Modion Communications, Nigeria’s fast-growing boutique Public Relations and Marketing Communication Agency, on Thursday, May 27, 2021, emerged as the first Nigerian PR Agency to win the highly coveted Platinum SABRE Awards for Africa’s ‘Best in Show’, PR campaign in 2020. Following this continental win, Modion Communications has qualified for the global SABRE Award, slated for October 2021.
The Agency had earlier clinched a Diamond SABRE for its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) focused campaign for Lumos Nigeria (an international renewable brand), tagged ‘Touching Lives Through A Determined School Child – Dele Fathia’, which got it nominated for the ‘Best In Show’ top five finalists.
The Modion Communications’ social impact campaign beat four other finalists including Shoprite Group Corporate Image — The Shoprite Group Communications Team; Kazi Mtaani — State Department for Housing and Urban Development with Oxygène Marketing Communications; Rebuilding Stakeholders’ Trust in Kenya Airways — Kenya Airways with Edelman Africa and Project Fabric Campaign against the ban of second-hand clothes — Mitumba Association of Kenya with Hill+Knowlton Strategies Kenya.
The campaign began with the story of Dele Fathia, a Nigerian schoolgirl who was using the illumination from one of her town’s ATM facility to study at night due to the lack of electricity in her family home. Working with Lumos, Nigeria’s leading solar and renewable energy provider, Modion Communications worked to install the company’s power system in Dele’s home within 48 hours, ensuring Dele does her schoolwork in the comfort of her home.
Commenting on the continental win, the Chief Executive Officer, Modion Communications, Odion Aleobua, said the win revitalised the zest of his young team to dominate the African public relations space. “This win strengthens the desire of the young team at the Agency to pursue of quest of dominating the Africa’s public relations space. In our six years of operations, we have touched bigger brands that set us in the right direction to achieve this continental aspiration,” Aleobua said.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the SABRE jury, Paul Holmes, said, “This was a campaign that understood the power of one person’s story to illuminate a broader issue. The company took tangible steps to improve the situation, drawing wider attention to a serious issue and establishing itself as a leader in its market.”
Modion Communications, prior to the historic win, had won back-to-back Diamond SABRE Awards, three of them in two years, having secured double SABRE Diamonds on its debut participation in 2020 with its gripping teaser brand activation for Leadway Assurance #SeeFinish, and its #Gokada2.0, a strategic crisis management campaign for Gokada and the other this year, with the Lumos social impact campaign.
The Agency’s two other entries also received ‘CERTIFICATES OF EXCELLENCE’ in their respective categories. The campaign, ‘How Rugged Is Your Jeep?’, an internal communications campaign for Old Mutual Nigeria, was recognised under the Employee Communications category. The ’50 Shades of Happiness’ campaign for Leadway Assurance got a certificate of excellence under the Financial & Professional Services category.
