practitioners in South-East Nigeria should evolve more local contents approach in the packaging and dissemination of advertising messages in order to stimulate interest in advertising and overturn the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on advertising practice zone. Advertising practitioners and agencies in South East Nigeria should also adjust or reduce the cost of advertising to enable companies raise the level of adverting in the post-COVID-19 era.