How DDB Lagos emerged as Nigeria’s most creative agency at 2018 LAIF awards

Lagos Ideas Festival, LAIF was instituted by Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) 13 years ago with aim of recognising, rewarding and fostering creative excellence in all areas of marketing communication. Since then, the LAIF initiative h

The mood was pensive, and yet at the same time festive as the big wigs gathered for the 13th edition of the Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival (LAIF) which is Nigeria’s most definitive event that recognizes, rewards and promotes creative excellence in all areas of advertising and marketing communications.

As the evening wore on, it was not clear which agency would take the day as quite a couple of veterans such as Insight and SO&U were making a good showing along with usual suspects X3M Ideas and Noah’s Ark. The intense competition was also heightened by the strong wins made by younger Agencies such as Culture, Etuodi, BBDO and Upinthesky.

However if there was one agency that clearly demonstrated a superior creative breadth and depth in diverse award winning work it was DDB Lagos. At the end of the evening DDB had yet again topped the overall list of creative agencies in Nigeria by winning the Grand Prix award for the acclaimed “Man in the Box campaign” for MTN.

DDB Lagos was also awarded 6 Gold plaques for outstanding campaign ideas in “Children’s day”, “Independence day”, “My Influence” and “Man in The Box” for Royco, Baileys, Sunlight and MTN respectively.

Speaking on the Grand Prix Award for MTN Maninthe Box, Michael Zylstra, Regional President Aegis Dentsu and Chief Juror of the LAIF Awards noted that the concept won the top prize as an integrated and interactive innovation for growing SME businesses. Because of its exceptional idea concept the “Man in The Box” won Gold plaques in 3 different categories. Silver (4) and Bronze (9) plaques were awarded also for campaigns like; “Reasons to Smile”, “See us 2 Male”, “Corn”, “Waist Line”, “Upper Room”, “Verve Naira Note (Worker’s Day)” etc for other several brands.

Other agencies that won highest number of awards include SO&U, Insight Publicis and X3M Ideas. While Insight won 24 medals- five gold, 10 silver and nine bronze medals, X3M Ideas won five gold, seven silver and eight bronze medals; SO&U won four gold, 11 silver and eight bronze medals

Other big winners on the night include Culture with three gold and two bronze medals; Noah’s Ark with one gold, eight silver and 11 bronze medals; Up In The Sky with one gold, five silver and four bronze medals; Etu Odi with one gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

TBWA got four silver and three bronze medals; 7even Interactive won three silver and four bronze medals; 141 Worldwide now Nitro 121 garnered two silver and three bronze medals; Leo Burnett claimed two silver and one bronze medal; while DIJO and LTC Advertising got one silver and one bronze medal respectively.

Also rewarded were IMS, who got one silver; and Caritas and Streammediawhowononebronze each.

The Grand Prix is LAIF’S most prestigious award which is only given for an outstanding creative concept that has been able to redefine the industry standards.

The man in the box is Nigeria’s first innovative outdoor campaign which was conceptualised by DDB Lagos for MTN to showcase a game changing enterprise solution for SMES and to make sure their businesses are noticed. The campaign was projected to be seen as a win-win for both MTN and the SMES. The spotlight of the campaign was to convey an understanding of the painpoints of SMES while giving them a unique platform to promote their offer- ings to a bigger audience. The billboard was transformed into an office space making “Man in the Box” campaign Nigeria’s first innovative outdoor campaign. This caught everyone’s attention but most especially the eyes of small business owners. These business owners were then given use of the box to work in and to showcase their products or services for an entire day each. Aside giving the SMES their own mini marketing boost and increasing exposure and media following for their respective brands, MTN also get to put their technology in front of the very people they were trying to reach.

Locally, “Man in the Box” received accolades for its effectiveness because it delivered on the promise that MTN knows what keeps SMES up and it’s willing to go beyond the norm to provide solutions. DDB Lagos partnered with other agencies; TBWA a creative agency, PHD for outdoor media plan and Playhouse Communication, a local digital agency to bring this idea to life.

DDB Lagos is one of most awarded agencies in Nigeria at the annual LAIF Award ceremony since its inception 13 years ago. DDB Lagos has also received international recognition when it won an EPICA Award for its “Speechless” campaign developed for Girlhub (an advocacy project for the Northern girl child sponsored by the Nike Foundation in partnership with USAID/DFID) in 2012.

Since then, DDB Lagos has also received several other international awards including the acclaimed “I Don Port” campaign for MTN, the agency was awarded the Silver Loeries Award for integrated campaign and Silver in Africa Cristal awards in the category ‘Best use of Branded Content’. Also, in 2014 DDB Lagos got an Emerald in Africa Cristal award for the Mouka foam campaign “Restful Night; Active Day” and in 2013 a Bronze in Epica awards for same campaign under the category ‘Best use of Branded Content’

DDB Lagos has and is still been recognised locally as the most awarded Nigerian creative agency since the inception of the LAIF awards. DDB Lagos was consistently highly identified in the Young Lions Competition within 2008 – 2011. In 2010, the agency was honoured for TV campaign of the year, Overall campaign of the year and Marketing Leadership in Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) Awards for Marketing Excellence.

DDB Lagos is the Nigerian office and sub-regional hub of DDB Worldwide Communications in West and Central Africa (WECA). DDB Lagos is a subsidiary of the Casers Group, a leading media and marketing holding company. The agency commenced operations in 1987 and has since offered cutting-edge services to a roaster of leading local and multinational brands in Nigeria over the last three decades.

In 2015, the Casers Group completed its acquisition of the 5 other agencies previously of the Mawal Group thus extending its footprints to key Francophone markets across West and Central Africa including Cameroon, Cote d’ivoire, Guinea, Benin and Congo. These agencies, along with DDB Lagos, form the core of DDB WECA which provides an extensive regional operation to multinational clients.

DDB WECA is driven by the desire to become the biggest and best among builders of brands in every market its serves.