Marketing communications sector aiming at revival

MarCom Collective meets Prime Minister

A high-level delegation from the MarCom Collective comprising of conveners of the Collective, 9 association presidents and representatives of Ernst & Young Sri Lanka met the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Mahinda Rajapaksa, at Temple Trees recently. The meeting was part of the Collective’s ongoing efforts to engage with all stakeholders in government and the industry to apprise them of the marketing communications sector’s contribution to the economy, which has largely gone unnoticed.

The devastating impact of COVID-19 on the industry saw the urgency for 12 sectors coming together to identify immediate measures to revive and fortify the industry with policies that will mitigate the effects of the downturn in the business and ensure long-term sustainability post revival. The constituent sectors include Advertising, Market Research, Event Management, Photography, Video & Audio Productions, Media Planning, Digital, Public Relations, Outdoor Advertising, Tele / Broadcast Media (TV, Print, Radio and on-line media), Activations and Printing & Packaging.

An independent consultancy company, Ernst & Young Sri Lanka, which was retained by the MarCom Collective to study the sector and prepare a report on a 3-point agenda to Mitigate, Revive and Sustain the industry, presented their findings to the Prime Minister. The report identifies that the industry generates an annual net revenue Rs.151 billion which accounts for 1% of the country’s GDP. The industry that employs over 100,000 people with another 200,000 dependents needs immediate attention. The sector yields a revenue of Rs.1.510 million per employee which is considerably higher than other key sectors such as Tea – Rs.232,000, Textile and Garments – Rs.444,444, Rubber – Rs.452,308 and Tourism – Rs.1.068 million in spite of these sectors earning their revenue in foreign exchange.

The MarCom Collective and Ernst & Young in their submission to the Prime Minister shared a range of policy measures for the consideration of the government in order to support the sector. These proposals complement the government’s efforts to accelerate the recovery of the sector and the economy. They were well received by the Prime Minister who appreciated the contributions of the sector and assured to take the proposals into consideration.