Mukoro, Doghudje, Ufot, Momoh clinch awards
The 2016 edition of Marketing Edge National Marketing Summit & Brands and Advertising Awards of Excellence may have come and gone, yet the memory of this particular event will forever remain evergreen in the annals of marketing and brand advertising in Nigeria.
Specifically, it was a day that the Nigerian advertising and marketing stakeholders engaged in a proactive conversation under the auspices of Marketing Edge Publications Ltd, a leading Nigerian brands and advertising focused glossy monthly magazine.
The two-in-one event held at Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, not only brought the town and gown together in a convivial atmosphere of intellectual engagement on contemporary issue, titled “Brand Positioning in a Digital Age: Challenges in a Developing Market”, it also created an unlimited opportunity for knowledge sharing and peer review.
The keynote speaker on the occasion, Mr. George Thorpe, Managing Partner of Market Space, set the tone for the conversation by appreciating the growth in the digital marketing space and the great marketing possibilities it will engender for both the larger businesses and the SMEs, and also expressed some reservations about the seemingly lack of standards and proper structure within the system.
Guest Speaker for the evening, Otunba Seni Adetu, former CEO of Guinness Nigeria provided an even broader perspective on the conversation. Adetu warned marketers against nursing thought that traditional media would become irrelevant for marketing or communication as a result of the rising popularity of digital media. “No one should. Core principles of marketing will not change because it is digital,” he cautioned.
Adetu would rather urge marketer to innovatively use available platforms by creating a strategy that creates a synergy among all the communication platforms. “Nigerians are becoming more discerning due to exposure to technology. The digital landscape is changing, we have over 158 million handsets (some people own more than one), over 97 million Internet users and so much more,” he declared.
It was clear from Adetu’s narratives that while he still saw the traditional media as very relevant, he equally recognised the growing influence of the digital media in the marketing space.
Bukola Akingbade, former CEO of Bytesize and now founder/CEO of Nukleus, a digital marketing agency, gave a more graphic representation of how the digital space had created bigger possibilities for brands by helping them to reach wider and more diverse audience in a much faster time.
The hallmark of the day’s well loaded activities was the celebration of outstanding brands and icons in the Nigerian marketing and advertising landscape. The momentum and mood of the over 500 guests present on the occasion climaxed when dignitaries and advertising gurus rose up in unison to applaud and celebrate Nigeria’s creative titan, Ted Mukoro, former Creative Director of Lowe Lintas, a pacesetter and creative genius, as he was honoured with Marketing Edge Advertising Icon of the Decade. This particular award, which he jointly won alongside another advertising guru, Mr. Chris Awusa Doghuje, elicited fond memories of Nigerian advertising in years past.
It was a cascade of sweet old memories vividly reviewed and captured by the advertising juggernaut of the era, Sir Steve Bamidele Omojafor, who himself was one of the trainees in Ted Mukoro’s creative advertising master class in the golden age of Lowe Lintas, the foremost indigenous-owned advertising company in Nigeria.
Other advertising and marketing icons that were celebrated in the same category, as Mukoro were Chris Doghuje, former CEO of Lintas Advertising and Chairman of APCON, and Laolu Akinkugbe, a veteran marketer and current non-executive Director at Nigerian Bottling Company.
The awards had 44 categories and some of the big winners of the night were Mr. Udeme Ufot, John Momoh of Channels TV, MTN, Airtel, Stanbic IBTC, Zenith Bank, UBA, DDB Lagos, Cool FM, Optimum Exposures, Red Media, Indigo, Oracle, Peak Milk, Sona Group, Grand Oak, SBI Media, etc.
Omnicom Media Group tops Media Lions winners list
For the fourth time in five years, Omnicom Media Group (OMG), the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC), topped the list of media agency holding company winners at the annual Cannes Festival of Creativity, with its agencies OMD and PHD, taking home a total of 15 Media Lions.
OMD was the most awarded agency network in the category, earning a total of 11 Media Lions – one gold, three silver and seven bronze; OMD was also the credited partner for the Grand Prix winners in the PR, Creative Effectiveness and Mobile categories.
The combined performance from OMD and PHD propelled Omnicom Media Group to the top of the category, winning more than twice as many Media Lions as the next most awarded media holding company.
OMD wins span globe and categories
OMD’s 11 Media Lions were awarded for work across a broad spectrum of client categories – including Automotive, CPG, Financial Services, Media, Retail, Sports Goods and Technology – submitted by OMD agencies across the globe. Winning agencies, clients and campaigns included:
Gold Lion
OMD Dominican Republic – “Ending the Silence” campaign for La Sirena
Silver Lion
OMD UK – “Humans” campaign for Channel 4 (2)
OMD Dominican Republic – Ending the Silence campaign for La Sirena
Bronze Lion
OMD Italy – “Business Booster” for Renault
OMD Sweden – “Slow Down GPS” campaign for IF Insurance
OMD UAE – “Champions Huack” campaign for Go Sport
OMD UAE – “I Can Teach You Too” for Dubai Cares
OMD UK – “Hunted” campaign for Channel 4
MGOMD – “Campaign to Combat Loneliness” for John Lewis
OMD USA – “Intel Winter Games” for Intel
“The scale and scope of Omnicom Media Group’s win at Cannes this year proves that relentless focus on excellence, innovation and talent always achieves results,” says Daryl Simm, CEO of Omnicom Media Group Worldwide, “not only in terms of industry recognition, but most importantly, in driving business growth for our clients.”
“Our global winning culture cascades into our local markets; we train our talent on an on-going basis, including regional webinars on weekly basis as a source of inspiration to be abreast of latest developments and raise the game. Additionally, we have many local initiatives through which we encourage our people to produce works that deliver on objectives and help overcome current business challenges of our Clients”, says Tolu Ogunkoya, CEO, mediaReach OMD, “this year too, mediaReach OMD Nigeria represented Nigeria at the Cannes Young Lions Media global competition, this is our 7th time at the Cannes, since 2008
Omnicom Media Group (OMG) is the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc.(NYSE: OMC), the leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company, providing services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.
mediaReach OMD is the leading Media Agency in West Africa, having presence in Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon. mediaReach OMD started its operation in Nigeria 17 years ago and has been consistently ranked No. 1 by RECMA (since report started for Nigeria in 2011).