At this year’s African Cristal Festival Awards, SO&U Nigeria’s leading agency for Creativity, TV & Film and Integrated Campaigns wins big in the Main – Continental – Awards with an Emerald accolade in the category for Telecommunications.
At this year’s African Cristal Festival, Nigeria’s leading creative agency SO&U, an M&C Saatchi Partner agency won the Emerald award for its Glo Telecommunications ‘Grandpa Goes to London’ campaign. A feat for the agency in the Main – Continental – Awards category noting that the leading creative house had last year, 2016 won two Sapphire and Emerald awards in the regional category. Billed as a leading annual awards in tracking the performance of creative agencies across every media category and discipline, SO&U under the leadership of its celebrated Creative Director, Anthony Ekun was also shortlisted this year, 2017 for its innovative Glo Hamma campaign dubbed ‘Jenifa’.
The African Cristal Festival held in May 2017, in Marrakech, Morocco, rewards the best advertising campaigns created and broadcasted over the African continent on any media. In particular, the festival’s newly introduced Sub-category; African Culture, aims to celebrate the best African campaigns by using cultural specificities in promoting the uniqueness and authenticity of communications within the region. Adjudicated by members of the ‘Creative Jury’ carefully selected from countries across the world including Nigeria, UK, Kenya, Spain, South Africa and Morocco. The African Cristal Festival is governed by its Leadership council ensuring a fair and seamless judging process.
In celebrating the win for the agency, Anthony Ekun, Creative Director, SO&U Nigeria expounded on the positive impact of the recently concluded festival on the creative landscape in Africa, stating that “the explosion of media platforms, channels, varieties of content and the growing impact of digital technology is redefining the outlook of Africa’s creative industries today” Mr. Ekun continued that “Africa today is witnessing a transition from the cultural values of communal focus to an individualistic lifestyle thus, “Advertising and marketing creativity can play stronger roles in both shaping and redefining Africa’s cultural evolution along its own unique patterns”.
Buttressing the success of SO&U and other Nigerian agencies at the recently concluded festival, Biodun Adefila, Head, Brand Management, SO&U Nigeria added that this success only reaffirms the growing global acceptance of creative output from Africa globally. Mrs. Adefila sighted examples including the growing acceptance of Nollywood movies globally also noting how in recent times, Nigerian music is trending across the globe. “You can now hear Nigerian chart toppers played in the best night clubs and bars around the world” she said. Adding that the African print better known by Nigerians as Ankara, has become a hot fashion item globally, thanks to the ingenuity and dynamism of Nigeria fashion designers. Mrs. Adefila concluded that indeed “Our creativity does not have to be overtly western to be world class”.
Adding to discussions about the success of SO&U alongside other Nigerian agencies at the recently concluded festival, Friday Okuwe, Head, Strategy & Planning SO&U Nigeria stated that the big win is a testimonial to the capacity of creative powerhouses in Nigeria. Acknowledging that whilst a lot still needs to be done to accelerate and amplify the development of our industry, structures must be put in place to adequately support and encourage innovation and creativity in Nigeria. Mr. Okuwe concluded that awards such as the African Cristal Festival offer a great opportunity to unleash the energy and creativity from Nigeria on a continental and global stage.
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The African Cristal Festival will again call for submissions next year and as one of Nigeria’s most respected provider of marketing communications solutions, the agency would be collating its amiable works in preparation for next year’s awards. The award-winning culture at the agency which has spanned nearly three decades of SO&U’s existence remains strong and evident as the agency continues to churn out great work for some of the county’s most exciting brands.
