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Advertising: How Nigeria broke 70 year-old creativity jinx at Cannes Festival

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2 years ago

FOR the first time in the history of the sector, Nigeria recorded its creativity first at the Cannes Lions International Festival for Creativity in France, this year.

One of the leading creative agencies in Nigeria, X3M Ideas Group mounted the podium to receive award for the public health advocacy, tagged ‘Scout Life Expectancy’, done to address the challenge of soot in the oil-rich city, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

The win, which brought to an end a 70-year-old laurel drought, is no doubt seen as significant for the nation’s advertising industry and the country at large, for many reasons.

Besides establishing the country’s presence on the global advertising stage, not a few stakeholders also see the award as a testimony to the fact some of the internal efforts being embarked upon to reposition the practice in the country and make it globally competitive are beginning to yield results.

For instance, could it be a testament to the success of the reforms presently embarked upon by the apex regulatory body in the advertising industry, the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON)?

Expressing his excitement on the Award, the Director-General, ARCON, Dr Lekan Fadolapo described it as a huge boost to the West African region, since that would be the first time an agency from the sub-region would be winning it.

While expressing the Council’s determination to always support practitioners and agencies in the sector, the ARCON’s DG added that the ongoing reforms in the sector are designed to improve creativity in the nation’s ad sector, and further challenged Nigerian agencies to come up with world-class creativity.

With the hugely coveted laurel, the Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN) believes the agency has indelibly etched the nation’s name on the global advertising record.

The association’s chairman, Clara Okoro, in a statement, described the award as an addition to the rich collection of laurels the creativity-driven agency had garnered in the past.

“This is not the first international lap of honour for the creativity-driven X3M Ideas Group. The number swells further with each passing season,” she stated.

Noting that the award could not have come at a better time, Clara attributed the agency’s latest feat to the leadership quality of its founder, who is also the incumbent president of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Steve Babaeko.

“The leadership quality of Steve Babaeko has made it possible for the numerous wins recorded by X3M and the current one is no exception.

“Looking at the trajectory, it is even more remarkable that X3M Ideas attained this height in just a decade of operations, enormous feats for which deserved credit goes to the entire team,” she enthused.

In his reaction, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Black House Media Group, Ayeni Adekunle, noted that with the feat, the agency has demonstrated that it is actually possible for agencies in the continent to make exploits on the global scene.

“Big deal! Sending huge congrats to our friends at X3M Ideas for making Nigeria and Africa Proud! It is possible,” Adekunle stated on his Instagram

Interestingly, Babaeko sees the award as a realisation of a long-held dream of putting an end to the laurel-drought, at the Lion, being experienced by agencies from this part of the world.

“I started my advertising career as a young Copywriter at MC&A (Saatchi & Saatchi). Since the day I knew about the Cannes Lions and realised that Nigeria had never won, I made it my mission to right the wrong. I founded X3M Ideas in 2012, we entered for the Lion every year, and failed every passing year, but we never gave up on our mission to win. Today X3M Ideas is the first not just Nigerian but West African agency to win a Lion,” Babaeko posted on his facebook page.

Will Babaeko and his team’s consignment of the 70 year-old jinx to the dustbin of history,at the Lion, signal a turning point for agencies from this part of the world at the Festival? Will this open a floodgate of other laurels at the annual film and creativity festival? Not a few believe that with time, adequate answers will be provided to some of these puzzles.

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